1) It takes longer than you think/imagine
2) Start smaller, no smaller still
3) Self fund for as long as possible
4) Be positive, stay positive
5) Identify people you can talk to about your work
6) Be honest with yourself, hard/brutal honesty
The product is not as cool as you think.
Cash flow is king.
Interest does not mean shit, turnover is the only important indicator. The difference to gt somebody to go from excited to hand over money is day and night.
Nobody cares about how cool the code is. Nobody cares about how pretty the application is. Those are side issues, does it solve a problem that people are willing to pay to get solved. Excel solves many problems and people are already paying for it.
Your application/idea is not as unique as you think it is.
Disruption and innovation are words that have little meaning these days, most of the time one is trying to improve a process or business, that does not equate disruption/innovation only improvement. Improvement is a good thing.
There are going to be hard days, acknowledge those. Know that everyone who is trying it on their own has those days. Most people don't show them to the outside world it does not mean they don't have them.