Stage 1, the Economy, and 6 Things I Learned

What did I do last week?

• Watched the Y-Combinator video on "Doing Things that Don't Scale."

• Read Paul Graham's 15 articles written more than 10 years ago.

• Studied 11 successful companies that Sam Altman, Peter Thiel, and Bill Gates invested in.

• Finished the "Pick an important problem" stage in the Athena Program. Click here to see.

• Visited 5 local stores this week to ask what they thought about a local online store designed for locals.

• Continued partnership talks with a potential e-commerce store partner.

• Studied the DTI findings on MSME studies they conducted in 2022.

• Studied the Philippine e-commerce market value in 2022.

What did I learn?

• Watching the Y-Combinator video on doing things that don't scale significantly changed my perspective on prioritization. I often used "automation" as an excuse to avoid necessary tasks. Although automation is my startup's goal, I must be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve our objectives, even if that means manual work for several months.

• Paul Graham's articles are excellent resources. His insights on building startups, starting with no funding, finding co-founders, defining startups, doing great work, learning new ideas, programming, and learning from users are invaluable. While the articles are from 2012-2013, their principles remain applicable today, despite technological advancements.

• I studied companies like SpaceX, Uber, Yelp, Spotify, Stripe, and others. A common thread among them is that they started small, with minimal investment, and manual labor combined with creative customer acquisition strategies. I've learned from their successes and failures as well especially the first principle that I've always liked.

• I finished my stage 1 requirements and submitted them all. While writing this, I've gained a deeper understanding of the problem I'm trying to solve. I've seen the big picture and recognized potential roadblocks.

• I've visited five stores to become a customer and experience their journey. I've observed everything from store entry to exit, including product taste and smell. These insights will inform my e-commerce tool's development.

• After careful consideration and discussions, I've continued partnership talks with an ecommerce platform from Canada with the goal of finding a mutually beneficial agreement.

• My research on DTI studies has revealed a significant gap that my startup can address. The government's 2023-2028 MSME Development Plan aims to increase the use of websites (34%) and CRM, analytics, and automation (10%) among MSMEs.

My biggest challenges

• My biggest challenge so far is my left wrist, which has been causing me trouble recently due to a ganglion cyst. While it's not harmful, it can be occasionally very painful to move.

• Another significant challenge is developing a completely new logistics wing for delivery riders. This will require a development team to build from scratch. Although I know of a way to implement it on a smaller scale without a rigid application for everyone, this would compromise the goal of a seamless and superior solution. However, I believe that everyone starts at the bottom and gradually builds up.

Goals for next week

• Study 10+ companies from Y Combinator and Crunchbase.

• Read more articles from Paul Graham.

• Meet with a potential partner e-commerce platform store and finalize the deal.

• Design the delivery rider model formula.

• Create a social media marketing plan to increase social media traction and reach on all distribution platforms.

• Finish the module for UX course

• Implement the drafted schedule for next week

  Fix the homepage

• Set-up an email marketing campaign

• Reach out to ex employees of ninjavan, grab, etc.

• Talk to 50 Grab and Foodpanda drivers and 50 Grab and Foodpanda users.

Follow to get updates on my progress

#athenavc #startup #ecommerce #ronvillegas