When you launch a tech startup without a tech background, going headfast into the unknown, you might encounter problems with practically everything tech-wise.

But fine, a tech startup does not sound very specific, so let’s narrow down this broad topic. If your tech startup idea has something to do with tracking, counting, or monitoring some activity, it’s probably in the realm of IoT and this article is meant to guide you with your first steps.

Why am I giving advice? Since I’ve been in an IoT business for almost a decade, I’ve seen many IoT startups come and go over the years. Most of them did the same thing wrong which led them to failure. So let me save you the time you’ll spend on googling or your own trial and error.

The majority of IoT startups fail because they try too hard to develop a perfect solution. They get into a time-consuming development hassle and forget to validate first if their solution is something that people are willing to use.

So my advice would be – do not invest in a fully-fledged IoT solution with everything custom-made before you have validated your idea. Why and what to do instead? I’ll explain in a bit. But first, let’s get one thing out of the way…

How do I know that my idea is from an IoT domain?

The IoT is the technology that connects various devices, equipment, or household appliances to the Internet, lets them communicate with each other exchanging data.

IoT projects have one important thing in common – they duplicate physical objects to a digital world optimizing the use of these devices (things) in the real world. It can be for remote control or maintenance, remote tracking, or to make better business decisions analyzing data collected from these objects.

For example, in logistics, it might be critical to track the location of goods in real-time. IoT technology called asset tracking does just that – using GPS, RFID, or NFC you can track the location of your valuable goods and see it in your laptop, tablet, or mobile device. Basically, what you’ll see will be a digital representation of your products.

IoT projects are very complex to launch because lots of elements have to go right to make them work: hardware and its battery life, network, software app, and last but not least – a business idea. If you are confident in your idea and consider creating everything from scratch – a custom IoT solution including custom hardware and software – keep in mind that it might cost you ~$100k+ and might take 6+ months.

So you might have to make a deal with yourself to let go of the concept of a perfect IoT solution that is expensive and time-consuming in favor of a clumsy MVP that is not perfect but is cost-saving and will be launched much faster.

I’ll go over all the components of an IoT solution (hardware, network, and an app) to uncover the ways to create an IoT MVP faster and without breaking the bank.

Hardware

Hardware is the first layer of IoT solutions. It includes a variety of devices depending on their purpose. Most often they are sensors connected to the things you’d like to track.

Sensors are a staple of IoT projects. There are sensors that detect water or gas leakages in the buildings, security sensors that check whether the doors or windows are intact, sensors that monitor soil moisture levels in agribusiness, or even sensors that track people in supermarkets.

Their main job is to collect data from or about these “things” and send it to the IoT platform. Various smart wearable devices are also examples of hardware in IoT.

At the MVP stage of your project, do not invest in custom-made hardware. Choose from options available online, even if they are not 100% perfect. Such hardware might not be visually pleasing and perfectly tailored to your needs, but it should be enough to test your idea.

Network and IoT platform

Networks are needed to connect your hardware to the IoT platform, which is the middleware between your devices and a user app. They can be wireless like WiFi or LTE.

The best thing you can do for your IoT MVP is not to buy your own routers, gateways, but to find a connectivity option already available in your region. Depending on your case, you might get by with a WiFi network available to you, or some other existing infrastructure.

I’ll give a piece of similar advice regarding IoT platforms – use open-source platforms with quick setup. Public IoT platforms might need tweaking and probably won’t serve your needs to the fullest extent, but then again, they will be enough for an MVP.

Application

A software application is the last layer of an IoT solution, an end-user layer. By this point in the article, you might guess what my advice is going to be. That’s right, do not invest in the custom development of your software app.

Choose an open-source IoT platform and build your app on top of it using their ready-made templates. Yes, the design will make you cringe, but nevertheless, it will do what it’s supposed to do – put your IoT solution out there to be used.

After your MVP proves to be successful, it’s a good idea to involve investors to launch the next version of a solution with improvements. Then consult trusted IoT experts or vendors with relative experience. They can help you make your own custom hardware, choose a network or build a user-friendly software app.

Now that you have all the inside information, don’t be scared of entering this exciting world of IoT startups. Just make sure you do it right.

So your company made a statement about BLM — now what?

Well, it’s all been a bit intense, hasn’t it?

Just when we thought the planet was finally going to take us off the naughty step, we get slapped upside the head with another unfiltered look at ourselves. The uncomfortable, shameful, anxiety-ridden, angry, cannot-look-away-from systemic implication of racism and colonialism — including in the business and tech worlds.

But, it’s not anything new so why does this time feel different? Are we truly at a tipping point?

What I’m writing here may be uncomfortable for some but avoiding this is what has got us where we are now, right?

Before this pandemic I had lost count of the number of times I’ve heard of company C-Suite saying: “We’ll have to take Diversity and Inclusion off the table because a) we’re too busy, b) it’s not a priority c) we can’t measure it or d) we’ve done it.”

I can’t stop being a Black woman because you want to divert your budgets elsewhere. Does Cannes, SXSW, Burning Man budgets ring a bell?

Pro tip: having one or some cis-white women on your board does not equate to ‘diversity.’

We as a species would not exist without diversity. It’s a fundamental truth. Let that argument go, and move on with the Who, What, Where, When, and How of change.

But suddenly the shit has well and truly hit the global fan. For the first time for many diversity and inclusion has become a priority, and people are being reactive rather than proactive.

Welcome, we’ve been ready and waiting.

I’ve heard that people don’t want to “get it wrong” — but saying or doing nothing doesn’t cut it anymore, and, to be fair, it never did. So, here are few tough love thoughts. (Note: this is where the slogan “Silence is violence” comes into play. Violence in this context can be educational, economic, and access to opportunity).

If we want to make the deep and long lasting changes that are being proclaimed in company statements then listen up:

Firstly, educate yourselves. You’re not ’empowering’ your only Black or Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) employees and colleagues by making them responsible for moderating your behavior. That’s quite frankly lazy and asking people to recreate their trauma.

Learn the difference between interpersonal, institutional, and systemic racism . Then use these lenses to explore your own relationships, culture, working practices, products, and methods of reward and reprimand.

Diversity, inclusion, belonging, and equity should be systemic and run through the very veins of everything you are and do. Have you ever had to make the business case for your own blood? No? Right, so why make one for diversity and inclusion?

Not everything can and should be on the balance sheet. Let it go and create new measures of success if necessary.

Performative allyship is NOT the answer.

The eyes of world are watching and waiting with fingers poised in case this is just talk. Practice what you preach.

If you want to make the changes you’re publicly declaring then recognize and accept that things will change. Maybe even your own job .

As humans we’re all problem solvers and innovators. That’s the business most of us are in, right? Innovation. Disruption. Blah blah blah .

Don’t get me wrong, I love it. But as a sector we’ve been reductionist in who has been invited to the table. Some of us have had to fight harder than others to get where we are today.

Now, whilst we’re in this liminal space between the world we once knew and the world we want to create, let’s break down our own barriers. Let’s explore and create new frameworks, new-isms, and bring truly diverse voices, wisdom, insights and knowledge to the table during the design process of new and emerging technologies by all, for all.

I’m ready, are you ?

This article originally appeared in TNW’s daily newsletter, Big Spam . Sign up for our newsletters here .

4 vital lessons I learned from my Series A fundraising journey

Starting your fundraising journey is an exhilarating process. You’ve nurtured the company, put the correct leadership team in place, and spent countless hours to ensure your company will succeed. But as that company grows, there comes a time when every CEO wonders if it’s time to seek outside funding.

The fundraising process is, without question, daunting. What if you don’t get the valuation you expected? What is the secret to the perfect pitch deck? And how can you be sure you’ve found your match?

Last year I went through this exact same thought process. The company was growing exceedingly quickly, but our leadership team knew that in order to capitalize on the market we needed an infusion of capital to scale as quickly as possible. So we jumped right in and spent the next few months taking meetings with the most reputable VCs across the country.

We knew the time was right, and I was confident in our company’s ability to succeed, but a small part of me wondered how the meetings would go. It is no secret that female-founded startups not focused on female customers have secured less than 2% of VC investment dollars since 2014.

Despite the odds, we raised one of the largest Series A funding rounds led by a female founder. Insight Partners was the lead investor. It was a natural fit – they understood our industry and we shared the same goals and values. But I learned a lot along the way.

I’ve synthesized my advice for other entrepreneurs about to embark on their first fundraising journey. I hope that my lessons learned will be useful, and perhaps prevent a hiccup or two along the way.

Don’t be so married to your plan that you ignore valuable counsel

You’ve developed your strategy, invested time and energy into the fundraising process and you’re devoted to bringing your plan to fruition. But reject the impulse to unwaveringly see it through if that means you’re ignoring sound advice that might make your company even more successful in the future.

In 2018 we had just spun Contentstack out of Built.io and were seeking Series A funding. But despite having solid customer traction prior to our restructure, we were still viewed as a new, unproven company.

Several reputable late-series VC firms gave us the advice to get some more traction and then come back. We shifted our intention to raise a Series A by instead doing a sizable seed round. This gave us the additional runway needed to raise a much more significant Series A round just one year later.

Customer references are precious — hold them close

We’ve worked diligently to cultivate strong relationships with our customers, being mindful that they are the lifeblood of any organization. So, during the fundraising process I was fortunate to have a stable of supportive customers who were willing to speak with investors on our behalf.

While the third-party validation was immeasurably powerful, in retrospect I wish I would have held these references a bit closer to the vest. References are busy people who have their own lives to focus on and should not be called upon more than necessary. Next time, I will require investors to get further along in their own diligence process before connecting them with any of our references — and I suggest you do the same.

View the fundraising process like dating

Don’t be so quick to swipe right. Do your due diligence on investors along the way. Talk to other portfolio company leaders about the firm and, specifically, the partner who may become a part of your board. Make sure the board member is someone you can be in a long-term relationship with.

During this journey, I can understand it’s easy to get discouraged when you are searching to find a VC partner but changing your perspective might make the process slightly less stressful. Have a list of attributes you are looking for — we were looking for VC partners with a good reputation, multi-stage reach, resources to help us grow and scale the business, and for the specific board partner in which we could see ourselves solving difficult problems together.

Then you have your first “date” and one party may think it went well and the other didn’t. That could be the last date, or it could have gone well enough for both sides to meet again. Then you start to build attachment or invest time into the relationship.

When it doesn’t work out, you deal with all of the normal questions like “Was it me?” or “Was it something I said?” or “What could I have done differently?” You will likely hear the dreaded phrase “It’s not you, it’s us” during these conversations. An important skill in this process is accepting rejection and accepting that something may look good on paper but, in reality, isn’t a great fit.

Focus on your list of “must-haves” in your VC partner

Streamline the fundraising process. First, create a list of your ideal top 10-20 VC candidates. But start pitching from the bottom of your list up so you get an opportunity to address objections and work through difficult questions in advance, before getting to your top candidates.

Prior to your first meeting, make sure you’ve decided on your dream outcome: the amount of the round, board composition details, and your desired valuation. This will help to more quickly weed out the players that may not be a fit.

In the end, your fundraising journey is exactly that. Yours. You may get a lot of conflicting advice, be compared to metrics and patterns from dissimilar companies and likely burden your team, customers, and partners with the process. But when the term sheets come in and a decision is made, the journey will have been worth the challenge.