5 tips from startup founders

What do you need to become a successful Internet entrepreneur? How to build a global tech brand, like Instagram, Kickstarter or Wikipedia, from scratch?

To find out the answers to these questions, it is best to ask their founders.

For several months, BBC News employees interviewed start-up managers and asked them to share the experiences they would like to have when they themselves started. The result was a series of interviews with CEO Secrets .

Tip # 1 (Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia)

Very often from the lips of Internet entrepreneurs sounds illogical advice to fail - “err quickly,” “err often”, “err better” ( “fail fast”, “fail often”, “fail better” ).
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Jimmy Wales, one of the founders of the Wikipedia Internet Encyclopedia, actually believes in it. “The first version of Wikipedia was called Nupedia,” he recalls. "It was rather sad and very difficult," he admits.

“I hit my head on the wall for two years, I knew that the system was too complicated, but I didn’t want to fail.” Now he advises not to invest all his money in one project. "Leave yourself a chance to restart . "

In fact, Jimmy Wales participated in several unsuccessful Internet projects before Wikipedia was created.

Marcus Gibson, editor of the Gibson Index , which monitors small businesses in the UK, says: “American firms are faster than British firms admit defeat, just because their investors are more practical. Often, when founders come to the office in the morning, they find locks on the office that are closed by order of the lead investor. ”

Tip # 2 (Nicolas Brusson, BlaBlaCars)

If Jimmy Wales would like to receive feedback as early as possible, then Nicholas Brusson calls on start-ups to ignore critics .

Many investors will tell you what you need to think about the market, he says. But if you are doing something truly new, your market does not yet exist and you are going to create your own market.

Tip # 3 (Yancy Strickler, Kickstarter)

“Creativity and honesty are everything,” advises Yancy Strickler, CEO and co-founder of the Kickstarter crowdfunding site.

“When you implement decisions that you are proud of, you should feel good and morally right . ” Such idealism has become the hallmark of many Internet companies, particularly in America.

For example, the famous slogan of Google: “ Don't be evil! Or Mark Zuckerberg’s words about Facebook’s all-inclusive mission “connect the world.” However, there are exceptions, for example Harper Reed (Harper Reed), who sold his start-up online payment payments to Modest PayPal, said that in online business there is very little time for turning to morality. “I don't know how to monetize morality,” he says.

Tip # 4 (Mike Krieger, Instagram)

A bunch of pale neophytes in sweatshirts staring at laptop screens with empty pizza boxes scattered around can illustrate almost any Silicon Valley start-up, thanks to films such as Social Network.

Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger warns against working for health. “At the very beginning we were very close to exhaustion,” he recalls. "Find time for yourself, for training, even though it sounds trivial, but you will see the difference . "

Mike also recommends that you carefully select your co-founders, it would be nice if these were your comrades.

Tip # 5 (Sean Glad Tinder)

It is not surprising that Sean emphasizes the importance of choosing the co-founders. From the very beginning, the Tinder story has not been without scandals, problems and even legal proceedings.

"It is very important to determine the three most important things that need to be done to get 80% of the result . "

Are Internet Fever Pioneers really different type of entrepreneurs? It is not known, but many note that in connection with the global nature of the Internet, each of the founders must think on a large scale from the very beginning. Previously, if a consumer found a great product, he could tell just a few about it, now it can easily be as many hundreds as tens of thousands of people.

The CEO of a modern Internet company should be a great storyteller and a passionate leader so as to enthrall social media users around the world.