What you need to know as a new startup founder
The journey from your initial spark of an idea to a thriving startup is one of the most exhilarating paths an entrepreneur can take.
However, the early stages of this journey are often fraught with uncertainty. For many new founders, the biggest challenge isn't a lack of passion or drive, it’s not knowing what they don’t know.
At Stone & Chalk, we’ve worked with hundreds of founders who started their entrepreneurial journey with big dreams but little clarity. Here we’ll help you navigate the unknowns with key steps, tools, and stories of founders who turned ambiguity into action.
The excitement and fear of starting out
Every startup begins with an idea. Perhaps it’s a way to solve a frustrating problem you’ve faced, or maybe it’s a flash of inspiration during a conversation with friends.
Whatever the origin, that initial idea feels like magic—full of potential and possibility. But as the idea takes shape, questions arise:
- Is this idea worth pursuing?
- What do I need to know to get started?
- What if I’m missing something critical?
If these questions resonate with you, know that you’re not alone.
Feeling uncertain is a sign that you’re asking the right questions. Your best bet is to move forward with curiosity and a willingness to learn.
What you need to know about the startup process
For many aspiring founders, the startup process is a maze of unknowns.
What steps should you take first? How do you validate your idea? And what if you’re missing something crucial that could make or break your success?
Here’s the first steps you should take as a new founder to build a great startup.
Step 1: Find a great problem
One of the biggest mistakes early-stage founders make is starting with technology, rather than the customer. Because great startups spring from great problems.
This means you need to be on the hunt for great problems. To find them, take stock of the problems you notice in your life:
- I don’t know how to save money or manage my budget.
- I feel stuck in my career and don’t know how to grow.
- Public transport is unreliable, and driving is too expensive.
- I can’t find time to exercise with my busy schedule.
- Meal prepping is so time-consuming, and I’m tired of eating out.
- Dating apps are frustrating, and I can’t meet the right people.
- Taxes are too complicated, and I’m worried about making a mistake.
- I want to live sustainably, but eco-friendly products are too expensive.
Any one of these could be the foundation of a great startup – and many of them already are. Now you need to understand it deeply. This is particularly true if it’s not a problem you deal with yourself, but just one you happened to notice.
The best way to find out more is through research. Namely, by asking your potential customers.
A good first step is to reach out to your existing network. If it’s something you have a problem with, there’s a good chance others in your life do too.
If you’re not ready for that, online communities like Reddit, Quora, and LinkedIn (particularly the groups) are great for discovering discussions about your customers and their problems.
If you’re feeling bold, networking events, meetups, and trade shows also offer direct access to people interested in your industry.
To uncover what you don’t know, here are some questions you can ask.
- What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing right now in [specific area]?
- Can you walk me through how you currently solve that problem?
- What’s the most frustrating part of your current solution or process?
- How long have you been dealing with this issue?
- What have you tried in the past, and why didn’t it work for you?
- How does this problem impact your day-to-day work or personal life?
- Can you walk me through how you currently handle this issue?
When you listen to real-world experiences, you’ll uncover insights that refine your idea and reveal gaps you didn’t even know existed.
Step 2: Research the market
In the early stages of your startup journey, uncertainty is inevitable. But the best way to move through it is through research.
Research helps identify whether the problem you're solving truly exists, affects enough people to sustain a business, and isn’t already being solved well by somebody else.
Here are some of the tools you can use:
1. Market research tools
When you're starting, you need to understand your market (that is, the people, organisations and industries that are your startup’s potential customers).
These are some of the tools that you can use to help you gather the insights you need to validate your ideas, size up the market, and identify the trends that matter.
- Statista: Offers data on industries, markets, and consumer behavior globally. Great for identifying trends and validating market size.
- IBISWorld: Comprehensive industry reports tailored to startups.
- Google Trends: Useful for analyzing keyword popularity and emerging trends in your niche.
- Crunchbase: Find competitor profiles, funding history, and key market players.
No matter your industry, these tools provide the foundational knowledge you need to make confident decisions and find opportunities for growth
2. Competitor analysis tools
Knowing what your competitors are up to can sharpen your strategy and help you carve out your niche. These tools make competitive analysis simple and actionable.
- SimilarWeb: Get insights into your competitors’ web traffic, audience demographics, and top-performing channels.
- Ahrefs: Analyse competitors’ SEO strategies, backlinks, and content performance.
With these insights, you'll be better equipped to outpace competitors, refine your approach, and deliver more value to your audience.
3. Business model tools
Here are some practical tools can help you organise your thoughts and uncover areas in the market you may have overlooked:
- Business model canvas: This one-page framework helps you map out your value proposition, customer segments, revenue streams, and more. Here’s a template on Canva and Miro.
- SWOT analysis: When you analyse your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, you can reveal areas you might overlook. Here’s an analysis template from the Australian government.
- Porter’s Five Forces Analysis: Assess competitive intensity and profitability in your market. Get your analysis template here from Miro.
- PESTLE Analysis: Evaluate the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental factors affecting your business. Get your template here from Miro.
It’s much better to get your thoughts out visually. Whether it’s sketching your revenue model or mapping out your competition, these tools will help you turn abstract ideas into clear, actionable plans.
Step 3: Build a Minimal Viable Product (MVP)
Many founders fall into the trap of trying to create a perfect product from the start. But early on, your goal isn’t perfection, it’s learning.
That’s where the concept of an MVP comes in. An MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product:
- Minimum: The simplest version of your product. It includes only the essential features needed to solve a problem or meet a specific need.
- Viable: Functional enough to work and provide value to users, even if it’s basic or incomplete.
- Product: Something tangible (like an app) or intangible (like software or a service) that people can use and interact with.
Essentially, an MVP is a simplified version of your product that allows you to test your idea with minimal resources.
But what does this look like?
Well, imagine you’re developing a new app for managing team productivity. Rather than building a full-scale app, you could start with a clickable prototype or even a simple spreadsheet template.
Take this and share it with potential users and gather feedback. This approach saves time, reduces costs, and helps you learn what users actually need.
Here’s some tools to help you produce and test your MVP.
1. Prototyping and design tools
Designing your MVP is all about translating ideas into something tangible that users can interact with. These tools make the process straightforward:
- Figma: A collaborative design tool for creating user interfaces and clickable prototypes.
- Adobe XD: Ideal for designing interactive prototypes and wireframes for websites or apps.
- Bubble: Build fully functional web apps without writing code.
- Webflow: A powerful no-code tool for building and launching responsive websites.
- Canva: Create simple visual mockups or marketing materials for your MVP.
With these you can make visual and functional prototypes, even without extensive design or coding skills.
2. Code and development frameworks
For those ready to code their MVP, these frameworks provide the foundation for quick and efficient development.
- ReactJS or Vue.js: Frontend frameworks for building MVPs with robust, interactive features.
- Django or Flask: Python-based frameworks for quick backend development.
- Node.js: Lightweight and scalable for building fast MVP backends.
- Firebase: A backend-as-a-service platform that simplifies app development with real-time databases, authentication, and hosting.
These tools help you deliver a functional MVP without getting bogged down in technical complexity.
Step 4: Test, get feedback and make changes
The first version of your idea is rarely the final version. Successful founders take feedback on board and use it to test and make changes.
Instead of treating feedback like a to-do list you need to complete, think of it as a set of ideas or hypotheses to explore and test. For example:
- Hypothesis: Users are dropping off because the signup process is too long.
- Test: Shorten the process and track changes in conversion rates.
Feedback is at the core of what makes an MVP succeed. Here’s some tools you can use to help you see how users interact with your product and what improvements are needed.
- Typeform or Google Forms: Create surveys to gather qualitative and quantitative feedback from early adopters.
- Hotjar: Track user behaviour on your MVP through heatmaps and session recordings.
- Google Analytics: A free tool for tracking user activity and conversion rates on your website.
Be open to criticism. Remember, constructive feedback is a gift that can save you from costly mistakes. With these insights, you can fine-tune your MVP to better meet user needs and expectations, setting the stage for future success.
More resources to help you as a founder
You don’t have to navigate the unknown alone. There are countless resources available to help early-stage founders, including:
- Startup News: Great founders stay informed! Some of the key news resources for founders include Startup Daily, Smart Company, and HackerNews.
- Funding and grants: The Australian government has a searchable collection of grants, with a number of them relevant to startups and entrepreneurs.
- Workshops: Many organisations offer free or low-cost workshops on topics like fundraising, marketing, and product development. Here you can find a list of our Stone & Chalk events that are open for new founders.
- Industry Meetups: Platforms like Meetup and Eventbrite can connect you with local startup events and networking opportunities.
- Startup communities: Joining a coworking space or innovation hub like ours at Stone & Chalk (when you’re ready) connects you with peers, mentors, and experts who can offer guidance.
- Mentors: A mentor who has walked the entrepreneurial path can help you avoid common pitfalls of being a founder. Look for someone who aligns with your values and has experience in your industry.
Startup success stories
How one startup went from French wine to Aussie cows – and struck gold
When they boarded the plane to Australia with three kids and just five suitcases, Nathalie and Nicolas Tacquet’s dream seemed both bold and uncertain.
Now, they are the founders of eBottli, a company that’s shaking up agriculture with technology to track wine, livestock, and fish. Read story
The VR startup giving stroke survivors their lives back
Daish Malani never set out to be an entrepreneur, but life had other plans.
After seeing his uncle fade away from a stroke, Daish couldn’t stand by to watch others suffer the same fate. Now, as founder of startup Add-Life Technologies, he is transforming stroke rehabilitation with Virtual Reality. Read story
Your first steps for today
Starting a business idea is like setting out on a journey without a map. There will be twists, turns, and unexpected challenges.
It can feel paralysing, but the best way to overcome it is to take action. Here are three small steps you can take today:
- Write down the problem your idea solves and who it serves.
- Send an email to one potential customer for a conversation.
- Sketch a rough outline of how your product or service might work.
Progress doesn’t require perfection, and even small steps can lead to big breakthroughs.
At Stone & Chalk, we’re here to support founders to go further, faster.
Whether it’s through workspace, mentorship, or growth programs, we’re committed to helping you turn the unknown into opportunities.
Ready to take your next step? Explore how Stone & Chalk can help you navigate your startup journey and set you on the path to success. Find out more.