Startup lessons from Silicon Valley

Don't get sidetracked

It's very possible that any idea you have will evolve and mature with time. As you start working on it, you'll come up with new features, uses, and interesting ways to present it to the customers. Thing is, it's easy to get caught up in what might or might not be. Have a definite target for your product. What is the core problem that you want to solve? Stick to nailing that before anything else.

Burnt bridges can't help you

You won't get along with everyone, but in the startup world, your needs come before personal woes. The sooner you understand this and accept it, the better. Whatever it is you don't like about someone or something, don't get worked up and ruin relationships. You never know how you might need help from an enemy you made ages ago.

K.I.S.S (Keep it simple, stupid)

You've probably heard this before from industry specialists and countless articles that talk about taking an idea from bare bones to product launch. Spoiler alert: Remember Pied Piper's first version in the latest season? It was so complicated and packed with options that users who weren't tech-savvy could barely figure it out. That is how you can turn a great idea into a horrible product. Most people don't want a platform that can be tweaked a lot—they want one that'll do the tweaking for them.

Don't overestimate your valuation

It's hard to properly evaluate what your idea is worth. And it's tempting to go overboard because seeing your brainchild not getting what it deserves is painful. But wrong evaluations that overestimate your business will not help you with investors or acquisitions. Knowing what your numbers are, no matter how hard they are to accept, tells a lot about how much you know about the industry.

Monitor your burn rate

Cool startup offices and perks are cool. Free lunch? Super soft bean bags in the corner? iMacs for all the copywriters? You name it! Sadly, that stuff we call money, runs out. Don't get overwhelmed by awesome ways to make your business stand out before you have a functional product and financial goals set. No one will care about how amazing your office is if you don't have customers who bring in the moolah.

Not every investor is right for you

It's important for you to select an investor who's in sync with your vision. Legal issues and all considered, you have to listen to the one who pays the bills. And if your goals are completely different, it's probably going to end in a disaster. Just because someone is willing to give you money does not mean that they are the right source. Make sure you are transparent about your roadmaps and targets.

Keep at it

Look, startups aren't easy. No one ever said they are. It's okay to fail and stumble and make mistakes. You'll plan things down to every tiny detail and things will still go south at the last moment. But that's happening to every business out there. The ones that make it, the ones that come up as "successful" are the ones that don't quit. When you get hit and feel like giving up, take that one last step, every time. Microsoft came out of that disaster of an OS called "Windows Vista", you'll do too.