Learning from Failure: My Experience with 2 Startups & the Key Takeaways: #1 A Lack of Focus

It hurts, but I should regretfully declare that I have failed in my second startup too. Building a company is complicated, and if it is a startup, it is extra challenging. I have been in the startup ecosystem from the age of 18 for more than 5 years. I have encountered different challenges, competitions, incubators, hackathons, coding, arguments, victories, dignity, sadness, and loss. It is similar to entering a new world; you are so child and vulnerable. There are fantastic and appealing miracles, also stinky swamps. Sometimes it is like you are in a dark cave, trying to get somewhere out there in the pitch black without seeing anything. It is just the beginning.

Congratulations! As this blog follows the brevity principle(quality of being brief), you are at the second level!😊

The bumps on your head and the wounds on your body hurt. While knowing that there is hope and a bright future. You fall flat on your face, each time hitting a firmer rock. But after falling, it is necessary to be able to stand up and learn. All days and nights, with tears, blood, and sweat… Life passes eyesight like a film strip. In this post, I will share the mistakes I learned the hard way while building startups so that you avoid repeating them. Here are the 7 biggest mistakes in my experience that led to failure:

1. Lack of focus
2. Financial instability
3. Heavy emphasis on product – neglecting value
4. Long time – less progress
5. Lack of predefined values
6. Team building
7. Founder burnout

I was planning to write all these in one post, though now I see that will be lengthy, so I will share them as a series of 7 posts. Now let’s start with the major mistake: Lack of focus.

If you are a student with a confused mind, you are already losing a game – 0:1. You feel motivated, strong, and courageous as you have the superpower to change the world. You announced your fantastic idea in any competition and believe people will follow your sect. Poor young…

You work hard daily for 10 hours on your dream. If you are lucky, your parents, friends, relatives, mentors, and teammates keep you motivated in the initial stages. But after a month, you encounter with painful reality. There are fewer and declining numbers of people around you.

Wow, you are at the third level. Let’s play a game!😉 I bet you will read till the end.🌠 The show must go on!🤩

Then the exam period comes, so you need a diploma and want to build a startup. So what to do? Dropping university for a 1%-5% success probability or staying there for additional 5 years with F grades? So your teammates are also probably students, then the total time for startup decreased to 3-4 hours daily.

Then you see your groupmates have found some job opportunities and internships, so you think maybe additional money can be good, and I can even reinvest a portion of it into my startup. Congratulations!🎊

At that point, you lost your focus.

Now you have 3 different responsibilities, additionally, if you live alone, some personal home tasks(cleaning, cooking, washing…).

After that, some days, even you do not have time and energy to work on your startup project, your team members also lose motivation. Maybe the team won some competitions during a period, but there is no real success. That means there is a fundamental problem in the building. So if you cannot manage to solve it goes worse and worse.

So, in summary, there is 5 advice for future Hasan and all readers:

1) Build a systematic structure

Option A.

If you are a student, do not build a startup! A startup is not a leisure activity. It is hard work, stress, and sometimes hair loss. That does not. It only brings negativity. That also means happiness, dynamism, and progress. It is not a job for a normal person, as Jack Ma said:

“We are crazy but not stupid.”

Option B.

If you are crazy enough, your idea interrupts your sleep, you feel uncomfortable, and you are always thinking about it, so get well soon. Welcome to the club. Firstly you should build a systematic schedule for yourself (also, your team members should do it because it is not one man show). Prepare and use a calendar. Keep in mind every day, you should do something for your startup. That is a good idea to build a SMART goal with KPIs.(Check it)

2) Prepare yourself for a long journey

Remember, you will not get success in a day. Maybe it will take months or a few years. Please, be sure you are ready to sacrifice your time and really love what you want to achieve. Because it will be part of your life, maybe you will see your team more than your family. Be focused and ready physically and mentally like a lion watching and pursuing its prey.

3) You have limited time

Allocate your work and share responsibility. We will talk about this in the next posts as well. But As Adam Smith said, “Specialization and the division of labor were the most important causes of economic progress. Total output is increased when one worker specializes in one type of activity and trades with other specialized workers,” Focus, focus, and pocus! You will see the gain.

4) Find ways to stay focused and motivated

That is the difficult one. But I did remember the moment when I decided to make this awesome product real. Apply to business incubators/accelerators and competitions. Build more connections. Be friend with good people, mentors, and influencers who gives you positive vibes and help you not for money because they see the potential of your idea or believe in the team and goodness. Also, you provide value for them.

5) Give up – when it’s needed

If you totally feel out of focus and founder burnout, that means you are damaging yourself. Stop it! A startup journey is like a rollercoaster, and in my version, it is something like this:

We will discuss this graph more in the Burnout post. Just to note here, my experience showed if you manage to stay focused, you will go upside and concurrently bring more value. So if you are reading this, I highly recommend subscribing newsletter to read all the steps. So you will not follow the mistakes I made in the last 5 years of experience.

If you encountered any other mistakes with focus, feel free to share them in the comment section.

Congratulations! You nailed it! I hope you find it useful. Have a pleasant day🌻