jtnt

Ha. Of course the first instinct is to start adding stuff to it.

I'd rather rent San Marino (a country inside of Italy). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino

FitFeud is a web-based system that allows companies to easily set up, organize, and track the effectiveness of weight loss and fitness competitions amongst their employees. In short, it's "The Biggest Loser" for companies.

FitFeud works directly with senior HR, Benefits, and Wellness executives at medium and large companies, as well as partners in the health, fitness, and corporate wellness community.

FitFeud uses competition as the motivation to help people reach their fitness and weight loss goals, and is an easy to implement, low-cost service that offers measurable results for businesses and their employees.

Competition = Motivation. Motivation = Success.

http://www.fitfeud.com

Stephen Hawking has a 12-year old child? ;)

Great post, David. In my relatively brief experience as an entrepreneur and from talking to other entrepreneurs, I and many others have encountered a lot of the pitfalls you talk about. You may have learned these from your experiences, but it is most certainly a shared experience. This should be required reading for any first-time entrepreneur. That is to say, I wish I could have read this post a few years ago.

To reiterate your first item, a DO I would suggest is DO pick a partner that can make sales and close deals. The purpose of any business is to drive revenue, so how come so few new tech entrepreneurs focus on this from the very beginning? Why do sales people get such a bad rap? They are the only people in your organization who (if done right) don't cost you money. Dev, product, marketing... they are all cost centers. Sure, product design and development is important, so is marketing and related activities, but if no one is dedicated to actively selling and crucially, closing deals, nothing else really matters (because you're out of business, literally). Moreover, an experienced and dedicated sales-focused co-founder will provide you with more actionable and relevant product feedback (i.e. direct from potential customers) than anyone else.

The old saying, mo' money mo' problems, doesn't exist in business.

I know you're excited, but before you get too far on the coding, do some research. I can guarantee you that your idea/product, while possibly genius, doesn't 100% match up with what people need (will pay for), and if you code before talking to real potential customers, you will either a) waste time building features no one actually wants (will pay for), b) not build features that make people do want (will pay for). Notice a trend here. ;) So...

- Talk to 10-20 people in your target market who are not your friends to verify that there are people out there who will actually pay money for what you're building

- when people say they will pay, ask them what specifically makes it worth paying for

- when people say no, ask them specifically what is missing that would make them pay for it

- look for similar ideas that have failed/succeeded and look at why they failed/succeeded (wrong features? poor marketing? no real market? poor timing? etc.)

Few other things...

Product is important, but so are marketing and distribution.

If you ever get the urge to make an investor deck, stop yourself. Make yourself a sales deck instead. It'll work either way, and sales are much more important.

Mentorship can be more valuable as money.

Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster ride, man. So prepare yourself for that, and reach out to others for help when you hit the dark spots. We're here for you.

Most of all, GOOD LUCK!

This is precisely one reason why this site was built. To make sure people both inside and outside of the DC area knew of the entrepreneurial activity going on here and to encourage participation in the community.

I'd recommend checking any/all of the groups and events listed in the Community Guide: http://proudlymadeindc.com/community-guide/

You might also want to check out some of the stuff at http://dcstartupwiki.com

This is an awesome site that I am proud to have helped with.

There is also a community-edited wiki that will be an ongoing resource and feeder system for the ProudlyMadeInDC.com site at http://dcstartupwiki.com. Please update this with any relevant info on companies, people, events, resources, etc.