I’m sitting on a bench and don’t have any clue about my future.

My boyfriend and I entered the startup world around 4 years ago. He’s the technical co-founder, and I’m non-technical. We secured two investments but pivoted multiple times and couldn’t achieve profitability. We earned some money in those 4 years, a total of around 250k.

Now, we’ve decided to completely pivot and do something else. We believe we can’t be successful in the current industry; it’s extremely challenging, with few competitors, and users expect everything for free. Our ARPU was less than a dollar ☹️

Fortunately, we still have around 1 year of runway, which is good. We could try new ideas, but we have barely any motivation left. One day we’re on a hype train, thinking we’ve found a profitable problem, and the next day, we’re feeling blue because we realize it’s a hard barrier to entry.

What should we do? We’re both super lost. Should we go into communities we’re interested in, build a network first, and then start another startup? Or what?

We know two things - we don’t want to return to a 9-5 job, and we super enjoy working with each other.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

  • BigPlunk@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Finding focus and sticking with it is key. Something I’ve learned this past couple of years is how easy it is to get distracted and chase too many things at once, which dilutes the potency of your efforts.

    • Focus on one problem that you’re solving through your offering (or some related ones all solved via the same solution)
    • Focus on one channel at a time for generating sales (e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook, Google ads, partnerships). Avoid trying to build simultaneous followings on multiple social media platforms. Do one well, grow that audience and then use that audience to build audiences on other platforms once successful.
    • Use the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid). Don’t try and boil the ocean or do too many things at once. Don’t create complex products, services, and offers. The more simple the concept/idea, the better.
    • Know what your target customer looks like and write it down (if B2B: (org size, location, sector, key org challenges, different personas (champion, buyer, decision-maker) etc., if B2C: key demographics/ideal persona profile)
    • Do extensive research until you intimately understand your ideal customer (i.e. you should be an expert on the customers you’re serving and know them better than they know themselves), the struggles they’re having, the motivators, the needs, etc.
    • You can do 1:1 outreach via social media and conduct interviews with your target customers/personas by coming at it from a position of curiosity, rather than a sales pitch. For example: “I’m founder of CompanyXYZ and I’m trying to better understand the challenges you’re having with X and how we can help you overcome them as quickly as possible”
    • Create content focused on your key customers/personas with the aim of maximizing value for them. Educate them, help them better understand their own pain points and how they can be solved, give away lots of valuable information for free to show customers you’re not just showing up with your hand out, but you’re investing in them with valuable content.
    • Create and test some high-value offers that focus on helping them achieve their ideal outcomes in the shortest amount of time possible to alleviate their pain points/bring them pleasure and give them almost no reason to say “no” as a result of the value you’re offering. Try different variations of time-boxed offers and/or limited supply/availability. Use landing pages to test ideas with your target audience via small ad buys on your sales channel of choice. Keep the landing pages simple with a key message and/or offer, measure your success via analytics, and invest more in the offers/messages that resonate best.
    • Delight your customers, get testimonials/success stories about your products/services, be bold and ask for referrals from your happiest customers

    In terms of how to overcome the burnout/stagnation piece, have you considered:

    • Seeking another founder with a fresh view and new perspective on things
    • Engaging an experienced business or performance coach/advisor to look at things objectively, gain an understanding of your business, and provide objective advice
    • Taking a bit of time away to cool your brain off, gain fresh perspective (ideally in a setting that’s away from where you’ve been working/living during this business - a change in scenery has a cool way of igniting new ideas and perspective
    • Pivoting the approach/offering you’re currently finding some success with rather than starting over completely - is there a win by simply changing the offer, pricing, approach, etc. here rather than the direction itself?
    • Looking for inspiration from solid business podcasts (Masters of Scale is excellent, Huberman is also fantastic), books, videos, online courses

    I know my comments aren’t 100% focused on the problem you discussed, but wanted to throw the ideas out there in hopes of sparking ideas/inspiration. If you and your partner have been the only ones looking at the business and business problems you’re facing, you could likely benefit from a fresh perspective. On a final note, if you look at the frustration and discomfort you’re feeling right now as a positive, in that the biggest wins and the greatest professional and personal growth comes through discomfort. Those negative feelings are your brains activating, developing new pathways and seeking solutions. There’s an exciting path on the other side of those feelings, regardless of the specific business outcomes.

    I’m not selling anything directly or indirectly here and have no agenda other than knowing that it sucks to be a founder that feels like they’re stuck/against a wall. I’m actually mid-major pivot myself on my entrepreneurial journey and am loaded up on discomfort and excitement. Feel free to ping me if you’d like to do some brainstorming or just share war stories from the startup trenches. Totally up to you of course. I hope something I’ve said brings you some value and wish you all the best on your startup journey.