Innovation is VITAL for startups. You as a startup today are asked to: Deliver 10x solutions GROW Work in (hyper-)competitive environments You're small. Your resources are limited. AI is doing more and more, leveling the field between you and your competitors. How can you still have a competitive edge? IDEAS.Innovative ideas. Not just one. MANY. Innovation differentiates between the disruptors and the disrupted. - It grants you a competitive advantage:Keeping YOU ahead of the curve. - It...
6 months ago • 3 min read
Let's make your pitch LEGENDARY today. Fundraising is an integral part of the founder journey. It's also the part that most founders have ZERO CLUE what to do in. That's why most pre-seed and seed pitches are a MESS. Enter the 10 / 20 / 30 rule for pitching. Courtesy of Guy Kawasaki. In a nutshell, your pitch should be: 10 slides 20 minutes 30 point font Let's dive in. 1. Your Pitch = 10 SLIDES Listen, there is information asymmetry between you and investors. You as a founder know A LOT. They...
7 months ago • 3 min read
Let's talk about GROWTH. Hi Reader. In the initial days of your startup, the PRODUCT should be getting you all the growth you need. That ORGANIC traction is how you validate if you are nearing product market fit or not. Remember. Don't do ADS. BUT, at some point, your product will mature.You'll have to build a GROWTH strategy to keep going. Or else, your startup might STALL. Let's discuss GROWTH strategies (and how to chose the best one). There are 3 "fashionable" growth strategies in the...
7 months ago • 2 min read
How do I know if I'm on the right track with my startup idea? Hi Reader, have you been nursing your startup idea for a while? Are you launching and wondering if your idea is good enough? I may be able to help you here. Enter IKIGAI. A Japanese concept meaning "reason for being". It’s a holistic way of finding purpose and meaning in life, which can be incredibly powerful when applied to entrepreneurship. The idea is to find a balance between four key elements: What You Love (Passion) What You...
7 months ago • 4 min read
Co-founders can make or break you. Reader, do you have co-founders? Or are you looking for co-founders for your startup? Know this. Co-founders are CRUCIAL for your success. But co-founders can break your startup. Let me fix this for you today. First, find yourself a co-founder TODAY It's almost impossible to build a startup, in GENERAL. It's even harder to do it alone. Yes people speak of being a "solopreneur", but TRUST ME, it's tough. I was a solopreneur for 2.5 years. And yes I managed to...
7 months ago • 6 min read
This is what founders think building a startup is. This is what building a startup REALLY looks like for most. Founders get too worked up in the build.WAY too much. To the point where a product gets its first taste of the real world 6 months to 2 years+ in. This is bad. *like* real bad. If you are a founder doing this, you are putting your startup in danger. Why? You start building your product AFTER you launch. Whatever you think your product is, your audience WILL hijack it, and take it...
8 months ago • 3 min read
1 out of 3 startups shut down because they launch a product that no one needs. And that's not (just) my opinion 🤷. 35% of startups fail because there was NO MARKET NEED for their product. Crazy right? But that is the case.And once you work in the startup world... it doesn't sound crazy at all. It's a major way founders operate in. Just this week I talked to FIVE different founders on Ruya discovery calls. I asked them to take me through their vision, their ideal audience and the critical...
8 months ago • 4 min read
🙅♂️ Don’t DO ADS. Or risk losing your start-up. As simple as that. Why? Ads cover up how weak your product is. Thing is, ads bring you traffic, ads bring you engagement. Ads promise you complex algorithms that will find the ideal customer for you. They get you thinking the only reason someone isn’t coming to you is that they simply can’t find you. So why not do a campaign with us? We’ll bring them right to your doorstep, and magic will happen. Trust us. You launch a paid campaign. Boom....
8 months ago • 3 min read
Hey! You just subscribed to my design thinking for startups newsletter. Is this a great move? Some might say it's the best thing you ever did. (Some = me + my parents). Or perhaps, it's just a really good decision. In any case, I truly believe you'll benefit greatly from being a part of this community. 💫 About Me My name's Majd, I spent the last 15 years between consulting, Google EMEA and building my own startup. I became extremely passionate about design thinking, a groundbreaking...
8 months ago • 1 min read