For what its worth- my first steps when I come up with a 'killer' idea.<p>1.) Wait a week- if still excited about it go to 2.<p>2.) Discuss with my other half. As a non-techy she'll often have a very different view on things which is invaluable.<p>3.) Find and purchase a domain, and put up a sign up page based on a cheap theme.<p>4.) Buy some impressions from Adwords - this is enough to give me an idea of if anyone is already looking for what I want to build, and if they are get me some email addresses.<p>5.) Talk to prospects found in 4.)<p>6.) If still convinced its a good idea, I might start writing some code.<p>It is so easy to get going with writing code straight away, rather than thinking about whether you have any customers and how you're can reach them. The above approach has saved me many months of wasted effort, and found me a number of lucrative niches!
This is a matter of regional vocabulary, and the local cultural expectations that go with it.<p>You ask any aspiring developer in Silicon Valley what they're working on and it's always "oh yea, I have a startup I'm trying to get off the ground on weekends."<p>In Toronto, there's a very vibrant startup community, but back there we call them "side projects". Really same idea but the word "startup" means something rather different than a few kids eating ramen. There are plenty of freelancers who band together into a consultancy and have a couple of startuppy products they're working on together. Effectively a bootstrapped team working towards a unified vision, but they'll still be shy about calling it a startup.<p>I suspect a lot of this has to do with the investor and acquisition community. As someone who moved down to Silicon Valley from Toronto, I was very uncomfortable calling what I did a "startup" up until I was raising funding or entertaining acquisition opportunities. It just sneaks up on you when it's an option, and these options hardly exist in Toronto.
I agree with this for the most part but I don't think incorporating is that much of an issue. I can't speak for the US but in Germany it takes about 5 hours to form a company (UG similar to a LLC or Ltd.) and it costs about 100 or 200 EUR. With a company in place you have peace of mind for all the co-founders and nobody has to worry about getting screwed over if everything is notarized and on paper.
Creating a company forces you to think about who owns what, who is and isn't vesting and how they vest. It raises other conversations like who _does_ what and what value each person contributes.<p>The post says: "Just if things are going well you’ll create the company and build the structure of it."<p>This is the worst time to start the conversation about all the above.<p>I've been exposed to bitter disputes between company owners (not my company) about equity ownership and you can't possibly imagine how nasty things can really get.<p>These problems are not an issue when there is no pie yet, just the pan you plan to bake the pie in. Who cares about dividing that up. But pretend your business starts generating $100,000 per day in cash in the bank. Now ask yourself "who owns what?".<p>You may think you know your co-founders and co-owners well, but most people are unable to predict how they themselves will react in many situations, so don't assume you can.<p>My apologies if this post comes off as negative. Creating a company and watching it grow is one of the most exciting and rewarding things you can do, and it's so much more fun when you have co-founders and investors to share your success with. So to keep it fun, have the hard conversations when they're easy to have.
> Set a deadline of 2-4 weeks to ship the first version of the product.<p>I blame this kind of mentality for much of the derivative rubbish the startup ecosystem is polluted with. We don't need any more photo/video sharing, link voting, or file sending apps.<p>I'm all for validating assumptions early, but some ideas (the ones that matter) are much, much bigger than 4 weeks to an MVP.<p>Incidentally,<p><a href="http://paulgraham.com/ambitious.html" rel="nofollow">http://paulgraham.com/ambitious.html</a>
What I don't understand from your article is what exactly you're asking one not to do. I like all your recommendations, but I think incorporating and getting some proper legal and financial guidance (i.e. tax implications) is important too. But aren't you technically a "startup" at that point? Does a StartUp need office space etc to be qualified as one?
Great post!
But actually, there are no ideas that are good enough to pass all the tests. And every ideas need small innovations that we all should come up with. And to come up with small innovations, we have to tacle the idea seriously. So, I think most important thing is just doing it. But we should not start it with others' money, if possible.