Nick Anisimov’s Post

Many years ago, I heard a phrase that people are not ready to spend five years building their own successful business or starting a new career but are ready to complain about a job they don’t like for the rest of their lives. And this is true. From time to time, I meet people who say they have hated their job for 10 years, but when I suggest they start their own business or change careers, I get a response like: “It’s difficult.”

The most important thing in a startup is not even the idea, the market, or the final product. The most important thing is trust within the team. A startup is always a crystal vase. It's very easy for a startup to turn into ashes. Therefore, if the team trusts and respects each other, you can always find the right market and idea and make the right product. Without trust, there will always be a painful ending.

Let me introduce you to a tool for analyzing your activities. The technique was described by Taiichi Ohno at Toyota Motor Corporation. I truly love this technique, so I decided to share it with you. 🔶 Five whys 🔶 The idea was to constantly answer the question “Why?” This question must be asked 5 times or until the result is obtained. At the same time, some note that if you answer the question consciously, then 3 times is quite enough. Example: 1 Question: why have our sales dropped? Answer: customers stopped buying from us. 2 Question: Why did customers stop buying from us? Answer: Our products are no longer attractive 3 Question: Why are our products no longer attractive? Answer: We do not follow the latest trends. 4 Question: Why don't we follow the latest trends? Answer: We do not conduct market research. 5 Question: Why don't we do market research? Answer: we got carried away with the sales system and needed to remember to adapt the product to the consumer's needs. I think you understand the main idea of the method. I hope you find it useful.

When I launched my first startup, I thought having many employees was cool. When I launched my second startup with many employees, I realized that this is the biggest headache of a founder. Now, I believe there should only be a core team; everything else should be outsourced. btw, I don’t believe in a one-man company; I was seriously ill a couple of times (with hospital and 6-month rehabilitation), and it’s not very cool when your business is in sleep mode while you're ill.

In a book by Richard Branson, I read that your goals must be set with specific dates and numbers. To do this, Richard used his notebook and pen. After 15 years, I responsibly tell you that it works. The outline is the same: pen, notepad, and specific, measurable goals.

Here's a clear example of why a viral post may actually mean nothing. Many experts write that you can build a successful business on viral posts, but for some reason, they don’t like to say that sometimes viral posts can be harmful. I wrote a post on Twitter in 5 minutes because I was in trouble, so it's a classic emotional post. There was no planning. As a result, the post has almost 50,000 views, and I have lost 20 subscribers (the analytics in the screenshot only counts those who have subscribed). Don't chase views. A good discussion in a cozy company is better than a huge viral post with much hate.

I finally got around to LinkedIn Articles, and based on my posts, I wrote a complete guide to launch on Product Hunt based on our experience (Product of the Day). I hope it will be useful for you.

Can anyone say why Apple abandoned the development of its mail at all? Seriously, this is simply the worst email app in every way. At the same time, many people use it, and Apple is famous for its interfaces. What's happening? 🤔

We live in a time when you don’t need to develop an idea for your business. ChatGPT offers you options, writes a business plan, makes a SWOT analysis, and helps you with all questions.

Before you run and emotionally build a startup, calculate the economics of your project to understand how to make money on it and whether it is even possible to make money on it.