So you want to start a business...

You've seen the hilarious HBO series Silicon Valley, binge-watched countless seasons of Sharktank, and listened to every episode of The Pitch podcast...now what?

Part of my purpose behind creating Aelia is sharing my own journey in developing a world-class brand. In this first installment, I'll be tackling the initial steps to starting a business, as well as some of the techniques that have helped me.

Let's begin

First, you need a problem. It can be your own problem, or somebody else's problem. Founders like to talk about "product market fit." Unfortunately, I'm more of a "scratch my own itch" kind of person. I know for a fact that I'll buy something that I make, but I have no guarantee that anyone else will.

A great way to figure out if you have a market is to find comps. What are people already buying? You can do that on Amazon, ebay, facebook marketplace. Use tools like google trends, and semrush to search keywords.

Come up with a list of ideas and then start with one. Don't try to get too ambitious (that's my problem) because it's better to start small and specialize and then grow over time.

Expert advice

Now, you need to talk to some people. You never want to recreate the wheel, no matter how much fun it may be. I listened to an episode of Paula Pant's Afford Anything podcast where she interviews Dr. Bent Flyvberg about how big projects get done. One of the key takeaways is the importance of learning from previous projects to identify best practices and avoid common pitfalls.

One of my founder friends told me once, "Kayla, you have it so easy because you're a girl." I didn't understand the comment at the time, but then he showed me his process. He would go to LinkedIn and send a message to a new contact, introducing himself and explaining his intentions. He would then inquire if the contact would be willing to set up a 10 minute zoom meeting. And that was it! Cold calling via LinkedIn.

As an avid google sheets user (formerly Excel) I wrote down the names of each person I reached out to and the message that I sent. Then, I would record the responses that I got. I tried to find people in the Bay Area since that's where I live and I could potentially follow up with an in-person coffee meeting.

That's how I met Amanda. She was in Korea at the time and we got on the zoom meeting and instantly clicked. I explained my situation and my project and she was very receptive. I offered to pay her for her time and she declined (I later learned not to do this. People are very giving and you shouldn't pay them for a 10 min zoom meeting. But in person meetings- always buy their coffee)

Conferences

Another great way to explore trends and gather research is through conferences. I have been to 3 conferences to date, but I plan to go to 2-3 every year as long as my company is up and running. There is so much value to be gained by being in a room of extremely knowledgeable professionals.

It can be intimidating, of course. I always like to be polite and introduce myself and explain the basic premise of my company. Sometimes I say I'm a pilot but usually I don't. There's no need to worry about imposter syndrome (I mean, you can...) because people tend to naturally accept that you're in the industry and that you're supposed to be there.

As long as you're wearing the lanyard...

So, this is the first part- the research part. Naturally, you still need to find a name and incorporate and get your EIN. That's all easy. What's hard is asking for help when you're new to an industry and you don't really know too much about it yet.

Embrace the hard work and try to get 1% better each day.

-Kailush