100 random things I learned after building 10+ startups

It’s been more than a decade since I started building different tech products. Some of them were with bigger teams, others with a few people. Some of them succeeded - some failed for good. However, some things they taught me… were actually the same. So here’s a list of completely (really - entirely) random things that I feel like I know now.

1. Testing is key - you might think you have the best idea ever, but in the end, only the user will tell you what works & what doesn’t.
2. Quality comes second - while it’s important, there’s no need to overthink, as you might have to drop everything you’ve done so far and start working on a new concept.
3. No one uses that ping pong table that’s shown in every startup work announcement.
4. Don’t dwell on mistakes or misfortunes, learn your lessons and do it better next time.
5. Influencer marketing is a gamble.
6. The travel industry is a lot more complex than an average holidaymaker might think.
7. Users have high expectations - even for a free product.
8. Workations are the best form of team building.
9. People will call everything they don’t understand a scam.
10. Brainstorming sessions are a lot more fun and productive when done in person (and maybe when there’s wine).
11. A little praise for a well-done job can go a long way.
12. Coffee, sweets, beer & wine - 4 things to boost employees' motivation & increase the number of work-from-office days.
13. People (users/customers) are very set in their ways, and it’s hard to change their habits, which makes breaking a new product into any market very challenging.
14. A higher seniority level doesn’t necessarily make for a better team.
15. When working with influencers or bloggers, check which known brands have been working with them long-term. It means they’re selling it & it’s worth investing.
16. The weekly team meets help everyone stay updated with product updates from various departments.
17. Users have an insanely short attention span - you need to prove to them that your product is worth their attention in seconds.
18. Simple but constant “let’s go, everything will be fine, we will solve this” is a much more useful motivation tool than a spoiled office.
19. Hiring people with varied skill sets, rather than focusing on what’s required for the position, improves overall workplace agility.
20. Do not spend 3 days on an article you want to pitch to the press. Write it up when it’s asked for - you’ll save a lot of precious time.
21. Morning stand-ups (15-min meetings) to catch up is the best thing that could happen for smaller teams.
22. An in-house team is better than an outsourced one (at least in our case).
23. You will have to knock on a million doors until you get one to open.
24. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it - looking at you, Google Analytics.
25. Persistence is often another key.
26. Prices for hotels vary depending on whether you’re viewing the website on a computer or a mobile device.
27. Influencer pricing strategies are a mess.
28. Whatever you’re inquiring for FOLLOW-UP. 2 to 3 times max. To some, it’s spammy, to others, it might be the reminder they needed. Bet on the latter.
29. Change blog headlines every once in a while & notice the traffic tendencies. You’ll see what performs and what doesn’t.
30. Explain your product to potential customers as if they were 4 years old.
31. Nowadays, satisfied workers are the ones who have their freedom and feel trusted.
32. Test, test, test - if something worked once, it doesn’t mean that it will work again, and vice versa.
33. Make your copies as short as possible unless it’s a blog post. Or an Indie Hackers post.
34. Give ChatGPT a try if you’re stuck at something. What do you have to lose? Maybe it will offer something you haven’t thought of.
35. You need to admit when something’s not working and when to give up - essentially, don’t keep working on trying to improve something that has low value.
36. Sharing your successes publicly will motivate you to keep going!
37. Not posting but engaging is essential when trying to grow your audience on any social media. Who cares how good your posts are if there’s no one to read them?
38. Always be ready. Even when it seems that everything’s going super well already, there’s a 98% chance that it will go down behind another corner.
39. An animal-friendly office is a good idea because happy employees are a good idea.
40. Try out Tiktok - if you won’t find your audience there, at least you’ll have fun.
41. Sell & advertise your product everywhere you go - you never know when’s your lucky & fateful timing.
42. RatePunk is the best travel tool (see what I just did there 👆, just like that wink)
43. Any entrepreneur would answer that fun & pain can be a match.
44. Giving more work to one person (or to yourself) often results in it all being delivered at the same time as giving only one-third of that work. If you have more to do, you do more.
45. Free Slack version is enough for most of the functions you might need - don’t overpay.
46. Don’t rush to monetize your product.
47. Utilize Facebook groups, just don’t be too straightforward. A few roundabouts will do its job and not get you thrown out.
48. The grosser the ad, the better it performs.
49. To press, sell your knowledge, not your product. You’ll get coverage and, sometimes, even do-follow links more often and quicker.
50. Putting all of your eggs in one basket is a mistake - even when one thing works very well, don’t quit on others. You never know when it’s going to change.
51. Marketing is not the second name of Superman - it will never sell a product if it’s not filling in a certain gap in the market.
52. Jumping on trends on time is essential. Especially with social media and blogs - the sooner you cover it, the higher you come up in Google search.
53. Share your struggles with like-minded people. Sometimes one comment can give you the needed answers & new ideas that will push you forward.
54. Test even the most stupid thought that crosses your mind.
55. Try out OnePitch. It’s a free platform that finds the perfect journalists according to your pitch.
56. Get your tracking right - if you don’t know where your installs are coming from, you don’t know what you do right and where you’re wasting your time.
57. Don’t write about any topic that comes to mind on your blog. Get the keyword system - it’s one of the only ways to get your content in front of the public.
58. Have a creator’s guide when working with influencers - your product is not that clear to others & you need to emphasize the main thighs to mention.
59. It’s crucial to send an accurate product message. You might lose potential clients by emphasizing the parts of your product that are not so important.
60. Risk - that’s another keyword of every startup.
61. To grow your Twitter audience, follow people who follow the brands you compete with. Let them know you’re there & you have more to offer.
62. Share your journey on Indie Hackers - it’s your way to find people who’re facing the same ups & downs, get advice & find solutions, and learn from others’ mistakes.
63. Top-notch customer support is one of the very first steps to a successful product. Invest in it.
64. Completely random audiences that are unrelated to traveling are the best ones for a travel product.
65. Personalize everything you do - no one gives a damn about communication that seems to be written by a bot.
66. Getting bored of your own product happens every once in a while.
67. Even if the market of your product seems to be very obvious, look further. If you can sell it in travel, maybe it has an angle that might seem interesting for people in tech or finance.
68. Use face-to-face calls for important collaborations. It makes the process quicker and easier for both sides.
69. Travel market is hard to get into because it’s very conservative and could be named a major duopoly.
70. Re-share everything you write on Medium.
71. Upload your press releases even to the shittiest-looking press release distribution websites. Any audience may be THE audience.
72. Be transparent. Even the whitest little lie to push a product may ruin what you’ve built later, and it’s not worth it.
73. Sharing your behind-the-scenes puts any product closer to its current or potential user.
74. There’s no problem that’s unsolvable - all of them are temporary.
75. Be funny, honest, straightforward - everything but not something that can be copy pasted from any other advice page.
76. The product won’t die without you. Take your time off because burnout will eventually come. And that’s no fun.
77. Even the smallest changes can have big outcomes.
78. Being flexible and learning different skills pays off in the long run.
79. Your social media accounts might get suspended or blocked every once in a while. But it’s no big deal.
80. There are situations where quantity is more important than quality. Don’t be harsh on yourself for that.
81. Don’t try to solve everything by yourself - always ask for advice from others.
82. Trust your gut. If you feel that it’s time to quit or relaunch some project - do so.
83. Always keep an eye on your competition.
84. Testing will make it work in the end.
85. Sometimes, the problem is not your product - it can be simply bad timing. Like launching a travel product in the middle of a COVID pandemic ( all 👀 on me).
86. Doing everything by yourself is almost never the best option.
87. TikTok algorithms are annoying.
88. Having less time often results in doing more.
89. If your audience is worldwide, later work on adding more languages than only English. It will add a touch of care.
90. Make sure to share positive feedback you get for your future users to see.
91. Don’t hold on to the vision you had when starting a project too much - adapt it according to your users' needs.
92. LinkedIn is a useful platform to share your progress, build in public, exchange ideas, and see what’s happening around you.
93. It’s legal to run out of ideas at some point.
94. The number of negative & nonsense comments under ads is usual. And it doesn’t mean the product is bad.
95. The BENEFITS, not the product's features, are what SELLS it.
96. The features of your product aren’t as clear to others as they are to you.
97. An A/B test only gives good results if you’re testing only one specific change, not a few.
98. Trends change in a second.
99. At first, getting backlinks and not content is the ingredient to success in reaching bigger audiences.
100. Btw, did I mention testing?

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And that’s pretty much it. If you came all the way here, it would be a shame if you didn’t share what you’d add to this list. 👇