Building a startup - 1. Expectation & self-awareness
Tags: startup, blogging, career, business
Published: 2019-08-21 21:38:14

# Something to know before you go through

## Who am I and why do I write this
Over the last 6 years, I have been involved in multiple startups adventures (some of them being successful, some of them still fighting, and some of them being already dead and buried).
I had the privilege to wear different types of shoes: developer, product manager, founder, shareholder. During this period, I have accumulated a large spectrum of knowledge which I want to share with you in a post series. This is post series is representing an honest and sometimes sarcastic personal opinion that might help you in your adventure.

## What this series will contain
I will cover multiple aspects required in a startup from philosophical to technical and business-related, buckle up it will be a hell of a journey.

## Was I successful? Should you read this?
Well, what does success mean to you? If you think that success is to fly private jets, drive sports cars and date superstars, this post series might not be for you. I didn't have that type of success.

For me, success was represented by the opportunity to be thrown in the middle of the battlefield with a wooden stick, and to fight my way through while learning as much as possible from this from different domains (both technical and business-related). 

If you are a developer who wants to start a business, this post is for you.

## You need motivation

A startup as any business is not an easy thing to build, don't get fooled by the success stories that reach media, those are just the tip of the iceberg, that made it through the surface.

Building a startup is hard, and is not just a weekend coding activity. If you cannot invest sweat and tears, maybe this is not for you, and maybe you should focus your free coding time to make the world a better place by producing open source.

The reality is that is difficult to build simple products and is damn hard to build complex products, and is impossible to know which product is simple or not. 
Yeah, it makes no sense right? Well, come to the dark side, we have cookies ... and chaos.

You work in a large well-organized company, you cannot perceive that there is life after SCRUM meetings, JIRA cards, and whatever makes enterprise product development being enterprise product development. 
The reality is that you have to embrace the chaos now, don't fight it, this is the way to go. 
The reality is that you have an idea, you don't have too much money, but you have a good skill set that will be challenged and pushed to the limits. What you need is to have the passion and to be motivated to make it happen.

## "Startups don't die because of money but because of passion"

Startups die because of both, but in the first phase, believe me, or not, money is not so important as long as you have some financial personal stability and the passion to continue, as I told you, it cannot be a weekend activity. 

## Prepare to learn
Maybe in the first year of your adventure, you will have to learn more than you expect. This might be frustrating since you have an idea and you know how to code, my friend this is not enough. 
To make it more easy for you, consider learning as a vital part of your product development. You will be developing yourself at the same time you develop your future product. This is one of the most exciting things which the startup world offered me.

## Love what you're doing
If your product is the last thing you think at night and the first thing that comes in your mind in the morning, that means that you have some passion in your blood, and this will push you through the rough waters.

Have you made it so far? 
Stay tuned ... more will come