22 random hints for startups: A new series
A couple of days ago the second StartupCamp took place in Basel. Toni and Dorian collected a couple of tips from their current experience and their previous startup gig at local.ch. These random hints complement the startup series published on this blog some months ago. Thanks to popular demand we also publish these hints (in German) over at Swissstartups, Dominik Tarolli's excellent blog on the Swiss Startup scene.
1 – Start with a simple plan
Building a company is tough enough. Don’t complicate your life with a complex plan. A simple plan stating a simple goal will help you, your future employees, any partner and any future investor to understand quickly what you’re at.
Example: At local.ch our game plan was a simple line: “Best local search in Switzerland”. At Memonic it’s: “Keep the Essential”.
Sure there’s plenty of explanation to each tagline. Yet the essential is summarized on one A4 Page.
2 – A few commonly shared rules
At both local.ch and Memonic we defined a kind of „company constitution“. Why? A few commonly shared rules expedite decision-making. You have a frame of reference for any decision.
It is not so relevant whether anyone on the team knows them by heart. Yet if the team is in a decision-making impasse, the rules help you to get out of this gridlock quickly with a minimum of emotions involved.
- Rule 1 - User First
- Rule 2 - A great team is great people
- Rule 3 - The solution is the team
- Rule 4 - Getting things done
- Rule 5 - Long Term over Shortterminism
- Rule 6 - And yet we count the time in months not years
- Rule 7 - We're optimistic & focus on the real issues
- Rule 8 - Creativity and Communication are Key
- Rule 9 - Errors are ok, if...
- Rule 10 - Be nice
