Startups Weekly Feedback and Support Thread |
- Weekly Feedback and Support Thread
- Sales people working for equity. Is this real?
- New gadgets to watch -- Nebula Capsule II: World’s First Android TV™ Pocket Cinema
- Has anyone successfully used reddit as part of your customer validation interview process?
- Youtube Editing Startup?
- suggest patent attorneys or firms (for USPTO filing) for fiing non provisional utlity patent
- Any advice on establishing operating agreements, terms sheets for my first start up?
- Anyone own or heavily involved in an IoT start up?
- Want to do something, but don't know what to do?
- German Tech Startup dilemma - need strategic advice.
- Question regarding non-orthodox investment model
- Tourism Industry Help
- Cost to develop hardware+app (pre manufacturing)?
- Where should I market my app after it's completion?
| Weekly Feedback and Support Thread Posted: 29 Oct 2018 04:07 AM PDT Create something? Let's see it! Feedback or Support RequesterPlease use the following format:
Post your site along with your stack and technologies used and receive feedback from the community. Please refrain from just posting a link and instead give us a bit of a background about your creation. Feel free to request general feedback or specific feedback in a certain area like user experience, usability, design, or code review. Feel free to request support with hiring talent, finding a job/clients, recruiting a co-founder, getting your pitch deck made, or anything objective based that is specific to your startup. You can also receive advice and feedback in instant chat using the /r/startups discord. Feedback Providers
Support Providers
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| Sales people working for equity. Is this real? Posted: 29 Oct 2018 01:02 PM PDT Hi all, We are a bootstrapped software company looking for some insights about finding/hiring a sales person. We are using the slicingpie method of dynamic equity splitting and it's working quite well for our small team of technical people. We're experimenting with the idea of finding a qualified sales pro, but were curious if finding a sales person to work for equity is realistic or not. Anyone with experience in this area? Please don't respond with "Your founder or co-founders should be out there selling if they truly believe in the product." I find this answer to be silly. Sales people obviously have a real skill which is grooming and closing sales. This is very different than a co-founder telling you that their product is the cat's ass ad nauseum. Technical founders and co-founders are not sales people. Thoughts or insights? Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| New gadgets to watch -- Nebula Capsule II: World’s First Android TV™ Pocket Cinema Posted: 30 Oct 2018 01:01 AM PDT Anker's soda can-sized Capsule portable projector was a crowdfunding hit last year, and it really did deliver on its promise. But there were a few obvious areas for improvement, and Anker tackled all of the big ones with the brand new Capsule II, now up for preorder on Kickstarter. So what's new? 1) Resolution: The original Capsule's standard definition 480p has been bumped to 720p, so your videos should look a lot crisper. Easy win. 2) Brightness: The first Capsule's 100 ANSI lumen bulb was fine in a dark room, but the Capsule II's is twice as bright, which means you'll be able to get a usable picture in more lighting conditions, and at larger screen sizes. I saw it firsthand in a fairly well-lit event space, and while not as bright as a TV screen or a full-sized projector, it was definitely bright enough to watch a movie. 3) Software: The original Capsule had a version of Android installed, but it was pretty janky, and didn't have access to Google Play. This time around, the Capsule II ships with Android TV 9.0 onboard, with access to the vast Google Play app store, which means you won't have to rely on your phone for casting content. There are a few other minor differences of note, including the inclusion of USB-C Power Delivery for fast charging, an improved speaker, and autofocus. It is a bit bigger than the Capsule (which will remain on sale for the time being); Anker calls it "pint sized," rather than soda can-sized, which was pretty cheeky of them. Whatever beverage you compare it to though, it's still very small for a projector. Kickstarter backers can preorder the Capsule II right now for $399. Anker's touting a $599 MSRP for the Capsule II, and while there will surely be discounts after it comes out, Anker's previous crowdfunding projects have, in hindsight, legitimately offered prices to backers that weren't matched on Amazon for many months after release, if ever. [link] [comments]  |
| Has anyone successfully used reddit as part of your customer validation interview process? Posted: 29 Oct 2018 06:03 PM PDT Seeing that I'm on here often, I figured it would be best to start customer validation interviews in appropriate subreddits. I'm not trying to sale anything and currently trying to understand user's pain points. More so research if anything. Before I write any code, I need to to complete this step first. However, it comes across as spam or a software vendor trying to make a sale. I would like to know how other people experience is with this and I'm open to any suggestions as well. Edit: Spelling and sentence structure. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Oct 2018 09:12 AM PDT Hey guys, I have this idea I'd like to fill out. Its an idea for a Youtube Editing business. The idea came when a friend of mine said she would love to start a Youtube channel, but didn't know a thing about editing videos, and "You have to spend so much F***ing time learning it, it's not worth it." I think this is a problem a lot of people face. Looking online, it looks like the only people doing this are advertising through youtube directly to the channels (usually unsuccessfully) or waiting to be found in the big freelance websites. My business would mainly focus on connecting Youtube Creators with Video Editors, mostly amateurs, and sell packages to set up wannabe Youtube Creators. The goal would be to make being a Youtuber easy to do. I have a friend who is a wizard with websites, and I really think we could pull this off. However, I don't know if there's really a market out there for this stuff. What tips or suggestions would you have on figuring out the size of the market? Also I would love any pointers about how I would start this business. I'm a total newbie, and I've never started my own business before. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| suggest patent attorneys or firms (for USPTO filing) for fiing non provisional utlity patent Posted: 30 Oct 2018 12:47 AM PDT First of all I get most ideas are not worth patenting and many times provisional makes more sense. Please don't try to start a conversation on this here. You're free to start a new topic on that and I'm sure there's at least one already that discusses that. This is a question that is going to benefit me specifically with my specific situation where we have established we need to file a non prov. While I've managed to find two individual patent attorneys willing to take the job who have verified their id in Upwork and are listed in the USPTO database, their experience is in the broader category of physics and not optics. I searched the existing patents to check who was the patent attorney or agent or firm but I contacted them and they turned down my offer due to conflict of interest. There's also Upcounsel but I've read negative reviews about their profile screening and poor mediation of conflicts between clients and lawyers unlike Upwork. I'm not from US even though my company is so I don't have enough trusthworthy connections to suggest good firms or individual attorneys to me and I can't just visit their offices and have an actual discussion. If anyone can suggest a good firm/attorney it would be much appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Any advice on establishing operating agreements, terms sheets for my first start up? Posted: 29 Oct 2018 01:06 PM PDT Hey all, I established a new plan for a new business within the education sector. I was quickly able to to find investors through friends of friends. The investors will introduce capital but will not be involved int he day to day operation of the business. This however, would be their first time investing in a new business, and this is my first time establishing a business. I feel as though I have a pretty good grip on everything, but Im about to create an operational agreement, and a term sheet for us to all agree to, so we can take them to a lawyer to have them critique after. Are there any basics I should be aware of? Anything that might be missed by the usual eye? I feel I have more knowledge on the creation than the investors do, but I also want to make sure everything is equally happy and represented. Are there any other important documents or things I should have in place? [link] [comments]  |
| Anyone own or heavily involved in an IoT start up? Posted: 29 Oct 2018 11:11 PM PDT I currently own an innovation consulting and marketing firm, experience in business operations, digital marketing strategy, and finding new ways to solve problems. All these businesses are worried about disruption (sorry for all the buzzwords literally punching myself in the face) and moving into 2019 with 5g going live I think it's going to be insane with how fast things grow... Which brings me to my point: many tech start ups are amazing at tech but lack in business/marketing, and I'm the opposite. I foresee mainly midsized businesses , not fortune 500 who I would hope are ahead of the curve on this one , struggling with understanding what it is and being able to adapt. Enter us: strategic partners who either A. use IoT to help them get ahead of the curve or B. use it to differentiate them and create a new market or C. help them understand and adapt to it so as to not fall behind. Basically, you help me understand it and be a point of reference and when businesses begin to adapt, I reference your business and make the sale for you. Ideally helping you break into the B2B market. The point of this post is to start a discussion about how we can integrate both fields not to sell anything. [link] [comments]  |
| Want to do something, but don't know what to do? Posted: 29 Oct 2018 01:13 PM PDT -Rant- I've had enough of these mini-projects which I do, and they never end up becoming profitable. Mostly due to wrong market fit, poor solution, making the same solution in different flavour and trying to convince people to buy it. So here's my question, I don't know what is "right" at this moment. What is something that can actually make me money, if I execute properly? I'm in this false perception that people will buy if I simply just execute it properly. No! People will never buy. They will buy only if they want to. But what do people exactly want? What will they shell their money for? We all know what people shell money for on a daily basis (Fashion, Media etc). But they are all huge market spaces with giants already capturing a huge chunk of the space. I will die if I enter that battlefield, for sure. Day-after-day there are many many of these "startups" popping up in each and every space. Many with the same ideas and solutions, just wearing different masks... What has this become? Where is this going? -End- Sorry. [link] [comments]  |
| German Tech Startup dilemma - need strategic advice. Posted: 29 Oct 2018 02:24 PM PDT Hey guys. I'll try to summarize our current dilemma as briefly as possible without excluding anything important, so please bear with me. I'm one of three founders of a German drone startup. The product we're developing and hoping to sell is a vertical take off and landing (VTOL) long range drone. It is to be used in linear inspections (power & pipelines, railroad) as well as in small goods transports (5kg/11lb) over 100km (60mi). The team consists of an industrial engineer, a mechatronic engineer with focus on robotics/drones and me, a business guy who has also built quite a few drones and 3D printers out of personal interest and to learn about the tech (to be able to manage a company that's based on it). The mechatronic engineer is Chinese and still lives in Shanghai, where I met him during a 6 month study period abroad in 2016. He will to move to Hamburg as soon as he can afford it. We have rented a pigsty near Hamburg that is really cheap (150€/month for 50qm/538 square feet) We've started working on this late 2016 and have gone in almost full-time since April 2018. (Only side jobs to cover the costs). The drone uses a new type of drive system that we have a patent pending for. The drive system works and has been tested on a sub scale testbed. It enables flying at a higher speed thus increasing wind resistance, so the drone can be used in bad weather. Also it enables the drone to be smaller (easier to transport) making it about ⅓ the size of our competitors. As I've worked in the the federal association for unmanned systems in Germany, I am fairly familiar with the legal and political framework. I am certain that our drone can legally fly beyond visual line of sight of the pilot - a real advantage for long range inspections that no competitor has as of now. We have flown a software testbed that took off vertically and transitioned into forward flight with the open source software we're planning to use as a base for our code (PX4). Two of us have worked with integrating sense-and-avoid sensors into the software and hardware we're planning to use in the final product - also we've automated drones. After lots of CFD simulations (basically a virtual wind tunnel), we now have the shape for the final product and the airframe should work. We've printed out a 1:1 plastic model (120x100cm / 4x3ft) and presented it during the Harvard German-American Conference in Boston in October. We've talked to lots of potential customers in the industry in the past year and the feedback was always about the same: They would be interested in buying the product at the asked price (100k€/ $114k), but only if it performs as promised. That said, we only have one real LOI - I think we're to early stage to push for more in order to avoid wasting the one flash of interest we can kindle when contacting firms with our product. Four individuals contacted us with the intention to invest in our project - three during expo talks, one through a private channel. Since we do not have a prototype flying and cannot fulfill all of our promises, we've politely declined so far stating that we're not at that point yet. I'm personally hesitant to get someone aboard as we'd probably pass on a lot of equity=influence in this early stage. Currently we're applying for a German government grant for tech startups (125k€). One of the requirements is that the project is not incorporated, which is why we haven't registered the company as of today. We have a business plan (~40 pages) in its 11th iteration (we've worked with two counselors the city of Hamburg provided us with and that we're very grateful for). Now, after all this background information, I can start with the current issue. The application was recommended for the grant by the city of Hamburg. According to the people handling it, we have more progress to show, a better business plan and a better team than other applicants who were accepted. The application was recently declined with the option to improve it and resubmit it. According to the City-of-Hamburg-people, about 75-80% of people who are given this option are accepted on the second (and final) try. So far so good. So here comes the twist. We have time pressure: Either we submit by November 5th or we have to wait until April (it would financially kill us to just wait until then - for most other means of getting money we'd need to incorporate). We've gotten a list of what to improve in our business plan, and we did. Then, in a final phone call with the government agency that decides upon the grant, a different person suddenly came up with entirely different things we need to improve. These include 1-2 LOIs from large companies (by Friday basically) and some other pretty big things. Also they stated that we should consider revoking our application and submitting a new one in April. Currently I fear that one of two things is true:
We've decided we'll hand it in before November 5th and get whatever LOI we can get by then (the federal association might help us out with some contacts, their LOI was already in from the start). If they decline us, we're in trouble. To get a working prototype, we have to unite the team in one place and work on it full-time with money for the parts. To get money, we need a working prototype. The current plan B is for us two Germans to get a loan, move to Shanghai and build the prototype there - that way our Chinese Co-Founder, who has the largest salary, can still work on the side. To get him to Germany would mean a huge leap for him - one he can only take if he's sure he'll have enough money to stay alive. It'd be difficult for him to get his clients back if he needs to return for financial reasons. So, finally to my question: Is there a similar situation you've faced? What would you suggest in our current situation? TL;DR: If government grant application for early stage drone startup fails, the prototype must be built to get investment - but investment is necessary to build the prototype. [link] [comments]  |
| Question regarding non-orthodox investment model Posted: 29 Oct 2018 01:06 PM PDT Hey all, Details about our startup:
So, we've been in a pretty bad situation as far as financials go - but we've been going up with customers and sales. We could not secure a funding round in the past year, and I doubt anything will change in that domain in the next 6 months, when we finally hope to reach $40k MRR. We want to move faster, and not "miss the market", so not being able to grow faster than bootstrapping allows is frustrating. The way things are right now, we'll be overextended for at least a year. Recently we got an offer for an investment that is unorthodox in style. The investor is a very rich angel, but also a "shark" of sorts, with a lot of expertise in our domain. The two sold companies in the hundreds of millions dollars together. He says that he, as well as the very talented entrepreneur I talked about above, will join our company for a few days a week for the coming few months. We'll build a workplan together, understand our requirements for the coming 2 years, and then he'll invest himself (or with a group of investors) based on what we deem required according to the plan. He will also inject any additional funds required on the way up. We believe that with the entrepreneur and the angel on our side, with the amount of talent and connections they can bring to the company, we'll have a much higher chance of succeeding. The angel's terms:
What sort of pitfalls are there in such a deal? What should we be careful about? What should we watch out for? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Oct 2018 02:07 PM PDT So I just started a custom private tour company and need some advice on lead generation. I have experience in the industry and much of the business comes from referrals and many sources discuss this is the primary option BUT I need some advice on getting those first few customers in the door before referrals are possible. Does anyone in the travel industry have advice on how they got their first few customers? Should I reach out to other tour companies? Travel agents? Or keep hoping my ads generate some conversions? [link] [comments]  |
| Cost to develop hardware+app (pre manufacturing)? Posted: 29 Oct 2018 01:27 PM PDT Developing some fairly simple mechanical/electronic hardware and a CRM app that's connected with the hardware. Not a large piece, about 6x4x4 inches. Plastic shell, motor and battery inside, along with circuit board and a few cheapie electronic parts. App is basically a CRM and shopping tool. Been quoted wildly different prices on this from design firms, just looking for a little guidance on what other products have cost you guys to develop. Or a general formula for pricing development costs. [link] [comments]  |
| Where should I market my app after it's completion? Posted: 29 Oct 2018 11:07 AM PDT So I have an app that is nearly done, and falls in the social media realm. It is a bulletin board in where the user can post an audio message and this message is shared to the community 5 miles surrounding it. I believe it to be better than text, just because the voice has a much stronger resonance than text. I say that this app is nearly done because the developer had to quit (due to a contract statement with his job), but told me that only a couple of minor things would need to be added to bring the app to the Store. Anyways, my question resides in, where should I initially market it after completion? [link] [comments]  |
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