Everyone has their own idea of life at work. Somebody feels comfortable working as a hired employee, and somebody's soul is more focused on their own business. There are a lot of risks in one's own business, especially if we talk about modern digital business.
On the one hand, its sales are boundless, and may be limited only by the lack of the Internet. But on the other hand, digital products are not clear to everyone, it is impossible to touch.
I started my first digital project in 2014. When I started my first product startup, I already had a small consulting firm that was actually my investor.
I remember how scary it was. There is consulting, it is clear. It is clear that there is a BPO (outsourcing) market, you work in the field of B2B, provide services. Your annual turnover in money is very much dependent on the number of your employees, as you sell work hours and working days.
But what is a product? How to sell it? It is a point solution to a problem, how can you understand who needs it?
For some reason I chose the field of artificial intelligence. I had two themes in my head, sound or video. I decided to start with sound.
My idea was to make a synchronous subtitle application. In 2014, there weren't many such systems. But everything is in English, and I would like not to miss a single word.
And what if there are business negotiations or court proceedings? We need a stenographer, and this is money. My application would solve this problem.
What have I learned?
Well, that's what I stopped at. Made the first call to a friend, a specialist in mobile development. I offered him to become a co-founder. He laughed and said that I would check how Google services work and that it was a game for big guys.
It was my first lesson right away. Any idea that arose must be validated at least minimally. Take at least 3-5 key requests and check at least the first 3 pages of Google.
Looked, yes, there are competitors. Not everything is as good as I thought it would be the first time. But on the other hand, and the market then big. I started looking for a partner further. Since I already had a company at that time, I was in various chats of entrepreneurs, where they shared their advice and experience.
My message about an interesting project was answered by 3 people. Two people said that we are selling this boy here for money. It's called MVP development. Go read books.
And the third one said I was curious. Let's talk. About a week later, we met in another city. We sat down in the office and started talking. I told him about my plans for a long time, maybe 4 hours.
Strangely enough, for some reason, he was writing me on the phone the whole time. I suggested to him that I would be an inspirational inspirer and find an artificial intelligence specialist, and he would find mobile developers. We also agreed that in parallel, the two of us will be looking for an investor.
It is time for the second lesson - no agreement in words and without taking at least minimum obligations is not considered an agreement.
I left happy, it seemed to me that I coped 100% as a salesman. As I have received an honest word that to me will find mobile developers yes also investors will throw up.
Back home that same night, I sent him all my business plans and ideas.
But the answer from the other side did not follow. Nobody answered me anymore, there were no developers and no investor either.
It wasn't until 2 weeks later that I decided to check who was the person I was talking to at all. I found him in LinkedIn, and it turned out that he was just a Business Developer, a junior level. Of course, he didn't have any contacts with investors or the development team, as his experience at the time was only 8 months.
The third lesson is, before you negotiate, do your opponent's analyst. This will at least help you not to get into this situation, but at most to ask more correct questions if the person you are targeting is your business.
I myself started looking for a team for the implementation of the project. I walked through local universities, where I was safely rejected by everyone. I started my round with the management of universities. Everywhere I was asked to confirm the availability of funding for the project. Then I decided to go directly to the executors, i.e. scientists. From the first time I got on the person who said that he was interested and he was ready to help. Agreed. Now I was already more prepared, prepared a contract written on my knee and an agreement on commercial secrecy. We started to make a test example. About 3 weeks later, I received a model that could recognize something and the developer's answer. To create something adequate it takes 1 year and a team of 3 people.
The next lesson is to study the competitors. Study how much time they spend developing solutions and what kind of capital is behind it.
I realized that I don't have enough money, I haven't done any analysis and analysis. Nobody answered my mailing lists about the search for an investor. I decided not to develop this idea further. And it was probably the right decision in this story. The final lesson that this project has brought me is that you should be able to cope with your failure.