To kick it off, Yana and Tom share their top entrepreneurial lessons from building own startups and coaching others. This introductory episode offers true unpolished opinions and unconventional best practices to set the foundation for integrating risk-taking with technology perspective. 

Today's Episode:

If you've found this show, you are passionate about doing great things. You are smart and ambitious, and your heart beats a little faster when you start talking about entrepreneurship and startups. We feel the same way. 

Today, Yana shares things that she has learned since she started her business in November of 2016. She specifically shares her top three if I knew back then what I know now topics. 

Tom also shares lessons that he has learned over the last 10 years of being a startup entrepreneur. Tom and Yana don't always agree perfectly, but their advice compliments each other and is useful for experienced entrepreneurs and those just starting out. 

Show Notes:

• [01:57] Focus on the important stuff and validate your ideas. Logos, contracts, etc. can come later. 
• [02:35] Know her your perfect customer is, what you want to do, how to charge, and how long things will take.
• [03:18] Use your first customers to test what boundaries you need to set up, how long things will take, what to charge, and anything else you may need. Find a way to help someone and in the process validate your ideas. Everything else will follow.
• [04:51] Tom almost agrees with Yana on whether formal things are that important at first.
• [05:17] You can use the period of time when you are setting up the formal matters to think about what you value and cherish as far as working conditions. 
• [06:12] Use the formal things to make it clear to yourself what you want your future working environment to entail. 
• [06:40] Think in eco systems instead of one-to-one relationships. 
• [07:46] Tom is an advocate of bootstrapping. 
• [08:38] Don't be greedy with your ideas. Clients pay for results not ideas. 
• [09:29] Yana shares the importance of talking to your ideal customer on social media. What are their questions and struggles? 
• [10:14] You can attract your perfect audience, and they will talk back to you. 
• [11:29] Doing it over, Yana would be more compassionate towards herself.
• [12:53] You are taking small steps and actions, while things are changing along the way. There is always a level of uncertainty. You have to get comfortable with trusting your instincts and the value of your offer. 
• [14:51] Freemium works better offline than online. Think about what you can do to get those freebies out and get proof of value. 
• [16:01] Be careful who defines your MVP. The core team needs to set the scope correctly and keep it minimum. 
• [17:36] Don't compromise on your team and key positions. Find your business soulmates. 

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