What is a startup?
First, let’s clarify what a startup is:
From this definition we can understand that startup should solve a problem. Do you know what’s the problem of many startups? They do not solve real problems. They make problems. They make problems for their users, customers, partners,… I have worked in a startup that made problems. The startup didn’t solve any real problem. The “startup” was an e-commerce solution for selling discounted goods. It was not just an ordinary e-commerce where a user can choose from many items. There were only 3 items at a given time on the screen. The items contained title, image, description, price and a button for freezing price. The price was falling down continuously and when it felt down to a certain value, the item was replaced by an advert for 6 seconds and then was replaced by another item. It looked really cool and it was cool to build it. We copied the idea from droptilyoushop.com and we run it in Czech republic.
We had been building it for 5 months. We launched it and we failed. The main issue was with acquiring new customers. We were not able to earn enough money after a few months because we didn’t have enough customers. We didn’t have any marketer in our team. That was the main fail. But beside this, I realized that it was not the true startup by definition. It was garbage. We didn’t help anybody in fact. We didn’t solve any problem. I realized that many startups are garbage. They don’t help anybody. I have built a few useless applications that didn’t help anybody.
Startups should help
I have realized that I want to help to make this world to be a better place to live. I want to build something that will help someone. I have decided to teach people to code because there is a shortage of people in IT. I have decided to create a Web development school where I will make web developers from regular people. How will it help to make this world better? That’s a good question. Many people have ideas in their heads but they don’t have skills to bring the idea to life. Once they learn to code, they will be able to build something cool that can help people. They can learn to code by themselves but the Web development school will speed up the process. My web development school also helps companies to find good quality web developers.
Will your project help?
If you have an idea in your head, ask yourself these questions: “Does my idea solve a real problem? Will my project help someone? Will it make this world better?”. If you answered “yes” to all the questions, congratulations. You have an idea that can be labelled as a startup idea. Try to bring this idea to life to make this world better. If you don’t have a team, you can and should try to do it yourself. You will find the right people who will help you with your project later. Trust me. I have started building CoderMania without a team and random people offered me help later when they saw that the project is cool and helpful.
An idea is still just an idea. Execution is the secret ingredient of success. Just start.