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15 Common-sense tips for Tech Startups

Wael Sabra

Practical advice for founders, from talking to users to choosing boring technology.

A startup team working on laptops around a table with sticky notes

After years of writing about start-ups, I keep seeing the same lessons. Here are fifteen, boiled down.

Talk to users before you write code. Solve one problem well. Charge from day one. Choose boring, proven technology. Automate deployments early. Write things down. Hire slowly and fire kindly.

Keep an eye on cash every week. Ship small releases often. Measure what matters, not what is easy. Protect your team's focus. Back up everything. Take security seriously from the start. Ask for help. And remember to sleep: tired founders make expensive mistakes.