The #1 most important want to learn to do a startup is to start, not learning.
Why start before anything else? Because real experience creates scaffolding to hang your learnings on–it gives you context. Without practice, it’s all just theory.
So, before digging into learn, spend a few hours thinking through this:
- Think of a start up idea: What’s the product/service and who is it for?
- How will you build it? If you can’t code, pick a no-code idea.
- What’s the name?
- How will you get customers?
- How much will you charge?
- Who are your competitors?
- How are you different?
If you’re ambitious, spend a week seeing how far you can get on the above.
Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Ok, it’s been a week. You’ve probably already started learning a bit as you’ve worked through the above. It’s not a lot, but it’s something.
Now, here’s the best way to start learning: Take Y Combinator’s free Startup School online course (here’s an example).
It is self-paced so you can work on your existing idea or start a new one and learn as you go.
โ ๏ธ Warning: DO NOT get stuck in the endless ‘learning loop’ where you think you’ll be ready if you learn just this one more thing by reading this blog post or watching that YouTube video.
The fastest way to learn is by doing, so just start. If you get stuck along the way, feel free to ask ChatGPT or watch a Youtube video as needed, but 80%+ of your energy should be on doing things.