From Programmer to Founder

I’ve tried to start my own company and launch a product many times, but I only succeeded after learning these six lessons the hard way. Now, I want to share them with anyone who wants to become a founder of a tech startup.

1. Avoid new technologies

Every programmer I’ve met (myself included) wants to work with the latest technology or trendy framework. However, unless you’re genuinely working on an innovation where new technologies are essential, you should avoid this if you truly want to succeed. Adopting new technologies introduces a learning curve, pulling you away from your primary goal: launching your product. Additionally, new technologies tend to have smaller communities, which means limited support and shared knowledge online. Instead, stick with the tools you’re already comfortable with and that have been reliable in the market for many years.

2. Scalability is not important (yet)

We love to be proud of our services, talking about how well they scale, how we’ve implemented Kubernetes or whatever-fancy-stuff which is out there, and how we’re ready to handle millions of users. But chances are, you’re wasting valuable time building a starship just to visit your neighbor’s house. It’s unlikely you’ll need to manage that level of traffic in the next years. And if you do, good news! You’ll have the budget to refactor and improve things by then. Remember, time-to-market is your mantra; anything that compromises it should be avoided.

3. Pay with money, not equity

You need a designer for your frontend. To save money, you offer them equity. Then, you realize a designer alone isn’t enough and you also need a frontend engineer, so you give away more equity to avoid spending money. This approach is more costly than you think, because equity should be reserved for people with key roles in your company, like co-founders. If a problem can be solved with money, it’s better to handle it that way. Eventually, you won’t regret a decision that’s difficult, if not impossible, to undo.

4. Your team is the key

The founding team is the most important factor in a startup’s success. One common mistake programmers make is starting a project with other programmers, resulting in a team where everyone has technical skills, but no one knows how to sell the product. It’s crucial to have diversity in skills and to find people who complement your strengths. If you lack certain expertise, there should be someone on the team who can fill that gap. Also, consider that you would spend your next ten years with these people, so you should know them really well. Thinking about starting a company on your own? While there are examples of successful solo-founder startups, the chances of success are higher when you have co-founders to share the load and collaborate with.

5. Start from the customer, not the idea

One day, you have your “aha!” moment. You realize you’ve come up with the best idea in the world, one that will change everything—and nobody has done it before. So, you spend months building this amazing app, launch it in the stores, only to discover that nobody is interested in paying for it, or worse, even using it for free. This is one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned. I would never start working on something unless I have a customer who is willing to pay for it. Your first big challenge, as a founder, is getting that initial customer, issuing your first invoice, and going from zero to one. Once you have a customer, you not only know that someone is willing to pay for your product, but you also gain real feedback to shape your product or service and make it truly valuable.

6. Don’t give a f*ck to hype

Forget about the media. Never compare your company or your work with anything you see on social networks or in the news. If a charlatan is featured on the next cover of Forbes, it’s not your concern. There’s a lot of noise out there, and while some founders with ego issues may be showing up in every business magazine, you should stay focused on your work. Nothing should distract you from your goal. Never link success with media coverage.

Now take action.