Startups 2 months ago I quit my fulltime tech job and incorporated my startup (AI). I'm finding it extremely difficult, it's keeping me up at night. Starting to become a little depressed. Advice? |
- 2 months ago I quit my fulltime tech job and incorporated my startup (AI). I'm finding it extremely difficult, it's keeping me up at night. Starting to become a little depressed. Advice?
- Hardware guy. Developed an MVP for a startup out of curiosity. No prior startup experience.
- Looking to relaunch a mobile app after 2 years, whats the mobile landscape like
- Startup in the Search Market
- Should I reset the start date of our company?
- Need suggestions on how to build virality into a stock analysis tool
- I own 2 companies, one of them will sell some product to the other. How do I avoid this turning into a problem?
| Posted: 07 Jul 2018 05:14 AM PDT I'm a 26-year-old Software Engineer from the midwest US. I have always known that my passion in life was to own a successful business. I love technology, programming and everything that comes with it. However, I want to achieve more. I'm still relatively young. I've this thought that if I don't do it now, while I'm young, then I will never have the opportunity to in the future (or it will become a lot harder). Maybe I'm wrong. I had to give it a shot. So, a little more than 2 months ago I quit my full time position. I had a great product vision, interested clients, and so forth. I proceeded to incorporate as a Delaware C Corp and everything that comes with it (IRS, bank, etc). Why did I incorporate so quickly? I felt like having a "real company" would always remind me that it's "real". It has. The first month I would say was pretty good. The first two weeks were mostly wrapping up the legal stuff and all of that. I think we've had good luck. I reached out to around 30-40 investors on week 3, and spoke to 3-4. By the end of week 4, I realized that investors were very time consuming. So I stopped reaching out altogether. Although 2 investors said they loved the idea, my background and to keep them in the loop for future updates. They both said that the companies stage is not what they usually invest in. Another investor, a personal friend & network contact, agreed to be my mentor and possible investor in the future. He too wanted me to keep in touch with him. He also suggested the client-funding route. Then a week later (week 5), a major university contacted me. They wanted to do an AI partnership of sorts. We had 2 calls about it, however it has now staled. I would say it has to do with our lack of funding, which is really unfortunate. However, the possibility is still there. Around the same time, our first "client" reached out to us. His company is #7 in our product industry, which is huge. Hint: asset management. They're waiting on me for the 2nd call. Then I don't know what happened. The past month (4 weeks) I have accomplished absolutely nothing. I don't know. It's as if depression, laziness or something hit me all at once. I haven't worked on the startup whatsoever. It's not because I have lost motivation. I haven't. I really don't know what it is but I just haven't worked on anything. I have to confess: I didn't plan the finances very far in advance so that's also getting to me. I have no trouble finding a position but I do NOT want to give up. The last 2-3 days my the results of my "doing nothing" has begun to bother me at night. As if everything will be crashing down if I don't actually do something (ie work on the startup). The opportunity with the University is still fresh, as are the investors & mentor & the potential huge client. I'm starting to become slightly depressed lately. I'm afraid of complete failure and for me that means returning to a 9-5 corporate position. I can't give up, there is so much potential here. I tried to go to bed at 4am and couldn't fall asleep, so I got up a couple hours later at 6:48am and typed this post. I now realize what every Founder & Co-Founder means when they say "building a company is fucking hard". Does anyone have any advice? Thank you very much for your time, by the way. [link] [comments]  |
| Hardware guy. Developed an MVP for a startup out of curiosity. No prior startup experience. Posted: 08 Jul 2018 01:26 AM PDT I'm a hardware guy and I stumbled upon a startup looking for someone to develop an MVP. Upon meeting the team (3 management people, and one software developer), we discussed their current state and it was mostly concepts and they really didn't have much other than that. And given that this is an IOT idea, they really wouldn't be able to implement anything without the hardware anyway. Also, there was no funding yet and no apparent investor yet. (Still none as of present). But looking at their background, they do seem to have the network and connections. Nevertheless, having already done a similar project in the past and already having the crucial materials on hand to implement it, I decided to get involved with them out of curiosity. They didn't have to spend a dime and I didn't even ask them for anything. Again, it was mostly out of curiosity. After a week, I produced a working prototype and showed it to them. With the hardware proven to work, they can now start with the software. Now, this was probably where alarm bells started ringing in my head. You see, they were asking about my compensation (well, not really asking but more of 'hinting'). Of course, they brought up equities as an option. So I was like: "Hey. Why not see where this goes?" And I proceeded with development during my spare time still doing it for free. Fast forward a month, the prototype is now an MVP and they are now looking to pitch it. So with that, we recently discussed the responsibilities, equities, and other stuff, since it is about to materialize. At this point, I'm starting to feel that I'm probably biting off more than I can chew. For equities, the shares were computed as follows:
Not that I disagree with it as I am aware that the management guys will do the heavy lifting in the long run. But the things is, we're not even incorporated yet and we don't even have funding yet. They're also asking for our codes and designs already. The software guy even has a problem with it. As of now, this is still a point of issue. (There is a dissolution clause but it is still yet to be discussed.) Also, another issue I have is the non-compete clause. By being involved in that startup, I am expected to give up all my other projects even if they are not related to their startup. Not sure if I misinterpreted the clause but management guy 1 said that it was indeed the case. With that, I really don't know how to proceed with this. But do note that the team has only discussed this matters once and we are going to discuss this again as the prior got a bit too tense. Any inputs would surely be appreciated. tl;dr Got involved in a startup. No prior startup experience. Created an MVP with no pay. Got offered equity and promised a salary when they get funding. Expecting me to give them the codes and designs *now* even when there is still no funding and investors. Also going to be required to commit full time to their startup and wrap up other projects that are still in progress. Feel like getting the short end of the stick. [link] [comments]  |
| Looking to relaunch a mobile app after 2 years, whats the mobile landscape like Posted: 07 Jul 2018 04:32 PM PDT Hi, I worked on a mobile app ( in the productivity space) that was in the Android/IOS app stores back in 2015-2016 and I had some moderate success with it. I shut it down for many reasons which include competition, lack of funding, and a lack of time/effort/resources. Fast-forward to now, and it seems like a different landscape IMHO, e.g:
My question is somewhat broad but I'm just trying to get a reading on the mobile app market now after a 2 year hiatus. I'm wondering if anyone can provide some additional thoughts, and/or confirm some of the things above. Thanks. -K [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 07 Jul 2018 07:09 PM PDT I would like to develop a search engine for researchers and users who require more of an exploratory approach rather than a system based on keywords or queries and responses. I work in R&D and online search is often a frustrating part of my job, the current working model of search engines forces me to click and examine dozens of pages before I can acquire a better understanding of a subject. Sometimes I don't even know what I'm exactly looking for and Google doesn't help me much with that! I believe there are more efficient ways to present information to a certain type of user. Are you guys aware of startups that have entered this space and weren't crushed by Google? What are the search engines that are built upon a different paradigm than say Google and Bing? [link] [comments]  |
| Should I reset the start date of our company? Posted: 07 Jul 2018 08:44 AM PDT I had started working on a side project in my spare time starting 3 years ago. This period of time has mostly just been development of a web platform. I incorporated an entity 3 years ago so that I could submit an academic paper, give a talk, and otherwise keep whatever development costs separate from my personal finances. It hasn't been until this year that I've really "started" this startup. I now have a few people working (unpaid) with me, performed a closed alpha test, and started looking at funding. And that last point is where the question arises. We submitted an application for a grant earlier this year that we made it past their first round but then didnt move to the next. They had like 1000 applicants. They were gracious enough to give us feedback, which was basically a tweet length note. The major thing that seemed to have hurt us is that they said,
Which isn't entirely that accurate, our 1 event was an alpha testing for a major client that we're finalizing. Our strategy was to perform this alpha test to get feedback on what works, doesn't work, how it actually gets used, etc. And make changes while we finalize securing this client (which has been a very drawn out process since its a local government). We're preparing for a full launch in the next 2 months and have other clients in the works. My question is this. Should I go through everything and change our start date to this year? It obviously was a knock against us to have had no traction during the first couple years that I've been developing. We've always planned on re-incorporting as well, I just made an LLC for the reasons stated above. Our twitter account has a modest 12K followers over that 3 years, I guess it wouldn't be too much to start over. Or, what can be said to make our situation look better for future applications or in-person discussions with a potential investor? [link] [comments]  |
| Need suggestions on how to build virality into a stock analysis tool Posted: 07 Jul 2018 10:53 AM PDT I am build a stock analysis tool that helps retail investors to make better investment decision using probabilities. In order to get our first round funding, my partner and I went through some discussion and determine that the monthly growth of this app needs to be around 18% so that we can get to a $1mil valuation. My partner is a marketer and he sees user stories as a great way to market. I agree with him but I think we need some special features to be in our stock analysis tool to drive viral growth. For example, having a space where users can leave notes about why they think a stock would go up or down. The ideas that I have is so far not anything amazing. So, I am looking to see if anyone can provide me with some suggestions or past experience. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 07 Jul 2018 06:43 AM PDT I am lucky enough to have started 2 successful companies this year. Here's a break down of them: Company 1 - 50% owned by me, 50% my brother, selling goods manufactured by us B2B Company 2 - 50% owned by me, 50% my girlfriend, selling B2C Company 2 was never intended to be what it is, originally there was no conflict of interest and was selling an entirely different product, but we saw an opportunity and took a shot. We were all having a drink one day and the idea of company 1 selling product to company 2 came up, it made sense at the time as they would work very well together. Just for clarification - company 2 sells lots of other products but we could easily turn company 1s product into our best seller. I just had a call from my brother (company 1) asking how much money I'll make on the product we sell to company 2. He's pretty chilled about it, but it's got me thinking about not getting them involved. We all have brilliant personal and professional relationships, I don't think it would become an issue but the thought is in my head. I have no idea what to google to find out others opinions so I'm here. [link] [comments]  |
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