Today was the first day of the WorldFestival 2021, I attended the booth for Scaling a Tech Startup on a Budget, by Selby Cary and Bhairav Patel.
- Focus on Goals
“If you aren’t focused on your goals, then everyone else working with you won’t be either.”
Focus is Everything
Focus is broken down into three portions Problem, Solution, and Execution
Solution: Prioritize Values vs Nice to Haves.
Write down your vision, objectives and goals and check that decisions align with it. Avoid distractions!
Understand the Stakeholders
COmmunicate with Stakeholders Create a common vision understandable by all Ask for feedback and create a “common language”
MVP (Minimum Viable/Valuable Product)
- MARKET RESEARCH
- Proof of Concept for immediate needs. Avoid automation until the end.
- Map out design and requirements before begining development.
- Ex. User Surveys, Test Ideas, Incorporate Feedback/Market Demand
- Define whos doing what
Economics define your business model
- “Sustainable cash is king”
- Set up multiple revune streams.
- Build a financial model and scenario planning.
- Honest with numbers Ex. Forcast Cost Case, Pricing Strategy, and margins to scale.
Understand the Market
Know and relate by networking with key decision makers. Gather data on the market by asking the following questions.
- Who is buying?
- Where are they from?
- When do they buy?
- How did they find out? Ex. Sales Channel Diagrams (Flow Chart), Network Mind Maps, CRM Databases.
Recruitment is Hard
Fierce competition, grow and scale. No resources to fire and big team and need flexible people who can take on many roles. Identify where time is best spent. Use Freelancers and experts to cover the gaps. But beware as they do not stay. Set performance targets, good job descriptions, “fire fast”, and don’t lock in long term contracts.
Personally, I disagree with “fire fast”. Its devestating for both people. Retaliation and fees for a budgeting company will lead to bankruptcy.
Build a Legendary Company
Live those company values, with strong morale. Transparency is key to decision making and communicate new ideas and openmindedness. Toxic leadership trickles down. Send out regular company updates through newletters and blogs. HR is key here to have a consistent culture.
You are not alone
Be with relatable people who will give advice and support. Other people going through the same thing in a similar stage. Create an informal board of advisors. Take good care of your health and avoid burnout. Constantly take notes to reflect and look back on and remind your future self how you felt at the start so you don’t lose way. Grow your network by attending networking events, competitions, and communities.
Personally, I prefer competitions since it feels less social and easy to dive deep into thought and debate. Its much more memorable than a greet and shake event. Communities can be difficult as some are tight knit making it difficult for newcomers without enough support.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” - Lao Tzu: “Failure is not failure if you learn from it” - Selby
AR Booth
The next booth I watched was about App AR. There are many common types of AR that are applied very differently.
- Native App: Pokemon GO
- Social AR: Snapchat/Photo Filters
- Web (browser based) AR: World trackering
Web AR Applications
- QR Code AR for Marketing Campaigns
- Embed into a webpage
- Add 3D to 2D pages, boosting time spent on the page.
- AR Wardrobe - Wear all the clothes so you can see on the web.
- Gauge audience engagement
- Escape to other places fictional or real.
End of Festival
These were some booths I took notes on and enjoyed watching during the presentation. I look forward to utilizing web AR in the future and improving my understanding of startups.