OMG Digital Magazine | 313 | Thursday 14 June 2018 • PAGE 22
Business
How to Build Your Startup
Without Hiring A Single Person
Expectations have never been higher — not just from investors but from talented people , too . Here ’ s how to create your way into business .
Ten years ago , I raised money with a PowerPoint presentation . Today , the expectations of investors are much higher . Investors want to see working products with paying customers before writing you a cheque .
But what should you do if you ’ re a non-technical founder with no way of building your idea yourself ? Recruit a team ? Hire a freelancer ? Beg friends and family for their savings ? I was in your situation five years ago . Here ’ s the path I took : Sleepless in San Francisco
Five years after my first venture , I moved to San Francisco to pursue a new startup idea . I prepared my PowerPoint and went optimistically to investors . This time , the track record and pitch deck weren ’ t enough — they wanted to see a team with a prototype .
When I started looking for a technical co-founder , I quickly learned that competition was fierce . With new business resources available online , many technical founders wanted to work on their own startup ideas . So after months of fruitless networking and pitching , I took fate into my own hands .
If my vision was going to become a reality , I needed to learn how to create it myself .
Empowering yourself as a non-technical founder Over the last five years , it ’ s been my mission to acquire any creative skill that can help me build my businesses . This has included coding , design , and email marketing .
Many new entrepreneurs ask me whether they should learn to code . While I recommend that everyone understand the basics of coding , there are other creative skills that you can acquire that give you faster returns :
1 . Build and test wireframes Wireframes are a simplified version of your product design consisting of boxes , lines and simple text . I use Sketch to create wireframes . It ’ s easier to use than Photoshop so if you can already use PowerPoint or Keynote , you ’ ll be fine . I transfer the finished designs to Invision in order to create a clickable prototype . Seeing how real people react to these basic designs helps me better understand their needs .
2 . Design high-fidelity prototypes Once you get the hang of wireframing , it ’ s not a huge leap to add colors , fonts , and images to make the design more functional . I take inspiration from the design of other products and use resources like The Noun Project , Colour Lovers and Unsplash to help me achieve a professional look . Then , I use Invision to get feedback on the visual designs and iterate .
3 . Write better copy Can ’ t everyone write ? Sadly , not . Good writing takes a lot of practice and there are lots of tricks of the trade — like using concrete nouns , powerful verbs , and vivid metaphors . “ On Writing Well ” by William Zinsser was the first book on writing that I read . I ’ ve since gobbled up many more , including those from the father of advertising , David Ogilvy .
4 . Create a landing page With a basic foundation of design , I was able to build my personal website in Wix in just a day or two . These days , you ’ re spoiled for choice for website builders with Squarespace , Leadpages , Instapage — just choose one and learn it thoroughly . Building landing pages helps me validate new ideas and by seeing if people actually sign up .
5 . Learn email marketing Email is easily the most undervalued skill in tech today . Think about it . Most businesses couldn ’ t survive if they couldn ’ t use email properly . We all write hundreds of emails a week but email marketing is an art . The ability to cultivate a readership for your new business idea is extremely valuable . I use MailChimp — it ’ s cheap and covers the basics .
Simplification is key When you start learning Spanish , you can ’ t use fancy words like “ delectable ” to describe your fish taco . So you make do with “ good .” Similarly , you ’ ll need to simplify your solution to something that you can actually build .
To find a simpler solution , first , write out the need that your solution addresses . Next , brainstorm 15 different solutions that would also solve that need . Don ’ t worry about scalability … just keep going until you figure out a solution that you can build quickly . In other words , marry the problem — not the solution .
Creativity is your competitive edge If you want to win as a founder in 2017 , you need to be able to create something . When money gets tight , founders that can ’ t create are more likely to get desperate and make bad decisions like hiring the wrong person or committing to a product that isn ’ t working .
I believe that learning creative skills will also make you a better leader . There is nothing more humbling than seeing your design confuse users , getting critique on your copy , or seeing your emails open rates . Understanding the struggle of creation from the inside will help you as you scale your business .