Automagic’s Post

I'm going back into startup mode. Pitch deck and all, but more on that later. As we built this business, we accidentally carved out a small niche in a vast market, largely because we had to: → Focus on survival. → Bootstrap with limited resources. → Keep our heads down, unable to look beyond the immediate. But as our business stabilized and we began to plan our evolution and next steps, a few things became crystal clear: → There’s untapped potential in our market. → Timing couldn't be better for what we've built our skills around. → No one else is better positioned to seize those opportunities than we are. And that's exactly what we're doing. So I'm diving back into the foundations: → Customer development. → Business model refinement. → Feedback, iterations, and all. This time around, I’m aiming to avoid the same old mistakes. But I'll surely be making new ones, and will share the lessons learned along the way. Now, let me get back to that pitch deck. The last time I touched that was in 2018 😮💨 Any thoughts on rebuilding and scaling up from a stable base? -- I'm Pierre Sabbagh, (re)building in public. Follow for weekly stories from my journey.

Crafting a Core Mission Pitch: Relatable, Measurable, and Believable Your core mission pitch should address how you serve your customers and bring them a benefit. This benefit must be relatable, measurable, and believable. The biggest mistakes too many software engineers and startup founders make are failing to be relatable or assuming everyone can relate. Ensure your pitch connects on a human level to drive real results. Ready to refine your pitch? Join our live Clubhouse calls in the Pitchfreaks room, Mon-Wed from 10:30-12 Pacific Time! Also, subscribe to @pitchfreaks YouTube channel for more insights. Let’s make your pitch relatable! #pitchfreaks #pitchintroduction #10secpitch #passthepitchfreak #slide1 #clubhouse #pitchfreaksroom #coremission #relatablepitch #businessgrowth #startupsuccess

I occasionally hear devs and founders saying that "niceties" like fast-running regression tests and maintainable code are long-term considerations for when a business is "more mature". I struggle to square that with the number of start-ups I've seen run out of cash during yet another complete rewrite of their product. No doubt when your product isn't mature, it will evolve rapidly. You're basically doing market research at this stage. One mistake is thinking that once the use cases stabilise, your business will have the luxury of time and money to retrofit quality or do it all again properly. But those start-ups are outliers - jackpot winners. Normally, by this point there's a good chance you've already spent all the capital you're going to get. When that happens, you've effectively been doing market research for your competitors. And rest assured, if you've *found* your market, someone else - perhaps with more money and/or better engineering - will be right behind you.

Starting a business? Here's a quick look at the 5 stages you'll go through… 🚀 Understanding these stages can help you navigate your startup journey more effectively. Each stage has its own challenges and opportunities: 1️⃣ MVP & Discovery: Build a basic version of your product and test it with real people. 2️⃣ Initial Success: Get your first 5-10 paying customers and learn from them. 3️⃣ Traction: Grow your customer base and start making your processes more efficient. 4️⃣ Initial Scale: See your hard work pay off as your business really starts to take off. 5️⃣ Scale: Expand into new markets and accelerate your growth. Remember, every successful company went through these stages. It's not always easy, but understanding where you are can help you plan your next steps. 💪 Want to learn more about each stage? Check out our full guide here: https://buff.ly/3MWWaFF

Quick startup reality check: Most founders have about 20% of the skills needed to build a successful product. And that's completely normal. You might be brilliant at: 💡 Spotting the opportunity, niche or a market gap 💡 Knowing your niche 💡 Understanding your users But then comes the hard part: 👉 Defining the right MVP scope 👉 Choosing the tech stack 👉 Planning the development roadmap 👉 Budgeting This is exactly why we created Milo. We fill in the technical gaps, and we’re happy to guide you along the way, helping you make all these crucial decisions.Think of us as your technical co-founder, bringing the other 80% to the table. 🔝 Working on a start-up idea? Let's chat about how we can complement your expertise. 👇 https://lnkd.in/dbDJnzb4

🎥 Startup Diary: Episode 25 - Stop It! 🎥 Stop buying and renewing software without knowing if it solves the problem you bought it to solve!

Alright...so the number of requests for the development work has actually been going better than I expected close to summer months😁 I've got a bunch of startups that we are handling tech analysis & estimations for MVP development right now. One of the potential Clients I was talking to the other day had a solid approach to MVP version of their product. They were like - "I need your team to help me figure out what features are absolutely essential for the MVP and what might make it too complicated. I don't want to overthink the initial version of my product" . Love that! In my experience, the MVP is just about validating the idea. There is always room for improvements and scale afterwards. So when discussing MVP development, I always tell my Clients that at Reenbit we: ✔️Start simple ✔️Keep the MVP functional and scalable ✔️Make improvements based on user feedback ✔️Launch quickly to get that feedback

When you’re pitching your business to someone and they say “how can I help?”, 1 of 2 things are happening: A) They’re really into the idea and believe in it (and you), and actually want to know how they can help. B) They like the idea, but they’re not really sure what their role is, or why you shared it with them in the first place. Neither of these is the optimal answer. Remember that expectations set actions. If you don’t set up the convo with the preface of why you’re talking in the first place, the open-ended “how can I help” can leave both parties throwing both hands in the air that this is freakin awesome.... but now what? Set up the meeting so that at the end, you force an answer like: “I freaking love it, you should talk to X, Y, and Z and my buddy just launched a company that would be a great partner.” Catch-ups are fun, but run a tight ship and make sure everyone knows the what and the why going into it or you’ll take on water early because time is the one thing a startup can't waste.

The past few months have been the most challenging in my life. At first, I wanted to share a post about our highlights and achievements at Scripe, but reflecting over Easter made me realize that only sharing the positives felt wrong. 💭 Here's a more realistic look back: 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲𝘀: At the start of the year, we were unsure how we'd fund ourselves. Everything was up in the air, and we were all facing financial uncertainty until we got the Berlin Startup grant. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: We quickly realized we hadn't included enough user feedback initially, which meant we practically had to restart from the beginning. This was a huge source of frustration for us all. 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 t𝗲𝗮𝗺: Finding our rhythm as a team, and understanding each other's strengths and weaknesses has been another massive challenge. We realized that it is a journey and working as a team requires mental effort and patience. 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 f𝗲𝗮𝗿: I’ve struggled with a huge fear of failure and often doubted myself. And yes, there were even days when I was thinking about giving up. Glad I didn’t. ;) But I guess those failures are what makes all those achievements even more valuable. Same goes for the positive outlooks and results that have evolved throughout that time. Here’s what I am most proud of: ✅ 80% of our beta users are actively using our product on a weekly basis.  ✅ We're getting incredibly positive external feedback. ✅ We are growing as an amazing team. ✅ I have regained my confidence. This all makes me incredibly motivated for our public launch. Plus, I’ve learned to allow myself to be more open about these so-called weaknesses and aim to set clearer boundaries for myself. I aim to be more generous and caring with myself - and I hope you are too! Cheers, and I hope you had a wonderful Easter. #startupjourney #saas #selfcare

🚀🧊 Web3 Startup Launch Checklist for First-Time Founders 🧊🚀 Research your market & competitors. Create a solid business plan. Assemble a diverse founding team. Develop your MVP. Build pre-launch buzz & community. Launch your landing page. Implement a marketing strategy. Monitor feedback & iterate. Plan for scaling. Ensure compliance & legal readiness.