Entrepreneurship is a challenging journey with no shortcuts. Only by persistently doing the “hard but right” things can you achieve success. This article compiles the heartfelt insights from an entrepreneur who successfully founded two companies each valued over $1 billion. It takes you deep into the core wisdom and practical advice along the entrepreneurial path, helping you avoid detours and reach success faster.
1. Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution
The essence of entrepreneurship starts with a “core problem worth solving,” rather than rushing to launch a seemingly “cool” solution. Successful startups begin with a passion for the problem. You need to find the problem that, if solved, would make the world better and truly benefit users.
Truly valuable problems often emerge from failures and setbacks, discovered through empathy with real pain points. By repeatedly communicating with potential users and listening to their struggles, you can gradually confirm whether the problem is real and widespread.
How to confirm your problem is “right”?
- Market size: How many people does this problem affect? Thousands or just a few? The wider the problem’s impact, the greater value you create.
- Pain intensity: How severe is the pain users feel when facing this problem? The frequency and intensity of pain are key measures of a problem’s importance.
- Value proposition validation: When you describe this problem to others, do they immediately respond, “Yes, I have the same problem!”?
Remember, in early entrepreneurship, focus on the problem itself, not the solution. The solution is a tool; the problem is the soul of your venture. When telling your story, always start with “We solved the XX problem,” not by flaunting product features.
2. Embrace Failure Courageously and Learn to Fail Fast
Entrepreneurship is like a marathon made up of countless attempts and failures. Recognize that failure is normal; learning to “fail fast” is a key secret to increasing your chances of success.
When launching a feature or product, don’t fear failure. Quickly validate, gather user feedback, and pivot fast. Failure is inevitable, but delaying it only wastes precious time and resources.
Advantages of failing fast:
- You can run more experiments within limited time and budget.
- Continuous iteration based on user feedback helps the product quickly reach a “good enough” stage.
- Failure becomes a stepping stone to the next attempt rather than an endpoint.
Moreover, second-time entrepreneurs tend to have a higher success rate. Find an experienced mentor to help you avoid many detours.
3. Embrace Disruption and Dare to Break Conventions
Disruption doesn’t just mean technological innovation; it’s a fundamental change in market supply-demand or user behavior patterns. True disruptors never settle; they question the “status quo.”
Three weapons of disruption:
- Free models to quickly attract users.
- Creating new markets to meet unmet needs.
- Building ecosystems to form strong user stickiness.
Transparency greatly fuels disruption because information asymmetry is a fatal weakness in many markets. Be prepared to face skepticism and “impossibilities” and still persist in innovation.
4. Focus on One Most Important Task at Each Stage
Each stage of entrepreneurship has clear priorities. Avoid multitasking, which leads to scattered resources and low efficiency.
- Early stage: Focus on finding product-market fit (PMF). This is the first gateway to startup success.
- Middle stage: Scale up, improve products and teams.
- Late stage: Focus on business model and profitability.
Beware of premature hiring, which can bring burdens. Make sure team members have real work and fit company DNA; otherwise, risk of talent loss is high.
5. Master Storytelling for Fundraising and Learn to Persist
Investors care most about the entrepreneur’s story and execution ability. A good story resonates with investors and lets them envision joining a successful journey.
Fundraising tips:
- CEO should personally lead presentations unless investors request team participation.
- Don’t get discouraged by rejection; keep adjusting, optimizing, and approaching the next investor.
- Go directly to investment partners, bypass analysts’ “first gate.”
- Research investors’ backgrounds, especially their performance in tough times.
- Seek mentorship; don’t fight alone.
6. Firing is More Important than Hiring
While hiring is critical, retaining the wrong people is more deadly. In the first 1-3 months of a new hire, CEOs should ask themselves, “Knowing what I know now, would I still hire them?”
Company DNA is the foundation of teamwork and culture. Creating a good work environment attracts and retains top talent. When encountering unsuitable members, decisiveness is necessary. For the team, one wrong person can be worse than a vacancy.
7. Win New Users’ Hearts by Deeply Understanding Them
A product’s success depends on truly solving user pain points. Understanding users means stepping into their minds, not starting from yourself.
- Observe behaviors of first-time users to learn why they abandon or continue.
- Users divide into innovators, early adopters, and early majority, each with distinct mindsets and needs.
- Keep product design “simple.” Complexity scares away early majority.
8. Find Product-Market Fit (PMF) or You Won’t Last
PMF is the key marker of startup success — your product truly meets market demand and is embraced by users. Core metrics include user retention and conversion rates.
Study why initial users quit, iterate quickly. Users often decide after the third use whether to continue. Do dozens of product iterations; it’s unavoidable.
9. Improve Profitability and Keep Business Model Healthy
Price is market-driven; products either help users make money or save money — choose the more effective path. Users’ purchase cycles are fixed; align with market rhythm.
Core metric: user lifetime value (LTV) must be at least 3x customer acquisition cost (CAC) or the business model won’t be sustainable. Remember, validate the business model by personally experiencing the first transactions.
10. Think Global and Capture Larger Markets
Whether to go global depends on your local market size. Startups in small markets should consider globalization early.
When choosing target markets, consider market size, competition intensity, and user acquisition cost (CAC). Develop entry plans for 3–5 countries, selecting potential markets by GDP ranking and market scale.
: Entrepreneurship Has No End, Only New Beginnings
When to quit? When entrepreneurship profoundly changes your life, when you see clearly the future company direction, or when you tire of the journey, it’s time to seriously consider.
Exiting is not just an end but a new chapter. Rationally plan your exit to take care of yourself, your family, and your team — the ultimate wisdom of entrepreneurship.
- Persist in doing the “hard but right” things; fall in love with the problem, not the solution.
- Fail fast and iterate continuously to increase success odds.
- Embrace disruption, innovate boldly, and question everything.
- Focus on core tasks at each stage, avoid premature scaling and hiring.
- Tell a compelling fundraising story and handle rejection gracefully.
- Value team culture and decisively remove wrong hires.
- Deeply understand users and find precise PMF.
- Maintain profitability and validate your business model.
- Plan global expansion early to seize opportunities.
- Prepare your exit and embrace new beginnings.
Entrepreneurship is a marathon filled with failures but also excitement. Only persistence combined with wisdom can take you far on this road toward true success.