A few years ago, I distinctly remembered that I started to see junior (entry-level) job postings requiring several years of experience. While I found that requirement to be utterly absurd, as a founder, I can understand why such job postings emerged. Essentially,, they may want to hire someone affordable but can do lots of things. In the most extreme case I witnessed, they aimed to hire someone capable of handling everything from DevOps to frontend development, which basically means one good engineering team. ...

Whenever I talk with my CEO, we often discuss how to build our product. Usually, the CEO tells me, ‘I want to build a nice feature for a product-ready service with high scalability.’ So, If I ask them ‘when you want to get the feature?’, a typical response would be ASAP. In a startup, we have very limited resources and tight schedules, and founders often want to achieve the goal (AKA MVP) within a strict timeline. As a CTO, I usually show this picture and ask to choose which qualities you want to get. Then, most of them point out the nicely done parts and ask one more question: ‘How much will you spend on that?’ Then they become quiet. ...

Sometimes companies need an additional task force for their development teams, especially in the early stages of companies like a pre-seed startup, where they might not have any engineers at all. In such cases, the primary concern is how to deliver the first product to the market as soon as possible. One of the reasonable choices would be to consider finding a development house from other countries to reduce costs. However, you need to understand how they conduct their business. ...

Everyone who wants to start their own company always finds themselves in a dilemma with the initial product called MVP. Ironically, most founders I’ve met want to build an MVP without a clear definition, relying solely on their work experience. If you’ve worked under a big company, an MVP usually contains numerous features with nice-to-have tools, rather than focusing on one killer feature. Additionally, founders often aim to launch their first MVP within a few months. ...

I co-founded my first startup with my friends around 10 years ago. Together, we explored various avenues, including obtaining a government grant as one of the effective ways to enhance the funding round. Like many other founders, we believed that securing substantial investments was the key to success. We dedicated significant effort to pursuing investments and government grants, sometimes neglecting the core aspects of the business. There was a mindset that significant funding would be perceived as a sign of success by everyone involved. ...

One of the aspects I find challenging about joining startup builder programs without a co-founder is the uncertainty it entails. While these programs often advertise the possibility of meeting a potential co-founder, the reality is that they usually span only 3 to 6 months, leaving very little time to form a team with someone you’ve never met before. It’s akin to expecting to find a life partner through a quick swipe on a dating app, without truly getting to know them. Consequently, precious time is spent searching for compatible co-founders while others focus on building their businesses together. ...