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Lessons From Y-Combinator: Launching Your Startup Idea

Updated: 18 hours ago

If you’ve got a burning problem that you could turn into a business or want to be entrepreneurial but struggle with how to start then keep reading.

This one’s for you.


Y Combinator summarised how to launch a startup - what they teach in their 3-month accelerator, which we have taken the luxury of breaking down for you into a step-by-step guide.



How To Launch Your Startup

  1. Open a Word document or get an empty notepad.


  2. Write down all the problems that you’ve noticed in your life (note: this doesn’t have to be a personal problem). Try to focus on problems that are reoccurring on a weekly or daily basis (e.g. a person has to figure out how to get somewhere at least x3 per day on average which is why Uber was a great idea).


  3. Rank these problems on how familiar you are with them / how much they irritate you to how little you know about the problems.


  4. Decide the problem you want to solve and commit to it (we will have an article on this in the future).


  5. Look for people who also experience this problem or are entrepreneurially minded. You want around 2-4 people with at least 50% coming from technical backgrounds (e.g. software engineering).


  6. Pitch to them why this problem is significant and needs to be solved.


  7. Save up 1 year’s worth of expenses.


  8. You and your team quit your jobs.


  9. Brainstorm ideas for how you can solve this problem.


  10. Conduct market research for where the problem lies– how much is this market worth? How much will it be worth in a couple of years? How quickly is this market growing?


  11. Identify gaps in the market.


  12. Fill gap in market by providing a solution to the problem.


  13. Build preliminary solution quickly (most important step). 


  14. Set up social media platforms if useful.


  15. Release solution to the public.


  16. Get feedback from the public.


  17. Incorporate feedback from the public.


  18. Repeat the previous steps until a stable product is released.


  19. Get the company registered legally.


  20. Patience. Allow for customers to use your product and decide whether they like it or not.


  21. Get some customers to write testimonials and spread the word. It’s free marketing.


  22. Attend networking events and industry-relevant events to meet new people, especially journalists.


  23. Public Relations should be done by you and is all about building rapport with media.


  24. Pitch a journalist your company and the problem they are solving.


  25. Build relationship with the journalist over a long period of time so they keep writing about you. Do this by keeping them updated on fundraising, new product launches, new significant hires, and new business deals.


  26. When it comes to fundraising, there are two main ways. Firstly, the more you grow (number of users, revenue etc), the more investors will seek you out. This puts you in a very good position.


  27. Ensure your only company expenses are you and your team’s living expenses which are supplemented through your team savings.


  28. The second way involves using your newly built network to get a warm introduction to investors.


  29. Schedule all your investor meetings in the same week. Speed is important when fundraising.


  30. Create hype amongst your investors by making them feel they’ll be missing out if they don’t invest now (FOMO).


  31. Continue to track your expenses. You should be looking to reduce your expenses, not increase them.


  32. Once you fundraise, start to look for new hires.


  33. Ensure new hires are smarter than you for their specific role, more risk-averse and increase the average intelligence of the company. 


  34. Be fair and transparent with them when hiring (e.g. how much stock do they get?).


  35. Hire slow. Instagram sold for $1bn with a team of less than 20.


  36. Repeat steps 9-35 until you’ve become successful.



Do you think there are any steps we’re missing out? Let us know below.


Until next time,


Design Zindagi Team.


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