1. Make sure your business model doesn't mean growth will kill you.
@armc's first point "Few business problems can't be solved by more sales." is important, but here is a case where it doesn't work (on the contrary).
I once (indirectly) worked for a startup whose business model was basically to rent expensive hardware to its customers. It was considered a rising star, but here's the problem: it had exponential growth. That meant exponential capital needed to buy hardware.
It was considered a rising start, most of its metrics were incredible. Given unlimited access to liquidity it would have easily IPOd by now. But there is no such thing, so it crashed and burned.
(The product still exists but they took measures to address that problem, and the growth is hardly what it once was.)
2. Money doesn't exist until it's on your bank account.
Another startup I worked for (you might guess which one) raised a round with a new fund as the lead. For various reasons that fund couldn't give us the money for a whole year and that locked the other funds as well.
That startup was selling hardware. With no money in the bank we couldn't pay the factory or shipping. We had endless pre-order lists. When the money finally arrived, we had had a whole year with basically no sales, and that ended up being fatal.
3. Some customers aren't rational and that's fine.
At a startup I worked for some time ago, a customer bought an expensive yearly license for our product and never even used it once. At the end of the year, they came back... and renewed the license. I think we actually asked them if they were sure, and they said yes. They didn't use the product for yet another year.
4. Only found a company if you understand the field.
That one is from my experience as a founder. I was the technical co-founder of the company but I had no previous experience or knowledge of that specific market. I thought that was fine because I had a great co-founder who did and very serious partners, so I could learn as I went.
As it turns out we realized quickly that all our initial market study had important flaws an our assumptions didn't hold. We then went into a mode where we tried to figure out if we could turn the company around or maybe pivot, and that was a very frustrating time for me because I felt powerless, not having the necessary knowledge to help like I would have wanted to do.
Thankfully I had enough experience with other businesses to look at the metrics and figure out a few key things. Eventually we shut the company down and it was the right decision, but I will never again start a company in a field I don't know well.
5. Everyone on support.
I have done support one way or another at every single company I worked for. At the company I currently work for everyone works L1 support in rotation and I strongly believe it is a good thing. It will ensure everyone talks to customers and is aware of their pain points.
@armc's first point "Few business problems can't be solved by more sales." is important, but here is a case where it doesn't work (on the contrary).
I once (indirectly) worked for a startup whose business model was basically to rent expensive hardware to its customers. It was considered a rising star, but here's the problem: it had exponential growth. That meant exponential capital needed to buy hardware.
It was considered a rising start, most of its metrics were incredible. Given unlimited access to liquidity it would have easily IPOd by now. But there is no such thing, so it crashed and burned.
(The product still exists but they took measures to address that problem, and the growth is hardly what it once was.)
2. Money doesn't exist until it's on your bank account.
Another startup I worked for (you might guess which one) raised a round with a new fund as the lead. For various reasons that fund couldn't give us the money for a whole year and that locked the other funds as well.
That startup was selling hardware. With no money in the bank we couldn't pay the factory or shipping. We had endless pre-order lists. When the money finally arrived, we had had a whole year with basically no sales, and that ended up being fatal.
3. Some customers aren't rational and that's fine.
At a startup I worked for some time ago, a customer bought an expensive yearly license for our product and never even used it once. At the end of the year, they came back... and renewed the license. I think we actually asked them if they were sure, and they said yes. They didn't use the product for yet another year.
4. Only found a company if you understand the field.
That one is from my experience as a founder. I was the technical co-founder of the company but I had no previous experience or knowledge of that specific market. I thought that was fine because I had a great co-founder who did and very serious partners, so I could learn as I went.
As it turns out we realized quickly that all our initial market study had important flaws an our assumptions didn't hold. We then went into a mode where we tried to figure out if we could turn the company around or maybe pivot, and that was a very frustrating time for me because I felt powerless, not having the necessary knowledge to help like I would have wanted to do.
Thankfully I had enough experience with other businesses to look at the metrics and figure out a few key things. Eventually we shut the company down and it was the right decision, but I will never again start a company in a field I don't know well.
5. Everyone on support.
I have done support one way or another at every single company I worked for. At the company I currently work for everyone works L1 support in rotation and I strongly believe it is a good thing. It will ensure everyone talks to customers and is aware of their pain points.