1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,845 [MUSIC] 2 00:00:04,845 --> 00:00:08,860 Once you have learned how to code, the possibilities are endless. 3 00:00:08,860 --> 00:00:12,020 You can certainly start a career in software development and work for 4 00:00:12,020 --> 00:00:13,690 great companies all around the world. 5 00:00:13,690 --> 00:00:16,340 But if you're one of those entrepreneur types, 6 00:00:16,340 --> 00:00:21,210 you can use these newfound skills to sell your own web and mobile apps. 7 00:00:21,210 --> 00:00:23,770 I'm sure you've encountered an app or a service and 8 00:00:23,770 --> 00:00:26,560 thought, you know what, I can definitely do this better. 9 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:27,820 Well, now's your chance. 10 00:00:27,820 --> 00:00:30,820 You are certainly at the right place to get the skills to do so. 11 00:00:31,850 --> 00:00:35,580 But you will soon find out that just creating an app is nowhere near enough to 12 00:00:35,580 --> 00:00:38,730 bring in money and create a sustainable business. 13 00:00:38,730 --> 00:00:42,720 Much like learning how to code, starting a business has its own nuances and 14 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:43,920 subtleties, and 15 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:48,310 knowing how to navigate this world will add even more skills to your tool belt. 16 00:00:48,310 --> 00:00:52,220 Now, I've been using bunch of different tasks or project management software for 17 00:00:52,220 --> 00:00:54,760 both work and my personal life. 18 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:56,860 I've gone through lots of software and 19 00:00:56,860 --> 00:00:59,320 none have really fit my workflow perfectly. 20 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:00,000 And you know what? 21 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,760 I think I can do better. 22 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:03,870 So that's what we're going to do together. 23 00:01:03,870 --> 00:01:06,140 We're going to walk through a real scenario. 24 00:01:06,140 --> 00:01:11,060 One where you get an idea or figure out a way how to improve existing solutions, but 25 00:01:11,060 --> 00:01:14,440 you don't know how to make a successful business out of it. 26 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:17,580 Over the course of this How to Start a Business series, I'm going to 27 00:01:17,580 --> 00:01:21,880 take this idea of mine, that I can make better project management software, and 28 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:24,620 see what it takes to start a business around it. 29 00:01:24,620 --> 00:01:28,130 Now, there are many moving parts, a lot of which can change often, and 30 00:01:28,130 --> 00:01:32,170 we need to understand what these moving parts are so we can adapt to it. 31 00:01:32,170 --> 00:01:35,120 We're going to break down the act of starting a business into 32 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,730 distinct steps and then learn about each one in detail. 33 00:01:38,730 --> 00:01:41,930 So, big picture first, then the details. 34 00:01:41,930 --> 00:01:45,750 First up, we're going to talk about what I call the discovery phase. 35 00:01:45,750 --> 00:01:48,020 In this phase, we take our idea and 36 00:01:48,020 --> 00:01:53,640 ask a lot of detailed questions to map out the breadth and depth of our business. 37 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,780 We're going to use a tool called the business model canvas for this exercise. 38 00:01:57,780 --> 00:02:01,840 I've used this tool to create business plans and understand other industries. 39 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:03,639 It is well suited to our purpose. 40 00:02:04,890 --> 00:02:07,890 Once we have our idea, we are going to build our product. 41 00:02:07,890 --> 00:02:08,960 Actually, no. 42 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:10,410 Quite the opposite. 43 00:02:10,410 --> 00:02:13,050 If we were to build our product right away, we would be 44 00:02:13,050 --> 00:02:17,950 spending a lot of time working on something that people may not care about. 45 00:02:17,950 --> 00:02:22,660 Finding a product market fit is crucial to ensuring the success of our ventures, and 46 00:02:22,660 --> 00:02:24,790 this is where many people fail. 47 00:02:24,790 --> 00:02:28,870 We're going to go out, talk to people, convince them to buy our product and 48 00:02:28,870 --> 00:02:30,880 see what they tell us. 49 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:34,030 While we're building our product, we need to emerge out of our 50 00:02:34,030 --> 00:02:38,050 product development caves and let the world know what we're working on so 51 00:02:38,050 --> 00:02:40,275 that we have customers lined up around the block. 52 00:02:40,275 --> 00:02:43,600 We'll spend quite a bit of time talking about marketing our 53 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:45,340 product to raise awareness. 54 00:02:45,340 --> 00:02:49,260 Once we bring our customers to our product, we need to close that sale. 55 00:02:49,260 --> 00:02:53,205 So after marketing, the next big topic is sales strategies. 56 00:02:53,205 --> 00:02:57,210 We'll be going over things like lead generation, qualifying our leads, and 57 00:02:57,210 --> 00:02:58,679 making a sales presentation. 58 00:02:59,870 --> 00:03:02,330 At this point, we're pretty serious. 59 00:03:02,330 --> 00:03:06,090 We have customers buying our product, so it's time to create a company. 60 00:03:06,090 --> 00:03:08,680 In this section, we walk through things you need to 61 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:10,810 think about when creating a company and 62 00:03:10,810 --> 00:03:15,210 some of the advantages of creating one over selling the product ourselves. 63 00:03:15,210 --> 00:03:18,820 And lastly, we're gonna talk about financing our company. 64 00:03:18,820 --> 00:03:21,290 You can start a business using your own money. 65 00:03:21,290 --> 00:03:26,220 But sometimes, you might need an external source of funds, whether it's a bank loan, 66 00:03:26,220 --> 00:03:28,410 from friends, or from investors. 67 00:03:28,410 --> 00:03:31,650 We'll go over the different kinds and what our options are. 68 00:03:31,650 --> 00:03:34,460 That's a lot of ground to cover, but at the end of it, you should 69 00:03:34,460 --> 00:03:38,700 have a good idea of all the stuff you need to do when starting a business. 70 00:03:38,700 --> 00:03:39,900 So, what are you waiting for? 71 00:03:39,900 --> 00:03:40,650 Let's jump right in.