Startups Tuesday Operational Roundtable - A Forum to Ask About Legal, Accounting, Project Management, or How to Get Started |
- Tuesday Operational Roundtable - A Forum to Ask About Legal, Accounting, Project Management, or How to Get Started
- My cofounder and I have bootstrapped our SaaS startup from 0 to over 720 paying customers in under 9 months
- How do you know that now is the right time to start earning on your SaaS?
- Finding what to love
- Project Pivot
- I'm likely to be hired as one pre-investment startup's employee no. 1. How do I even begin to think about negotiating terms of my employment, renumeration etc? (UK-based)
- At what point do you know to make it full time?
- Me and my co-founder: Shares agreements options question
- Guidance into the next step
- Taking a leadership role & financial forecasts
- Inexperienced Product Cofounder / First Employee questions
- What's a good commission for coordinating manufacturing equipment sale?
- Advice on next steps
- Offering a Co-Founder or Board of Advisors
- Help, Should I quit or Should I manage a Company?
- How to get movie posters for my startup
- TODAY IS THE DAY! The Beta version of our B2B Platform is about to be unlocked!
| Posted: 28 May 2019 06:06 AM PDT Welcome to this week's Operational Roundtable Thread. Ask about anything related to legal, accounting, project management, or how to get started. Don't be shy. The purpose of this is to learn and share ideas and methodologies with one another. Any question is a good question! If you are answering questions, remember to be kind and supportive. Many are just starting out and have no idea what they are doing. That's okay! We all knew nothing before we knew something. You can also find more support using instant chat on the /r/startups discord. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 May 2019 07:16 AM PDT I dont mean to be braggadocious because I know we still have so much to learn and so much farther to go, but thought this might be helpful for other bootstrapping founders. Most bootstrapped startups are time-rich and cash-poor, which means taking the time to really personalize your onboarding is both realistic, and can pay huge dividends. "Do things that don't scale". Early on, we decided that we would send all our free trial signups a personalized welcome video, individually recorded by me, greeting them by name and thanking them for checking us out. The responses from these videos are usually amazing. People always expect the typical automated "thanks for signing up" welcome email when they try out a new service. However, if you wow them with a personalized video, it does 3 great things:
We have had some paying customers tell us that the reason they signed up was because of the personal video. ------------------------------------ Now, we are at a point where it isn't realistic for me to record videos for every single free trial signup, but I still try to for our higher potential value trial-ers, which we filter based on certain actions they take after signing up for the free trial. However, if your Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is high, I could see many many circumstances where a startup could see positive ROI from hiring someone to send personalized videos full-time. I believe that this early personalization has set the foundation for a lot of the recent growth we have seen: The majority of new customers come from word-of-mouth referrals nowadays. Of course, this level of personalization has to be paired with a good product that people actually want. All the personalization in the world won't be able to fix a bad product. [link] [comments]  |
| How do you know that now is the right time to start earning on your SaaS? Posted: 28 May 2019 02:23 PM PDT Hey hardworkers! A little intro: I am a founder of a SaaS platform for traders that is used by very few users, but It is enough to understand that people need it. So the problem is: I have planned to let people free using of the platform until we hit 10k users, and then start to monetize. Unfortunately things are not going so good so I am starting to think on implementing subscription model faster. The question I have is pretty dumb: how do you know that "now is the right time to earn on my SaaS"? So how do you understand when to start monetize? I would also appreciate if you guys share some materials on different types of monetization, to understand what to choose. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 May 2019 04:42 PM PDT Hi guys, Hope you are all well. I am someone who has many ideas but I have maybe a limitation that I kill the idea in my head because I don't think it will be big enough. If I think it will be big enough, I don't think I'll have investors for it or even more I don't even know where to find investors. I get ideas which are based on solving problems but I feel very lonely. I don't think I can do it alone but I have had twice bad luck in co-founders (both were not driven and just wanted to cash out). I have tried really hard now to find what I love and two things come to my mind, one is to start my own school which would provide world class education and I even have spoken to one school franchise about it and second is properties, I wish I could build beautiful houses and sell them or rent them etc. I have always wanted these things and in a way there is progress because unlike other ideas, I haven't killed them in my head. I am not even thinking about the money but I am thinking of where can I find people to invest in these ideas. I don't have any protype or anything to back myself but I have all research done on it and I understand it because I study property everyday and schooling is something I am passionate about. I just don't know how to grow from myself to a team to start this. The legal bits, all the operational stuff scares me. I am just someone who wants to drive the vision but I am not great with setting up the organisation. What I am trying to say is that it seems overwhelming to do it all by one person or maybe its me. I am curious how one man can become a 100+ employees company and where can I get investors who will take my word and trust me. I feel like I need a co-founder but I haven't had great experience in finding someone with right drive, motivation and skill. I feel so agitated because every night in bed, I think about following my ideas but I don't seem to find a road or right people to come along the journey. Any stories or thoughts would be welcomed. I just had to write this down tonight.. I cannot just stay awake in bed and keep thinking about it over and over again [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 May 2019 12:42 AM PDT Hi All, Some ideas/suggestions needed. A friend and I sought to create an app similar to Yik Yak (Anonymous geographic message board that was a popular gossip app a few years ago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yik_Yak ) for practice. Our app has: -A splashscreen -login system -message boards -profile screen Users can: -Post text -Comment -Like either of the above -See their own posts. Problem: For this type of app to succeed, you'd need intense marketing on college campuses (chicken and egg problem...) and that isn't feasible for us. Given the above app details, what could we realistically turn this app into? Even if the concept is completely different. We're trying to make the most of our limited programming experience and what we have so far... Any simple ideas/thoughts? All thoughts appreciated. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 May 2019 02:31 AM PDT I've have a couple successful conversations with two founders of a b2b hw/sw tech solution startup and they let me know that they'd like to "progress things further". I'm guessing at this point that would mean discussing what kind of terms of employment I would agree to. I don't know how to start even thinking about what's reasonable in terms of equity/salary cut. I am aware that in principle equity is worthless unless the company exits, but I really have no gauge of what kind of early-stage employee equities and salaries vs market rate are reasonable. I feel somewhat awkward discussing the money because as for now the company is pre-investment, running off a small grant and the two founders' savings and side hustles. That makes my salary essentially come directly from the founders' pocket and feels kinda... personal? And then it obviously becomes more complicated than that because of non-money terms. Should I negotiate working hours? Work-life balance is important to me, not only for mental health but also for productivity. After meeting the founders and chatting about work-life balance briefly they seemed like they broadly reject the 80h-week Silicon Valley startup grind mentality which is good. I'm aware that working in a startup is likely to have crunch-times when extra effort is necessary but would discussing nominal work week length be unreasonable? Originally before applying to a startup I was interested in negotiating a 4-day week with a bigger company - is it unreasonable to even bring it up with the startup? Is it likely to paint me as lazy and unwilling to committ? I do realise there is a lot of broad questions here and I wouldn't be surprised if there already existed resources with the information I seek, in which case I'd much appreciate if you could point me in the right direction! About me: embedded software dev with 1.5 professional experience at a top technical consultancy. Graduate of some really solid technical universities - probably the main reason I've been considered for this position given the amount of responsibility necessary to develop the product at such an early stage. [link] [comments]  |
| At what point do you know to make it full time? Posted: 28 May 2019 08:27 PM PDT I'm in the beginnings of starting a mobile mechanic business on the side of my normal 9-5. I suprisingly have a ton of people interested with just my first reddit post about it, and it looks like something I could totally slam dunk and take full time and quit the 9-5 after maybe 2-3 months. What do you think? Because it seems I can make the same amount in 8 hours, that I make right now in 40 hours. Of course right now I don't have insurance and taxes and things like that to worry about, but still! If I did this full time I feel like I could net double my day job earnings. Potentially. What do you think? [link] [comments]  |
| Me and my co-founder: Shares agreements options question Posted: 28 May 2019 03:42 PM PDT Hello there, So I had an idea for a startup, built the initial plan for it and lots of details. Contacted my marketing-expert friend to join efforts in it. It's a but complex marketing platform, I'm expert in product management/tech/business and he's in marketing with connections in the field. We agreed on: 1- in terms of effort: I will be working on the product & operations, he will focus on marketing and partnerships. 2- in terms of money: he will cover the initial costs for development & marketing, and I will cover the operations to get the company going. (note: dev&marketing 80% total costs / operations: 20% total costs) 3- in terms of shares: 60% for him / 40% for me. Side note: Besides that (it's my idea & ±20% financial contribution), I know that type of such platform is complex and it's not easy to find some one else to do it right. - What are the options for a healthy agreement between us regarding shares? He mentioned some type of vesting shares? Are vested shares go both ways? Meaning: if he or I abandoned the project, the other guy can buy his/my shares? And since we contributed financially, is it better to have a certain amount of owned shares and the rest is to be vested? Really looking forward to your suggestions. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 May 2019 05:42 PM PDT I have been the lead of a startup for about 2 years and it's been quite a journey and finally being able to have at least a demo of sorts to showcase this new business project. This is project is in the realm of social media and as you may know, with anything related in this field, validating your worth and acquiring growth (users) is the 2 big pieces before getting anyone on board. The validation is done and there is some worth in this product but I need help in forming a strategy for user acquisition. Any ideas where to start? [link] [comments]  |
| Taking a leadership role & financial forecasts Posted: 28 May 2019 05:21 PM PDT Hi r/startups I'd appreciate some advice. I'm about to take on a leadership position at the startup where I've been working for the past 12 months. The company has existed for 12 months but this is a turning point and we are at a turning point and will be establishing a new strategy. I'm essentially writing my own role description at the moment, but I know one of the two board members is keen to see a five year financial forecast. With me moving into this new role, I will also be helping develop our new business strategy which will involve identifying our customer, research with that customer group, validation and testing of our product in new markets. I feel like all of this needs to happen before I can begin to start modelling our financials - particularly 5 year forecasts. What are your experiences in this kind of situation? Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Inexperienced Product Cofounder / First Employee questions Posted: 28 May 2019 12:17 PM PDT Hey all, I've been trying to get my own startup off the ground, but in the meantime i was approached by someone who wants me to work as their non-engineering cofounder / product owner. There's a lot of overlap between our projects and I'm excited about it- I want to pursue the opportunity. i like the founder's product, and the founder likes me. Basically, how do I add value as a new PM / former consulting strategist to a brand-new startup I don't know a lot about? I think there are a lot of basic, market-agnostic things that need to be done (validation metrics, go-to-market, strategy, product params, biz dev, etc), but i don't have a framework for accomplishing them. Questions:
My Background:
Product Background:
Thanks for reading, and thanks for the tips! [link] [comments]  |
| What's a good commission for coordinating manufacturing equipment sale? Posted: 28 May 2019 12:46 PM PDT I am involved in a startup that will eventually require some manufacturing equipment that we have not been able to afford to buy yet, however the manufacturer of this equipment has told us that, if we happen to bring them any customers, they would give us a commission. I never asked what that commission would be because I had no sales prospects for them, but I am now in a situation where this might actually happen (they are not a competitor, so I see no issue here). Before I talk to the manufacturer, what % range should I be looking for? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 May 2019 02:31 AM PDT So I think I'm onto a bit of a winner. Problems: - We need to be fast to market. No one in our country doing our idea, but there is overseas. - Others will spring up. We have a team of 5. I'm a developer, have another backend developer on the team, someone that's run a consulting business, Someone that's okay at financials and the other is a travelling salesman. I've never run a startup before. My first introduction to LEAN was over the weekend at my startup. In terms of the business, the environment movement/messaging will be critical to getting our customer base really engaged. I'm thinking we design and create an MVP website and mobile application, get a few businesses on board and do a trial run and go from there. From that point of going slightly public, we're going to need to work fast, as there will be competitors that pop up quickly and we need to stay on top. Will likely need funding to go countrywide but we want to retain as much equity as possible. Looking for advice as to what's next. What's your advice. Any books to read? Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Offering a Co-Founder or Board of Advisors Posted: 28 May 2019 10:51 AM PDT One year ago, I met a guy in a bar. He happened to own a hotel, and I made him a bar bet I could build the software he needed for his hotel. 12 Months later, he's still my customer. I'm now looking to incorporate, build the business plan, and go big. I just landed a corporate franchise with 100+ locations that will use the software, it's a big friggin deal. -------------- So I'm going through a business plan course on Udemy, in it they have a spot for Board of Advisors. I wonder if I should offer to this person? To be honest, this person GETS my software in ways that I don't even understand. He is well respected and has been instrumental in creating the company. If I offer him co-founder, does that necessarily mean he gets 50% of the company? Because man, I SLAVED at building it. He's just paying a monthly fee, and the hotel loves it. ------------- So I think having this guy on the team would be a big deal, but what do I say to a guy who owns a bunch of hotels, is a politician, has a family, a few other startups on the side? He respects me and listens to me, we get along great but I see him 4 times a year. Should I offer or just forget and move on by myself? [link] [comments]  |
| Help, Should I quit or Should I manage a Company? Posted: 28 May 2019 03:45 AM PDT I have come to you all in this tough point in my life where I do not know what to do and where to go? Little Backstory- 6 months back I started working in this digital marketing company as a senior writer. I started to like working there immediately as the whole environment was super chill. However the company was almost a startup as well. The Founder of the company had one main business where he was mostly busy at and this business was handled by a female who was a family person of the founder. I would say, she was being the Managing Director here handling everything. But things were not going right here and i did not realise it as well. My advice here have been valued and so has been my work. But i saw many people come and go here. The CEO/Founder, a person i really admire, did not point out anything and just kept funding the business as much as the MD was telling him. However after 1 year since their startup and many ups and downs like clients not paying the money, employees leaving, employees not coming to office and all that stuff....the company has not reached anywhere. I will mostly blame the MD cuz her charms has a limit. As much as she is good at bringing work in, she can not handle anything. She doesn't have professionalism and no management skills. Also being young, she mostly does what she likes without thinking about the result. Now my situation is, I want to leave. I have had offers from other companies paying me good and i have halted everything. Today the Founder of the company came and we had a one on one talk (we did before as well, but today it was something different) He i guess have told the MD to not come to work anymore and said he will handle this business now. He trusts me as I have always been around and my work was never questioned. All employees have left, no clients, no projects as of now apart from what I have. What 1-2 employees were left, i guess he will remove them as well. Now the situation is, he wants me to stay and has told me that two of us will start from scratch again. He said he has invested a lot of money in it and left it in wrong hands. Now he will be incharge and wants me to be I guess the manager. I like the guy, i feel for him and as always my soft corner said that stay. Let us run this company like a company. I gave him the idea that lets first expand our content division, where i will recruit 1-2 fresh writers as the work of writing gives us steady income. Secondly I said we do mot have a name in the market and we need a full rebranding. People need to be aware. I told him to get rid of the silly logo we have and change it to something that we have a sketch off. We will do offline marketing locally first and then will slowly expand. Service by service instead of hiring a lot of people without any projects. Problem is, I got so excited that I forgot I was gonna quit this job. Now i do not know, is it good for my career to leave here and work for a well established company or help this guy, the CEO, in making this one office space into a running company. If you want me to quit, then tell me why, if you want me to work hard and manage this company. Tell me how. What can be doe initially to grow it. Some ideas. How to manage, how to recruit well how to get clients, how to make everything professional and possible? Any help will be appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| How to get movie posters for my startup Posted: 28 May 2019 05:44 AM PDT Hello internet, I'm currently working on a movie rating website, and I've learned from user input that a crucial part is to have digital movie posters. However, I'm not sure of a way to acquire these. Do movie companies typically respond to "entrepreneurs?" (Quotes because I'm not exactly established) Any help would be greatly appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| TODAY IS THE DAY! The Beta version of our B2B Platform is about to be unlocked! Posted: 28 May 2019 03:58 AM PDT Just needed to vent out the excitement that we're about to start the Beta test of our B2B platform aimed at small businesses! Any seasoned entrepreneurs here who went through the same? How to make everything run smoothly? Any tips or advice you have? God, I'm nervous! xD [link] [comments]  |
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