5 things I learned from my student “startup” project

You have dreams of building something. You have no idea what you are doing. It’s a mess. But it’s fine, you learn.

Being surrounded by The Family’s founders and running events with inspirational entrepreneurs is a blessing. Entrepreneurship resonates in me. Still, I wasn’t thinking about building a startup straight out of school, for one big reason: I had worked on a “startup” as a student and it brutally failed.

Anecdote #1: How we came up with Sekay 🌱

After watching Koudetat content daily (literally “Koudetat & Chill” for months), I decided to start my own project with my good friend Samy.

We brainstormed tons, and then had a “Eureka!” moment. We decided to build Sekay — a website gathering video content (documentaries, conferences, Youtube videos) on social & environmental issues and linking it to means of action to solve them.

We immediately started to imagine how the platform would be, how we’d convert this idea into reality. We didn’t talk to anyone except our friends, we didn’t dive deep into the problem this would solve. We saw the problem as just another component of our idea: People don’t take action enough, even though they are aware of the issues we’re facing.

Our dear Sekay, which never saw the light of day

What I learned, #1: Problem first. 👆

The Eureka! moment is a complete illusion. The specific problem you want to solve needs to be something to which you obviously want to dedicate your time. Of course, you usually get an idea because you really identify a problem, but you need to validate that problem & set up your priorities.

Don’t think you’re a genius for having an idea that will change the world. Be humble and spend time really understanding people’s problems before anything else.

Anecdote #2: The gap year, a.k.a., The trap year 🕳️

We were still students, finishing the first year of our master’s. We took a gap year, thinking it would be the perfect opportunity to work on our idea, dedicating half of the year to an internship and the other half to our project.

But we found out why the gap year can be a huge trap: sure, it gives you time that you can dedicate to your project, but you are always aware that very soon, you’ll be going back to school. We were between two operational modes: we weren’t just having fun on a side project, but we weren’t on an ambitious, full-time startup either.

Basically, we weren’t committed either way, and it showed in our (lack of) intensity.

You don’t need to build a real rocket from day one, start with something smaller

What I learned, #2: Build side projects, not startups 🔫

Intensity is necessary in everything you do. Being intense is the only way to get positive outcomes.

But as a student, you still have exams to pass, diplomas to get, internships to complete. So you won’t be able to dedicate the time needed to intensely building a giant company, simply because you’re constantly distracted by school.

So why not just work on a side project and see where it goes?

Facebook’s first version was a two-week long side project and it’s far from being the only successful startup that started this way. You can absolutely still build something cool and ambitious that people love; but don’t look at it as a startup, just try to solve a niche issue and learn as much as possible.

Anecdote #3: The never-ending product development 🛣️

For us, Sekay was a no-brainer. We were documentary addicts, always trying to do the best thing for the environment & society on a daily basis.

We needed this solution ourselves, it made total sense. But our approach to the product was all wrong, developing what we thought it needed without talking to potential users.

We didn’t know how to code, so we learned how (especially Samy, to be honest). That was cool but time-consuming, taking us away from thinking about the problem.

We dreamed up tons of features and included them. You could create an account, like & comment videos, set up your preferences… All these features came out of assumptions we made but never validated with the market.

We spent a ridiculous amount of time working on our logo, the color and shape of our buttons and stuff like that, trying to optimize every single aspect of our website and experience.

What you see as the end might really just be reality coming at you fast.

What I learned, #3: Talk to users, learn, test your hypotheses quickly. ⚡

Don’t spend months with your head down in your product. Samy & I had heard this advice a lot, but we still made the mistake. Testing means showing it to users, as much as you can, and getting feedback.

Be ashamed of your first launch. Really, it’s fine. Don’t try to make it perfect — perfection doesn’t exist, it’s just your subjective perspective.

Anecdote #4: Lack of clarity from day one 🔎

With Samy, we didn’t decide early on who was responsible for what. At least not well enough. We spent too much time on things that didn’t really matter then because it wasn’t clear who was in charge of which topic.

For example:

• We spent a lot of time on identity (name, logo, design, colors).
• We spent two months on our first landing page, arguing about every single word and its significance.
• We spent months on product design because nobody was clearly responsible for it. There, for example, I’d say it was mostly my fault, as I didn’t master front web development enough to be able to own it totally.

Your relationship with your cofounder is the single most important aspect of your project

What I learned, #4: Trust each other 🤝

If you don’t, there is a problem. You should talk, make remarks, give feedback. Listen to each other. But those discussions have to move quickly. Your communication has to be extremely smooth and honest.

This is actually really hard, but if you manage to do it from the very beginning, you can be sure your relationship will be solid whatever happens. The relationship with your cofounder is the most important thing in any project. From day one (or even day zero), set up the exact terms. What is everyone’s scope? Who makes the final decision?

One last thing: Time is precious. ⌛

I can’t emphasize it enough. We spent a whole year on a project without ever launching our product. And we had one! We had a lot of content, a lot of features, a good-enough design. It was complete enough to test it (by far) but we accumulated technical debt, fatigue, and doubts because we never wanted to be wrong, we were way too attached to details & being perfect.

Screw perfect, all hail the existing.

There are many other things we learned through this project. If you have any questions, please reach out: vladimir@thefamily.co 💜

And if you want more tips on students and entrepreneurship, check out Maxime’s article on the 10 most common entrepreneurial mistakes he sees with students!

Thanks Kyle for your precious help!