
Ask HN: Is there a step-by-step guide on how to create a successful startup? - altern8
I&#x27;m looking for a step-by-step guide on how to create a successful startup, from start to finish.<p>For instance, the first step could be &quot;find a problem&quot;, the second step &quot;validate your idea&quot;, third step could be &quot;create MVP&quot;, then &quot;get feedback&quot;, etc. etc.<p>I guess some sort of methodology that if you follow causes you to very likely succeed (or the opposite, e.g. skipping one step would make your startup fail.
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losthobbies
The How to Start a Startup videos from YC are
good[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5q_lef6zVkaTY_cT1k7q...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5q_lef6zVkaTY_cT1k7qFNF2TidHCe-1).

~~~
altern8
Very nice! Thanks.

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BjoernKW
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries probably is as close as it gets to what you’re
describing.

Anything more specific can’t take variations in context and market development
into account.

There’s no cookie cutter way of creating a successful startup from scratch.

If you have an existing network and if you’ve done it before then the chances
are higher that you can reproduce successful outcomes. Still, there are quite
a few examples of entrepreneurs who’ve created a successful startup but
weren’t able to achieve similar results with their following endeavours.

Uncertainty and the search for a business model are the very nature of
startups. Reproducible results come with established models.

~~~
altern8
Ha! I actually already have it in my Kindle, I bought it and never read it.

I will now if you're saying it's good.

Thanks!

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davismwfl
There isn't a guide that is definitive on the outcome. There are guidelines,
but even if you follow them it doesn't make success of a startup.

If you want the short story on startup success it can be summed up in one word
overall, Execution.

Most startups fail because of poor execution and by making more mistakes than
not. If you can outlast your mistakes (which everyone will have) and execute
on each stage you succeed.

~~~
altern8
> There isn't a guide that is definitive on the outcome. There are guidelines,
> but even if you follow them it doesn't make success of a startup.

What are the best ones, in your opinion? Could you link a good one?

> If you want the short story on startup success it can be summed up in one
> word overall, Execution.

I don't know. Execution is something you cannot "learn". Either you're good,
or not. However, if your idea sucks and you fail to build a MVP, and you fail
to ask for feedback, you risk wasting months of your life that you could have
avoided. Or, your idea might be awesomely executed, but if you fail to market
it properly, no one will know about it and you will fail.

If I followed even the steps I mentioned, I would be able to catch bad ideas
before I spent months of my time and potentially hundred of thousands of
dollars.

Just thinking outloud here.

~~~
davismwfl
Overall I agree but you also kinda proved my point. In the example you laid
out, they didn't execute well enough on the business to make it a success.
Execution isn't in the absence of marketing, product or idea, it is the key
reason why startups fail though. A weakly put together but strongly executed
marketing plan beats a superb plan that is executed poorly. Execution is what
matters here, the plan can be revised over and over, but if you fail to
execute it doesn't matter if the most brilliant person in that field put
together the plan, you will fail.

Definitely plenty of room for varied opinions here, just my 2 cents as well.

~~~
altern8
Ah, I thought execution of the product itself.

However, you have to know you should do certain things to be able to execute
them well. A lot of projects I've seen fail were well-made, but had crappy or
no marketing.

The reason is that founders were tech guys, and you know how tech guys like to
program and not email people :-)

~~~
davismwfl
Gotcha, yea, that is a communication failure on my point, my bad. And I agree,
most tech people are to focused on what they are building and fail to do all
the other steps, which is the failure to execute in my view.

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muzani
The playbook is the closest thing to a checklist:
[https://playbook.samaltman.com/](https://playbook.samaltman.com/)

A good deal of it is still relying on your own hustle and skill at solving
problems. But these are really good, repeatable things to watch out for. Paul
Graham's essays are also a must read, but they're less actionable.

~~~
sharcerer
What's your opinion on so many Startup books apart from Lean Startup, Zero to
One. Should one read the typical 4-6 usually recommended or are there some
hidden gems not talked about much? Though, personally I feel that after
reading 2-3 books, rest of the bits can be acquired by the occasional
blogposts. Also, these periodic blogposts are sometimes better as they help in
reinforcing ideas/ important pointers which one might forget after reading a
book. One aspect of books which can't always be replicated in blogposts are
the case studies.

~~~
muzani
Most of it is crap.

Rule of thumb for anything, the harder books to read are often the best. So
not simple blogs. Good ideas are difficult to explain.

I'd say Lean Startup and Zero to One actually lie on the "easy to understand"
categories. The YC related stuff is a little harder but worth the effort.

~~~
sharcerer
Got it. Will be taking this year's online Startup School by YC starting in
July. Thanks.

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rwieruch
I think you have to stitch together the pieces from different guides/courses.
For instance, I just released a React + Firebase course to ramp up your
business [0] with a minimal tech stack. That's one piece you can use to
"create [a] MVP". But all the other pieces you have to get from other
books/courses/guides. I guess there is no guide yet covering it all except for
a basic overview.

\- [0] [https://www.robinwieruch.de/the-road-to-react-with-
firebase-...](https://www.robinwieruch.de/the-road-to-react-with-firebase-
book/)

~~~
spdebbarma
Oh so nice to see someone else advocating the React+Firebase stack. That has
been my go-to for a year now.

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DoreenMichele
You need paying customers of some sort. If there's no monetization scheme, it
isn't actually a business.

Also, on HN at least, most people talking about a _startup_ are talking about
something with strong growth that will get big fairly fast. They aren't
talking about mom-and-pop shop levels of business success. So you could look
into _growth hacking_.

There's no cut and dried formula here. You can read what other successful
people say and try to educate yourself, but there is no slam dunk "Do x, y,
and z and Profit!!!"

Paul Graham's essays are pretty popular around here, and with good reason.

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tnolet
Anyone selling/providing such a guide is probably deluded or, in worst case, a
crook.

There could certainly be a guide to “creating a startup”. The “successful”
part makes it a bit hairy though.

~~~
altern8
Jesus... So all those books about startups are published by crooks?

That's pretty radical.

~~~
tnolet
If someone offered the advice "just follow these steps and you'll be
successful" I would classify that as "snake oil". Or being a crook.

Most books in this category that I've read ("zero to one", "Lean Startup",
etc. etc.) never literrally say that. They offer advice extrapolated from
"this worked for us". Or common patterns that have lead to succes at some
stage at some company.

Notice, they are not "step-by-step" guides to a successful startup. They are
datapoints.

~~~
altern8
I see.

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sydcli
No guide can guarantee a successful startup. There are so many factors that
you can and cannot control, even you have built a successful startup, the
chance of building another one is not much greater.

I strongly recommend two books: \- Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for
a Fantastic Future \- Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the
Startup World

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welder
That's hard because after "get feedback" it branches out into too many
directions. The only common things are bureaucratic. For ex: keep all your
startup transactions in a separate bank account and credit card. Everything
else product-side comes down to two steps:

Solve problems as they arrive, and hire people who've solved the problems
already so you don't have to repeat work.

~~~
altern8
> That's hard because after "get feedback" it branches out into too many
> directions.

Sure, but if we were to try to generalize, we could create a flowchart like
"feedback bad? iterate", "feedback good? continue", "feedback bad after 10
iterations? Scrap".

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ThePhysicist
Since no one mentioned it so far I’m happy to recommend “Disciplined
Entrepreneurship”, which I found more useful than Eric Ries’ book and very
actionable. And above all, it really is a step by step guide:

[http://disciplinedentrepreneurship.com/](http://disciplinedentrepreneurship.com/)

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apodobnik
For finding and validating an idea, you can read Lean Customer Development:
[https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Customer-Development-Building-
Cu...](https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Customer-Development-Building-Customers-
ebook/dp/B07582F7BB)

I highly recommend this book.

