Many Python programmers switching to Visual Studio Code miss one feature from Scientific Mode in PyCharm or Spyder: the ability to run lines of code one by one from a script and see your output in an IPython console (not just a terminal) — and especially the nice Pandas DataFrame visualizations.

Here is exactly what you need to do to get it in 2025.

You need three official Microsoft extensions. Install these from the Marketplace if you don't have them:

Jupyter: (Powers the Interactive Window/IPython kernel)

Data Wrangler: (A DataFrame viewer from Microsoft)

Step 1: The Crucial Setting (Force the Interactive Window)

By default, running a selection in VS Code sends the code to the default Terminal, which is clunky for data exploration. You can force code to run in the Interactive Window (IPython REPL).

Search for: jupyter.sendSelectionToInteractiveWindow

Now, code that you run will spawn a dedicated Jupyter kernel pane, instead of cluttering your terminal.

You might want Alt+Enter to execute the current line and then automatically move to the next line. To do this, you need to create a custom keybinding.

Open Keyboard Shortcuts (Ctrl + K, then Ctrl + S).

Search for this command: Jupyter: Run Selection/Line in Interactive Window.

Step 3: Viewing DataFrames (Data Wrangler)

To visualize dataframes, use Data Wrangler.

Create a DataFrame (e.g., import pandas as pd...).

Run the code line by line so the variable is loaded into memory in the Interactive Window.

At the top of the Interactive Window panel, click the Variables button ({x}).

Click the "sheet" icon next to your DataFrame variable.

PyCharm/Spyder typically puts code on the left and variables on the right.

Run a line of code to open the Interactive Window.

Click and hold the title tab of the Interactive Window.

Drag it to the far Right edge of your screen and drop it.

One More: Set Ctrl+B to "Go to Definition"

In PyCharm, Cmd+B (Mac) or Ctrl+B (Windows) jumps to the definition of a variable/function.

Search for "Toggle Primary Side Bar Visibility".

Right-click the entry linked to Cmd+B (or Ctrl+B) and select Remove Keybinding.

Double-click it and press Cmd+B (or Ctrl+B).

Many Python programmers switching to Visual Studio Code miss one feature from Scientific Mode in PyCharm or Spyder: the ability to run lines of code one by one from a script and see your output in an IPython console (not just a terminal) — and especially the nice Pandas DataFrame visualizations. Here's how to set it up.

Setting up "Scientific Mode" in VS Code: A No-Fluff Guide

Obsidian is fast, uses plain Markdown files, and keeps your data accessible. Your notes aren't locked behind a vendor, it's free for personal use, and you can export everything easily. Themes are clean and there's a lot of them to choose from. 

If you enjoy taking notes or writing, it's worth switching to Obsidian.

Obsidian offers its own syncing service so that your notes "vault" is synced across all your devices. As of writing this, it costs $4 a month. However, if you have OneDrive, Dropbox, etc, there are free options that accomplish the same thing (caveat: work on Obsidian using one device at a time so you don't have overwriting conflicts between device versions of the same doc).

If you already have an Obsidian vault or have your notes saved on another writing app, export everything. Aim for Markdown (.md) files if possible, this is what Obsidian uses. However, plain text works too. Obsidian will display multiple file types. 

Fyi: If you have .txt files, you can just convert the file extensions from .txt to .md, which will let Obsidian style the text (e.g. with bold, italics, titles, etc) once they are imported.

Keep these files somewhere you'll remember, you'll be using them in a second.

Note: If you are exporting a folder from your iPhone to Windows device or otherwise have an issue sending, you can use LocalSend (think AirDrop but across any device type).

Step 1: Create the Vault in OneDrive on Your Computer

Note: If you don't have OneDrive and instead use Dropbox, do the exact same but with Dropbox. This tutorial uses Remotely Save which is a Obsidian plugin that enables syncing, Dropbox and OneDrive are both free to sync. You can see a full list of which cloud services are free and which require the "Pro" version of Remotely Save. 

Open Obsidian on your main computer (PC or Mac).

On the launch screen, click Create new vault.

Give your new vault a name (e.g., "Obsidian_Notes_Vault").

For the location, click Browse and navigate to the main folder where your OneDrive files (or Dropbox) are stored on your computer. Create the vault directly inside that folder.

Example path on Windows: C:\Users\YourName\OneDrive\Obsidian_Notes_Vault

Example path on Mac: Users/YourName/OneDrive/Obsidian_Notes_Vault

That's it for computer-to-computer syncing! AKA as long as you have OneDrive or Dropbox running on two computers, they will sync your work in Obsidian across the computers.

Note: If you have existing notes that you want to import into Obsidian, instead of creating a new doc within Obsidian and copy-pasting the contents in one-by-one, you can drop all of your files into that new "vault" folder you just set up. Again, .md files are best because it's how Obsidian prefers to save its files and allows you "rich text formatting" like bolding, titles, hyperlinks, etc, so if you exported HTML or some other format, try web searching for a conversion tool to get them into Markdown. 

Once you drop your files into the folder, you should see them appear in Obsidian.

Step 2: Set Up "Remotely Save" for Mobile Sync

To get the vault syncing with your phone or tablet, you need to use the community plugin called Remotely Save.

With your new vault open in Obsidian, click the Settings gear icon (⚙️) in the bottom-left corner.

Go to Community Plugins and click Turn on community plugins. It may close the settings window when you do this so just open it up again and go back to Community Plugins.

Click Browse to open the plugin list. Search for Remotely Save.

Click Install, and once it's finished, click Enable.

Close the community plugins store window. You should now be back to the Settings -> Community Plugins screen and should see Remotely Save under Installed plugins. 

Click the settings button on Remotely Save. 

Select OneDrive in the Choose a Remote Service dropdown at the very top (or choose Dropbox).

Click the Auth button below and follow the instructions to log in and grant the plugin permission. In OneDrive's case, you just have to copy-paste the URL they give you into a browser and login to Microsoft.

You will now see a "rewind" looking icon on the left-hand side panel. Click it to trigger Remotely Save.

Second, on Your Mobile Device (Phone/Tablet):

Give the vault the exact same name as the vault you created on your computer (e.g., "Obsidian_Notes_Vault").

Once the new empty vault is open, tap the Settings gear icon (⚙️). You may need to first click the icon in the top left to open the side panel, then click Settings.

Go to Community Plugins and turn off Restricted Mode.

Tap Browse, search for Remotely Save, install it, and enable it.

Scroll to the "Installed Plugins" section and click the Remotely Save plugin settings icon.

Choose OneDrive as the remote service, tap Auth, and log in to your Microsoft account to grant permission.

After authorizing, return to the main vault view. On the bottom bar, you will either see the Remotely Save icon, or see a hamburger menu icon (the three horizontal lines). Click it and click Remotely Save to sync.

Head back to Settings then click Appearance then click Manage under the Themes section. 

From here, you can choose from many themes for Obsidian. 

Personally, our team is a fan of the "Things" theme but there's so many good ones, Atom, Ayu Mirage, etc.

By default, Remotely Save syncs at specific times. It does not sync in real-time with every keystroke. The default triggers are:

On Startup: The plugin syncs after you launch the Obsidian app on any device.

On a Timer: It automatically syncs in the background every 10 minutes by default. You can change this interval in the plugin's settings.

Manual Sync: Trigger a sync by clicking the Remotely Save icon in the left-hand menu.

Best Practice: To avoid conflicts, get into the habit of manually syncing before you close Obsidian on one device and before you start working on another.

Note: Obsidian has a core plugin called File Recovery that is on by default and helps mitigate issues of overwriting or sync conflicts.

A guide to set up Obsidian to sync across your devices without paying a monthly subscription fee.

Set up Obsidian Syncing Across Devices (Free)

This guide provides end-to-end instructions to deploy an n8n instance. 

n8n is actively being developed so definitely check their github issues to troubleshoot, don't just rely on stackoverflow or LLMs to debug.

Part 1: Prerequisites & Permanent Permissions Fix

This section prepares the server and solves prepares Docker with the proper permissions.

n8n runs lightweight, it really depends what you have it do. If you're running local LLMs, expect it to require a heavy-duty computer. However, if you're calling APIs and just chaining a workflow together, any old laptop with 8gb of RAM should suffice. The key requirement is that this computer won't move, it will stay put, plugged in and connected to the internet.

All instructions below are for Ubuntu. If it's an old, unused computer, there's no reason not to install Ubuntu on it as a second operating system --  you can use it for n8n and a variety of other purposes (e.g. Home Assistant). 

But all these instructions can be adapted for Windows and Mac as well. I would just recommend copy pasting everything below into your LLM of choice, tell it to adapt them to your operating system and additionally web search all instructions to validate that they are correct for your operating system. 

If curious: Why use Ubuntu? Mostly every "server" type solution will have Linux support -- they may or may not have Windows or Mac support. Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distro (i.e. operating system). If you have a computer lying around in storage, this is a great way to "learn by doing" and get some value out of an otherwise unused machine.

So, without further ado, setup instructions for Ubuntu:

Update Your System: Ensure all system packages are current.

Install Docker & Compose Plugin: If you don't yet have docker, install the Docker engine and the compose plugin.

sudo apt install docker.io docker-compose-plugin -y 

Add Your User to the docker Group: This is the most important step to prevent future permission errors with docker. It allows your user to run Docker commands without needing sudo.

Apply the Group Change: For the permission change to take effect, you must completely log out of your server and log back in (so log out and come back 🙌).

Verify the Change: After logging back in, run the groups command. You should see docker in the list.

These steps configure a tunnel to securely expose n8n and protect it with a password. In other words, we're creating a URL to visit rather than a "http://localhost:15679/" and adding a email sign in (so not just anyone on the internet who finds your URL can use your n8n instance. As a heads up, email sign in is overkill, n8n requires a sign in, but adding this step anyways).

So, if you have a Cloudflare tunnel already set up on your device, skip to the "New Cloudflare Tunnel Setup" section, else use the ones directly below:

Prerequisite: Add Your Domain to Cloudflare: You must own a domain name to use Cloudflare Tunnels. If you don't have one, just buy a cheap one from Cloudflare or use your existing domain from Namecheap, GoDaddy, PorkBun, etc and add it to your Cloudflare account and change its nameservers to point to Cloudflare.

Install cloudflared: Follow the official Cloudflare instructions to install the command-line tool on your server. 

This will open a browser window for you to authorize the tunnel with your Cloudflare account.

Create a Tunnel: Give your tunnel a name.

This will generate a tunnel ID. You do not need to create any local configuration files.

Run the Tunnel as a Service: Copy the tunnel token from the Zero Trust dashboard and use it to create and enable a systemd service. This is the recommended approach for a headless server. Again, follow Cloudflare's instructions.

Add Password Protection (for New and Existing Tunnels):

In the Cloudflare dashboard, go to Zero Trust -> Access -> Applications.

Click Add an application and choose Self-hosted.

Configure Application Details:
Application name: n8n Server (or your choice)
Session Duration: 24 hours is a good default.
Subdomain: {choose a subdomain here like "n8n"}
Domain: {your domain goes here}

Create an Access Policy:  On the next screen, give the policy a name like Admin Access.

Under "Configure rules", for the Selector, choose Emails.

In the Value field, enter your email address.

In the Cloudflare dashboard, go to Zero Trust -> Access -> Tunnels.

Find your existing, active tunnel and click Configure.

Select the Public Hostnames tab and click + Add a public hostname.

Subdomain: {choose a subdomain here like "n8n"}

Add Password Protection: Follow the "Add a Policy for Users to Log In" steps at the end of this section.

* Caveat: If Cloudflare is being annoying, definitely google search to troubleshoot. It can be a headache.

Part 3: n8n Configuration (docker-compose.yml)

This section outlines two options for your database. For a simple, single-user setup, you can use the default SQLite database. If you plan for multiple users, it is highly recommended to use the PostgreSQL setup.

Paste the following content:
Fyi at the time of writing, the latest version has a bug right at the admin login screen so if you're reading this in the future, replace image: n8nio/n8n:1.108.2 with image: n8nio/n8n@latest

services:
  n8n:
    image: n8nio/n8n:1.108.2
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "15679:5678"
    environment:
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=America/New_York
      - N8N_HOST={your url from cloudflare like n8n.yourdomain.com}
      - WEBHOOK_URL={your url from cloudflare but with the https:// like https://n8n.yourdomain.com}
      - N8N_SECURE_COOKIE=false
      - DB_SQLITE_POOL_SIZE=5
      - N8N_RUNNERS_ENABLED=true
      - N8N_BLOCK_ENV_ACCESS_IN_NODE=true
    volumes:
      - ./n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n

Option B: Multi-User Setup with PostgreSQL

This is the recommended configuration for any production or multi-user environment. It adds a dedicated PostgreSQL database container for better performance and stability.

To use this, add the content of your docker-compose.yml with the following pre-filled configuration:

Fyi at the time of writing, the latest version has a bug right at the admin login screen so if you're reading this in the future, replace image: n8nio/n8n:1.108.2 with image: n8nio/n8n@latest

services:
  n8n:
    image: n8nio/n8n:1.108.2
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "15679:5678"
    environment:
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=America/New_York
      - N8N_HOST={your url from cloudflare like n8n.yourdomain.com}
      - WEBHOOK_URL={your url from cloudflare but with the https:// like https://n8n.yourdomain.com}
      - N8N_SECURE_COOKIE=false
      - N8N_RUNNERS_ENABLED=true
      - N8N_BLOCK_ENV_ACCESS_IN_NODE=true
      # --- PostgreSQL Connection Settings ---
      - DB_TYPE=postgresdb
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST=postgres
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT=5432
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE=n8n
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_USER={add a username here}
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD={add a password here}
    volumes:
      - ./n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
    depends_on:
      - postgres
  postgres:
    image: postgres:15
    restart: always
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER={add a username here}
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD={add a password here}
      - POSTGRES_DB=n8n
    volumes:
      - ./postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

This sequence ensures n8n starts with a clean slate and the correct permissions. This is for a fresh n8 install and will delete any existing data.

End-to-end instructions for deploying n8n on an old computer/local server.

Self-Hosting n8n on Ubuntu

Why write this? While there are so many great tutorials on the internet, they all seem to dive into the code, rather than explaining what is going on from a ten thousand foot view and why you need to do it the way they prescribe.

If you ask people around you, their knee-jerk reaction might be to recommend Python as your first coding language — it’s easy to learn and is very popular (meaning well-maintained libraries and forum support). 

However, the first thing to know is: Your first language 100% doesn’t have to be Python. In fact..

You can build anything you dream up with whichever language you want.

Even though Python is known for data things, want to build a dashboard or app with Python? Here’s a bunch of websites built with a Python library called Streamlit.

Even though Javascript is known for web platforms and apps, want to analyze massive amounts of text with Javascript? Here’s a list of libraries to get you started (we wrote this before LLMs, but ChatGPT for example has documentation for node (Javascript), Python, and curl (via command line).

In other words, you can build anything with any language. However, keep in mind it’s a pain to write things from scratch, and you’ll want a language that is widely used with many well maintained libraries that you can plug and play into your own projects.

This means that the overly-complicated advice you’re getting from your friend who lives and breathes code is probably not wrong… It’s just unnecessarily complicated. Check out this Reddit thread dishing on someone’s overly complicated flowchart to help beginners know where to start coding.

Here’s an over-simplified, 101 infographic on what language to start with. If you want to learn more, head to r/learnprogramming and read the Getting Started page.

As an fyi, anyone who is opinionated about coding will most likely not like this infographic. For example, most of the internet runs on Wordpress and companies like Facebook build their front-end (or at least have for years) with PHP (if you’re interested in Facebook and it’s PHP/Javascript journey, read their blog here). The key takeaway from this infographic is:

Think about what you want to build first. Or if you are considering coding for a career, think about the kind of work you want to do and the companies you want to work at.

Just get started. In the end, you’ll use more than one language. Once you know one, it’s easier to pick up another.

“Knowing” how to code is a lot more than the syntax (i.e. the grammar and punctuation of coding). It’s also knowing how to search Google for the right answer, how to skim forums, skim error messages, how to break down a problem into smaller steps, think logically to architect your solution. Getting stuck picking a language is the last place you want to be. Choose a point on the horizon (a project to build) and dive in.

Wrapping your mind around the programming ecosystem

When I first started coding, I thought programing languages were mysterious, very official languages set in stone. But they’re actually more like Wikipedia. Did you know that there’s only a 5,000 who are actively managing Wikipedia? (If interested, read more about them: Wikipedians).

In the same way, programming languages are maintained and added to by a relatively small group of developers and communities (but some are also supported by companies. For example, Microsoft backs TypeScript (a “version” of JavaScript and Facebook supports React (a library people use to make apps with). In other words, the syntax and functions and libraries you’ll be using to build were just made up by someone. In the future, there may be “breaking changes” and you’ll have to learn the new way of doing things. Again, it’s better to dive in than to fret about what to start with. For example:

# In Python, you use # to add comments (lines in code that aren't run by the computer)
# To write something in Python 2, you do the following:
print "Hello world"

# But in Python 3, you do this:
print("Hello world")

// In JavaScript, you use // and write:
console.log("Hello world");

// In Java, it's:
System.out.println("Hello world");

Code languages are constantly going up and down in popularity, and you’ll probably have to learn a couple more languages as your preferred language gets used less. However, for DIY projects with easy languages to learn: Python and Javascript are great and aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Here’s a bar chart race of the most popular languages.

You are most likely choosing to use a specific programming language or framework because of the large ecosystem of libraries (the tools that make up your toolkit) that are continuously being updated and the active troubleshooting community on sites like StackOverflow.

Tell me more about this “community.” Well, most things you’re going to build will be cobbled together like a copy-paste Frankenstein. And most of the code you’re going to be copy-pasting is written by random people/companies who upload their code so that you and others (and themselves) can benefit. Why do they share with the world? This confused me too when I first started coding too. Definitely read up on open-source, it’s a fascinating concept to anyone not familiar.

Tl;dr — there is a small subset of programmers who are responsible for most of the tools that you’re going to be using. They are real people that you can actually message when you are stuck or encounter a bug — and if it’s not a question that was easily Googleable, they will actually appreciate your messages because you’re helping them find and fix bugs. 

Most of coding is Googling errors and reading documentation of an unfamiliar library. The most important asset a coder can have is the ability to see the larger picture and lay out a gameplan to build the project. It may sound silly now, but code hygiene, foldering, and code performance and optimization will really show the maturity of a coder — not the number of lines. 

Breaking down what actually happens line-by-line in an example code snippet

An IDE is a fancy text-editing program (e.g. Microsoft Word) with lots of bells and whistles. Fundamentally, it’s going to color your code to make it easier to read and do other cool things that make your life easier (e.g. help you catch issues with your code, show levels of indentation, reformat, help you batch change specific words across all your files, etc).

There is no best IDE. If you have the money, go with something from JetBrains (free for students). Else, go with VSCode. It supports all languages and it’s only getting better and better (Microsoft is really putting a lot of work into it).

Some people are going to tell you to use a text editor like Sublime or Text Edit. Don’t do this, you’ll spend hours trying to configure it to run code. Just watch a Youtube video to familiarize yourself with VSCode (watch a video for the specific language you want to use since it will tell you what plugins to install specific to your langauge) or WebStorm/PyCharm (from Jetbrains). 

If you’re doing a lot of work with data science specifically, consider Spyder instead of VSCode. It has a great variable explorer view and is pre-configured to let you run code line by line (rather than running the whole script every time and waiting for bugs).

These terms overlap way too much and are very similar. Good explainer here from KimConnect:

Just know that when someone says “repo” — they mean a repository, which is a storage location of that project and you have control over older/new versions of that project.

You’ll be using a lot of libraries — which are just chunks of reusable code that someone smart coded. And that smart person could be you! It’s ridiculously easy to publish a library for private or public use, and because of that, it’s very important you check if a library is currently being maintained (aka it’s not going to break on you because it’s way outdated).

Note: when you’re about to install an unfamiliar library, first go to the source code and check if it’s being maintained. AKA people pushing updates to the repository recently. Here’s an example:

While Large Language Models are popular now, they have yet to find a firm product/market fit and AI/machine learning pre-ChatGPT is still very important to know (and you might be able to go build a business on it easier than with an LLM wrapper). Plus, it’s easy! There are so many repos and tutorials online using libraries like scikit-learn or Pytorch(makes “AI” easy and copy-pastable) that you can get started with. 

As a note: When you’re getting started, it’s important not to avoid big words like AI. Instead, think of it as just another tool in your toolkit to solve specific problems. It sounds cool to “use AI” in your project, but fundamentally, AI is a new way of solving old problems and the old ways would probably work for 90% of the projects you’re dreaming up.

People love dark mode lol. There’s really no right or wrong here, just for people staring at their screens for many, many hours, dark mode is easier to look at. 

When you have code that multiple people are working on, it’s important to uphold version control — AKA who, what, when, why changes to the code were made. Git is the most popular version control system out there (VCS) and Github is a company (owned by Microsoft) that lets developers manage their code (which Microsoft then uses — surprise surprise —  to train their LLMs).

Git might seem intimidating, but it’s worth learning and ChatGPT is always there to help. If you are just starting, consider just using Github Desktop, there’s really no shame in using it and it’s very convenient.

Why does everyone have Java on their resume?

There is a big mismatch between what schools are teaching and what’s “hot” in the private sector. A lot of schools are going to start out by teaching Java for computer science majors or R for statistics students. Nothing wrong with these! Well maybe R… just learn Python lol. You’re going to make the switch eventually if you start with R. But that’s why everyone has Java on their resume.

Knowing what words to use when Googling for something you’re stuck on is super important. Also, note that ChatGPT/Gemini/etc are dumb in that if you’re not getting the right answer from them after attempt #3 → Google the issue and find a thread on StackOverflow. Otherwise, you’ll be aggravated and stuck while ChatGPT continues to return outdated/not-thinking suggestions to mess up your codebase. 

For Googling, there’s no correct way to learn what words to use, but generally my searches include the following at the end of the search:

“stackoverflow” — if ChatGPT is giving bad answers (which it often does, you’ll get a feel for what is good to ask it and what probably won’t work), someone else on Earth has probably had the same issue as you and it’s probably on StackOverflow. For something specific to a library (e.g. arbitrary lags in API calls for GPT-4) might not be on StackOverflow, so make sure to Google search to check if there’s a discussion on your issue on OpenAI’s forum (OpenAI is just an example, but a lot of companies are doing this, where you end up finding the right discussion on the company’s own forum rather than on StackOverflow). 

“gist” — this is a short code snippet the people save and might have the answer pre-written for you 🤘

Download an IDE (VSCode, Webstorm, Pycharm/Spyder)

Watch a youtube video to get the IDE set up

Start googling and searching youtube on how to get started 

You set your IDE up. You ran “Hello world.” Now what?

Now you need a project! Something to accomplish that would be meaningful to you. It’s not a bad idea to try some lessons on the Odin Project or CodeAcademy to get the hang of writing code — but to actually learn and follow through, you’ll need a project that you become invested in (Duolingo-ing forever does not make you functionally fluent in a language — same thing for coding).

Your day-to-day work. Is there something you can automate to make your life easier? Auto-cleaning a spreadsheet? Pulling today’s stock numbers? Doing your homework? 

Googing “awesome” lists online. These are lists of lists of projects already built, libraries to use, etc. Maybe copy paste one of them and plug it into ChatGPT with some basic ideas you have and ChatGPT can return some augmented ideas of things to build. Here’s some examples: one list and another list and another and another. 

There are so many great coding tutorials on the internet, but they all seem to dive into code rather than explaining what is going on from a ten thousand foot view. That's why we wrote this guide.

Getting started coding: A no-nonsense, no-fluff guide

There is no single correct way to start a startup. It depends on your personality, strengths, leadership style,  what kind of company you want to build, how aggressively you want to commit to the project, what sector(s) you are in, what year it is and if the market is ready (or already passed up), how large you want your team, who you’re working with, how cash intensive is your idea, among a countless number of other factors.

Here are a couple ways to approach thinking about your first startup; one paragraph summarizing the  methodology/mentality of some of the largest names in the “getting into startups” world.

When you're starting out with a new venture, focus on understanding the "jobs to be done" for your customers—what they are really trying to achieve in their lives. Don’t just compete; aim to create something that addresses a significant, underserved need. Start with an MVP that directly tackles this core problem, and use customer feedback to refine both your product and business model. My approach emphasizes creating new markets or transforming existing ones by understanding the underlying jobs your product or service can fulfill, rather than simply entering an existing market. Stay creative and methodical in your approach.

Adopt a design thinking approach. Start by truly understanding your users' needs. Spend time with them, observe their behavior, and gather deep insights. Then, brainstorm potential solutions and create low-fidelity prototypes to test and iterate quickly. This method is all about user engagement and feedback throughout the development process, which sets it apart from traditional approaches. It’s a collaborative, empathetic process that values diverse ideas and user feedback. Keep your mind open and enjoy the creative journey.

When you're starting out, focus on building something small and useful quickly. Talk to potential users, launch an MVP, and gather real-world feedback. Then, iterate based on what you learn. This approach focuses on solving a specific problem for a niche market before thinking about scaling. Engage deeply with your users, be flexible, and adapt as needed. It's all about making something people want and refining it based on their feedback.

One powerful strategy is to build and nurture a community around your product. Start by finding a core group of passionate users who share a common interest. Engage with them, gather their insights, and co-create your product. This community-led growth approach is different from traditional methods that emphasize broad market entry. It's about strong social engagement and collaboration. Foster loyalty and create a sense of belonging, and your community will not only support your product but also help drive its evolution.

Focus on creating something truly unique that can become a monopoly by being 10x better than anything else out there. Validate your idea with a small group of enthusiastic users and build a close-knit team that shares your vision. Have a clear, long-term vision and a systematic execution plan. Stay focused on your end goal and work methodically to achieve it.

Start by getting out of the building and talking to customers. Don’t assume you know what they want—validate your assumptions with real-world feedback. Develop an MVP and use the build-measure-learn loop to iterate based on customer insights. This approach is all about validating hypotheses through customer engagement before scaling. Be detail-oriented and adaptable as you refine your product.

The lean startup methodology is your best friend. Start by building an MVP to test your hypotheses. Gather data and use the build-measure-learn loop to refine your product. This approach prioritizes efficiency and continuous improvement over having a polished initial product. Focus on what’s essential, gather feedback, and keep improving. Efficiency and ongoing learning are key.

As the reader, you’ve probably noticed a fair number of similarities between each of these approaches. To be honest, though the arguments for a lean approach with iterative feedback from customers may sound redundant, each of these individuals are still worth reading/listening to — it’s not necessarily their arguments that are so novel from one another but rather the examples they use in their books to illustrate their arguments. One or two of those anecdotes will resonate with you and what you’re thinking to build and will prompt you to venture down the rabbit hole to learn more, which is a goal in it of itself (to be amped up enough to go learn the 101s of company building so you at least have the 101 traps to avoid as a first-time founder ringing in your head.

That being said, you may have some questions or doubts in your head, which are very valid. As I build my own ventures, I have found issues with many of these premises, which have become standardized in every business class, spread around Medium like gospel, and preached by early stage accelerators and incubator programs. Hopefully what’s written below can help address some of these questions.

A: Disruption can be lucrative but also risky and expensive. Instead of creating your own new market, incremental innovation is also a viable path. Know your startup’s resources and market readiness before committing to disruption #Disruption.

Q: Design thinking seems resource-intensive. How practical is it for startups with limited budgets and time?

A: Design thinking is all about deep user understanding and iterative prototyping. 100% this is time consuming. However, it’s often recommended by others because it helps first-time founders avoid pitfalls such as building something without a user in mind who would put down hard cash to buy — a year spent in the wrong direction can be more time-consuming and costly than committing to some design thinking exercises early on. As long as you keep a level head and situational awareness of what you’re building for whom and in what market, you can find balance between empathy and practicality/budget to avoid stifling innovation.

Q: Niche markets and rapid iterations.. Am I going to spend a lot of time refining something only 10 people want?

A: Niche markets can help startups gain initial traction, but yes it can limit scalability. However, for many founders, having steady income coming in from your service is critical to make that full-time transition. Also, a smaller market can let you build a fine-tuned solution where you can be the biggest shark in the smallest pond rather than vice versa. Even if you’re thinking to raise, go make some sales first to get a better valuation before thinking of broadening to a wider market.

Q: Is community building suitable for all products and markets?

A: Meh, sometimes. It might seem like a KPI to check off on your list, but it actually requires significant time and effort. David Spinks means something very specific when he talks about community building. Definitely read The Business of Belonging (at least the first two chapters till he gets through all the letters in SPACES). Otherwise, keep the community angle in the back of your mind, out of all generic early-stage advice, it can be some of the most useful advice and there are many low-effort actions you can take to make the most out of the community (of clients, users, etc) you’re building without going the whole nine yards.

Q: Peter Thiel’s approach focuses on creating monopolies and 10x better solutions. Is this realistic?

A: Difficult to attain and ambitious. Thiel’s approach is ideal for visionary entrepreneurs with “groundbreaking ideas,” but it might not be practical for everyone. Also remember the saturated market we are in. This isn’t the early 2000s when you can build an app for a sector and literally be the first app in the sector to add: 1) the “sharing economy” to a sector; 2) professional networking; 3) online payments; 4) analytics; 5) you get the idea. Thiel’s 10x performs phenomenally if you have the resources, particularly in times of plentiful funding and low interest rates when VCs are encouraged to waste away millions on hairbrained ideas and letting the US citizen foot the bill. Jokes aside, it’s still very worthwhile to keep in the back of your head.

Q: Continuous iteration, I’m sick of it. Excessive pivoting doesn’t always lead anywhere.

A: Continuous iteration and customer feedback are valuable, but you’re also right. Excessive pivoting can stagnate an early-stage startup. Balance short-term iteration with long-term goals. Make sure to actually go talk to tens of customers before forming an opinion on what the market wants. Be careful who you consider a mentor, there is a glut of mentors who haven’t ever actually bled for their own company but enjoy espousing generic “insights” you can read/listen to online. At the end of the day, no one cares about your ideas as much as you do, and while this can be blinding, it also gives you a sharpness and acuity to look long-term and know the nuances of your idea to a degree no one else has. Never engage in hubris where you make assumptions on what consumers want. There’s a common fallacy that since a founder has been in an industry for XX years, they understand what consumers want. Unless you have been on the “client” side (the ones signing checks and purchasing these services) at multiple levels in the “client” side business, drop the hubris and go talk to 30+ potential customers and iterate and strengthen your idea. 👍

Q: Eric Ries and the lean startup methodology is all I ever hear about. But there is no way I would ever bring an underdeveloped product to a potential client. Reputation matters and that lead is burned.

A: Be sure to know who you can bring MVPs to. Not everyone understands what you’re capable of and if you show an imperfect solution, that is how you will be branded in their mind. This applies dually to those close to you as well as strangers. However, there is incredible benefit to showing your imperfect, solution-in-the-works to others — it’s the same difference of a comedian who has only tested their jokes at home in front of a mirror versus the comedian who might not even have the wittiest jokes, but has performed countless times in front of a crowd and consciously assessed the amount of laughter per joke to fine-tune their material. You want to be the latter.

Therefore, bucket the contacts you have into groups, and fully leverage those that you feel will be able to help you along your lean startup journey while saving the people who don’t get it for when you have a honed service. In other words, don’t needlessly burn your contacts for the sake of the “lean startup,” save those people for pitching hard to and making a sale, but balance this with identifying those who understand you are capable of delivering an incredible solution and these early stages with an underdeveloped product is part of the journey there.

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