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Learning from Doubt: Mistakes I Made Building My First Startup

Today, I want to talk about something that’s not easy to admit doubt.
Not just a little uncertainty, but that deep feeling when you realize your project might not succeed... even before it's published.

In one of my past projects, I made a big mistake.
After working for more than six months on developing a fully functional app designing, coding, adding every feature I thought was needed I started to doubt everything.
The closer I got to finishing, the more I felt something was wrong. I couldn't shake off the feeling that the idea wasn’t strong enough, and that the market probably didn’t really need what I was building.

The Trap of Excitement and Rushing into Development

When I first had the idea for that project, I was so excited.
I truly believed it was the best idea ever. Without doing any real market validation, I jumped straight into what I knew best: designing and developing.

And I think a lot of developers make the same mistake because building is our strength, we start coding immediately.
We feel productive, but we skip one of the most important steps: validating if people actually want what we’re building.

What I’ve Learned Since Then

In the last couple of years, I’ve been learning more seriously reading books about startups, studying successful entrepreneurs, and watching their stories.
I’ve realized that there’s a smarter way to build:

  • Start with the problem, not the solution.

  • Validate the idea early before writing a single line of code.

  • If needed, build a small MVP first, not a fully complete product.

  • Focus less on having a "unique idea" and more on execution, learning, and adapting.

  • Mindset, hard work, building the right team, and finding the right co-founders matter way more than just a cool idea.

I wish I had known these lessons earlier.
It would have saved me so much time and energy. But sometimes, learning the hard way leaves a deeper impact.

Why I’m Sharing This

I’m writing about these mistakes now because I believe sharing them can help others who are just starting out.
If you're about to build your first project, I hope you can avoid the same traps.

In future blog posts, I’ll go deeper into the mistakes I made, including:

  • Why you don't need a "unique" idea to start

  • Why the founder's mindset is more important than the idea itself

  • How to think about finding the right co-founder

  • Why early feedback and marketing are crucial

We all make mistakes. What matters is learning from them, and sharing what we learn so others can go further, faster.

Thanks for reading see you in the next post!

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