Dreaming Big

Entrepreneurs have big visions and big ambitions. It’s what makes them great. It’s how they build transformational businesses, overcome hardships, and create the future.

When you have a huge vision, it can be hard to start small. You are bold and ready to take over the world! Yet when you drill down into the most successful companies, many had modest, manual beginnings.

Here are 5 fantastic resources to inspire you to start small.

By harnessing your vision into bite-sized first steps, you’ll be able to go faster and grow bigger in the long run.

5 Resources To Start Small On Big Ideas

1. Do Things That Don’t Scale by Paul Graham

• A startup classic from the founder of YCombinator. Mandatory reading!
• Get customers or test a product in a small, manual way to start.
• Read about the crazy stuff huge companies did early on.

2. Minimum Viable Testing Process via First Round Review

• Resist the “if you build it, they will come” mindset! Even an MVP is too much.
• Focus your energy toward testing one key hypothesis of the business.
• Read about how Gagan Biyani used this to build Maven, Udemy, and Sprig.

3. The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick

• Our most recommended book at Atlanta Ventures!
• Don’t pitch your idea. Ask questions to uncover big problems.
• Let customer feedback help you find authentic demand.

4. How To Kickstart and Scale a Marketplace via Lenny’s Newsletter

• Real stories about how 17 of the biggest marketplaces got started
• It’s messy, it’s manual, it has ideas that translate to other businesses!

5. How To Start Without Spending Money via The Rebel School

• Ideas and stories on how to test a business idea without a loan, VC raise, or large savings account
• One of my favorite business-building resources -- their courses are always free! 

What other resources have you used to start small but achieve big goals? Any success stories to share?

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