

Ask HN: Startup related Mistakes you've done - dryicerx

<i>Learning from mistakes is much more powerful than learning from reading or doing it perfectly</i><p>What are start-up mistakes you've done over the years. There are lot of blog posts and lists, I am just curious of individual/personal ones here.<p>Resources: http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html
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petesalty
1\. Trying to start solo

2\. Not asking for help soon enough

3\. Thinking that the market was broken but really just failing to understand
the market

4\. Never being "finished" enough to go live

5\. Listening to experts

6\. Completely and utterly underestimating how hard it would be to get
customers.

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keeptrying
Me too. All of the above. Still doing 1. :)

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petesalty
It was the biggest mistake I made. My usual tendency is to work alone but I
learnt that only works for small projects. What I really need is someone to
bounce ideas off, complement my skill set and occasionally fight with :) I'd
never try and do anything substantial alone again. Actually I'm looking for a
co-founder so if anyone knows someone who's also looking
<http://ineedacofounder.wordpress.com>

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keeptrying
I understand the problem but I've been burnt one time before by a cofounder so
I'm a little gun-shy there.

I'm primarily interested in creating a company that relates to outdoor sports
and the environment and travel. I also envision NOT sitting in front of a
computer all the time and creating a company thats very Patagonia-like w.r.t
employing people.

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seven
If we would learn from mistakes, we would be the brightest person (Charly
Brown)

Here a small fraction of my mistakes. And yes, I do sometimes repeat them.

* Not outsourcing my tax stuff.

* Distraction. :)

* Being too proud to ask for help.

* Slow in realizing that it is hard to sell inner value if the outer appearance sucks.

* Being too afraid to be seen as stupid.

* Listening to my tech-hacker peers when it comes to business. Or to care too much about their opinion.

* Not learning from non-tech business people around me.

* Not being interested in business but in technology.

* Over engineering.

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zaidf
1\. Assuming I know what my users want. 2\. Thinking that build-and-they'll-
come will work. 3\. Thinking that when build-and-they'll-come fails, that my
product sucks.

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dryicerx
I'll start

* Not surveying and making sure there is a market for it: A cooking recipe site with features allowing for evolving recipes... the market was too small, and after launch realized using a website along with cooking didn't go hand in hand.

* Hiring or bringing in skill over will: A rockstar coder is nothing if their not passionate, that just ended in pure disaster. Getting a passionate and willing person to learn and acquire skills works better than the other.

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mahmud
Not working harder on my business when I had a job. I wish I had done most of
what I am doing now when I had plenty of income and plenty of time.

