YC
Kathryn Minshew at Female Founders Conference 2014
@ Y Combinator
03/13/14
Takeaways
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
I want to take you through some of the mistakes we made and the lessons learned while building The Muse.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
The Muse helps people figure out what they want to do with their lives by providing career advice and insights into different roles within companies.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
My co-founder Alex describes our journey as an evolution to awesome, but I prefer to say it's an evolution from suck to suck less, reflecting the reality of many startups.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
When starting The Muse, I felt a lot of anxiety about our product, which I viewed as an ugly duckling, unsure if it would ever develop into a swan.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
The idea for The Muse came from a personal pain point; I realized that many people felt lost in their careers and needed guidance.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
We launched our first version of The Muse using a WordPress site, providing career advice targeted at women in their twenties, despite investors claiming it was a small market.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
Even with many flaws, we saw incredible user growth, with 20,000 visitors in the first month, which encouraged us to keep going despite initial setbacks.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
We were initially hesitant to apply to Y Combinator, but an advisor encouraged us to go for it, leading to an unexpected interview and acceptance.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
After getting into Y Combinator, we made early-stage mistakes by hiring without proper culture fit vetting and dreaming too big without focusing on execution.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
We learned that startups need to start somewhere; it's tempting to wait until you have something perfect, but you need to put your idea out there to get real feedback.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
Your college roommate's approval does not equate to market demand; you need to test your idea against the cold, hard reality of potential users.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
The most important feedback comes from people in your target demographic, as they will provide the most relevant insights into your product's viability.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
If we had waited to launch The Muse until it looked perfect, we would have failed before we even started. When we launched The Muse, we were excited to track user data, but we realized that not all metrics, like video views, were essential for our success.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
In startup customer acquisition, the idea that 'if you build it, they will come' is often false; you need to actively find your audience.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
To acquire users without spending money, we reached out to like-minded groups and personally invited them to check out The Muse, which led to valuable word-of-mouth sharing.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
Making it easy for people to share your product increases the likelihood they'll do it; providing sample tweets or posts can significantly boost engagement.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
As a startup, you often can't offer competitive salaries, so focus on what you can provide that is more valuable, like passion and personal growth opportunities.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
Building a strong team is crucial; recruit individuals who are passionate about your mission and align with their personal and professional goals.
KM
Kathryn Minshew
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
Don't believe the hype surrounding startups; focus on understanding your users and providing them with something they truly need and love.