Startups I have a startup that focuses on manufacturing contracts and I just landed a $10million contract. What’s the fastest way to raise capital? |
- I have a startup that focuses on manufacturing contracts and I just landed a $10million contract. What’s the fastest way to raise capital?
- How do you write a great spec so a Full Stack Developer can build your MVP?
- Options for raising money for a disruptive startup
- competition is dragging our name through the mud
- Best way to leave a young startup?
- Should I try to get seed funding or find a day job?
- What do you do when you fall in love with another man's idea?
- Best Way To Contact Small/Medium Businesses To See If They Are Interested In Partnerships?
- Is migrating from Swift to React Native worth it?
- I've validated my market and product through signups and conversations. I've built a 120+ page business plan. Now I need to build the product - Is it possible to get funding without a technical co-founder on board yet?
- Startups and University Royalties
- Advice required for a Tech Startup with an inspiring Human Interest story
- Finding a co-founder
| Posted: 02 May 2018 11:11 PM PDT Hello, I have a startup that I self-funded; we focus on AI driven green manufacturing (think Foxconn but with zero emissions) I put $125k into the business. So far we've built a small scale "test plant", built the concept, etc. I planned to raise money from friends and family when I needed more before doing a larger series... Thing is, I landed a $10 million contract out of the gate. I'm going to need around $2.5 million in 60 days in order to setup the plant and deliver. As you may have guessed, I don't have $2.5 million... I've never needed that much money that quickly, so any tips or guidance would be awesome. I can probably raise $750k from family and friends, but I think it's time for a serious investor that is going to bring more than just money. [link] [comments]  |
| How do you write a great spec so a Full Stack Developer can build your MVP? Posted: 02 May 2018 10:05 AM PDT I'm the "technical founder" in a partnership to build a pretty straightforward web app that should be able to sell for $100-$1000/mo. I have a tech background but I am not, and do not want to be, a full stack dev. (I was a Soft. Eng. for ~1yr at a large corp and quickly moved into sales engineering) My co-founder and I are quickly learning that our time is best spent learning from, and talking to prospects and customers, not continuing to tinker with our .NET framework prototype. We are ready to drop $5k-10K on an MVP. We have a consultant that has worked with us and has offered to build the MVP (also in .NET), but we need to do our due diligence and interview/entertain other options. This consultant basically already knows more about our product than we'll be able to communicate to any new candidates. . . so how do we write a great spec to quickly get them up to speed with what we want without biasing our field of candidates. (for example, I have no idea if .NET is the best choice for our product and I'm not at all committed to keeping it. The MVP will be written from scratch with our prototype basically being used as live user-story-guide only.) If you are a full stack dev, what was the best spec you ever received? If you're a founder who had a smooth and successful MVP cycle, what did your spec look like? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Options for raising money for a disruptive startup Posted: 02 May 2018 08:36 PM PDT Options for raising money for a disruptive startup I have an idea for a very large startup. Possibly the size of Facebook or Google. This scenario hasn't been successfully exploited yet by anyone. The technology penetration in society has finally reached a point, where I think this idea can actually succeed. But, this idea is so massive, that it will definitely require Venture Capital funding at some point to expand. So, it doesn't make any sense for me to build the product, except as a PowerPoint demo, since the earnings for this kind of business is very far out. And there is a lot of technology to build out anyways. Including API's, back-ends, front-ends, iOS and Android apps, and integration with other vendors. As well as to sell the idea to other vendors. And then, they have to integrate it into their systems. So, there is a huge amount of software engineering work to get this off the ground. The initial goals are to acquire active users, and then to monetize their browsing behavior. Think of Google and Facebook, but on a different scale, and with a different angle. And if this is successful, then the possible revenue generation is massive. This idea is about: Online meets reality. The customer base can be potentially global: United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan, Korea, maybe China. Most of the first world countries for sure. I hope I haven't given away the secret sauce behind this idea yet. I kept the descriptions here somewhat generic, but I'm sure anyone smart enough here, can figure it out. So, I need some help. I wanted some feedback from possible entrepreneurs that may have succeeded in raising Angel or VC money. What are some funding options that I can pursue? 1. Go the traditional VC route and raise money. What kind of percentage will they take? 20%? Twitter raised $5 million on its first round. But his original idea in 2006, was just a sketch. But I think I need way more money than that. Twitter eventually raised over $1 billion in funding. 2. Get Angel funding. Angel funding is not significant. It can only get an engineering demo done, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. There needs more work to be done. 3. Initial Coin Offering This is a new idea that I'm thinking of. But, I don't know much about it. That video game company for Star Citizen raised $148 million in donations. For a video game! I'm thinking of raising $100 million to $200 million, over an ICO, where I can give a percentage of the profits to these investors. This could be my Series A funding from ICO crowdfunding. So this is a long term profit sharing scenario. And the fundraising needs to be registered with the SEC. And, I am sure I will eventually need to raise VC money to expand, both nationwide and internationally. So, with this, what are my options? * Do I need to build out an engineering demo? Did Twitter do such a thing before getting funding? * Are the ICO's still viable? * Can I raise money another way, like what Star Citizen did. They just created a website, and people donated. I was thinking of doing something like this, but my idea to do profit-sharing, might require me to register with the SEC. I was thinking of paying back the profits in Bitcoin. And this money would be donations. And when the business is eventually successful, say in 10 years, then I pay out the profits in Bitcoin to these original donors. Think of Amazon on the ground floor: A $1,000 investment, can turn into millions. If you're still reading this far, then what are your thoughts? Thanks, cryptonine [link] [comments]  |
| competition is dragging our name through the mud Posted: 02 May 2018 12:14 PM PDT so my startup has been around for 3 years in a niche industry. the incumbent in our space has this "we've been in business for 25+ years" type mentality does not innovate and merely copies our products and charges less. they clearly see us as a threat and our growing market share supports that. they are trying to undercut us on price.(for reference, their revenue is about 5-10x ours). lastly, they've recently been dragging our name through the mud. if you run a google search of my company, the first ad that pops up is their page saying "we are MUCH better than x (us)". they are constantly referencing us by name in marketing and consumer facing materials. always claiming how much better and more experienced they are. I'm curious to hear all of your thoughts. my hunch is they're probably just shooting themselves in the foot. but at the same time I don't know if this is actually helping them win deals over us. Thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| Best way to leave a young startup? Posted: 02 May 2018 02:02 PM PDT I've been working on this project for the last 6 months with another person but really we've made no traction in both the product and our user base that we were hoping to grow. I haven't been paid for the last few months or have signed a founders agreement of any sort - this other co-founder has become a friend and he's motivated by his vision but honestly I'd rather do something else. To make things a bit complicated, there's apparently funding lined up on the basis we both move into a small incubator's office to work on this project over the summer full time, it's not much but like $100k but honestly I'm not feeling it. I'm wondering how to go about having this conversation and if there are any tips to avoid a total fallout. [link] [comments]  |
| Should I try to get seed funding or find a day job? Posted: 02 May 2018 05:56 PM PDT I'm a solo founder from New Jersey. I quit my job 5 years ago and developed and launched a content discovery platform. The first one didn't go well so I pivot to a second platform. The second one got traction and I survived making extra on ads while I continue working on enhancements and native iOS app. But the past year wasn't good. The site lost a lot of organic search traffic and revenue. Now I'm running out of funds. My dilemma is whether to try get seed funding or just pause for now and get a day job. If I'm going to get funding, I know I would need to get co-founders which I'm willing to do. Here's the state of my product: * Launched the web platform. * Site now has 160k registered users. Gets 30 new signups per day (used to get 300 signups / day from organic search traffic). * iOS app 90% complete. I've been sleeping in my friend's couch for 5 months now. So it's either I get a day job by next month or try to get seed funding. What would you do if you're in my shoe? Also, if anyone here is hiring a technical guy... I'm a full stack web developer with extensive experience in database design. I'm also a Swift developer. That's why I managed to be a solo founder. I'm open to relocation. Anyone interested to know more about my startup... just pm me. (Anyway, any founders here from NYC/NJ area?... love to meet fellow founders.) EDIT: I guess my other option is do freelance job. But it's already getting uncomfortable sleeping in my friends couch as he already talked to me about just getting a job so I can move out. [link] [comments]  |
| What do you do when you fall in love with another man's idea? Posted: 02 May 2018 01:34 PM PDT What do you do? It's nearing year one of forming a founding team. I'm going to break down everything into different forms so that everyone can digest a lot of info fast so you all can give quality feedback. The Team• CEO - Great full stack dev, product guy, designer, timid to a degree (He makes it) • Me - Great product guy, VC experience, business ops experience, extrovert (I sell it) • Other guy - Android/iOS dev and close friend of CEO, biz experience (helps make it) So we started one product, it went 'okay', but we went through a team shedding process and refined our thought process. After cleaning up how we handled things, got rid of a violent guy, we started talking about building a product we've had in mind pre-first product. So we began building. Mind you we're all part timing this. So months into building our MVP (took long because we're focusing on the underlying tech + we're all part timing this, again), but we're close to finishing. The CEO hasn't kept team morale up, everyone losing the love in the product, except me. I'm constantly motivating the team, sending messages, CC'ing in emails, just keeping the motion MOVING, but the CEO doesn't seem to have it anymore. Well, it fluctuates. Some days he'll be hyped, but most days he's just frustrated stressed, and sad. He burned our two chances of raising an angel round due to paranoia and ego but granted that was some time ago and he's learned his lesson. Every time we move the needle forward, it's because I'm forcing it, and I know this isn't a good sign. I know in my lifetime I want to lead a product, and it just seems like I'm wasting my time, but I'm not sure (hence me asking you guys). I drive hours just to meet up with everyone, the CEO is constantly stressed from his day job and that effects the team and progress, and just... it's been a year. I KNOW we could have had some groundwork running by now, I know we'd have SOMETHING (feedback, user engagement, no's, yes's, ANYTHING) yet we have nothing but a trail of 'wow, we f'ed up with x investor'. Sometimes the ball will start to roll and he steps in and stops it and defends stopping it with some vague meta response, or simply because he in't pushing the ball and wants to. What do you do? What do you when you fall in love with another man's idea and want to bring it into the world? What do you do when you're not an engineer but think day and night of an engineer's product? To address potential answers: • No, he won't sell it. I don't have the money and his ego won't allow it. • No, he won't allow me to be CEO. He wants to build this and know in his heart that HE brought it into this world (which I can respect). • He'd sue my ass if I ran away with it. • Loyalty is very important to me, I'm not going to ditch my team to pursue something that was collectively involving ALL of us. • I could never find it in me to steal or do something just ethically wrong. Look, I know I'm hounding about the CEO but at the end of the day he's my friend. i think he's stressed and is giving himself anxiety over this product, but I'm not truly sure, he doesnt open up because he's parnoid someone is going to use the info against him somehow. I need to move faster, I know there's more too, to make, to build, to break and I feel like I'm stalling. My grades have suffered, my mental health has suffered, my bank account has suffered, my family + friends have suffered, and I'm willing to let that happen, I'm not talking about giving up and asking for sympathy. I just. want. to. progress. But how? [link] [comments]  |
| Best Way To Contact Small/Medium Businesses To See If They Are Interested In Partnerships? Posted: 02 May 2018 12:33 PM PDT Hey, I was wondering if there was a solid approach to contacting small or medium sized businesses about future partnerships. The purpose of contact would be to see if there is any interest, and if so, would the company be interested in acting as one of the first partners for a discounted rate? I have a company email but I am unsure what alias to use, would [contact@mycompany.com](mailto:contact@mycompany.com) be too informal or should I go [name@mycompany.com](mailto:name@mycompany.com)? What would the suggested tone of email be and how should I sign off/fill in my email header to look professional? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Is migrating from Swift to React Native worth it? Posted: 02 May 2018 08:41 AM PDT I'm a solo dev, and I feel as if I'm taking too much time with Swift and Django. I have built my MVP in Swift and Django for the website, but I'm missing out on catering to the android audience. I'm using Django REST at the moment as well. Since I've built the core functionality on iOS, I figured RN would be a viable choice. I've been trying to decide whether RN is worth migrating to, but I haven't found a clear-cut answer nor do I expect to. My alternative would be to take the time to use Kotlin and rebuild everything for the android audience. In order for my venture to succeed, I need as many users contributing to it as possible, so the android audience is very important to me. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 May 2018 11:36 AM PDT -Made a 120+ business plan covering - Industry, Concept, Market, Economics, Marketing, Operations, Management Team, Timeline, Outline for Design+Development, 3 year 3-statement Financial Projections/Models, Financing needs, etc. -Created mockups of the website in photoshop to show customers -Validated the concept through meeting with potential customers. These are very, very INFLUENTIAL customers with massive backings. I got them to sign a piece of paper saying they were interested so I could show potential investors. (Proof of validation - this signature is to show potential investors/cofounders that my customers are serious). -Further Validated concept through signups on our wordpress website which explains idea, concept, mockups, etc. GOING FORWARD: -I need to build both an iOS app and Website. DECISION -Is it possible to get funding from an Angel with what I have done so far? I would use this money to either: A) pay a dev company to build our website/app and then hire a technical cofounder after the dev company develops the alpha. B) use the money to straight up pay a technical cofounder a salary instead of asking for sweat equity. I think the cash from an angel + equity would allow me to find a very competent technical co-founder(s) to build out the alpha and stay on board as CTOs. Notes: I have less than $2000 liquid cash, so me financing this is not realistic. I expect it to cost 20-250k to build. I have no tech skills nor know any technical cofounder candidates. I would hope and expect that the angel could also assist me in finding a tech co-founder. [link] [comments]  |
| Startups and University Royalties Posted: 02 May 2018 06:14 AM PDT So my team and I are considering starting a company after designing and prototyping a product for our Senior Capstone Projects. Our Professors want us to pursue the project as we believe it has potential in the market. They have a startup program that would allow us to research the market more thoroughly and after completion, we will be given the necessary funds to begin marketing (up to $50,000). They are also offering to help us with the patents, lawyers, and legals fees that come with it ($10,000). So my question is: How much is a good percentage for the University to take as Royalties. I have done a bit of research myself but haven't come across a solid answer. I would appreciate some advice from anybody who has been through the process or knows anything about it. Thank you all in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Advice required for a Tech Startup with an inspiring Human Interest story Posted: 02 May 2018 07:18 AM PDT Located in the United Kingdom -- a startup with an innovation in technology that has the potential to disrupt its industry has a Founder with a very inspiring human interest back story. Please could you provide any advice, especially if you have very relevant experience, that would help in initiating the telling of the story; who to approach and the most relevant channel(s). Any opinion is welcomed on whether this opportunity could elevate the position of the company and more importantly enable a platform to deliver an encouraging and motivating talk to other founders or those seeking to start on their own journey to entrepreneurship. many thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 May 2018 03:54 AM PDT Hey Y'all, I'm working on pretty neat product with some early traction and revenue. Thing is, I'm running it alone and that's not great. I'm looking for a CEO-type co-founder to help me drive sales, bounce ideas around and build this thing out. As we all know, startup can be a lonely journey. My strengths are in operations and product management. Happy to do sales but I think a more CEO type personality would bring a lot of energy to the hustle. Where should I look? And has anyone successfully done this before? I'm open to ideas. Thanks in advance. [link] [comments]  |
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