50 Things Every Startup Should Know

With so much noise out there relative to what’s important in startups, here are 50 things every startup should know, in no particular order.

1. Just do it
2. 99% of decisions aren’t permanent
3. Be slow to hire and quick to fire
4. Measure what you manage
5. Competition isn’t as important as the customer
6. 95% of startups shouldn’t raise money
7. Join a startup peer group
8. The biggest challenge with growth is keeping everyone aligned
9. Price differentiation doesn’t last long but customer service does
10. Market timing is the most important factor for homeruns
11. Empower customers to help sell new customers
12. Create the best environment you can for your team
13. Asking good questions is more important than guessing the answer
14. Build relationships before you need them
15. Always consider the best alternative outcome before beginning a negotiation
16. Consciously balance time working in the business vs working on the business
17. You only get one first impression
18. What you start out doing isn’t likely where you’ll find success
19. Get the corporate culture right and everything will fall into place
20. The best exit strategy is to not need one
21. The biggest enemy of websites is the browser Back button
22. Recurring revenue is the best form of revenue
23. Don’t burn any bridges as it is a small world
24. Build a niche brand and curate all aspects of it
25. Pivoting and iterating is healthy in a startup
26. Always ask for a discount
27. Your idea isn’t unique
28. Sharing your idea with others will lead to benefits you can’t predict
29. Keep it as simple as possible
30. People identify with companies more so than products
31. It’s worth paying a professional (lawyer, accountant, etc) to do it right the first time
32. Set goals and adapt to changing information
33. Storytelling is more powerful than marketing
34. Most startups initially price their product/service too low
35. Make time to think
36. Focus on rhythm, data, and priorities
37. Develop offline analogies to describe your startup
38. Companies aren’t just about profits
39. Celebrate the small victories
40. Play to your strengths
41. Be opinionated about your product when considering customer suggestions
42. Know why you’re different and clearly articulate it
43. Don’t develop products in a vacuum
44. Regularly communicate with employees, customers, investors, and the community
45. Remove friction for all stakeholders
46. Absent information people make up reasons
47. It is difficult to concentrate on more than three things at any one time
48. Employees are the most important stakeholder
49. No plan is perfect
50. Consume the startup but don’t let it consume you

What else? What other items would you add to the list?