2023 Founders, how was it for you?

As we wind down 2023, how was it for you and your startup venture? It was the year headlined by generative AI, with applications like ChatGPT and Bard becoming mainstream overnight with rapid user adoption. But for founders with or without an AI element to their startup venture, we saw a number of ‘note to self’ lessons for founders at tsf.tech in the year: the basic, pragmatic, common sense themes still apply.?

Simplicity. Don’t over complicate the early version of your offering, specialsation can sometimes outweigh the allure of being first to market. An easy to use ‘jack-of-all-trade’ streamlined offering often leads to faster initial adoption and market validation.

Founder mindset. The most successful founders are open minded, customer and market led, not product focused. Founders who have a high self-opinion of themselves as ‘knowing what works’ wrap themselves up as ‘entrepreneurs’, a label that has no meaning without market success.

Don’t rest on your laurels. Being agile and active in your target market, proactively adjusting to evolving circumstances, is vital for success, flexibility and quick decision-making can be crucial survival tools. Building trust in you and your product crucial in the digital age. Transparency and honest data representation underpin sustainable success.

Non-tech founders need a lot of handholding. The desire to be a ‘tech founder’ often ends up with spilt milk and tears. This is born from emperor’s new clothes syndrome which simply fails to mask the hype and misplaced confidence.?

Founder’s emotional intelligence is key. Founders with this attribute are inclusive, humble, able to attract talent and build a team; externally, they create trust, engagement, and empathy from customers, building rapport.

Testing. Effective and extensive testing should precede release, ensuring product-market fit and operational viability. A promising early prototype needs a robust operational backbone to transition into a viable product.

Marketing & Sales create the conditions for success. Marketing creates awareness of your innovation in your target market and on the back of this, getting on the radar of potential customers with founder led sales are vital startup activities. Founders that meet potential customers generate opportunities.

Bootstrapping mentality. The past twelve months has shown that attracting investment into your startup is an uphill struggle, and most startups fail to win new funds. The opportunity cost of time, energy, and money can’t be ignored – so chose a bootstrapping growth vector instead. It may take longer, but the research shows successful outcomes can be achieved,

Launching, building, and growing a startup is an inherently challenging endeavour, a wash-rinse-repeat of? successes and setbacks. The startup landscape, with its narratives of remarkable successes and poignant setbacks, offers a wealth of lessons. This brief summary of our experience of 2023 offers a snapshot of ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’. For 2024, we will continue to? help and guide founders navigate the complexities, challenges, and uncertainties, ensuring potential pitfalls are avoided and we act as a catalyst to take their vision and dreams into a reality.