Ask HN: What mistake do you regret the most as a startup founder?
I'm still a year into this and want to avoid any potential pitfalls.
Any foresight from more seasoned founders would be highly appreciated. Wanting to avoid potential pitfalls is worthy -- but also realize that you won't avoid them all no matter what you do, so learning how to recover from them is also important. For me, there's only one mistake (out of thousands) that I really regret: I had a company fail following a great success because I didn't start efforts to develop the next product early enough. This meant that when I did, the project became a "bet the company" sort of deal and I lost that bet. Thanks for your answer. Rising up one more time than when one falls is needed for success indeed. So from what I'm understanding, we should never just have one product. What about focusing on one product but then continuously developing it with new features and use cases? > we should never just have one product I believe in never keeping all your eggs in one basket, which includes never having a single source of revenue. It's better to have multiple revenue streams and, if possible, to have them different enough that if conditions turn bad for one, it won't negatively affect the others as much. Even better, if you can swing it, is to have complementary products such that adverse conditions for one are favorable conditions for the other. Diversification is protection. Even if your single product is wildly successful, the world is a fickle place and a successful product can stop being successful faster than you think. I have seen single-product companies succeed for decades, though. What they do instead of having multiple products is to have multiple variations of their product, each sold in a different market segment. Thanks John - it makes a lot of sense, the way you put it.
I guess oftentimes founders (and I'm guilty of this as well) tend to pedestalize their product/company as if it were their own baby (especially if it started out as a "passion project" they'd work on as an escape from their corporate job), and may dread having to diversify. But practicality above all. As you said, "the world is a fickle place". > tend to pedestalize their product/company as if it were their own baby This is a classic mistake! Although 100% understandable. A variation on this is the reason why writers have the saying "kill your babies" -- be wary of that idea that you are really in love with. That love is awesome, but it also can easily blind you to harsh realities. I did want to clarify my earlier comments, though. I think what's important is to have multiple revenue streams. We (and I!) tend to think of revenue streams in terms of products, but it doesn't have to be. Revenue streams can also be returns on investments, apparently unrelated services, or whatever you can imagine. The point is to not get all of your nickles from the same pocket. Thanks for the clarification, John. Totally agree!
Gotta add the "kill your babies" mantra to my philosophy moving forward. Glad to learn something new everyday on here. Thanks! Trying to do everything myself rather than delegating or spending the time on the wrong things... Time management is crucial 100% this is a big one, I'm sure. One big regret I have is not prioritizing work-life balance sooner. I was so focused on growing the startup that I burned out and didn’t spend enough time with family and friends. It’s crucial to find that balance early on—it’s good for both your health and the company’s long-term success. Selecting co founders or key employees only based on what I thought they could contribute in terms of skills or expertise while ignoring red flags about their character flaws. interesting, would you mind sharing what character flaws specifically? and how early did these start to show up?