Gary Walter, Founder of RealInflo, and I, Founder of MyPropty, shared their start-up journeys at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) seminar in Hong Kong.
We covered several different topics, starting from the ideation phase, where you brainstorm and discuss ideas, all the way to actually executing and operating the business.
Here are a few of our biggest takeaways:
Formulating Ideas
First-time founders tend to have a common belief: the idea is extremely important. Keep your idea safe and protected and make sure not to tell anyone about it because they may just copy you.
The truth is most successful startups don’t end up being based on the original idea the founder had. They have typically gone through many pivots and iterations to get to where they finally reached. And they were able to make that progress due to the feedback they received from users or associates on their journey.
Share your idea. Get feedback. And iterate.
Prototyping
It is very important to get feedback on your product and ideas as early as possible. The challenge is that everyone will tell you that you have a great idea when they don’t have any visuals.
You can get a lot more useful and critical feedback if you can create mock-ups that you can share with users or friends as it will help them better visualize the solution that you’re proposing.
It doesn’t matter what you use to prototype. Use drawings on pieces of paper, Powerpoint mock-ups, Balsamiq, or even Figma or Adobe XD. Just find something you’re comfortable with and use it. I would recommend Balsamiq if you have no prior prototyping experience.
Testing
The easiest way to test your product is to try to convince someone to use it. Do that early and often. Most startups die before they get any traction because they waited so long to get the perfect product out that they run out of funding (or energy) to continue on.
Operating
To set up a company, Google “Opening a company in Hong Kong” or “Company Secretaries in Hong Kong”, and pick one company that can do it for you. Don’t think too much about this. They’ll guide you on everything you need to know.
Here are a few companies that provide these services for you:
There are many more if you look around a little.
Further guidance and resources
There are thousands of resources for people looking to start a technology company. Here are a few great resources to get you started by one of most well-known startup accelerators.
Have any additional questions? Reach out!
