Reflections on My Startup Journey: The Highs, Lows, and Lessons Learned

Looking back into my past startup journey, I've emerged with a more clear understanding of what it takes to build a successful venture and where I failed. Here are some hard-earned lessons that I've learned along the way. It might be common for some but useful for others who are heading on the same direction as I was few years ago.

• Don’t be that fearless, to live your job though its the quickest thing to do. Keep your 10-5 job while building your startup on the side—because passion is important, but so, is your room rent and office space payment. Being fearless isn’t just about spending up your savings but being strategic.
• Hard work and great ideas are not enough for you to get success in your start up. Network is equally important, focus on creating and expanding your network and use the network to expand your business. Goals are important but people are more important!!
• “Fail Fast”!! Experiment with your product when it is lean, don’t wait for the one perfect product to launch, plan only for a prototype and test the product with real users and if your client loves your product, go find investors or put in your own resources to enhance as per the market or else pivot your idea and find next model and repeat same.
• Don’t depend too much or get too attached to investors money it might be easy to earn but it comes with cost, rather focus on making your product earn for you i.e cash flow is more important than a bulk earning once in a while.
• As a founder, don’t get too attached to day to day task too much, rather gather some hands to work with you, so, you can earn some free time. The free time helps you to cultivate wild ideas, experiment or find some time on building networks or its even better to stay empty during your free time.
• Try as much as you can to divert your work to your team member or to outsource the repetitive task but make sure that the work accomplished by team is as per par. As a founder, your focus must be on building networking and culture within your organization
• As a human being sometimes even founders fail to understand small wins for the overall goal of organization; it is possible that small achievements can make you too excited and you can get easily distracted away from your real vision or goal. So, create a clear metrics or KPI for you , your team members and for overall organization’s goal. With clear metrics, you can enjoy your achievements to its full and never get distracted from the bigger vision of organization and yourself
• "Don’t choose your co-founder just because you get along or like what they say. Your choice of partner is one of the most crucial factors in your organization’s success. Look for someone whose skills complement yours—a partner who brings strengths where you need them most. It’s about building a balanced team that’s equipped to tackle challenges together.”
• Founding a startup is like a roller coaster ride, so be mentally prepared and surround yourself within a strong support team inside and outside of your organization. Find some mentors whom you can look upto, or fellow founders who has gone through some similar phases as yours, listen to their stories which can provide you some insights
• Yes, having a clear vision and goal is important but they can sometimes limit your growth. Be open and flexible such that goals and visions can evolve with time and experiences don’t get too rigid. Learn to adapt to new trends and adjust your business model accordingly. Sometimes flexibility can be a key to survival.

If you have some similar experiences, let me know or if I missed or yet to learn some additional lessons leave them on comment below.

Happy to hear!!