I didn’t sleep for the past 3 nights.
I’ve been building my EdTech startup for two years now, and boy, it’s been a rollercoaster. We pivoted 3 times by now - the last one was a radical pivot in the middle of the summer as the numbers showed that our initial growth hypotheses were wrong.
We’ve been building a new product for the past 3 months. Our goal was to launch the beta app 2 months ago back in early September but due to some technical decisions and unfortunate circumstances, our app was riddled with bugs, and we just couldn’t leave the friend and family alpha testing stage and move to beta. We’re still not on appstore 😭.
This is so frustrating! It’s a complex product, and we’ve built something exciting but things keep breaking down. As a small startup, we try to move fast and ignore code scalability of stability but that has bitten us in the ass.
I know that such valleys and downs are part of the journey and I do my best to embrace “what I can control and what I can’t control” stoic mentality, yet some days it feels like there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
Such moments make you doubt yourself…
You must log in or register to comment.
🤣you thought being an entrepreneur was gona be easy?!that’s why most people prefer to have some comfy job working for someone else
Also in edtech. Also run a startup. It took years to build. This is year 10, but I wasn’t making any kind of substantial money for the first 5 years.
There is another step between “build it” and “they come?” Who knew?
I like to tell the people I mentor it’s sprinting a marathon where you often have to go backwards to go forwards. It’s hard, but if it wasn’t everyone would do it, and the challenge would be different (differentiating vs value creation.)
Staying mentally disciplined is important. Finding the right way to keep pushing ahead is slightly different for everyone but beyond the business aspects includes exercise, healthy eating, and sleep.
Good luck, you got this!
The “secret” is to validate as much as you can, without writing the actual code. It’s not a guarantee in any shape, but will save you lots of money. Try to get some people on the waitlist as soon as possible. If it doesn’t work, it will be every bit as hard to get them to buy/use your product. Pivoting is fine, but always launch and get the feedback as is, instead of delaying. It will allow you to pivot faster. Working on 3 features? Choose one and launch, get the feedback and add the others in the next release. Remember: “Shipped is better than perfect”
Just make sure you continue to put in work in spite of the self-doubt. As self-doubt is a fake state and is absolutely not a fact.
Also, it is normal to have such days. Rest well and get back at what you love to do.
Love & light to you always 🌻
Keep it up. Focus on the long haul. I am the Founder of NoDegree.com. I started it in 2014. I went through so many pivots and business partners and stuck it through. Didn’t make revenue until end of 2019. Things are really coming together just now. Keep at it.
Are you a CEO or are you an “operator”?
It sounds incredibly tough, but your passion and drive shine through. Trust the process and yourself.
How do you pivot exactly?
It’s very tough. Especially when you have no peers. You hope you are making the right choices.
Start simple and stay modular and scalable. Seems you don’t have actual deadline and no customer to tell you to change things. When you are stuck, take a break and you will have better solution when you are rested.
So I joined the startup that I’m in a year and a half ago. Was the 4th person to join and since then we’ve pivoted like three times. We’ve had multiple delays in launches due to techinial problems, getting it on the AppStore was a proper shitshow, and we developed too much without acc thinking of this is what the user needs.
With our current product, one thing we make sure is to building the minimum viable product that we know solves a core problem and then build with user feedback.
More than happy to test out your platform if you need any insights.