How my First Start Up got Failed...
And here's what I learnt from it :)
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How My First Startup Failed
Here's What I Learned from It.
Hello, cherished readers!
Business-mindedness was getting into my head… And there I was thinking of starting a company.
Well, before that, let me tell you… I used to teach and help other speedcubers on improving… I was a speedcubing coach and still am, except now, I don’t take clients temporarily (for my Olympiads).
I used to take international clients more than in my home country… because Indians paid less :) kunjuice :)
Anyway, I guess that makes me an international puzzle coach.
The talk started with my friends… :
Well… I talked to Ayush and Shriansh and asked them…
Hey, do you want to earn money by teaching cubes?
And obviously they said yes.
Ayush and Shriansh were best friends and more over, they were faster than me at 3x3… They currently average around under 13-12 seconds.
And one day, I arranged a meeting and we three sat, we made plans on how to start what to do … how to approach, etc.
I did teach them the basics on how to talk with clients. And everything related to how to get clients by simple DM strategy and talk for money…
I used Ayush’s email for the Git Hub Education Pack, which got us a free domain and hosting… https://puzzletutor.me You can check that… I think the website might still be live.
And then came all the hard work… Okay, my other friends weren’t coders nor they were into website designing. So, had to do it myself.
It took around 4 hours to build that website from scratch. We used the Astra theme, with plugins and shortcodes of PayPal and Stripe… And after a work of 1 week, the website was ready to get clients.
And here’s the funny part:
Most things don’t work just as you planned, it would.
A Few Twists and Turns: But dreams, like cubes, sometimes take unexpected turns. First, as it turns out, managing a global clientele wasn’t exactly a piece of cake (or a corner piece of the cube, if you will).
Getting clients was even harder because it was like we were the first of its kind… Giving off one-on-one classes to speedcubers to help them improve.
That was our start-up idea:
To help speedcubers improve by giving them one one-on-one mentorship classes.
A lot of freelancers do it. But we decided to take the approach as a company.
Our first client paid us 900Rs for 2 classes… Seems good. We had decided that the pay cut would be 70:15:15. The highest for the class taker.
And so, I got my share of 630 Rs and gave them the rest. Ayush had managed to get one client. And in the upcoming month, we got 2 more.
And the third month, it was sinking…
The strategy was simple :)
Go to Instagram, search #speedcubers (or related hashtags), go to the Likes list.
Then, DM at least 5 speedcubers daily asking if they want to improve.
The texts were like: ‘Hey this is Sayak. What’s your average on 3x3 OH?
Reply: Around 30 sec.
Us: ‘I average around 20s… Would you want to be faster?’
Reply: Yes… How?
Us: ‘The trick is to get your main hand faster with these exercises and special tricks… … …’
Reply: Ok… so … how can I learn all these?
Us: ‘We would love to teach you one on one… Our company Puzzle Tutor helps speedcubers all over the world to improve on… …. blah blah blah…’
Some said yes and some said no… I DMed over 150 people. We went to the 3rd convo with 20 people. And I did book like 5 classes… 2 of them paid. And the others free.
here’s the funny part… I knew it wasn’t working…
There was an important flaw in there… which I hadn’t realized yet… We were earning around 1-2k each month… all over after wasting our time DMing prospects and all. But I never realized before that this business isn’t scalable until we get people hired and use our time as leverage to get more clients…
It’s just like BYJUs or Vedantu do in their one-on-one classes… They hire teachers, pay them first,… get clients, and take the difference between client pay and teacher’s fees.
However, we were unable to have a lot of traffic on our end… on our IG as well as our website. Obviously, if we had been in the game for like 3-4 months, we might have made something out of it.
Then, the big question: How does one scale such a niche passion? Our ambitions were high, sky-touching even. But the reality? Let’s say it hovered more around tree height.
Cubed Wisdom: Every failure, they say, is a stepping stone. And boy, did I step on a few! Here’s the condensed wisdom from my Puzzle Tutor journey:
Know Your Audience: As fantastic as the speedcubing community is, it’s essential to gauge the actual demand before jumping in.
Time Management: Especially when dealing with a global audience, it's a puzzle of its own! You think you are getting paid $10 for 1 hour… But trust that 1 hour out of the 15-16 hours of your waking hours feels hard.
Scale Thoughtfully: Not every passion can turn into a million-dollar venture, and that’s okay.
Endgame: Even though Puzzle Tutor didn’t turn out to be the sensation I'd hoped for, it left me richer in experience, wisdom, and some cubing severe skills. It’s like they say: You either win, or you learn. And trust me, the learning is worth its weight in gold (or in this case, colorful plastic squares).
MY LEARNINGS IN GIST:
Things never go as you plan them. There’s no perfect flawless foolproof plan in business.
Things are not as simple as you think. You are dealing with people, emotional beings who don’t want to use their money.
When starting a start-up, you also need to ask yourself, ‘Can I earn a MILLION DOLLARS with this idea?’ Because if it’s not scalable, it’s not worth wasting your time in it.
And interacting with people gives you lots of new experiences. Sales skills grow out of experience. You can’t learn everything from books. You need to do things in real life. Talk to people, convince them, add value to their lives…
And lastly, if it doesn’t work. Get out. Don’t waste your time. Your time is more important. Don’t you even dare to put your start-up registered if it’s not working…
In the grand puzzle of life, this was one piece that, although it didn’t fit perfectly, taught me a lot about the bigger picture.
Keep turning, keep learning!
BTW, check out my 2nd start-up: Speed Cube India… (my co-founder is constantly making changes… so the website might not work sometimes)
The main aim of this start-up is: to help Indians get access to premium flagship cubes that aren’t available in India yet. And also, to find a way to pay organizers and delegates in the future : )