Whatever you do, the needs of the client should come first.

Ask yourself security questions to make sure your focus is on customer needs and not technology:

• • Which problems are we solving? (niche for business)

• • Who cares about this problem? (clients)

• • How do we solve this problem? (product)

The answers to these questions should be concise and clear. You must see the problem other people are experiencing, find a solution to this problem – this solution will be your product.

Keep asking yourself these questions throughout the life of the company. Otherwise, all areas will suffer, from marketing and sales to manufacturing.

Make sure your product is capable of earning

Once you’ve decided what your product is and who you are making it for, it’s time to start thinking about the money. It is important not to forget that profit is not an end in itself, but the result of solving your customers’ problems. But you need to plan it, otherwise, you risk spending months creating a company that can be knowingly unprofitable.

To test yourself, ask the security questions again:

• • How much money will we receive during, for example, a year? (income)

• • How much money will we spend during the year? (consumption)

• • Is the difference between income and expense positive? (profit)

At the very beginning, do not build multi-page Excel documents from your answers to these questions and plan for years ahead. Your first calculations should fit on a little piece of paper.

Learn to communicate and communicate your ideas

The ability to communicate correctly will help you convey your product idea and plans to future partners, investors, and customers.

If in a conversation you rarely manage to find a common language with other people, you should pay attention to your communication skill. I have conventionally divided it into two parts: the ability to speak and the ability to listen.

When you talk too much, you take away from the other person the opportunity to express their thoughts, and the whole meaning of communication disappears.

When you say too little, you do not give the interlocutor information on which the dialogue can continue, and the communication also loses its meaning. Learn to understand when to speak eloquently and for a long time, and when to listen carefully.

The entire conversation can also be roughly divided into two parts: preparation and direct communication. The preparation stage is important in any business and does not depend on whether you are going to a meeting with an investor or a friend who may become a partner. And here it is worth adhering to fairly simple rules:

1. Plan the conversation. Ask yourself, “What do I want to get out of this meeting?” The answer to this question should be straightforward because it is around this that you will build communication.

2. Say important points until they are reduced to specific and concise phrases. You will rely on them in the conversation.