From student to CEO
A (not only) foreigner’s guide to founding a startup
“As of current writing, I am a foreigner who recently switched from F1 student visa to E-2 business visa and have a running startup with seed investment, soon to be launching Kickstarter campaign. In this blog series, I will be guiding you through my experience, giving you the tools and knowledge to start your own startup, while explaining the process that launched my own, MyCodi.”
Many design students have brilliant minds, and many are amazing designers. I was never a great visual designer, but I was always interested and able to execute the technical details and the UX process. I believe this allowed me to stand toe-to-toe with other students’ projects’ design quality. However, what many great design students (myself until recently included) lack in general is the knowledge and ability to make their ideas a reality.
Looking back, I find the time it took me to successfully execute my idea by business standards and innovative pace completely unacceptable.
With a second idea turning soon into a new product, I see the whole process should be several times faster than my first attempt. My three-year younger self must have really been quite dumb when I think about it. Starting a business is no magic and anyone can do it, the only limiting factor is you and how much effort you put into it.
Many times during the whole process you will face issues where you are not sure just how much of your idea you should share with people, because you’re afraid they might steal your idea. “Your idea that you are trying to build”. I have however realized what it is that makes your idea be your own and only you can do it.
It is your vision, passion and motivation; the feeling in your heart towards this idea of yours that separates it from ‘that’s a great idea’ to ‘Yes I really want to make this, This is it!’.
You personally might think other people’s ideas are great, but just don’t have the energy and don’t feel motivated to really start working on them. That’s because they are not your own ideas. They are someone else’s idea, that you think is great and would probably enjoy their idea if they would execute it. You might be motivated enough to help them, but it ends for you there. The seed, vision, enthusiasm and the excitement when just thinking about it is what makes you the person who can execute it; you need the drive.
When I was working as a TA for a UX/UI Bootcamp, one group of students came up with this interesting idea about a skin care app. They were a group of three, each with a different background and unique set of skills. Together they came up with what I thought was a very well developed concept that was solving a real world problem.
On the train ride home after class, I tried to tell them I love their idea and push them towards trying to really make it into a real product. On my own I was not interested in making it, but was excited to help them and guide them from my own personal experience simply because I liked their idea.
Sadly I’m not sure if they kept working on it after the Bootcamp, but I understand the feeling of not being interested in executing someone else’s idea. You really need to be passionate about it in order to make it happen.
So you think you have a great idea and want to make it happen? You want to know how to start a company of your own and in case you’re a foreigner or a foreign student how to stay in the US? Wonderful, I love it! I’ve been as excited as you! We will dive together into the details of networking, execution, research, making a business plan, MVP development, branding, pitching, looking for funding, development and everything that stands in your way of building your idea.
You can worry about finer details later; be aware that there is always room for improvement and innovation. Try to come up with the most simple and basic solution to your problem.
Most of your work comes in the form of research. In case you have an idea already and have the vision in front of you, I would still strongly advise you to think about your idea even more. Apply the First Principles Thinking or really think outside the box and don’t limit yourself to what you know how to make but know that nothing is impossible.
When I was working on making a fully working prototype of our startup, I was making it too complex by using cameras, several tracking devices and had this zeroed in vision of what I was trying to make. I am convinced it would have worked, but it would be overly complicated and I doubt it would end up with much success. What changed my vision was discussing my problems with my friend and co-worker from Cupertino, who found the idea interesting and was brainstorming for fun with me. And then one day he asked me ‘what if you use sound’, which I instantly dismissed, only to realize later that day that was the solution I was looking for all along. Not only did it solve my ‘little’ problem, but completely opened up new possibilities.
In the early days I was worried about rent, I was living from month to month planning how much I can spend without income, my visa status was uncertain for several months, my legal stay in US and future could have collapsed at any time, all while reading how other your startups are making millions. Don’t be foolish, as this is not a walk in the park.
Before we dive deep into networking and building your team, which I have found to be the most important long before you start your company, from my own experience I want to warn you that founding your startup can be very stressful. Knowing or having someone with startup experience is invaluable because of many problems you have not encountered or predicted yet. I will introduce you however to great resources, templates and personal connections that I have made along the way to help you out.
Share your idea with people you trust and brainstorm together, because your product is not for you but for other people. Next time I will show you how we at MyCodi built our team, how to grow your connections and build a team of your own and why your team is the most important asset you have.