How Socialinkd Mobile App Plans To Change The Way We Network Offline

Best Success Story:

Our best success story to date is securing funding.

Raising funding is a grueling process that takes time and patience. There are only so many “No’s” you can hear before you start to second guess everything. Which is why before getting involved in any project and investing your time make sure your heart is fully there.

Understand that it (starting a business) won’t be easy. A wholehearted belief in your vision is essential. Raising funding took time; it was a constant networking process so when the time came it was a very good day! But, don’t believe the misconception that things are smooth sailing from there.

When a startup secures funding, this adds another layer of responsibility which makes you look at things from a completely new perspective considering you are now expected to succeed. I don’t say this to discourage you, I say this because when looking at something from the outside in, it sometimes seems a lot more simple that it actually was. And because of this you aren’t fully prepared mentally and obstacles seem much more detrimental. The startup environment, entrepreneurship in general, is a pressure cooker and that’s exactly why I love it. I live for this!

Biggest Startup Challenge:

Socialinkd is a mobile app. It’s a tech product that requires coding. I am a business guy who absolutely loves product development and understands how it should function, but I am not a programmer. This knowledge gap brought many challenges from the very beginning.

Recruiting talented programmers, is at the moment, very competitive. Many startups are on the hunt for programmers — not to mention the big guys such as Facebook, Apple, Twitter, etc. who are willing to invest millions in recruiting.

Therein was our biggest challenge — finding the right programmers that were not only capable of delivering but were people that I could trust. Your startup is like your baby and when you lack knowledge in a particular areas you feel vulnerable. Vulnerability could lead to poor decision making. So it was imperative that I found the right people to bring on board.

Developing trust with new technical leads would compensate, and make me feel less vulnerable, in order to maintain the right culture. I was lucky enough to find the right people. But it still remains somewhat challenging to this day. As I learn more, it becomes less challenging.

#1 Tip for Entrepreneurs:

Be patient. Don’t settle.

Impatience could lead to poor decisions which can prove to be detrimental. Company culture is everything. The better the culture the more instinctive things become and everything flows much more organically. So be patient and wait until you find the right people to work with you that will contribute to your vision. Looking back there were so many instances where impatience could have very easily got the best of me. Don’t let that happen to you.

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