Avoid Failure: 3 Don’ts and 3 Must-Dos for Startup Founders

The last two and a half years have been quite challenging for me as I took another shot at launching a startup. This journey began after I won 2nd place in a hackathon organized at the programming school 42 Paris in April 2022. Fortunately, I found my co-founder during this hackathon—these events are great for that!

Our idea was to offer a new donation experience using art and blockchain—yes, the now-infamous NFTs—redirecting revenue generated by the digital art industry towards nonprofit organizations.

In other words, Reskue.art was a marketplace where artists could create NFT art, and each time a piece was purchased, at least 50% of the revenue was directed to a chosen nonprofit organization. We built the product in 2 months and launched it, and then... nothing happened. Our reaction was the typical developer one : "The product isn’t good enough, we need to improve it." We ended up working on new versions. In the end, we launched three versions of the marketplace, none of which succeeded. Our metrics were disappointing: 100 not really active users and €3,000 in revenue. On the other side we were glad to offer visibility and support to over 20 nonprofits, and it was impossible to think about a failure after having spent so many hours with them onboarding them on the platform.

Another explanation I told myself was poor timing, and this was partly true, as we launched just two weeks after the FTX scandal that rocked the market. But honestly, I doubt our marketplace would have succeeded even without the FTX incident.

The reality is this one : we were overly focused on the product without verifying if the market or demand even existed.

I learned a lot from this experience and here are my key takeaways :

1. Don’t Start Coding Right Away! Focus on the Problem First

Identify the pain point you’re solving—that’s what matters and what people are willing to pay for. Ironically, I had been told this, but I didn’t take it seriously because it was so difficult to apply to this product. Ideally, it should be a “hair-on-fire” problem, one so urgent that people are willing to pay immediately. Metrics can quickly indicate if your product addresses this kind of issue.

To continue my story, we eventually decided to diversify our activities to generate cash. We launched Reskue.tech, a team of developers helping startups build tech products. We worked with over 10 startups, generating around €265,000 in revenue. In retrospect, this was the best decision we could have made at the time, as it allowed us to stay afloat and start paying ourselves. But this was no longer a startup; it had become an agency.

2. Don’t Stick to a Project With No Signs of Growth

We continued to invest time in developing Reskue.art, which was extremely time-consuming. In life, you have to choose your battles—you can’t fight them all. Working on one project means less time for others, which ultimately held us back.

There’s an emotional component that clouds rational thinking; it feels like “your baby,” so you find countless reasons to keep going. Only trust the metrics—find evidence of growing or declining interest, then make a decision: continue or stop. Being in-between never works.

3. Don’t Hire People Too Quickly
   Seeing growth on the agency side made us eager to hire junior developers, but it turned out to be a major time commitment. Many clients couldn’t pay us well since we were new to this type of service, and we accepted quite low pricing. When these clients raised funds, they often started hiring internally, even recruiting our team members. That’s how I lost my co-founder, who left for a CTO position at one of our client’s startups after they raised €1.3 million.

I also had to let go of a developer who lost motivation, sensing the failure of our first product. It was a tough decision, as was the decision not to renew contracts when we couldn’t guarantee ongoing work. Avoid rushing this decision; it’s often better to hire one senior developer than three juniors.

Here's what You Should absolutely do when launching your startup:

1. Shift Quickly When It’s Time and Let Go of the Past :

Your first product will likely not be the right one. History shows that pivoting is not only healthy but often necessary for startups. There are countless examples of successful pivots: Twitter, Twitch, and Instagram are prime examples. Twitter started as a podcasting platform called Odeo before pivoting to microblogging. Twitch began as Justin.tv, a general live-streaming service, but found success focusing on gaming. Instagram launched as a check-in app called Burbn but pivoted to photo sharing, which propelled its popularity.

2. Choose a BIG, GROWING Market—Ideally a Niche Within That Market:

Our market intersected web3, art, and philanthropy, so we assumed it was large. The reality? We were focused on a nonexistent market. Time spent identifying your market and gathering metrics is worth far more than any line of code you might write. Run a TAM/SAM/SOM analysis, and check the growth rate before you start coding!

• TAM (Total Addressable Market): The total revenue opportunity available if your product achieved 100% market share.
• SAM (Serviceable Available Market): The portion of TAM your product can realistically serve, accounting for factors like geographical constraints.
• SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market): The share of SAM you realistically expect to capture in the short to medium term, based on your resources and competitive positioning.

3. Use Past Mistakes as a Springboard for Your Next Adventure:

Failure is hard to accept—you face judgment from others, but even more, from yourself. However, unlike the typical European mindset, which often stigmatizes failure, remember that failure is healthy and can be a powerful driver for future success. Many talented entrepreneurs launched multiple businesses and faced incredible failures before succeeding. Whenever you question your legitimacy, think of them.

Consider Walt Disney, whose first animation company went bankrupt, leaving him broke and living in his office. Henry Ford failed twice before succeeding. Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson all faced major setbacks and the risk of losing everything at different points. Their stories remind us that setbacks are often just stepping stones on the path to greatness.