Startups Screwed over - should I warn others? |
- Screwed over - should I warn others?
- Is responsive web design make my team's lives tougher?
- Discussion : Hiring Full stack vs specialized developers
- New business ideas?
- Could use your wisdom regarding team meetings
- Founder: where do you keep company cash balances? Checking vs. savings accounts
- Project management software for small SaaS: bugs/features tracking and prioritizing
- Shared my idea with capable developers... what should I do?
- Branding for game company - Should be XXX Game or XXX Games
- Requestig feedback from target market
- Google-ing my brand name, leads to irrelevant and possibly brand damaging content.
| Screwed over - should I warn others? Posted: 03 Apr 2019 02:35 PM PDT Long story short - I started a company in college with a friend who had recently graduated. The company was acquired late last year. I wrote all of the code and essentially created the entire product single-handedly, while the co-founder handled the "business" side of things. Co-founder promised to split the money with me 50/50, but ended up paying me less than 10% by using a legal loophole. After months of fighting, I'm burned out. Litigation is not practically worth the time and effort. I'll never get the money, and I have come to terms with that. Unfortunately, the co-founder is very good at getting pretty much everyone to like him, especially higher-ups. He's very well-connected despite being straight out of college. He's very charismatic, and everyone seems to adore him (of course, until they work with him closely). After screwing me over, he managed to talk himself into a position mentoring young entrepreneurs in our university's startup accelerator program (which we were formerly a part of). It's a relatively large program with an excellent reputation. I would really hate to see someone else fall victim to the stunt he pulled with me. I could totally see another young and eager entrepreneur agree to start a startup with him, do all of the hard work, and receive none of the money or credit. I've thought about warning the people in charge of the startup accelerator, but am scared that it might backfire on me (i.e. he finds out I bad-mouthed him and starts bad-mouthing me to people he knows). What do you make of this? Should I warn someone before this happens again, or should I just stay away? [link] [comments]  |
| Is responsive web design make my team's lives tougher? Posted: 03 Apr 2019 11:27 AM PDT We're a B2C software startup with a fairly inexperienced team. Our tech stack has been standard responsive web: HTML/CSS/JavaScript. We've been struggling to do responsive web design. Over the last few months, I've harbored a hypothesis: Responsive web design is basically forcing us to design our website three times: once for smartphone viewports, once for tablets, and another for desktop. Would our lives be a lot easier if we simply created an iPhone app instead? The downside is we'd have a smaller available audience, and we're not iPhone developers. However, instead of designing our site three times, I feel like we'll have the upside of only designing twice (smartphone and tablet) and possibly even once. Thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| Discussion : Hiring Full stack vs specialized developers Posted: 04 Apr 2019 01:22 AM PDT Every year, we see new technology trends popping up. With it, come new programming languages, frameworks, and other stuff for developers to learn and build upon. So it's needless to say that finding a full stack developer, let alone becoming one is more difficult than it has been ever before. But your startup needs them, and here is why. In any software/web/app development process, there are 3 crucial components. The front-end, the back-end, and the database architecture that connects everything. Full stack developer are by definition, those that have proficiency in all three of these and can work independently on any web development project without the need for additional support. If you don't believe in the hype of full stack developer, then definitely you might consider looking for specialist developers. Some of whom who will be front-end wizards, a couple of back-end magicians and some soldiers safeguarding the architecture in between. But you can hire specific developers for all the above-mentioned specializations only if you have a lot of investments ready to be splurged on fulfilling all the requirements. But that is not the case with most startups, definitely not in cases where they are bootstrapped. Running a startup requires you to cut corners, especially if it's one even remotely concerned with using technological advances. There's no textbook approach for running startups, you have to create one by yourself! However, there are certain guidelines your "ideal startup textbook" should follow, and here are some of them: Being flexibleCreating long-term human capital, not one that leaves the ship when they see it sinkingYou're not looking for perfection. If you wouldn't have had to run a startup in the first place. Every startup, by nature, isn't perfect. It's like a small cub born in a jungle surrounded by everything ready to kill it. Well, these 3 are not the main guidelines for a startup, but would definitely suffice as a foundation to explain why you need full stack developer for your startup business. Reason 1: Full stack developer keep your headcount low Running a startup requires communicating and executing clearly defined goals, with a not-so-clear path of execution. Sure, you have a mission statement and an objective in mind. But unlike established enterprises, you have to think deeply about every cent of capital you'll spend, and on whom you will spend it. So if setting up a web/mobile app, or any kind of software infrastructure is a part of your plan, you need a team of engineers that can help you set it up. It's great to Hire Software Developers for handling back-end, front-end or database separately. But these specialists will work in their own silos, and none among them would have authority or knowledge about what's going outside of their own realm. That's bad news for a startup. As an entrepreneur, you would want your human capital to share your vision, rather than having it screamed out to them! Besides, a small-scale business can't control too many people. Too many cooks spoil the cake. Thus, the fewer people you have on board for your startup, the better. As a matter of fact, even Hackernoon has just 4 main people on board and one of them is a full-stack developer (That doesn't prove my point, but just wanted to put it out there. I'm excited for Hackernoon 2.0). eCommerce has been expanding year-on-year for decades. With the number of people using the Internet rising more than ever before, eCommerce platforms such as Magento are witnessing an increase in users. Thus is it is essential for businesses using the platform to Hire Magento Developers to make optimum use of available opportunities. Having fewer people gives you more flexibility. Moreover, fewer people also means that any unforeseeable error would put a lower number of people at risk. Reason 2: Full stack developer are not experts, and its not a bad thing Startups are not perfect by default, that is obvious. Startups are also subject to all types of problems that established businesses have already faced and come through. Also, you are likely to find experts, not in startups, but in established companies where they utilize their expertise to help their employers not look like a fool amidst the competition. So in that light, seeking perfection doesn't make sense. In a similar way, expecting a full stack developer to be experts in every language doesn't make sense either. In fact, I'd say one of the reasons why full stack developer are termed as the "unicorns" of the software development world is because of the assumption that they're supposed to be experts. The greatest USP of a full stack developer is not in that they are experts, but that they are flexible to an incredible extent. As a startup founder, you can have your full stack developer(s) commit to the front-end, back-end or the architecture as and when the need arises. WIth the rapid increase in adoption of mobile technology, companies are struggling to find and Hire App Developers to build high-quality mobile apps for devices such as smartphones, wearables, and other mobile platforms. You may not have front-end masters or back-end wizards building the best web infrastructure, but at least full stack developer won't leave you stranded when the time comes to scale up the business with a flexible approach. As for having an A+ web infrastructure, that can also come along with the scale as you gain greater revenue to invest more into the business. Reason 3: Full stack developer grow along with your Startup As I mentioned before, as a startup founder, it is important that those working with you share your vision. As far as the development and maintenance of your web development infrastructure go, only a full stack developer would the closest to sharing that vision. While you may have IT project managers supervise over everything that the siloed specialist programmers do, having a full-stack developer grow along with the company would deliver much greater benefits in the longer run. A full stack developer can make the perfect guide for newly employed developers to know the business and to understand how everything works. Similarly, a full stack developer can be the perfect translator who can communicate the objective needs of the clients to the engineers in the correct technical fashion. one knows that their entire career is a process of learning which continues with the growth of software technology. As such, they will most likely be the ones that will want to see a startup they work in grow from stack-to-stack. Reason 4: Full stack developer CAN be experts in the long term I apologize for the contradiction. Yes, it is true that a specialized developer with more experience in a particular stack is much more proficient than a full stack developer working on the same. So that makes them as someone considered a jack of all trades but a master of none. But since we're talking about startups here, and since I've already mentioned why trying to be an expert is not always a good thing. It must be considered that if a full-stack developer serves for your startup for the long term, then the time would be more than enough for them to specialize in any specific tech stack. In fact, full stack developer can specialize themselves at a much quicker pace than specialized developers trying to become a full stack. This is owing to the fact that full stack developer already have their basics clear. So even if you employ full stack developer at a higher salary in your startup, you can always have them learn to adapt to specialized roles. Sure, it would take time, effort and every full stack developer won't have the necessary mindset and aptitude to adapt. Conclusion The above 4 reasons clearly mention everything that necessitates the need to hire full stack developer for your startup. They take up less space, provide room for flexibility, make for better long-term human capital, and can adapt to the complexities of the development environment as and when necessary. Most importantly, they are an absolutely essential component for startups leveraging emerging technologies. Their learning aptitude and immense knowledge of different front-end & back-end stacks combine to make them a valuable asset for any organization to have. Source : https://hackernoon.com/this-is-why-your-startup-needs-to-hire-full-stack-developers-dc2ad074c9f4 So, what are your thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Apr 2019 04:03 PM PDT Hello everyone, am looking to get some opinions and ideas off some of you. I currently work for a small finance company, offering short 12 month term loans for clients ($2500 - $5000). What I want to know now, is how else can I capitalise on my role? I am thinking about maybe doing car finance, I can generate the leads for car loans and charge a broker fee? I might get my insurance qualifications and dabble in insurance as well, maybe equipment finance? I'm relatively new to all of this so am wanting some ideas if any of you know of any other income streams/ideas that will generate income in the lending business. [link] [comments]  |
| Could use your wisdom regarding team meetings Posted: 03 Apr 2019 04:01 AM PDT Hey fellas, Hope you are all doing well and your startups are thriving. I am the co-founder (non-tech) of a tech startup in the sports field. We have been around for 6mo and our team is going to grow from 8 guys to 22 within the next 30 days (70% are devs). I lead operations/customer service/and all non-tech issues. Up until now I have felt that the people working with me often times get lost and some tasks take way too long. Others just have a misconception of what's priority and what not, while others claim we should have more "formal"/"regular meetings". I take the blame for this and I want to change things a bit. Especially since some of these situations have an impact on the dev side. Additionally, my team will grow and I feel that this is the perfect time to take action. I am planning on having weekly meetings (Monday) to (i) check if last week's goals were met and (ii) plan the week ahead. I am talking about max 30m sessions and a Monthly Meeting (with Ops, Cust. Service, etc.) where we can review the month and plan the next one (this should last between 60-90 mins). In order to succeed, I feel that this must be kept to only absolutely essential people (I think it will be max 3 to 4 people, depending on the subject) and we need to have a clear meeting agenda. However, I feel some people lack the discipline to go through with that they were assigned, so I want to create proper meeting minutes. I don't want those to be too long. Essentially I am considering the following structure:
Do you agree with the weekly/monthly routine? Can you offer alternative routes? Additionally, care to comment on the meeting minutes structure? Care to share any example? Thanks in advance guys! Cheers! [link] [comments]  |
| Founder: where do you keep company cash balances? Checking vs. savings accounts Posted: 03 Apr 2019 06:55 AM PDT I'm trying to figure out what the best cash management practice is here for cash you have. There's cash you know you need to spend in the near term, and cash you know you won't be spending in the near term. So my question is... should I put all the cash in a checking account or set aside money I won't need in the very near term into a savings accounts or some other short-term investment vehicles where I can earn interest while I don't need the cash? It would be great to hear what you all do. Do you keep your money in a checking account or some sort of interest bearing account? Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Project management software for small SaaS: bugs/features tracking and prioritizing Posted: 03 Apr 2019 09:12 AM PDT Hi all, I'm curious if any of you SaaS owners/managers have had great experiences with software to help manage feature roadmapping and bug prioritization for a growing platform. We currently have a few thousand users (B2B), 3 developers and a support team that tries to track bugs and feature requests. We're finding that GitLab Issues is getting messy as the backlog grows. We have labels for priorities, but quickly we've realized that a high-pri bug is very different than a high-pri feature. Also, the weighted importance of bugs isn't easy to track - is one person experiencing this or one hundred? Lastly, what's the effort required for any of these issues? A high-pri, low-effort bug should be tackled today, while a medium-pri, high-effort bug might have to be placed into a future sprint. Obviously we're not a huge organization so we don't want an overkill platform. We're also a bootstrapped company so value-for-the-money is important. I'd love to hear your experiences! [link] [comments]  |
| Shared my idea with capable developers... what should I do? Posted: 03 Apr 2019 03:57 PM PDT Hello! TLDR: I have platform-based (app/website) Startup working with a small team of developers. I met with a tech company's CTO and CMO and spoke about my idea. They said it is similar to an idea they had. Did not sign an NDA. Background: I met with a company after a long day of speaking with Professional advisors that were under NDA. I then meet with a company, let's call them, Realeyes, focuses on emerging technologies, especially Virtual Reality. I forgot we had not signed an NDA with Realeyes and showed them wireframes for my teams app and I revealed a few interesting value propositions of my business. Realeyes said this is very similar to what they had as an idea...Though, they focus on another niche of virtual reality. I didn't have them sign an NDA. I spoke to them as if they were advisors. They have a strong team of developers. I had this feeling that they were very interested in my business.... almost too interested. They seem like very trustworthy people, though, an NDA secures much. I need your advice!! How should I handle this situation? It has been a day now. I like them as a company and people and they have a bigger dev team than my team. What actions should I take? [link] [comments]  |
| Branding for game company - Should be XXX Game or XXX Games Posted: 03 Apr 2019 11:42 AM PDT Hi everyone, We are an indie game developer based in Vietnam, focusing on mobile games. Currently we are re-branding the company. Since we are not native English speaker, I'd like to ask you whether we should call ourselves XXX Game or XXX Games (with XXX is the brand)? I see some big studios use XXX Games such as Riot Games and Rockstar Games but there are some ones called xxx Game as well (especially in Asia). I personally like the short one without S since it's short and easy to pronounce. Thank you for any support, Anh [link] [comments]  |
| Requestig feedback from target market Posted: 03 Apr 2019 09:16 AM PDT Dear redditors, I am having my first steps before launching my first startup. It will be related to mentoring (not life coaching) and transferable life skills with the target market to be employers of any size. First results of market research seem very promising with feedback from startup incubators to be encouraging as well. My following steps are: contacting employers and receive feedback from previously sent questionnaires, analyse them, pitch my idea with more tangible facts to potential investors/target market. I have produced a Google forms questionnaire with questions related to HR, not requesting confidential information. The problem I face - is that I do not get answers from employers, more specifically from their HR departments. Do you have any suggestion on how to make them answer my questionnaires? Thank you in advance. P.S. Company not yet launched or registered - but answered feedback forms will give me a better insight on how to meet their needs. [link] [comments]  |
| Google-ing my brand name, leads to irrelevant and possibly brand damaging content. Posted: 03 Apr 2019 05:19 AM PDT Hello everyone! I have recently found my passion in designing clothes and prints, therefore I created a brand named CVI (my name initials). I didn't make a firm yet (I just posted my designs and logo on my Instagram profile) but I am planning to make on in the future. Today, I thought about searching for CVI to see what results I will get on Instagram and Google. The results are not related to my domain at all and they might affect my brand's image. The results were related to "chronic venous insufficiency" and there are quite a lot of graphic pictures in there as well. I even considered to put #wearCVI hashtag on my insta profile description to increase the chances of people using it instead of #CVI I have worked a lot on the elements of my brand and a lot of them are revolving around the logo (most of the designs, label etc.). I feel like I finally can do something with my life and time and now i feel sort of damaged because of this "slight" issue. It would be a bit sad to start all over again but I wanted to ask for your opinions first. Thank you in advance! [link] [comments]  |
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