Aayush Nigam’s Post

1st-time founders: - Fantasize about "million-dollar scale" at $0 revenue - Fail to build a product that solves a problem 2nd-time founders: - Start with a small, targeted user base - Iterate based on feedback It took me years to learn this. But you can access these lessons & more from 50+ exceptional founders today. Read their stories here: https://lnkd.in/ghr64jp9 #startup

Cheering up for them 🎉 🎉 🥂 🥂 . Finding cofounder is NOT EASY. Especially if you are doing first time. No matter how hard you try, finding a cofounder is not easy. We have seen many recent startups like Taplio, TweetHunter, Senja, YouForm doing well with founders having complementary skills. Sharing some good news from our @MicroSaaSHQ community that two founders with complimentary skills pairing up to build new products.

Hard lessons. New directions. Preston Thomas, Matias Gonzalez, and I have changed our startup. We were a little naive going into it last time. We picked a healthy market, with absolutely no experience or knowledge. Figured we could learn anything with enough time. That's probably true. However, you gotta move fast in a startup. Entering a market like that is like shooting yourself in the foot on race day. So we're starting with a problem this time! #startuplessonslearned

Every great startup is born to solve a great problem 🗻 As a startup: Focus on solving 1 problem Focus on just one initial customer segment Don't try to serve multiple use cases that solve multiple problems for multiple customer segments, all from the very beginning Check out how some of the biggest startups did it in their beginnings 👇

Quick tip from Substack Notes: “Your team is your product in early-stage startups. Build slow, hire right. It’s better to have gaps than misaligned hires.”

What is the first job of a startup founder? Getting close to your customers. From discovery phase all the way to closing multi-year deals. Listening to your customers and making product changes based on their behaviour is key. At Intercom, we help you close that gap and become one message away from a customer insight that could propel your startup. If you are a startup, I would highly recommend checking out our early stage startup program which gives you a 93% discount in your first year. 👇 Check out the full offer below👇

🍊 Rare HN nugget: "Build for 10x your current scale ... If you're in a startup that grows 100% per year, you'll be at 8x scale in 3 years. So you'll have time to rewrite as you grow!" #StartupScaling #SoftwareArchitecture #GrowthMindset #ScalabilityMatters #DevOpsBestPractices #SoftwareEngineering #CloudScaling #HighGrowthStartups #TechInnovation #ArchitectureDesign https://lnkd.in/gudEghY5

Getting into YC changed our company's trajectory I wrote a blog post a few months ago about how YC transformed our trajectory (link: https://lnkd.in/gNuSkYPN) It can't be overstated enough. If you're a pre-product-market-fit company, just filling out the application is a worth its weight in gold If you get an interview.. you get a taste for what each office hours in YC is like And if you get in.. There are 3 surprising benefits to YC: 1. YC helps you create a peer-group of founders in the same position as you, which can be an incredibly motivating force 2. Bookface, YC’s internal social forum, is a trove of high quality discourse, and acts as an implicit source of warm intros to other YC founders 3. YC’s Launch pad is great for getting your product in front of lots of startup-minded people And there are 2 things that ended up mattering a little bit less than I thought: 1. Fundraising — it turns out that building a great product and generating revenue far outweigh YC’s brand when raising money 2. YC’s Brand — while useful as social proof, it doesn’t replace the need to have a great product / solve a real problem

Y Combinator is one of the world's largest accelerators. It's a barn of unicorns like Airbnb, Dropbox and Stripe. They are still looking for the next one; it may be yours! Whether you are thinking applying or for the next batch, at The Factory Startup we can help. Follow us to stay in tune! 🙌 #Startup #Accelerator #YC #YCombinator #VC #Unicorn #Funding Check the announcement! 👇

If you're looking to do one good deed today, here you go: Yesterday was a downswing day in our little rollercoaster of a startup. We had one client churning out and another prospect who let us know they decided to go another way. That's why it felt extra good to start this morning with this in my inbox. If you happen to work with an early-stage startup and you like what they do, take 5 minutes to let them know - it will mean the world to them. #StartupLife #PayItForward