So you’ve decided to join the startup game? Welcome to the party. If you’re just out of the world of huge firms and tech giants, you may find some of the ins and outs of the smaller startup world could take a bit of getting used to. To help you avoid some of the rough spots on the road to success, here are some startup tips for beginners.

Build a great team

Teams are one of the biggest factors in making a successful startup, full stop. Startups are, by their nature, very small when compared to their tech giant competitors. This means that bad blood on a team can be one of the most destructive factors in a startup environment and that having a team full of people who are eager to work can lead to much greater successes than might otherwise be possible. Take your time when you pick your teammates and make them count. Turnover and strife are expensive things in the startup game and your best bet is to avoid them outright.

And communicate with them

Make sure entire team knows your goals and expectations and that everyone has the skills and drive to reach those goals. When you are in doubt about anything with your team and their workflow, communicate that concern. The business world can easily attract yes-men and people who hold their crucial thoughts to themselves rather than risk offending those around them. Understand that nobody can read anybody’s mind and that success comes from being in an environment where everybody feels comfortable communicating problems and good ideas while they can still be fixed and implemented.

Make yourself into a moving target

Part of being a startup is recognizing that you will need to be mobile, agile, and flexible. You and your employees will have to assume roles and responsibilities outside of your job titles and your business will have to constantly endeavor to improve. This is, once again, where communication is important. By communicating with your team, you can find areas in need of improvement before the product goes to market and by listening to customer feedback, you can improve your product while also building trust with your customers.

Focus on accessibility

Being a startup can sometimes feel like being a face in a crowd. Without the benefits of being a household name or having a huge marketing budget to draw on, it can sometimes feel like your business just blends in. One major way to alleviate this problem is to focus yourself on accessibility. Make your business and what it provides accessible on as many platforms as possible, especially mobile and make your product synergize well with complementary services on the market. This will help customers and investors to notice you and take interest in what you’re providing.

Know your weaknesses

No matter how good your startup is, it has places where it could be better. It’s simply a sad reality of the world that every business has, at least, one weakness. This is not something to be ashamed of and it is absolutely not something to ignore. Identify your company’s weaknesses quickly and research ways to compensate for them. Chances are yours problem isn’t a new one and someone else has found a way to address it. Learn from their successes and mistakes and apply them to your own challenges.