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1,2,(3 45)/6
Building something nobody
wants seems to be the biggest
mistake in the startup game.
I have built something that
nobody wanted. Well, it's not
entirely true. One customer
wanted it badly. Unfortunately, I
based my entire market
research on that one customer.
I mean, it was a worldwide
fortune 500 company! It didn't
succeed.
Do your homework. Do market
research! Ask as many
people/companies as you
possibly can! Don't keep your
idea a secret. No one will steal
it anyway! Prototype in
!"#$"%& ()*"#+,* -,&.$" /012
!""
$%&'( )%('
!"
789 !:
2
PowerPoint and try to sell it. Sell
it plenty then build it! Be self-
honest about those market
research results and don't forget
to read the "Lean Startup by Eric
Ries.
;" <&=&)* 9,,='3
It's no question about it; many of
the articles and blogs about
startups are about not hiring the
right staff. Hiring poorly easily
takes the second place on the
100FirstHits list on startup
mistakes.




3
I was bad at hiring, but lately I
follow two simple questions
before hiring someone:
1.Will this person make the
rest of us better?
2. Will this person fit in, or
complement our work
environment?
If the answer is YES to BOTH
of the questions, it will
probably be a good hire.
>" ?5@A ,B C,@%6
Chaslng shorL-Lerm cash flow
has made me go afLer every
opporLunlLy l ran lnLo many
Llmes over. Many blogs are
wrlLlng abouL LhaL pleaslng
every cusLomer, no maLLer whaL

ConLlnue.
4
Lhey are asklng from you ls a bad
ldea, even lf lL puLs money ln your
pockeL!

locus on whaL ls acLually worklng,
and puL all your efforLs on LhaL.
SLay focused. 8elleve ln whaL you
do unLll Lhe opposlLe ls proven.
D" C5&'&)* 7, EF.@%/.
+5'.6 G H5=A./&)*
EBB.@/&I.'3
8eally, Lhls ls deadly serlous.

I started selling too late. Make
sure to start the sales process
sooner rather than later. With
Dollars you can fix almost
anything.
If you start your sales process
when your product or service is
ready, you are way too late.
90 % of your energy should be
focused on sales and
marketing, at least in the
beginning.

5
J" 1,/ <5I&)* 70. K&*0/
L,MC,%)(.=6
l musL say LhaL l have been falrly lucky
chooslng co-founders for my varlous
venLures.

l have sLarLed buslnesses wlLh 0 - 3
co-founders, my-self excluded, and
Lhe worsL ls havlng no co-founder aL
all.
So far, l have made Lhe mosL money,
and been mosL successful, when
sLarLlng wlLh 3 co-founders, buL LhaL
mlghL change ln Lhe near fuLure !
l Lrled Lo flgure ouL Lhe rlghL number
of co-founders when l dld Lhe
research for Lhls reporL, buL l dldn'L
found Lhe maglc number. Powever, l
found ouL one Lhlng Lhough, never
sLarL alone. SLarL your buslness wlLh 2-
3 co-founders, and choose Lhem well,
cause you'll have Lo bear wlLh Lhem
for a long Llme.
ersonallLy, energy and engagemenL
maLLers more Lhan skllls lL seems.
6
N" L056&)* O)I.6/,=6P
1,/ L%6/,-.=6
lL seems as lf lL's noL only me
LhaL have done Lhls mlsLake, aL
leasL lf you read Lhe web on Lhls
Loplc.
lor a long Llme, chaslng
lnvesLors seemed Lo be Lhe
easlesL way Lo brlng ln Lhe cash
l needed Lo sLarL and grow my
buslnesses.

now l know beLLer.
8ulld up a proflLable cash flow,
generaLlng a solld foundaLlon
wlLhouL Lhe help from buslness
angels or vC's, before you rush
lnLo growLh.
1lp: 8ulld up a small
consulLancy company, wlLh 4-
10 consulLanLs servlng your
local markeL.
Make sure Lo reach a conslsLenL
70-80 uLlllzaLlon level. 1hen,
use Lhe excess money Lo sLarL-
up Lhe buslness of your dream.



7
Q" 1,/ H5A&)* +%=. R,%
<5I. E),%*0 H,).3
Let's face it; mistakes happen!
As a first time-, or even
second- or third time
entrepreneur, it is so easy to
fall into the trap of being a
victim of circumstances, or
being too optimistic on
expectations.

Ive been there, and done that
more than once.
Make sure you always have a
runway of at least six months.
Always expect worst scenario.
Keep track of your cash flow
daily.
S" +T.)(&)* 7,, H%@0
H,).3
For me, this has almost always
been related to hasty hirings, or
bad deals with business angels
loaning you money for
expansions you are not yet
ready for.
Unless you dont need to invest
in heavy machinery or alike,
8
dont pile up debt. Run LEAN.
Try to find another way to finance
your early business. See mistake
Number 6.
U" C5&'&)* 7, V6A C,= <.'T
For a long time I just couldnt
accept that I couldnt do
everything. Its a hard lesson for
me, because if I had realized this
sooner, I would probably have
succeeded with a lot more things.
There are always people more
experienced, skilled and
knowledgeable than you. Find
them and listen to them. I
promise, you will save years of
frustration and hard work.

!:" O*),=&)* +,@&5' H.(&5
Every man is guilty of all the
good he did not do. - Voltaire
uon'L you ever forgeL Lhe
lmporLance of soclal medla.
Conslder: 1wlLLer, Llnkedln,
lacebook, lnLeresL, lllckr,
9
Slldeshare, lllpboard, Coogle+,
8logger, 1umblr, Wordress,
SLumbleupon, and Wlklpedla eLc.
7,T J <.5('&).6 ,) O)/.=)./
Yes, naturally there are
repeated headlines in order of
appearance.



V%/0,=W

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1
V +0,=/ Z.6@=&T/&,) ,B
!::C&=6/<&/6"@,-
Winston Chuichill (1874-196S) once saiu,
"Success is the ability to go fiom one failuie to
anothei with no loss of enthusiasm." Winston
Chuichill was in many ways a wise man, but he
liveu in a time when the Inteinet uiu not yet
existeu.
Touay, people uon't have to make all the mistakes
themselves to leain something, but insteau stuuy
anu leain fiom otheis' mistakes. Inteinet with all
its aiticles, blogs, news, social meuia, viueos,
piesentations, etc. is an excellent souice of
infoimation about the vaiious mistakes that
inuiviuuals, businesses anu oiganizations alieauy
have uone. If you seaich foi "staitup mistakes on
uoogle, the majoiity of seaich iesults aie some
soit of top list of the biggest-, most common
mistakes committeu.
The pioblem with seaiching on uoogle, oi any
othei seaich engine foi that mattei, is that a
seaich queiy like |staitup mistakesj geneiates
about 14 million hits. The iesulting seaich hits
aie a piouuct of uoogle's algoiithms, anu aie
soiteu baseu on how ielevant the content is to
the pages that match the seaich queiy, anu the
numbei of exteinal links pointing to the page in
question, anu how highly iankeu the pages
pointing to the page in question aie, etc., but the
volume of seaich iesults is still oveiwhelming.
You can of couise naiiow uown the seaich iesult
with vaiious opeiatois, time winuows anu othei
tiicks, but you will iaiely enu up with less than
Suu uuu hits on a populai topic, no mattei how
haiu you tiy.

2
Nost people only go thiough the fiist S-8 iesults to
foim an opinion oi euucate themselves about a
topic. The noim is not to leave the fiist seaich iesult
page at all. The question then becomes whethei this
is enough to get a goou pictuie of the knowleuge
you aie seeking oi not.
Aftei much ieseaich anu expeiimentation, oui
answei to that question is N0.
What 1uuFiistBits.com uo is that we go thiough the
fiist 1uu ielevant hits, oi moie, wheie the fiist hit
gets a scoie of 1uu points; the seconu hit gets 99
points anu so on uown to 1 point. Then, we
categoiize all the hits anu sum the scoies foi each
categoiy. Aftei that, we wiite a shoit explanatoiy
text foi each categoiy, anu cieate vaiious chaits,
anu then compile it all into a iepoit fiee foi anyone
to uownloau.
We love the thought of moie people wanting to join
us in this initiative, so that we can piouuce anu
piesent moie iepoits fastei than what aie capable
of touay. The inteiest in oui iepoits is huge!

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