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
- We’re just closing the year with 400% revenue growth. Over $1 million in sales, yet I constantly feel like a failure and we’re always on the edge of going out of business
- Advice Needed: Founder wants to delay paying me until features are delivered
- Any pitching nuggets?
- Costly Signalling Theory: And what it means for startups
- Product market fit, but where does branding fit into it, and vision?
- 7 practical ways to write copy that converts
- How do I raise Capital for a Solar Farm
- Are engineers doing ‘God's work?’
- Job Advice Sought
- How should a startup handle operating costs/return shipping in its MVP/Beta stage?
- Is a convertible note that is secured normal in the market?
- How do you go about approaching a startup asking to "work for free?" I just don't know how you would frame that in an email...
- Manic Mondays: Support To Get You Through The Week: Share What You Need Help With, Job Postings, For Hire Offers, or Resources
- How-to-get-started
- Why is there a double standard with development versus marketing costs?
- Starting up a ecommerce website, 4 partners, I'm not sure how to go about it.
| Posted: 22 Oct 2019 06:05 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: 22 Oct 2019 03:15 AM PDT I'm 3 years into my startup journey and I can't believe how hard it is. Now I've definitely met people who had it a lot easier but actually my friends that just got invested in by sequoia went through hell and most people I talk to the hell never ends even when they IPO. Not unless they sell. I am an optimist, I think you've got to be to keep fighting during the getting started phase. At first it's working nights and weekends after your day job and you think if I can just make it through this and get my MVP built then it's going to get easier. Then in my case B2B we got a company that wanted our expertise and tech, so we quit our jobs and started working with them. We demanded punchy money and other terms, they said yes and instead of raking it in we hired someone to work on the platform. Then we were into super hell crunch, doing a day job for this company and trying to get the product into a state that they would use it in production. We made a bad hire that didn't take direction really well and ended up not having a product ready when the big contract ended after 6 months, so we ended up with no revenue now 2 employees, no customers and no product yet. We went into a massive sales push but enterprise sales take time, so we had some promising starts but new payoff was a long way away. We started talking to investors but no customers and no product was kind of a big deal. We got scrappy bits of work, didn't pay ourselves and bumbled through for another 6 months, then boom we dropped beta. First beta customer signed up tried it one day and improved on 2 years of work, so bought a licence the next day and we thought amazing it's gonna be a rocket ship. We sold another licence, had some big deals in the pipe and landed 1.5 mil investment. Amazing now we had the cash to really make this work, we hire, we spend on marketing. It all started well but licence sales slowed way down and now we've been on the edge of running out of cash for over half a year, just about finding enough money to hold on. Several times I was looking at having everybody who is relying on me for a paycheque suddenly lose their job but I've always managed to just about scrabble a deal together. We still have some big deals in flight and a lot of opportunity but it's really tough. The situation changes weekly and in one week I was looking at shutting the doors forever and an investor said they wanted in at 100 mil valuation. Now both of those are gone but it just shows you what a brainfuck the whole thing is. We're still months away from failure or runaway success but it seems that staying balanced precariously on that knife edge is more the actual normal state while the company is in operation and that most people I meet in a similar situation, even the ones far more successful have experienced the same. So if you're starting out it's probably not going to be easier in 6 months, get ready for 10 years of hell if you're lucky to last that long. That said I have met some very annoying people who talk about how easy it is for them and their numbers do back it up but they're definitely the exception not the rule. The main things I've learned are if you're building a product target a niche first even if your product is general. Give your product away for free to get your first 3 users, even if it costs you money. Do anything to get 10 paying customers and keep them happy. By anything I mean a completely non scalable way of giving the value your product eventually will. Learn about go to market strategies so you can make educated choices about where your product should fit. Anyway hope that's useful / interesting. Feel free to ask me anything. [link] [comments]  |
| Advice Needed: Founder wants to delay paying me until features are delivered Posted: 22 Oct 2019 07:21 PM PDT Hello. I am looking for some advice on a situation that has come up during my Software contracting. I am working with a startup that has some funding (about 500k). They have a team in Indian that is building their core features. I am building a separate service and moving their infra to Kubernetes. Anyway, I was told today that the investor is holding off funding until we deliver a couple of core features. These core features are on the Indian team's side and they have been very delayed in delivering this work (like 4 months past due). The investor said he will release additional funds once the feature set is in production. Because of this, the Founder has asked me to withhold payment until these milestones have been reached and then I will get paid for all the work I did. He is still expecting me to continue working and I'm guessing since I'm based in silicon valley and charging $150/hr he wants me to help him out by holding off that payment. This puts a very bad taste in my mouth because I will only get paid once the other team has delivered. The work is estimated to be completed in 3 months. And as you are aware in software engineering deadlines are often increased and the Indian team had a bad record of delivering on time. This is obviously a lot of risk for me without the reward and I won't even get compensated for taking this risk if it works out. My gut tells me to bail but I also would like that money if it does work out. I do like the Founder and I believe that he would pay me when he gets more funding but also the plug could be pulled at anytime. I think I know the answer but want to ask the community on the right move here. Should I negotiate different terms? stop work until he can pay me? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 22 Oct 2019 05:34 PM PDT Our company was proudly selected to pitch for Techstars , while we have never pitched in front of decision makers like so, we're looking for some nuggets when it comes to pitching. We've looked online, read Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff. Just looking for something not so obvious to help. Anything would gladly be appreciated. Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Costly Signalling Theory: And what it means for startups Posted: 22 Oct 2019 07:39 AM PDT TL;DR - It means more if it costs you something Let's start with a story. Last month I was on the train going to Wembley to watch a football match. On jump a bunch of lads. It sounded like they worked for a marketing agency. Did you hear about that 16-year-old in the office today, boys? No, what happened? So I get into work this morning. And there's this young girl hovering in the foyer. She's not talking to anyone, just sort of standing there looking a bit lost. I assumed she was someone's kid or something so I walked past. Anyway, 30 minutes later I pop out for a smoke and she's still there, hovering. So I walk over to her and ask her if she needs a hand with anything. And now she's looking really nervous, but she looks up at me and says, "I really like some of your companies marketing campaigns". And then she starts listing all our campaigns off. I start smiling and she starts to relax a bit. She tells me that she's at school at the moment but in her spare time she's reading marketing books and if there was any chance she could do some work experience in the summer. "Fair play!" one of the lads' chimes in. "That takes balls" says another. "But we don't offer any work experience", says the third. I know. But I talked to Cav and we're going to make an exception! COSTLY SIGNALLING THEORY This is costly signalling theory in action. That girl could have delivered the exact same message (except more eloquently) in the form of an email. And yet, it would have got her nowhere. It's impossible to signal seriousness via email because the cost of delivery is so negligible. Only in putting herself through the stomach-wrenching ordeal of walking into a big and scary office, and daring to ask for work experience face to face was she able to signal that she really cared. It's a pretty safe bet that she's not going to arrive late and browse Facebook all day. To quote Rory Sutherland:
Essentially, costliness carries meaning.
REAL WORLD EXAMPLES
In every instance the extra effort taken increases the perceived value of the communication.
_____________ Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed it I write about more real world marketing examples (like this one) over on https://marketingexamples.com [link] [comments]  |
| Product market fit, but where does branding fit into it, and vision? Posted: 22 Oct 2019 05:00 PM PDT Product market fit only emphasizes the product and the customer. I keep hearing about company vision being the most important. And in books like good to great I hear about pursuing one goal. What is the way to first get product market fit, and what does it mean to get the branding and the vision to fit to the customer? What is the absolute complete way to make everything speak to the customers desires and needs? [link] [comments]  |
| 7 practical ways to write copy that converts Posted: 21 Oct 2019 07:39 AM PDT 1) Use value-based messagingTalk less about your product and more about the value your product brings. People don't want a better toothbrush. They want a brighter smile. 2) Get specificLanding page copy is full of unfalsifiable, blanket claims: "more, easier, faster ..." If you want to stand out get specific. You can't bullshit specifics. For example:
3) Call out the type of customer you servePeople pay attention when they know something is specifically for them. For example:
What? Loads of authors are using this. I'm an author. Maybe I should be too ... 4) Think "Call-to-value" not "Call-to-action"Buttons which amplify "value" over "action" usually perform better. For example:
5) Write for one readerYou're not talking to 1000 people. You're talking to the single person reading your page. So write like it. An informal tone and addressing your users personally ("you") makes a big difference. [Example] 6) Break long blocks of text into appetising chunks.Better converting copy is as much about repackaging as it is rewriting. For example if you've got a how it works section with two long paragraphs of copy think of how you could repackage that into "3 simple steps" [Example] 7) Use your customers' voiceYour copy should read like your customer wrote it. Compare the feature page of Etsy and Amazon Handmade (two competitors in the handcrafted e-commerce space) Etsy's voice reflects their customers independence, creativity and imagination. Amazon's voice sounds like their accounts department: [Example Image] ______ If you find this sort of thing useful, I write 2 marketing case studies every week over on MarketingExamples.com. All free! Any questions, I'll be in the comments. [link] [comments]  |
| How do I raise Capital for a Solar Farm Posted: 22 Oct 2019 04:33 AM PDT After graduating from university in mechatronics and a bit of job searching, I landed myself a role in an Industrial Automation/Engineering company. It hasn't been a thrilling job but I have learned quite a lot, especially about solar/wind farms in Australia. I won't dive into the technical details, but we provide a major software solution for solar farms to be approved by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). Any wholesale electricity to be passed directly into the grid needs to be approved by AEMO. After seeing the process involved in starting a solar farm, I've thought constantly that it should be a process that I am fully capable of doing myself, if I am able to also hire one or two other people for areas of speciality I don't know about. My degree and job experience covers most of the technical areas of knowledge required for a facility to operate. My big problem though is money: a solar facility, though easily profitable when running after construction, requires a minimum of 5 Megawatts of energy to be traded on the National Energy Market. This calculates roughly to be a $5,000,000 investment at minimum. I understand that any investor will have to be offered large shares and dividends for their to be incentive for investment, however I am not sure how to go about raising this incredible sum of money. Additionally, the process of application to AEMO cannot begin unless proof of finances to see the project through are available. I am wondering if raising this large amount of funds is practically possible, and if so, how is it most easily done? I know of the many financing options that are theoretically available, but not at all how to practically go about it. [link] [comments]  |
| Are engineers doing ‘God's work?’ Posted: 22 Oct 2019 11:50 AM PDT Hi, I am having a very difficult time dealing with something and I would greatly appreciate some advice if anybody would be willing to help. I will be very concise:
[link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2019 04:38 PM PDT Had a month of great, positive interviews with a startup. I presented strategy decks and got great feedback. Went over very technical stuff. Connected with the founders, all of whom are super smart and passionate. Great mutual vibes all around, and I know I would love to work with these guys. I'm in NYC and they're in Minnesota, so I'd be remote with heavy travel to client consulting sites. Last Friday I had a "pre-close" meeting with one of the founders. He reviewed the number I gave, went over benefits, and we chatted a bunch on business development. He said they'd love to have me on board, but that it would be a week or two...only the last time we talked two weeks before it was "a week or two" as well. It's clear they're waiting on cash flow and financing. I'm fine with the risk - I honestly believe the company has high growth potential because I see their expertise in the space and the gap they can fill. I just want to move this along. A similar thing is happening with another company I'm talking to now. I get the vibe that it's 100% financing in both cases - they want me, but they just want to move around financing first. I'm trying to figure out how to navigate this - I'd be happy to work at either company for less (I'm not going to say that and there's been no explicit pushback on my number). Thoughts? Advice? [link] [comments]  |
| How should a startup handle operating costs/return shipping in its MVP/Beta stage? Posted: 21 Oct 2019 11:45 AM PDT I'm a developer, and I want to release a B2C Beta/MVP of my product to test the waters and perform basic market validation. The development of said MVP, working full time, should not be an enormous endeavor, which is why I want to rapidly develop the beta. A component of my operating model is that of shipping - providing a rich shipment and tracking experience to my users is something that will set me apart from competitors in the space. The issue is, and this is a Peer-to-Peer Marketplace, if users want to return items to sellers, then the cost of return shipping and the returning of fees I charged on top of shipping is a loss that I'll have to incur. In the very early days of validation and MVP/Beta release, how should I deal with the issue of not being able to guarantee that I'll have the funds to take the aforementioned loss? Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| Is a convertible note that is secured normal in the market? Posted: 21 Oct 2019 02:27 PM PDT Is a VC fund convertible that is secured to the company's assets normal? If it isn't normal - are there any resources you can point me to when I go back to negotiate with the VC that shows them why we feel this isn't a good idea (market data, thought-leaders on this, etc.?). We were surprised to see this in the term sheet we were just offered. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2019 02:04 PM PDT I have previous experience working in digital marketing as a freelancer but I'm trying to transition into a full-time job that hopefully allows me to work remotely. I would rather get a remote job than continue being a freelancer because I want some financial stability and not have to worry about losing clients eventually. I believe in providing value first before asking for money. That's what I've always done as a freelancer, and I don't want to change that when searching for a job. It's worked for me when it came to getting clients but I'm not too sure about how it would work for startups. How would you go about contacting startup companies asking to do free work? Like obviously I just can't say, "Hey company X, I'm willing to work for you for free." It just sounds too desperate and lacks any context. Also, I don't want to be exploited for doing free work continuously so how would I go about asking for the job after working for free for a few months with a startup? How would I go about framing this? I plan on sending out cold emails to startups around my city that I really want to work for. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2019 06:07 AM PDT Welcome to this week's Support Thread. Please refer to the below suggested formats to get the most out of this thread. Need Support?Please use the following format to seek support: SUPPORT REQUESTWhat I am working on: What I need support with: Why I need support with this: My questions to the community: Requested Resources: Relevant URL: [if applicable] Additional Comments: Please add any additional comments that may provide more context around what you need support with so others can provide the most relevant support or guidance to you. Job Provider?Please use the following format to post a job listing: HIRING Company Name and URL: Job Title/Role: Employment Type: [Intern] [Contract] [Part Time] [Full Time] [Remote] Job Description/Responsibilities: Necessary Skills and Experience: Requested, but not necessary Skills and Experience: Job Compensation: Willing to Relocate New Hire: [yes] [no] Job Listing URL: Additional Comments: Please add any additional comments that may provide more context around the job listing to make it easier for the right people to apply.Job Seeker?Please use the following format to post an offer to work : FOR HIRE Title/Role: Desired Location: Willing to Relocate: [yes] [no] Remote Availability: [yes] [no] Relevant Skills and Experience: Requested Salary/Hourly Rate: Resume/Portfolio URL: Additional Comments: Please add any additional comments that may provide more context around the job listing to make it easier for the right people to apply.Resource Provider?Please use the following format to post an offer to work : RESOURCE Organization Name and URL: Location Served: Resource Name: Resource Description: Resource URL: Resource Cost: Do not forget to explore the /r/startups discord. We have many relevant channels to seek support, post job listings, share for hire offers, and share resources. You can also find more support using instant chat on the /r/startups discord. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2019 12:53 PM PDT Hi guys, I am someone with not a very sound technical background, and I have had this dream for quite some time for creating a platform for people like me , who find it difficult to get started, since the entire process atleast to me at this point is seeming overwhelming. I would want the platform to have a better reach than current platforms as AngelList and at the same time be unique in itself. I don't wanna create something that like really changes the world because that seems demotivating to me at this point,, but I surely want to create something that changes the entire starting-up-a-startup scene around the world. I just want to help myself and maybe millions like me get a platform that helps in converting ideas to real companies. How do I get started.? Suggest me what kinda people I should find to create what I'm envisioning to.? How do I find my target audience? How to validate if there is real necessity of such a platform.? and so on and so forth [link] [comments]  |
| Why is there a double standard with development versus marketing costs? Posted: 21 Oct 2019 12:01 PM PDT Have a great idea and need $250k+ to develop your MVP? "No problem, here: take my money and go build it!" Already developed the product yourself, saved $100k's and months of cost, and now you're asking for a small seed of $50k-100k to start marketing? "No way jose! Get out of here with your crazy talk! Go bootstrap user acquisition yourself and come back to us when you have the results!" Ummm.... why the double standard?? No one asks a non-developer to go learn how to code and bootstrap an idea that requires serious development - they hire a professional/expert developer/agency. So why is it consider sooo crazy to go to hire an expert marketer to help spread brand awareness and target potential users? This is a really hard thing to do, with so many new ventures vying for attention and trying to do the same thing. [link] [comments]  |
| Starting up a ecommerce website, 4 partners, I'm not sure how to go about it. Posted: 21 Oct 2019 06:05 AM PDT This is going to be my first startup with 3 other partners, they are the suppliers of the products. I came up with the idea first to sell their products online. My initial idea was to create the website, create all social media pages for the website and market it myself and take a cut of every online transaction. But they also wanted in on the website, they suggest a 25% even split between 4. All investments and costs we split 25% each as well. But here is the thing they don't know much about websites and social media marketing, I'll end up doing all of them myself. They just need to supply the product. Is it fair if I did almost all the work as well as invest evenly in this project. Im not quite sure how all this works. Any advice? [link] [comments]  |
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