How to turn your idea into a startup

If you know anything about Poq, you know that we’re a startup company (and if you don’t know anything, you can read up here!). We were founded in 2011 by Michael and Oyvind, who met on the MSc course in Tech Entrepeneurship at UCL, and saw that there was a gap in the market for a company making beautiful, affordable, platform-based shopping apps for fashion brands.

It’s been an interesting ride since then, and we’ve learnt a lot. So Oyvind thought he’d share some of those lessons at a General Assembly workshop session yesterday, all about ‘Turning your idea into a startup’.

His top tips?

• Get your positioning statement sorted. You should be able to explain your idea to people simple, clearly, and at a moment’s notice.
• Get a business model canvas (downloadable here). This handy template helps you to map out how your idea would work.
• Get a product mock-up so you have something to show people

Oyvind also talked about how to know when you should quit your day job. The criteria? Make sure you’ve tested that people understand and want your product, that you’ve recruited a full team, and that you’ve saved/raised enough money to work full-time with your team for at least a few months.

His full presentation is embedded below, with loads more information on how to validate your idea, start-up your business, hire developers, get funding, and find customers!

You can also download it here from Slideshare.

Thanks to General Assembly London for the opportunity to give this workshop. If you have any questions, you can comment below or drop us an email at info@poqstudio.com