How I Launched And Grew My Startup; And How You Can Too
By Sean Pour | SellMax
There is a heavy dose of uncertainty that comes along with launching a startup. In this world, there are no guarantees, no safety nets, and foolproof plans do not exist. That’s exactly why you need to be fearless.
When the 2008 financial crisis happened I was just 14 years old—old enough, however, to be aware of the consequences this global event was imposing on the used car dealership my father owned. He immigrated to the United States with very little money, and my parents had to work their way from the bottom up. They’d been conscientious with their finances, and it saddened me that all of their efforts were leading to more worries about money. I decided I had to do something.
As a 14 year old, I may have lacked an extensive collection of life experiences, but there was one thing I already knew that my parents hadn’t quite grasped the magnitude of: the power of the Internet. I created a website that would allow us to buy cars across the United States, which eventually grew into something beyond my imagination (sellmax.com).
No, my business wasn’t conceived in a cozy meeting room with pre-selected co-founders and contributors—nor did I facilitate its birth by accepting any venture capital or meticulously planning out every step of my business’ growth. I embarked on this journey with a crucial frame of mind: failure is not an option. As problems presented themselves, I learned how to fix them. Even when this required teaching myself HTML and PHP, researching marketing techniques and applying them, taking extra shifts at the car dealership and forgoing playing basketball with my friends—there was no roadblock that I considered permanent. I owe my success to the example my parents set for me: relentless work ethic and passion.
So you may be wondering, how exactly are you supposed to launch your own startup? There are a few things I’d like to suggest—and beware, this is not a simple pharmacy-filled prescription, all of these things need to come from within. First, a great idea comes from a place of passion. You likely won’t need to search long and far to identify what that is for you. Just look around you—what gets you up in the morning? My fire was fueled by the lessons my father taught me about his business, and my determination to save what my family had worked so hard to build.
Second, you must be fearless. Obstacles and adversities are always around the corner, you need to learn how to face them, deal with them, and adapt to them until you can conquer them. My business was a product of adverse circumstances. Your fire and your passion does not need to come from a place of love—loving an idea, a product, or an industry—it is just as likely, or even more likely to succeed from a place of discomfort. If there is something you have to fix, have to save, or need to stop, you will do whatever it takes to make it happen because you love what is at stake. For me, that was my family’s wellbeing.
Thirdly, if you’re determined to launch a startup, you have to be clever. Though no concept is guaranteed success, some are better than others. For example, you’re thinking about creating a rideshare platform which has no employees but instead operates by recruiting independent contractors. Sound familiar? Yep, that’s because it already exists as Uber. You want to enter a market that’s either one or both of these things: underdeveloped and unsaturated.
Don’t try to compete with Titans right off the bat—a startup is called a startup because it is something that is starting, something that has the prospect of growing into something profitable, or even lucrative—but there are no guarantees. You can’t foresee the course your concept will take, but you can certainly place your business model in a position where it is more likely to take off.
Know your fire and use it as ammunition, be fearless, and choose a path less traveled. With those things in tow, you are ready to embark on the journey of launching your startup.
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