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https://github.com/ches-ctrl/after-le-wagon

How to start a startup for Le Wagon founders
https://github.com/ches-ctrl/after-le-wagon

founders grads le-wagon lewagon rails ruby ruby-gem ruby-on-rails startups startupschool webdev webdevelopment

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How to start a startup for Le Wagon founders

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README 

        
# After Le Wagon 🚙 - The Roadmap For Founders



Hi 👋 and thanks for dropping by



## Who you are 🙋



You're an aspiring tech founder who's just finished Le Wagon's 9-weeks of intensity and fun (congrats on becoming a Full Stack Developer!). Now you're wondering - what next?. Unlike career switches, the roadmap for starting a business is much less clear... so read on.



## The Entrepreneurship Roadmap 🛣️



![Startup stages](startup_stages.png)



## First things first 🥇



Le Wagon does a great job at teaching you **how to build products well**. You've built at least 2 impressive products from scratch during your course. But it's not an [Accelerator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_accelerator) and it doesn't teach you **what products to build**.



The temptation is to dive straight into building your product after the bootcamp, especially as you've already developed something. Instead, you should answer the question 'am I building the right product?'.



## The right product 👩‍💻



**What problem are you solving?** Have you validated this is a problem? How have you done that?



Code is the most expensive way to validate a product. Remember that and repeat it often. Instead look for quick and dirty ways to validate that this is really 'something people want'.



Here are a few ways to validate you're building the right thing:

* [Assumptions Mapping](https://www.strategyzer.com/library/how-assumptions-mapping-can-focus-your-teams-on-running-experiments-that-matter)

* [Talking to users](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Iq-how-to-talk-to-users)

* Developing a [Concierge MVP](https://codup.co/blog/what-is-concierge-mvp/) / [Wizard of Oz MVP](https://www.rabitse.com/blog/wizard-of-oz-mvp-or-concierge-mvp)



General principles:

* Get in front of a customer as fast as possible

* Get in front of as many customers as possible

* Only code what you need 'now'

* Take a [Design Thinking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_thinking) approach



## The right business 👔



A product is not a business. Now you need to design the business that goes with your product.



Follow these frameworks:

* [The Business Model Canvas](https://assets.strategyzer.com/assets/resources/the-business-model-canvas.pdf)

* [Business Plan Template](https://www.princes-trust.org.uk/how-we-can-help/tools-resources/business-tools/business-plans)



Basically, do this! Although this paragraph is short, this is a long process of discovery.



## Learning about startups 📈



You'll also need to learn about the business of startups:

* [YC Startup School](https://www.startupschool.org/) (listen as a [Spotify Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7IUwR6O3h4zPLqLWBx10w8?si=8c25483af42e465e))

* [Antler Academy](https://www.antler.co/academy)

* [Le Wagon Founders Program](https://lewagon.notion.site/Founders-Program-b74a60a704e3489c9b1c18398500c10a#a82960ce51264eb28f2f2255e566e924)

* There are many other equivalent libraries...



## The next technical steps 🪜



Great, you've validated your product, outlined the business and learned about startups. Now you actually want to get building.



**Read this 👉 [From Demo to MVP 🚀](from_demo_to_mvp.md)**



## Find collaborators 👯‍♀️



* Work with others, it's much more fun! You've just graduated with a load of other developers keen to improve their skills after all. Share your project and see if you can get others excited about it. Remember you're just working on a side project until you have users/customers.



## General advice 📣



If you're just looking for general advice after finishing Le Wagon:

* [after-le-wagon by Damien Le Thiec](https://github.com/damienlethiec/after-le-wagon) - a great inspiration for this

* [general advice](general_advice.md) - advice on what and how to continue learning



## Further resources 📝



**See here 👉 [From Demo to MVP 🚀](from_demo_to_mvp.md)**



## Contributing 👏



If you're a fellow alumni or TA of Le Wagon (or just interested!), then please do send a pull request to improve this doc.



## With thanks 😍



The following amazing Le Wagoners contributed enormously to this:

* [Milly Dyer](https://www.linkedin.com/in/millydyer/) (careers)

* [Marta Bas](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbas/) (careers)

* [James Goforth](https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-goforth/) (product)

* [Jamie Reynolds](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-s-a-reynolds) (product)

* [Martin Van Aken](https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinvanaken/) (dev/product)