I have worked in 2 failed startups and 2 successful; here is what I learned!

I didn't work as a PM or at any senior-level guy.

I have worked as a product designer, and everything I am saying here is based on a standard sign I have seen in failed and successful startups.

I am sharing only the first sign here:

Sign 1: Having No System

When you start a company, you may not have enough people to create different departments. However, it is essential to establish a system.

To use a car, you need fuel to start the engine first. Then, you have to handle the steering wheel, brakes, accelerator, and gear.

If you look closely, you will find that each component of the car works independently:
• The engine rotates the wheel.
• The steering controls the direction.
• The brakes stop the wheel.
• Air conditioning keeps the car's temperature down.

Apply the same analogy to your startup.

Having separate design, research, marketing, hiring, and development team departments.

I know how hard it's to keep everything separate because of the shortage of team members if that's the case, then.

Please do your best to establish these systems and avoid interfering with each other systems, especially when you don't understand their internal things.

Let me give you an example of what I am saying:

While working as a designer in a seed startup, our director frequently asked the sales team & developers teams which colour a designer should use in the interface or which features we should build.

Ideally, the process should involve asking the sales team about client requirements and providing those requirements to the design team for designing mockups.

And then involving the development team to assess feasibility and implementation.

Hopefully, you got the point that I am trying to convey. So, try to work in a system and maintain a system.

Having a system makes your startup successful and frees up time your time for more essential tasks as a founder.

There are 4 more patterns I have covered in detail in my free pdf book.

You can download it from www.khadush.com. Scroll down to the bottom section.