3 Mistakes Founders Make In First 100 Days

Launching a startup can be an exciting and anxious process. In 2012, my brother and I set out to launch our own start-up AskforTask.com, a p2p marketplace for daily errands. In 2 years, we went from 0 to 150,000 active users, but that journey didn't come without making some fundamental mistakes. In our very early days, we focused on learning from the early adopters; this is why we stayed in beta for six months and in one city, Toronto. Today, AskforTask sees over $500,000 worth of jobs every month, saving people over $20 million and is available in over 100 cities.

Although we are still a long way from where we want to take AskforTask, I want to share the 3 common mistakes I made in first 100 days and how the new founders can avoid them:

1. Waiting to Make the product "Perfect"

Many founders want to create the perfect product that every user would love and waste valuable time in the process. Instead of attempting to perfect the product, a good strategy is to ship Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and then proactively seek feedback from early adopters and implement changes on a regular basis. This makes the product better in a practical way and the users/early adopters feel valued to see their feedback being implemented.

2. Focusing On Strategies That Scale

Even though it is every founder’s mission to acquire millions of customers right away, the reality is far from it. In fact, it is difficult to even get one person to use and love a product right after launching. Instead of focusing on growth techniques that scale, founders should focus on techniques that don’t. While this sounds odd, it creates a community of loyal users that actually use the product and help founders understand where the demand actually exists in their targeted market. A great example is how airbnb realized the professional photography was essential for people to love a listing.

3. Being Scared of Pivoting or Re-launching

Most of the time, founders are on the right path to disrupting a new industry or economic area, but even though their perspective is correct, it is not exactly what the market is adapting to at that time. Founders are scared of pivoting, and launching into something that works better. Unless you are household name, it doesn't matter if you pivot to a different product. The founders of Airbnb launched and re-launched a few times before getting it right. Therefore, founders should always utilize the biggest strength of the start-up, which is being resilient and adaptable.

When launching a startup, mistakes are inevitable. But surrounding one’s self with good mentors, like-minded individuals, and keeping an eye on the big picture are all integral to ensure any mistakes that are made are as minimally damaging as possible.

What mistakes did you make starting up? Let me know in the comments below!