Sculpt Startup. Start
New 2015 year. Monday. It's time to start a new startup life from scratch. After reading a little more than all the articles on how to begin it one thing is clear - nothing is clear. Paul Graham (co-founder of Y Combinator), for example, believes that start-ups are illogical and everything should be done differently from what you want. And how to do? To do this, you can either get into a cool incubator or have a good mentor, or ... try to cut your project, while simultaneously taking online courses from the best universities in the world. From January 2015 begins (repeats) 2 excellent courses:
Technology Entrepreneurship , by Stanford University Online
Entrepreneurship 101: Who is your customer? by edx (MIT, Harvard)
Is it possible to blind a startup from scratch only with the help of online courses and interest?
Technology Entrepreneurship , by Stanford University Online
The course has already been mentioned on Habré . And it seems that it has already given the right impetus to students. Focuses mainly on practical aspects. In fact, you can create a startup by following the course - perfectly described how to make a business plan, how to advertise a product, just right during the course you can form a team of students, describe the idea, get feedback, compare your product with others. Officially begins tomorrow (January 6), but the first videos and assignments are already available. I tried to go a little bit from the second part of the course, but this is not as interesting as starting all over again. I liked the course very much, namely, its reality, practicality, and social component.
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Entrepreneurship 101: Who is your customer? by edx (MIT, Harvard)
Inspired by the news that Amazon gives $ 1000 to its services for the successful passage. It is also focused mainly on a practical perspective and more on real cases about users / clients.
So, what do we need to create a project from the very beginning?
And do we have enough online courses to do this?
If you ask Paul Graham again what the idea should be, it can be briefly described as:
I am sure that most people had many moments when they lacked a simple and clear service, an application on a smartphone or anything. I'm not talking about the robot management portal on Mars, rather about something like facemash - a primitive, but interesting web site, with a soul. Yes, even Mark Zuckerberg started with this, pierced it, gained experience and only then created a serious product. Probably, it makes no sense to start with a big and clever idea, we must try to make an interesting product for a specific target audience.
Regarding point 3 - now in the valley when creating startups they like to focus on hipsters - people who don’t like the mainstream (what everyone likes) and who are ready to experiment. If hipsters like your product, then there is a high probability that they will succeed :)
Unlike ten years ago, now more and more people think that an idea is worth nothing. There are also a lot of examples where the idea was turned upside down. Grupon was originally something like a kickstarter, Flickr - RPG, YouTube - a dating site, Twitter - a platform for podcasts ... This does not mean that all startups change the idea, but each approach changes. Over time, we will learn more about customers, opportunities, technologies, and this helps to find our niche. Therefore, to begin with what is written on your sticker near the monitor or somewhere in the ToDo list and to improve / change over time is a great idea.
Almost all “startup teachers” say that a team is very important. And each of us probably knows with whom exactly he wants to work. On the other hand, in order to try what a startup is, it is much less important. Many interesting projects began with one person. If you really want to do this in a team - take a friend or colleague and offer to just take courses on entrepreneurship together. Or even join the team during the course (create your team and invite someone from the course).
For me personally, this item is very difficult. It is often said that if you do something that you really want and are important, then you will do it. But I think that you will do this for a maximum of a month (two, three), then you will get bored, as always. That is why socialization, control of progress, constant criticism / praise are needed. That is what will give us practical business courses.
It is unlikely that you will need a lot of money to host a simple website or publish an application to the store. And you can always find a few hours a week in order to satisfy your interest in the world of start-ups and try to make your project “right”.
If you have time, energy, interest and the spirit of entrepreneurship - why not make a spherical startup in a vacuum (or at least a parody of it).
If my undertaking is interesting, I will post a lecture summary, the results of the assignments, and perhaps even the architecture, ideas, the source code of the project.
Technology Entrepreneurship , by Stanford University Online
Entrepreneurship 101: Who is your customer? by edx (MIT, Harvard)
Is it possible to blind a startup from scratch only with the help of online courses and interest?
Course descriptions
Technology Entrepreneurship , by Stanford University Online
The course has already been mentioned on Habré . And it seems that it has already given the right impetus to students. Focuses mainly on practical aspects. In fact, you can create a startup by following the course - perfectly described how to make a business plan, how to advertise a product, just right during the course you can form a team of students, describe the idea, get feedback, compare your product with others. Officially begins tomorrow (January 6), but the first videos and assignments are already available. I tried to go a little bit from the second part of the course, but this is not as interesting as starting all over again. I liked the course very much, namely, its reality, practicality, and social component.
')
Entrepreneurship 101: Who is your customer? by edx (MIT, Harvard)
Inspired by the news that Amazon gives $ 1000 to its services for the successful passage. It is also focused mainly on a practical perspective and more on real cases about users / clients.
So, what do we need to create a project from the very beginning?
- Idea
- Team
- Motivation
- Resources
And do we have enough online courses to do this?
Idea
If you ask Paul Graham again what the idea should be, it can be briefly described as:
- you do something you need
- you yourself can do it from scratch
- only some are interested
I am sure that most people had many moments when they lacked a simple and clear service, an application on a smartphone or anything. I'm not talking about the robot management portal on Mars, rather about something like facemash - a primitive, but interesting web site, with a soul. Yes, even Mark Zuckerberg started with this, pierced it, gained experience and only then created a serious product. Probably, it makes no sense to start with a big and clever idea, we must try to make an interesting product for a specific target audience.
Regarding point 3 - now in the valley when creating startups they like to focus on hipsters - people who don’t like the mainstream (what everyone likes) and who are ready to experiment. If hipsters like your product, then there is a high probability that they will succeed :)
Unlike ten years ago, now more and more people think that an idea is worth nothing. There are also a lot of examples where the idea was turned upside down. Grupon was originally something like a kickstarter, Flickr - RPG, YouTube - a dating site, Twitter - a platform for podcasts ... This does not mean that all startups change the idea, but each approach changes. Over time, we will learn more about customers, opportunities, technologies, and this helps to find our niche. Therefore, to begin with what is written on your sticker near the monitor or somewhere in the ToDo list and to improve / change over time is a great idea.
Team
Almost all “startup teachers” say that a team is very important. And each of us probably knows with whom exactly he wants to work. On the other hand, in order to try what a startup is, it is much less important. Many interesting projects began with one person. If you really want to do this in a team - take a friend or colleague and offer to just take courses on entrepreneurship together. Or even join the team during the course (create your team and invite someone from the course).
Motivation
For me personally, this item is very difficult. It is often said that if you do something that you really want and are important, then you will do it. But I think that you will do this for a maximum of a month (two, three), then you will get bored, as always. That is why socialization, control of progress, constant criticism / praise are needed. That is what will give us practical business courses.
Resources
It is unlikely that you will need a lot of money to host a simple website or publish an application to the store. And you can always find a few hours a week in order to satisfy your interest in the world of start-ups and try to make your project “right”.
Total
If you have time, energy, interest and the spirit of entrepreneurship - why not make a spherical startup in a vacuum (or at least a parody of it).
If my undertaking is interesting, I will post a lecture summary, the results of the assignments, and perhaps even the architecture, ideas, the source code of the project.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/247341/
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