Startups Start-up App Company - Should I consult with expert regarding key strategical decisions. |
- Start-up App Company - Should I consult with expert regarding key strategical decisions.
- Where do I start? An idea I really believe in but don't know where to begin...
- 'App-only' vs 'App+Web'
- Validation: Would you pay a developer/mentor $300/month to learn to code?
- Question about trademark conflict
- How to check demand for HR software?
- How do I approach the next step for developing my product?
- Advice on structuring a company with several key partners
- What do you think of this startup opportunity?
- How do I project how many pizzas I will make weekly?
- Advice on new business registration for a start-up
- How to open account in SVB? Any suggestions on good banks for startup?
| Start-up App Company - Should I consult with expert regarding key strategical decisions. Posted: 31 May 2018 01:18 PM PDT I built an app (outsourced the coding) that is designed to help guys get better at talking to girls. I know there is a huge market for it, a bit of advertising through Adwords confirmed this as I am getting a lot of clicks for cheap and people are showing interest in the app. I see lots of potential to reach thousands of downloads ,create a solid community and build a really cool business. However, I'm at a point where I have several decisions to make that could greatly impact the success of the app, mainly the monetization aspect of it. Therefore I am considering consulting for a few hours with an expert to get some advice on the best way to proceed. Here is a little overview of the vision of the business:
Where I'm at:
Here is where I need advice on: Do you guys know of any experts that I could contact that have experience in the App business? Below are some of the sort of questions that I'm facing. Also, your personal advice on these will be highly appreciated! Monteization advice - The app is free, it has all of the functionality of the paid version but has ads and challenges limited to levels 1-3. Subscribing either monthly or yearly removes the ads and gives access to all challenges, so levels 1-10. I am not sure this is the best way to go yet, but the Website will have also premium content for subscribers. 1) After how many active users should I start charging for the premium version? Right now and until I get 500 users, I automatically upgrade everyone to premium as I appreciate these first user's and want them to have a good experience, give me feedback, test out the app, etc... 2) 1.5USD/month or 8 USD /year is the subscription price right now, it might be too steep so I might bring it down. Any suggestions for a solid price? I want people to get the yearly subscription. 3) A friend of mine is convinced that I absolutely need "gold" in this, like a currency that you get in the app but you can buy some to get ahead quicker, that I should drop the subscriptions. Gold could work in the future to get skins for avatars, or reward users for challenges, but as a self improvement app I don't want to restrain users from accessing challenges due to a fake currency, which would also make the app less professional and more like a game. Running the business 4) KPIs - I monitor some goal oriented metrics related to user acquisition, engagement and marketing but I'm thinking that an expert could double check these and suggest some good KPIs that are aligned with my goals (to make the app profitable). 5) Marketing Strategy - Are my download forecasts accurate and achievable? My marketing strategy is to pay a bit for advertising early on to get a fair amount of users, rank high on the Play store and App store and then cut the paid advertising and let users find the apps organically. Thanks for your help! [link] [comments]  |
| Where do I start? An idea I really believe in but don't know where to begin... Posted: 31 May 2018 02:32 PM PDT I've read a few posts here, and one user made a good point that keeping the idea secret isn't really necessary, as anyone willing to steal the idea probably doesn't have the passion and know-how to make something of it, so here goes: I'd like to gamify the gym. Rather than tacking on micro-experiences as an after thought, I want to create video games, VR experiences, and leaderboard tracking for gym equipment. In addition, I want to build a mobile app that unifies the whole experience, connects to friends, and allows people to challenge each other to direct competitions or simply to "beat my score." While each exercise machine/experience could be sold as a one-off item, I'd ultimately like to sell these to gyms as packages. I've spoken to a couple of gym owners who were very interested in the idea, but I have no commitments. There are a few major speed bumps in getting started. Game development takes a long time, impossibly so for one developer. So, technically, I need capital to be able to even develop good prototypes. Among my many ideas, I've chosen 3 as the ones I'd like to prototype first, and the mobile app can be developed at any time. I want to find investors and I want to make sure I'm investing my own time into the right places early on, so I'm not wasting time. So my questions are these: Where do I start? What are the best time investments I should be making? (I already have prototype drawings/mockups and a business plan) Is it even feasible to get startup capital for something like this without developing full prototypes? (I am willing to give away equity) Do I have to have patents and working prototypes for investors to give me the time of day? I'm really committed to this idea, but I've never started a business before and I feel paralyzed trying to figure out my first steps. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 May 2018 06:57 PM PDT Our platform was initially only on desktop apps - Mac app, Windows app, Linux app. With our growth, we noticed that a lot of users were dropping off on the app download page. Probably, the friction to downloading an app is really high. Talking numbers, about 13% of our users were dropping off on this download page and never came back. At the moment, we have launched a web version, but the effort to maintaining it for different browsers is big. What are your thoughts on going an 'App-only' vs 'App+Web' strategy? [link] [comments]  |
| Validation: Would you pay a developer/mentor $300/month to learn to code? Posted: 01 Jun 2018 01:56 AM PDT So I have an idea. I want to build some MRR. What I'm thinking of is having some structured guide to push students to mastering certain skills/languages/etc. Also have peer/mentor review sessions of code and exercises. I plan on putting around 20 hours per week into this, and spend the rest building my dev agency. Eventually, I could hire some of the students as devs myself for my agency, or at least work with them to get a good junior dev role. About me: I'm a full-stack dev, been building websites since 1998, but real development since about 2012. My primary stack is Laravel + Vuejs, though I'm comfortable with node, and rails as well. [link] [comments]  |
| Question about trademark conflict Posted: 31 May 2018 02:19 PM PDT A few months ago I checked the USPTO for a certain trademark, and there was nothing. I then created an LLC with that name, but did not file trademark because the logo wasn't ready. Now I see a live trademark for the word pair that became active a month ago. Note that the company that filed for the trademark has a different name, and this company is based out of China. So, is this going to be a problem going forward? There is some cross-over in sector, both web platforms that have a community aspect. However, their platform is focused on a particular area, while mine is general. Their platform has been active for years, but only recently changed their name to this exact term. My platform is not released yet. ---- To clarify with different names: Bodybuilding LLC has platform RunFastNow (weightlifting content with social elements) I form RunFast LLC for my platform RunFast (general social media, unrelated to weightlifting) Bodybuilding LLC changes platform name to RunFast and files basic word mark (now Live). So will I have trouble with my RunFast platform? Can I still get my own trademark? [link] [comments]  |
| How to check demand for HR software? Posted: 31 May 2018 06:21 PM PDT I started building HR software modules (such as time tracking application, employee directory etc.) as a side project and have been thinking if I can build a full HR software out of it. However, I can't really find anyplace for checking the demand for such software. The subreddit for human resources and most forums are rarely active and there just doesn't seem to be a community of potential customers that I could talk to (online or in-person). Does anyone have any experience in this area or have any suggestions? [link] [comments]  |
| How do I approach the next step for developing my product? Posted: 31 May 2018 12:20 PM PDT Hey r/Startups! I have a few questions regarding the process of seeing my startup idea come into fruition, as that it's my first time creating a product. I'll start by sharing some background information. I am 18 years old and have always had a sense of entrepreneurial drive. When I was 15 in high school, I got a job at a local store to work the register the owner, who saw my potential in his brand new brick-and-mortar, started teaching me a lot about the fundamental ideas and mentality of entrepreneurship (Similar to Robert Kiyosaki's "rich dad"). He became my mentor about business and continues to help me a lot. I eventually became incharge of digital marketing for the store and was present for meetups with big product suppliers. I really enjoyed what I did and was grateful for the opportunities given to me and all of the valuable things I learned. I am still technically employed, but it's now more or less just having a relationship with him as my mentor rather than him being my boss. About a year ago, we were talking up an idea together and created a solution. It's a physical product, rather than an app or SaaS which are so much more prevalent in startups. We liked the idea so much that we got a patent for it. Legally, the idea is our. However, the problem enlies in actually creating it. I have created rough sketches of what to do, but have not built anything. He is a serial entrepreneur and is focused on his real estate portfolio and running a business. While our idea is great and he wants to do it (and can provide capital), he simply does not have the time to put forth to finding people to create a working prototype of our product. I, on the other hand, have acquired some new found time now that I am graduated from HS and do not move into University until the Fall. During the school year, I have flipped, traded, invested, and had a small side hustle to create some capital and give me something to do during the school year. Now that I have time, I have came to the conclusion that I should be in charge of our project and move forward even if he can't be there every step of the way. I am just not sure where to start. My two biggest dilemma enlies in the construction of a working prototype. I need to find a product fabricator and someone who can create a working user interface that interacts directly with the mechanisms of the product. Do I look online? Do I ask around? I would just like some advice on where to begin. Capital won't be an issue (assuming that we don't spend excessive amounts), but I will be handling forward progression alone and only really keep my mentor (and partner) in the loop for now. Thanks for reading and please share whatever you feel correlates to this! [link] [comments]  |
| Advice on structuring a company with several key partners Posted: 31 May 2018 04:54 PM PDT Hi! I am creating a new company with parners from Spain, USA, Mexico and Colombia. We are going to be a company that is going to do joint ventures with Colombian companies in the medicinal cannabis industry. Each partner will bring different sets of skills and expertise to the company, listed Below: Partner 1: R&D, genetics, Growing and clients Partner 2: Extraction equipment and know how, clients Partner 3: Local contacts, business developer, project leader Partner 4: foreign contacts, business developer, clients Parner 5: expertise, contacts, clients Partner 6: investment It is difficult to put a value on what each partner can bring to the table, and also, since we will be doing joint ventures, in some cases not all the skills or services will be required. I welcome any advice or guidance as on how to structure the company ownership. thanks in advance [link] [comments]  |
| What do you think of this startup opportunity? Posted: 31 May 2018 09:14 AM PDT Hi all, I'd like some takes on a job situation. I'm currently a tech consultant (think D/A/IBM) nearing my first anniversary with the firm. I'm pretty satisfied with my experience, to be honest. Work is kinda boring but I love my team and feel good about the skills and experiences I've developed on my resume in such a short time. I'm skeptical that any project I find here will be super interesting but I like the culture, people, benefits, etc. of consulting and am performing well. That said, I have a nagging interest in startups (worked on one in university and loved it) and recently started thinking about my next step, aiming at a jump to a big tech (long shot) or (more likely) startup after a year, 18 months, or 2 years with my firm. I ended up hearing back from an early-stage, rapidly-growing startup who wants me to interview for a "Customer Success Manager". It's an AI-driven enterprise SaaS company. They are post-seed, pre-series A, have gone through Y-Combinator and have raised funds from the Founders Fund, Accel and others for their initial seed round. I would be the 11th team member, managing all customers post-sales (they have quite a few for being so early, including some fairly big names in tech). I'd work with the customer in a consultant-like fashion to drive retention, while also being an industry/product expert both internally and externally (working closely with product team). Many people in this role at other startups/tech companies are former consultants as well. Apparently they had one other person on the customer success team, but let her go recently because she wasn't able to speak fluently enough regarding the more technical aspects of the product with customers (they told me this very clearly in the first interview but it is still a bit troubling). Basically... What do you think? I think staying with my firm another year or so is a safer option. I can save money, perform well, and then make the jump into a startup later on with more experience under my belt to fall back on. While I'm not thrilled about the prospects of another year, I can definitely do it if that's what I decide. But if I know that my long-term ambitions lie in StartUpLand, maybe this is a good opportunity to make the leap I'm eventually going to make anyway, into a pretty exciting (albeit risky) situation. It's enticing to learn how to build a company in such an early stage of rapid growth as I believe I would like to make a career of building companies. I am into the second round of interviews, but want to start thinking about this now, should the situation arise with a short decision timeline. Here is some more info on the new role: Customer Success Manager - Enterprise SaaS Startup Given Salary Range: 75K-125K Equity: .01-.5% - SF location TL;DR: Weighing whether I should leave my current gig with a large firm where I'm satisfied with my experience for a similar role in a startup environment with much more uncertainty but potentially more excitement. Lmk what you think. [link] [comments]  |
| How do I project how many pizzas I will make weekly? Posted: 31 May 2018 12:58 PM PDT I am working on the financial part of my business plan, and my mentor wants to know how many pizzas I plan on selling on a weekly basis. How do I even begin to project that answer? I am looking for examples and resources please. I will be serving a population of about 134,000. I will be open for lunch and dinner, and late (3a.m.) on Fridays and Saturdays. I may be closed on Mondays for preparations. I will be using a small conveyor oven and probably starting out with 16 inch pizzas (8 slices per pizza.) I hope the location I am at will be close enough for local high school students to be able to walk to my pizza joint for lunch. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Advice on new business registration for a start-up Posted: 31 May 2018 08:30 AM PDT I have completed my market research and designed a product. I am about to move forward with an order from my manufacturer on an initial run. While I know there is interest for this product, this is a relatively small run to see if I can move the product and get the ball rolling. Should I register as a sole proprietor or just get a DBA? Get an Employer ID Number? as I would like to run everything through a business bank account? Or Should I just wait to see how things progress? Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks, [link] [comments]  |
| How to open account in SVB? Any suggestions on good banks for startup? Posted: 31 May 2018 03:09 AM PDT We made a US-company but we are based outside of the USA. We can't use Stripe Atlas to open bank account remotely (it does not work with Ukrainian citizens). Right now we are considering to open bank account in the SVB in the London (preferable online). What thinks we need to consider? What docs to prepare? There is nothing about their application process, except "contact us" . Would love to know experience of other startup founders, who had to open account in SVB. [link] [comments]  |
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