Startup or how not to give up

After graduating from college, having worked for Uncle, I had a desire to make my startup, my own business, which would bring me a lot of pleasure from the work process and of course money, as I was constantly haunted by the thought: “The employer gets a lot of money from the project, on which I am working for a penny. " And I could not put up with the fact that they control me and constantly control me - I am such by nature.

Hi habr!
I am a programmer and develop my project. I wanted to share my experiences and mistakes. I hope that it will be easier for people to start their startup after my article.

Knowledge and experience in web development was not enough - only half a year python / django developer and the formation of mining electricians. But this did not stop me, I felt a surge of strength, that feeling when you can do everything and you can not be stopped, and even more so to break. Having defined the goals, he quit his job and set to work.

"Breaking head" over the idea, decided to talk with relatives, acquaintances and neighbors. I found out that people often need household services, such as plumbing repair, domestic help, courier services, and there are just a lot of people who want to earn some money and are ready to do simple work, the same students. The idea immediately arose of making a freelance exchange with blackjack and plumbers of personal services.
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There is an idea, but what next? - The team, for one will be difficult and time consuming. The choice fell on a familiar developer. He began to study the necessary material, because he had little experience.
I began to work hard on the project, in parallel teaching the second developer - “rolled a square wheel”. A few weeks later there was a sketch of a couple of pages, showing him to a friend, he said that he had not seen the worst in life.

Undertook the search for a designer. No one agreed to work with "beggars". As it turned out later, the person we needed was always there, it was he who prompted us to search. We didn’t even have to persuade him, he offered his help himself.

Tip: First, just check your product in public. Otherwise you will lose a lot of time.

We continued to develop with a sense of pride, because we now have a real team.

The problem that was from the very beginning, the constant reproaches of parents that I am a slacker and I need a normal job with a stable income, drove insane, prevented me from concentrating on work, and in general prevented me from moving forward. There were not only reproaches, but also constant conversations, requests to do something urgent at home, although this could wait until the evening. It took me exactly two months.

Repeatedly visited the thoughts: "can go to work in the library, there is silence, and no one will distract?" - but he did not dare. In the end, on the advice of a friend, cleared the garage and started working there. All I needed was a desk, a chair, a computer, and a world map on the wall. Looking at it, the thought arose that many people in the world and some of them would definitely use my service, and they were waiting for it to appear. The new workplace was a paradise, after a tense atmosphere at home.

The work went on, but the designer drew a large part and refused to continue. He needed money.
And again the search for the designer continued. There were mostly failures — they wanted cash, not fairy tales, about a golden life. The development has completely stopped, a little later, we learned about competitors who thrive and their hands finally fell.

Tip: Believe in yourself and you will succeed.

Thanks to the support of my girlfriend, I realized the important thing "If you decide to change, reach your goal, then do not stop at anything, and never give up."

Again, got down to business. I did not find a designer, but the old one agreed to finish, for the money of which I did not have ... I earned the necessary amount on freelancing and everything went according to plan. The launch was close, it was necessary to place the code on the server - I found hosting (from Amazon, because the year is free). All set up, only tortured the system administrator with whom he met at the Python conference. And for good reason, he believed in the idea and joined our team. There are four of us.

Summer was coming to an end, it was cold in the garage. Fortunately, there was an old heater that saved the first time. I had to move home, to sit with a red nose in the garage was no longer an option.
At home everything calmed down, my parents understood my situation and began to maintain, but still my productivity dropped noticeably. The project launched.

Everything worked, but there were no expected orders and there were no golden mountains - the second developer could not stand the fruitless work and left. I was wondering why there are no people with orders, because this should simplify their lives - asked acquaintances, they shrugged their shoulders or explained too hard. It was a dark forest in which I specifically got lost.

Nastroy was not enough and the project was abandoned, he began to look for another idea to use the already developed platform. On the advice of a friend, he sent a request to the winter school of the academic park, in which he himself participated. I was confident, I knew that I would pass. I earned a trip of 130,000 rubles in a month and a half - it turned out to be easy, I even wanted to continue working, but the goal is more important.

Came to the academic park. Everything was saturated with an entrepreneurial atmosphere. The lecturers were breathtaking - successful people, clear speech, manners and behavior. I was delighted with all that is happening. They gave a lot of useful information: how to bring customers with minimal money, how to work with them correctly, etc. But he doubted his project.

Tip: If the darkness in your head: read, study, go to the "school" and most importantly - try. Knowledge is nothing if not applied.

I came home, decided to continue and connect my girlfriend to the project.

Tip: You should always listen to the inner voice, which will answer all questions, and not blindly believe the advice of others.

Thanks to the support, we managed to keep the mood and not abandon the project.

After the incubator, they broke into the media owners and brazenly demanded advertising for young entrepreneurs, indicating that they were already large and developed. None of them could not refuse. It was possible to agree on free advertising in 4 newspapers (articles, banners, ads). Also on two radio and television. All this boosted me even more. The number of orders began to increase.

The most useful advice that has received in the incubator: "Niggle"

The other day, we took part in the III - Trans-Ural Forum of Young Initiatives “I RUN 2014”. It was possible to interest the right people. They went up to the investor, who doused with cold water politely said that they should not go to the investor unprepared, and now he is not needed.

There were tests with which I coped and much remains to make a really high-quality product that people will love and appreciate.

This is the story, who has questions - ask, ready to share experience.

UPD: all tips concern only the topic: “how not to surrender” and do not pretend to necessarily achieve “success”.