Startup Playbook. The Ultimate Startup Startup Guide by Y Combinator (Part 2)
In the previous part of the guide, we looked at the ideas of Sam Altman about ideas, in this we will focus on the team and the product.
Illustrated by Gregory Koberger
Mediocre teams do not build great companies, so we always pay attention to the strength of the founders. When investing in the later stages of investing, it is difficult to appreciate the strength of the employees hired by the founders.
What makes a great founder? The most important characteristics are inflexibility, determination, impressiveness and resourcefulness. Intelligence and passion are also highly valued. These qualities are much more important than experience, and of course more important are "the experience of developing on X and working with the framework Y" .
We noticed that the most successful founders are people whose work does not cause stress. Sometimes you can succeed with the help of willpower alone.
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Good founders have a number of seemingly contradictory features. For example, at the same time being rigid and flexible, you have firm convictions about the nature of the company and its mission, but you are still very flexible and ready to learn new things if necessary. The best founders are extraordinarily responsive. This is an indicator of determination, attentiveness, energy and ability to achieve goals. Founders evading communication are almost always mediocre. Communication is a very important skill for the founder of a startup; in fact, this is the most important and rarely discussed skill.
Technological startups need at least one founder who can develop, and at least one who knows or is able to learn how to sell and communicate with customers, the latter two functions can be replaced by one person.
Solving the problem of choosing a co-founder is one of the most important decisions you have to make. Often this process is generally subject to randomness. Of course, you would like your partner to be a good friend, not a random acquaintance. Therefore, the assessment and selection of the co-founder is so important.
In addition, at some point, the mathematical expectation of the reality of a startup startup may fall below the X axis. It may happen that if you quarrel, you will “stick sticks in the wheels”. Breakup of co-founders is one of the most frequent causes of death for startups in the early stages of development. This happens all the time when the partners are connected with only one specific goal - the launch of the company.
The most wonderful option, of course, is a good co-founder. The second is the “solo game”, and the worst is not the right partner. In the latter case, with the slightest confusion, you should immediately leave.
A quick note about capital. Talking about the division of capital never becomes easier over time, so this is better to discuss as far as possible. In the case of the two founders, the situation is desirable when one of them has a controlling stake in order to prevent various impasse.
Illustrated by Gregory Koberger
The main secret of success is the presence of an excellent product. This is the only common feature of all great companies. If you are not busy developing a product that users must end up loving, you are wasting time. Nevertheless, many are looking for a "magic pill", but starting a startup is such a thing in which the tricks stop working.
An excellent product is the only way to grow in the long run. In the end, your company will become so large that any tricks and hacks will stop working, and growth will be possible only if the number of people who want to use your product increases. This is a very important thing for the concept of the path of super successful companies. There is no other. Think of all the really successful technology companies, everyone has it.
You want to make a car out of your company to increase the attractiveness of the product. To do this, you should talk to your users and see how they use your product to find out what is wrong and then improve the product. Then repeat it again. The company should be focused on such a cycle, avoiding everything else. In fact, it is very difficult to improve a product by at least 5% every week.
The faster the repetition rate of this cycle, the steeper the company. At YC, we advise the founders to constantly engage in the development and communication with customers, rather than God knows. Of course, with the exception of meals, sports and family.
In order to properly perform such a cycle, you must be very close with your users. Literally control the use of the product. Stay close as possible. Evaluate what users report and what actually happens. Nothing should separate you from your audience. Understand your users by finding out their actual needs and what drives them.
“Doing something that doesn't scale” has become a mania in the startup community. The first users usually come one at a time (for example, Ben Zilberman in Palo Alto approached the strangers in the cafe, asked them to try Pinterest, and then finished the project to the voiced requirements). Many founders hate this part of the work, and try to announce their product in the press, which almost never works. Manually dial users, and then improve the product so that users tell their friends about it.
You should also break down all the tasks into small parts, and adapt them iteratively, not trying to plan for too long a time and trying to fit everything into one big public release. Start with something as simple as possible. The simpler the better. Try to simplify the product and company.
Do customers use products more than once? How fanatical are your users? Will users be really upset if your company orders to live long? Would you be recommended to other people without your requests? If you are a B2B company, do you have at least 10 paying customers?
If not, this is a problem, and we advise you to work on improving the product. I am skeptical of the excuse for lack of growth, very often the real reason is that the product is simply not good enough.
When startups do not know what else to do with their product, we send them to users. This does not always work, but you will be surprised to know how often it works. In general, when a company has problems, you should always contact users.
The very best are very concerned about the quality of the product, even in seemingly insignificant trifles. And this approach works. And do not forget that the "product" includes user interaction with the company. A good product should have a great customer service.
Remember, if you did not make a quality product enough, nothing will save you.
To be continued..
In order for a startup to succeed, we need: a great idea (always in a big market niche), a great team, a great product and a masterful performance.
PART II "TEAM"
Illustrated by Gregory Koberger
Mediocre teams do not build great companies, so we always pay attention to the strength of the founders. When investing in the later stages of investing, it is difficult to appreciate the strength of the employees hired by the founders.
What makes a great founder? The most important characteristics are inflexibility, determination, impressiveness and resourcefulness. Intelligence and passion are also highly valued. These qualities are much more important than experience, and of course more important are "the experience of developing on X and working with the framework Y" .
We noticed that the most successful founders are people whose work does not cause stress. Sometimes you can succeed with the help of willpower alone.
')
Good founders have a number of seemingly contradictory features. For example, at the same time being rigid and flexible, you have firm convictions about the nature of the company and its mission, but you are still very flexible and ready to learn new things if necessary. The best founders are extraordinarily responsive. This is an indicator of determination, attentiveness, energy and ability to achieve goals. Founders evading communication are almost always mediocre. Communication is a very important skill for the founder of a startup; in fact, this is the most important and rarely discussed skill.
Technological startups need at least one founder who can develop, and at least one who knows or is able to learn how to sell and communicate with customers, the latter two functions can be replaced by one person.
Solving the problem of choosing a co-founder is one of the most important decisions you have to make. Often this process is generally subject to randomness. Of course, you would like your partner to be a good friend, not a random acquaintance. Therefore, the assessment and selection of the co-founder is so important.
In addition, at some point, the mathematical expectation of the reality of a startup startup may fall below the X axis. It may happen that if you quarrel, you will “stick sticks in the wheels”. Breakup of co-founders is one of the most frequent causes of death for startups in the early stages of development. This happens all the time when the partners are connected with only one specific goal - the launch of the company.
The most wonderful option, of course, is a good co-founder. The second is the “solo game”, and the worst is not the right partner. In the latter case, with the slightest confusion, you should immediately leave.
A quick note about capital. Talking about the division of capital never becomes easier over time, so this is better to discuss as far as possible. In the case of the two founders, the situation is desirable when one of them has a controlling stake in order to prevent various impasse.
PART III "PRODUCT"
Illustrated by Gregory Koberger
The main secret of success is the presence of an excellent product. This is the only common feature of all great companies. If you are not busy developing a product that users must end up loving, you are wasting time. Nevertheless, many are looking for a "magic pill", but starting a startup is such a thing in which the tricks stop working.
An excellent product is the only way to grow in the long run. In the end, your company will become so large that any tricks and hacks will stop working, and growth will be possible only if the number of people who want to use your product increases. This is a very important thing for the concept of the path of super successful companies. There is no other. Think of all the really successful technology companies, everyone has it.
You want to make a car out of your company to increase the attractiveness of the product. To do this, you should talk to your users and see how they use your product to find out what is wrong and then improve the product. Then repeat it again. The company should be focused on such a cycle, avoiding everything else. In fact, it is very difficult to improve a product by at least 5% every week.
The faster the repetition rate of this cycle, the steeper the company. At YC, we advise the founders to constantly engage in the development and communication with customers, rather than God knows. Of course, with the exception of meals, sports and family.
In order to properly perform such a cycle, you must be very close with your users. Literally control the use of the product. Stay close as possible. Evaluate what users report and what actually happens. Nothing should separate you from your audience. Understand your users by finding out their actual needs and what drives them.
“Doing something that doesn't scale” has become a mania in the startup community. The first users usually come one at a time (for example, Ben Zilberman in Palo Alto approached the strangers in the cafe, asked them to try Pinterest, and then finished the project to the voiced requirements). Many founders hate this part of the work, and try to announce their product in the press, which almost never works. Manually dial users, and then improve the product so that users tell their friends about it.
You should also break down all the tasks into small parts, and adapt them iteratively, not trying to plan for too long a time and trying to fit everything into one big public release. Start with something as simple as possible. The simpler the better. Try to simplify the product and company.
Some common questions we ask startups
Do customers use products more than once? How fanatical are your users? Will users be really upset if your company orders to live long? Would you be recommended to other people without your requests? If you are a B2B company, do you have at least 10 paying customers?
If not, this is a problem, and we advise you to work on improving the product. I am skeptical of the excuse for lack of growth, very often the real reason is that the product is simply not good enough.
When startups do not know what else to do with their product, we send them to users. This does not always work, but you will be surprised to know how often it works. In general, when a company has problems, you should always contact users.
The very best are very concerned about the quality of the product, even in seemingly insignificant trifles. And this approach works. And do not forget that the "product" includes user interaction with the company. A good product should have a great customer service.
Remember, if you did not make a quality product enough, nothing will save you.
To be continued..
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/296328/
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