Personal experience: how to start a project in an area which does not yet have in your country

Find like-minded and do not let go

We partner met as students. At that time, we both wanted to do something cool and cash in on it. We realized that we had similar views on many things, and even then there was a mutual understanding and trust between us, which is getting stronger every year.

A good partner, you can ask about anything and forget, and when the deadline on the nose and you're in a panic remember about taking off from the head of the task, it is already done, with the same quality as if you are working on it himself.

As the project progresses, and an expansion team, you still have time to get burned: some people pursue their goals and harming the company. This experience will make you stronger and more far-sighted in the selection of employees.

Gathering a team, evaluate the following parameters:

• Reaction to the blind and unusual questions - to predict the behavior in a critical situation, check the creative thinking.
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• An experience. It is important to know about how human successes and failures - as it applies to them and what lessons extracts.
• Competence. It should match the level of the executable in the company roles.
• man's faith in their own strength and their ability to create truly innovative products.
• The candidate must have faith in the project, to share its goals and mission.

With regard to the risks of working with people, we suggest guided one is as old as true: it is better to do and regret than not to do and regret it all my life.

Bring your business idea, even if resources are scarce

Even if any of you are interested in the areas you are not an expert, the more interesting it can be a process and the result. will be especially inspire the prospect of being the first in the niche.

Watch for trends, explore new approaches and experiment with the technology. Nontrivial products at the junction of industries often have the greatest response from the audience.

You can start with very different initial conditions. Initially, we used the most accessible and free technology, so it makes no sense to invest heavily in testing ideas. This is often enough to get the first fidbek and collect feedback.

For example, it can be completely different ways the prototype interface design:

• Take advantage of the full paid version of Adobe Photoshop or Sketch on MacBook Pro (will have to spend more than 200 000 rubles).
• Apply the possibility of a trial version of Adobe Photoshop or Sketch on a cheap laptop, bought with it.
• Hire a professional designer.
• Draw yourself in Paint.
• Sketch on a napkin by hand.

The main thing - it's your idea and self-confidence, savvy and ability to adapt.

Use crowdfunding, rather than investment

Removing the first interactive movie, we asked friends to invest 120 thousand rubles for the very simple terms: sell - refund tenfold, not sell it - no offense, we tried.

Crowdfunding is often the only way to raise the project with minimal risks. As long as you only have an idea on a napkin, respecting their time and resources to investors the money will not give. However, the first implementation experience will allow you to later find investmentsAs you come to the right person has with the understanding how to generate a product, and a demo version, which can be "touched".

Initial attempts at writing is best done by spending their own money and time. If such resources are not, you need to attract people and finance with the expectation of a possible failure of the idea.

Provides a tool rather than do it yourself

Initially, we thought about how to create own interactive videos for customers. But when fate brought us to the future partners and investors. We offered to remove the interactive video for his company and heard in response to the following: "Guys, you can earn thus several million rubles and buy on the "Mercedes", but will remain only producers content. This is the lowest level. You have to build its platform with the tools to create interactive video. " Later this man was our mentor.

Independently being engaged in production, you can often rely on the customer in the form of large companies - it features some niches. When you offer a platform with the tools to create the product (for example, interactive video, site, Design and so on), the audience is automatically extended to small firms, agencies, bloggers, and even ordinary students.

Analyze your resources and the ability to change the concept. If you create a great product, you are working on it for a while. If we make a tool, it becomes possible to maintain, in essence, an unlimited number of users to independently create something of their own.

Do not be afraid of competing giants

Now our competitors are such powerful companies like Netflix, YouTube, Facebook. We are not afraid of this, but rather proud of it. This means that we lead the domestic market in the right direction.

In small projects many advantages: they are independent, there is no set of approvals circles, decisions are made instantly. If you are a small startup, Then you are flexible and adapt quickly to market conditions.

Learn from the professionals

Our mentor and partner constantly telling your friends about us and the top managers of the various areas that we find them some common ground. He gave us their contacts and said: "Next themselves." So he introduced us with Timur Bekmambetov, who was the adviser of the project.

Search for any important project for the people should be carried out by a few rules. Look for only those who really understands your industry, understands all its subtleties and can somewhere help and supporting. The right investors and mentors provide start-up is not only money, but also necessary for the growth of networking. Necessary contacts can become a driving force for the project and run it in the big leagues faster than a few years of development and waste investor's budget to test different hypotheses.