Times on the internet have changed. Getting a website up and running in the 1990s used to cost thousands of dollars, and you needed a large team to make anything functional. Fast forward to today—with the advancement of CMS and popular platforms like WordPress—getting a website up has become incredibly cheap. There are also no-code platforms that are extremely useful for launching products into the market. Additionally, AI can now write code for you, enabling you to have your MVP up and running without writing a single line of code. In other words, coding is no longer the bottleneck for launching new products. As you embark on launching a startup, here are some ideas to keep in mind:
1. Marketing is the New Coding
If you are an early-stage founder, it’s absolutely imperative to start learning about marketing. This includes audience building, growth hacking, and how to scale.
2. The Lean Startup Method is Out the Window
Did the Lean Startup kill more startups than it created? One of the biggest mistakes founders make is jumping into building a full-blown MVP as soon as they have an idea. I’ve been there too many times. Instead, build an audience first. Your MVP could be a newsletter or even a blog! Famous websites like Groupon got their start with a blog.
John Rush, a well-known indie hacker, summarizes this approach incredibly well: think about building an audience first. This consequently will more likely lead to success! Think of it as building a “camel startup”, which is more sustainable, compared to a “unicorn startup” that requires a lot of money to stay afloat!
One caveat to note is that some lean startup principles can apply to your MVP once you have an audience, such as building in a scrappy manner.
3. Severely underestimating how much marketing is needed.
Gone are the days of “if you build it, they will come.” We now live in an attention economy, where whoever has the most engaging content wins. Businesses are even dancing on TikTok to attract customers!
4. Storytelling is massive.
As the internet becomes saturated with content, storytelling is becoming increasingly vital for startups. This means perfecting your pitch, writing consistently, and leveraging different platforms to grow your website traffic.
5. Traffic is everything.
That is to say with a decent conversion rate, of course! You need to find a way to bring traffic to your site. This is often overlooked, but it should be part of your marketing strategy from day one. How will you find paying customers for your product? How will they discover your brand?
6. Build with a Community to Further Amplify Your Story
Community is one of your biggest advantages. This is why FoundersBeta was created—launching a startup on your own can be incredibly isolating, but finding your tribe and cheerleaders makes a big difference.