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Five Practices for First-time Founders


🔦 If you're on the founder's journey and want to hear about our five practices for founders OR you are one of our clients, then read on. We've partnered with other founders to provide special discounts.


What's not to like?


I've learned valuable lessons from my first venture and I'd like to share them with you. My hope is that these insights can help you save time, money, and stress, and ultimately assist you in building your company.


1. Reframe failure


💡 Thomas Edison, when asked about failure, famously said, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” Imagine if he had given up after the 9,999th try?... Lightbulbs, phonograph, motion picture cameras!


Failures are learning. Treat them as feedback to refine your approach rather than signs to give up.


2. Adopt a beginners mindset


There is always more to learn. Just because I've been in business for 30 years, creating digital products for other companies, doesn't mean I know how to create my own successful business.


A beginner's mindset, also known as "shoshin" in Zen Buddhism, refers to approaching situations with an open, curious, and non-judgmental perspective as if seeing them for the first time.


3. Solve the needs of real people


Solving real needs for real people requires a deep understanding of their needs and challenges. Throughout the problem-solving process, actively engage with people facing the problem. Their perspectives are invaluable for developing the right solutions. Build your company to solve a need familiar to many potential customers.


4. Founder practices - a Minimal Viable Product Approach (MVP)


The primary goal of MVPs is to gather the maximum validated learning about customers with the least effort. They allow you to test product/service/company assumptions quickly and inexpensively. Dropbox began with a simple MVP - a video demonstrating the functionality of core file syncing and sharing. This video created buzz and helped validate demand, leading to over 75,000 sign-ups for the beta version before any actual product was built.




I built my first MVP before I launched my company. I developed and validated a five-month coaching program with real people with real needs. On the back of this, I launched company with one of my first services - my EMPOWER Leadership group coaching program.


5. Join Founders Networks


Hand on an iphone with a yellow background and two people texting back and forth

It can be a lonely journey. So, from the get-go, find platforms, communities, and opportunities to interact with and learn from founders who have gone through the startup journey before you. Their first-hand experiences, battle stories, and advice can be invaluable. Founder communities are great places to network, support, learn from each other, and maybe establish partnerships with other startups.





I joined the free Natwest Entrepreneur Accelerator Programme, which gives access to one-to-one coaching, mentoring and networking opportunities. In the spirit of community, we've joined to support each other and our clients.


Discounts for our clients


We're pleased to offer our clients offers from our partners developing promising businesses. Visit by clicking on their names below and mention we referred you for an extra discount.



➡️ New founders, want a head start?


Check out our business coaching for entrepenuers for a boost on your journey.










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