Startups Fundraising Thursdays - A Forum to Ask About Fundraising, Investors, Accelerators, and Other Sources of Capital |
- Fundraising Thursdays - A Forum to Ask About Fundraising, Investors, Accelerators, and Other Sources of Capital
- Make Something! (A guide for non-technical users to release their first app/website)
- I need help knowing what to do next. Can i please have some advice?
- Time to scale! How can I get beta users for my mobile app?
- I will be showing my software to the founder of the place I work at
| Posted: 06 Jun 2019 06:06 AM PDT Welcome to this week's Fundraising Thursdays Thread. Ask about anything related to fundraising, investors, accelerators, grants, and other sources of capital. That includes how to find these sources, how to work with them, and how to negotiate with them. 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]  |
| Make Something! (A guide for non-technical users to release their first app/website) Posted: 06 Jun 2019 09:40 AM PDT Intro This is part 1 (of 19... potentially) of a workbook written primarily for non-technical founders. As you work through it you will go from your idea to a working product, while turning you into a product owner / get you on the road to being a CEO. Through doing the tasks in the workbook, you will learn how to define a product, do wireframes, how to outsource, and how to save money on development. The focus is on releasing a product. I will include information on outsourcing, including the exact briefs that I use at each point of development and how I decide on a developer/designer; alternatively, with the work you go through you will be a much better candidate for a technical co-founder to partner with. We want to build important skills; staying open to feedback, understanding users, time boxing, setting objectives, focusing on what matters — but the main purpose of this book is to make something. Alongside writing the book, I'll be going through the tasks myself to make 1 or 2 digital products and will share those examples. I think that's a big part of this, so that you can see what each stage actually looks like. --- Contents
--- 1. Idea How to use this Copy the tasks into whatever note app you use (I use bear - I like using hashtags to keep my ideas organized). Scroll down for short explanations of each task. Write the answers as you go along. Or, better yet -- print it out and use pen and paper, or use post it notes. Use a timer to keep yourself on track. If you have several ideas, choose the one that you are most passionate about. There are other things to think about here — feasibility, monetization, market size — but we aren't going to worry about that for now. Our goal is just to make something. It would help to be familiar with the idea space, so that you understand your users and where to potentially find them; but that isn't necessary. I will write more about app vs web at some point, but for now, if you don't have a good reason to make an app, go with web first. When I do my examples, I will go into more depth. The time suggestions are given to push you forward and prevent stalling; feel free to use 1.5 or 2x the allotted time for each section if necessary. --- Day 1 Objectives - To narrow down your idea so that you can understand it, be confident in it, and sell it to others - To think about the needs of your immediate users, and how to help them do the job they are trying to do - To understand the growth of your product over time, and how the value proposition can change for your users as you grow --- Tasks i. What is your product called? ( < 3 minutes )
ii. How would you explain your idea, in 60 seconds or less? ( 4 minutes) iii. Why are you making this? (2 minutes) iv. What problem(s) does it solve? (4 minutes) v. Brainstorm potential first users and where to find them (4 minutes) vi. Narrow down your first users (2 minutes) vii. Map the User Journey for your first users (6 minutes) viii. Which features are required for that user journey to be possible? What features are not required for the first versions of the app? (4 minutes) ix. How does your app grow from 100 to 1000 to 10000 users? (6 minutes) x. How would you explain your MVP/MRP in 60 seconds or less? ( 4 minutes) --- Task Explanations i. What is your product called? Write up to 5 names down, and choose one to go with. Don't worry about picking the perfect name, and don't worry about availability right now. Use something easy to remember. A lot of this project will follow this format of not worrying about things that don't matter. We're going to really focus on the important parts, and we're especially not going to worry about things we can change later. An important thing to remember is that as we keep working on the project, we'll have more ideas. We don't want to get attached to a name, or idea, early on. Keeping an open mind and being open to listening to our users and learning is a skill we want to constantly work on. --- ii. How would you explain your idea, in 30 seconds or less? Being able to concisely relay your ideas is important, and it also helps you get down to the bare minimum of what your product is really for. --- iii. Why are you making this? The 'why' informs your long term vision, which should inform all of your decisions moving forward. This is your north star. This is what makes you keep moving when you're tired, unmotivated, want to do anything else in the world other than what you're doing now. Having a good answer will also help you craft a story around the project; this is important in motivating yourself, employees, partners, and selling your idea to cofounders, users, and investors. You may want to include your long term goal for the app here (18 months is a good horizon, in my experience). So : "In 18 months, _______________ will be _____________" --- iv. What problem(s) does it solve? It can be useful to use sticky notes for this. What jobs are your users trying to complete? Here you want to be thinking explicitly about all of the issues that your users are facing around your app idea. What are the main outcomes they are looking for? Try to think way more generally, and also specifically about the problems they are facing. (this section will be much better once there are examples) --- v. Brainstorm potential users and where to find them Who could your users be? Where do they currently exist, what do they talk about? Try to list as many different sources of where you might find your first users. i.e. These might be competing sites, social networks (i.e. what facebook groups are they on, what instagram hashtags do they use, what subreddits are they on). They could also be potential ideas for blog posts, or guest blog posts, or ideas for generating press. --- vi. Narrow down your first users From your list above, try to narrow down your first set of users. This should be a group who has the same goals/problems they need to be solved, and should be easy to target. Who would be willing to try out your app? Who has a problem you have a solution to? --- vii. Map the User Journey for your first users Think about your first group of users. Write "first users" on the left side of a sheet of paper. In the middle, write a square with "download app" or "visit website" (depending on which you are making). In between the user and the middle square, write all of the steps that have to happen or what causes them to take action. What makes them download your app? On the right side, write down the steps that they would possibly take once they are on the app/website. Each page they visit or screen they see / action they take should a separate box. What is the final outcome of the steps them have taken? --- viii. Which features are required for that user journey to be possible? What features are not required for the first versions of the app? Based on the group you chose above, what are the main features your app needs to have? What problems does it need to solve to be useful (and worth downloading) for that group of users? Another way to think about this is that you've just released your product for the first time, what is the first tweet you send out? If it's a B2B product, what is your first cold email? We want to think about your product holistically, and grow it with your user base. These most important features for the first version of your app is commonly referred to as an MVP (minimum viable product). I would suggest instead thinking of it as a Minimum Lovable/Beneficial/Remarkable product, because you want to make sure it is something that actually benefits your first set of users. --- ix. Who are the second set of users of the app? What features do they need? What do you need the first users of the app to produce or do to attract more users? Ideally, our first set of users will create more value for our second set of users (i.e. they could provide User Generated Content, or form one side of a two sided marketplace). If the second set of users is different from the first set of users, we may want to think about which features are necessary for the first set of users to create value for future users, or if the initial app is enough on it's own. --- x. How would you explain your MVP, in 30 seconds or less? By narrowing down your idea, we now have an MVP. Think about how this has changed from the start of the process. Next up, we'll consider your competition and using user interviews and surveys to get a better idea of where to go from here, and then get into user stories and wireframing our first prototypes. [link] [comments]  |
| I need help knowing what to do next. Can i please have some advice? Posted: 06 Jun 2019 03:04 PM PDT Hi everyone! I am starting a business (nonprofit) and am bogged down in website development. I'm losing sight of the longterm vision while I'm stuck on the short term product build. I would love some advice to help me see clearly again and figure out what the next few steps should be. I'll try to clearly outline what I'm building, my longterm goals and my current ideas for next-right-step. I'm building an online platform for community members, philanthropists, and charities to virtually discuss local neighborhood issues. As a top-level idea, this is solid and when i type that out it makes complete sense. where I get lost is when I start thinking about how to execute it; turning the broad idea into the user flow of the website and choosing what features are valuable and what isn't a good thing to build. If anyone has the time to offer suggestions, I can post here and/or DM you more info. Thanks, Reddit community! [link] [comments]  |
| Time to scale! How can I get beta users for my mobile app? Posted: 06 Jun 2019 11:23 AM PDT I have an app that is in the job search/resume space, it is free to download, and free to use. It's already in both app stores. I want to build a marketing plan so I can create advertising budgets. What are some good (and free or cheap) grassroots strategies to get exposure and feedback from early adopters on a little larger scale than my personal network? I dont want to spend money on advertising without a little more data on how they are using the app, etc. from our analytic tools. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| I will be showing my software to the founder of the place I work at Posted: 06 Jun 2019 04:38 PM PDT I'm 19. I'm trying to get something posted out on reddit as that's usually the best place for advice. I work at a local video game store part time, majoring computer science in college. Back in November 2018 I programmed an application that is used on computers, it tests video game controller inputs. After showing it to the owner of the store, he liked it but didn't budge on the program when he told me he wanted to purchase it. To make a long story short I focused my attention to other things and gave him my program for free. Tomorrow, the founder of the franchise is coming in to take a look at the store, meeting the employees. I emailed the owner of the location I work at asking if I could demo the software I created to the founder, and he said go for it. So tomorrow I will be approaching him and demoing the program. Since the program I created was already acquired by the location I work at, my plan was to say "hey I would like to bring this to other the other locations of your business" hoping that he would think it's a good idea. The program is solid, I just don't really know how to go about it when I speak with him. I want to make a name for myself in terms of selling software I create as well as get to know this person, as I could learn a lot from him. I printed off business cards hoping to give one to him . Any tips or advice on how I should go about talking to him/what I should say while demoing the application I made? TLDR: Im demoing a computer program I made to the founder of place I work tomorrow, tips on how to go about it? Sorry if the post is vague or anything, I'll answer all replies. Posting on reddit about these things is comforting because everyone has something very unique and helpful to say. [link] [comments]  |
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