Startups Wednesday Social Club - Share What Events You Are Attending This Coming Week |
- Wednesday Social Club - Share What Events You Are Attending This Coming Week
- Feeling lonely and disheartened. Venting a bit. Rambling.
- Most startups are marketing problems
- Building out a development team
- I think I’m being scammed?
- Accelerator vs ... not?
- Flat rate shipping for a marketplace startup?
- How early should one think about protecting IP?
- Seeking advice - for a newly branded business, what social media handles / websites should one be creating their online presence? I am thinking of Gmail, Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Wordpress, Tumblr, Medium as a starting list of websites.
- Which option should I go about marketing?
| Wednesday Social Club - Share What Events You Are Attending This Coming Week Posted: 09 Oct 2019 06:05 AM PDT Welcome to this week's Social Club thread.Share what events and meetups you are going to so we can discover new ways to be social together offline and help grow your local community. Focus on sharing events that are happening within the next 7 days of this date of this submission. Anything that falls outside of 10 days will be removed, no exceptions. No duplicate posts. If you happen to be attending an event that is already posted, leave a comment to inform the community that you will also be there. If you are hoping to organize something on your own, outside of an existing event, feel free to use this thread to rally some people together to meet up. Please use the following format to share an event: Event Name and URL: Location: Event Date: Event Time: Event Description: Event Cost: Discount Code: [if applicable] Please use the following format to organize people to meet up together: Location: Purpose of getting together: Suggested Places to meet up: You can also find more support using instant chat on the /r/startups discord. [link] [comments]  |
| Feeling lonely and disheartened. Venting a bit. Rambling. Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:41 PM PDT Over the past few months, I joined a selective incubator program filled with amazing, like-minded founders, sent a strong application for Y Combinator, got investors willing to fund my product, and made a number of pivots based on market research. Yet, for some reason, I feel lonely as fuck, unmotivated, and don't think I have made any real progress with my startup. I'm a solo, non-technical founder (even though I have slight coding experience), and I often see other teams in my incubator cohort having fun and working together. Honestly, as a one-man show, it can be extremely discouraging, and even though I have periodic meetings with my advisors and incubator mentors, who like my product, I still feel like an under-achiever and like I'm wasting my time. I've been working on my project on a part-time basis—due to school as a young founder—since February of 2019. It's been so many fucking months, and I still don't have an MVP launched. I have an interactive prototype, website, and some other "traction" in the form of pitch decks, plans, and (minimal) newsletter signups, but no product. Zero revenue, zero users. I have a broad understanding of what needs to be done in the next 3 months, but there's still multiple variables to consider, and I'm not sure which path to take. Somehow, I need to get 50 customer interviews this month. Then, I need to think about a) coming up with a technical plan (as a non-technical founder) to raise pre-seed capital from my investors, or b) using my program's $3,000 to hire a freelancer/university student to build the MVP, and only raising investment capital after proving my business. The possibility of investment is not the question. It's just that, with the investor side, I'm not sure if they will take too much equity if I close the deal with just an idea. Alternatively, assuming I hold off the investment until post-MVP, I'm not sure if $3,000 will be enough to build a basic MVP and perform beta testing (I already wasted $6,000 on an outsourcing agency back in March, and no product). I wish I could just fucking launch already, get some basic traction, and have someone to work with who cares about my company. [link] [comments]  |
| Most startups are marketing problems Posted: 09 Oct 2019 07:39 AM PDT It's only when their product or service is pretty much done that they think about how to sell it Even if you think you have the best product in the world, it's pretty useless if no-one knows about it… OR cares Founders get so excited about their product that they overlook how hard it is to get clients without having an intimate knowledge of their market. Without researching:
AND
It will be nigh on impossible to create a compelling offer which converts prospects into clients. Say you had a product that makes small businesses more productive which is free to the end user (I am thinking of a SAAS product a friend has developed. Let's call him Sam). The processes and efficiencies built into this platform will make any small online business more efficient, cut costs and ultimately boost profits. Yet, without a clear marketing strategy that engages the ideal client avatar by telling a powerful story, Sam will spin his wheels and go nowhere fast. To "sell" and get new clients to use this innovative idea will be almost impossible. At best, Sam will never experience the growth imagined At worst a good product will die a painful death. And he will get really frustrated and de-motivated not to mention his investors who will lose confidence and move towards the exit. Sam's avatar will be left doing things the slow tedious and expensive way This is a derogation of duty The moral responsibility of every business owner is to serve their ideal client to the best of their ability including addressing their marketing in a professional manner. Not doing so is a denial of this responsibility. Have you faced this same challenge? Did you manage to overcome it? Please share your experience and expertise in the comments... [link] [comments]  |
| Building out a development team Posted: 09 Oct 2019 05:51 PM PDT I'm a co-owner and CPO of an Education company that plans on scaling to 350+ schools before August of next year. I would estimate that 70% of the platform is built. Right now, we are selling the platform and training users in preparation for our future rollouts.
To prepare for scaling I've built out the following document. We are awaiting to hear back for an investor to see when we can exactly put together the full team. One concern I have is if we have the platform already built out for the most part., should I be hiring an individual team to do bug testing? Or with the resources outlined is it likely that our developers would be sufficient enough to do their own testing and stick to deadlines. Also, we host our Web App on Azure. I didn't see a need to hire on a security expert. I was thinking of contracting a security consultant team to do this. Any feedback would be great! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Oct 2019 03:32 AM PDT Does anyone have any insight on the process of how a business is dissolved and the assets are sold and debtors paid? A startup that owed my business a large amount of money and and 50 plus other businesses and employees was recently sold (the assets were sold). On 8/27 I got an email from the law firm representing that business in the sale and dissolution saying I, as a creditor, would be paid by 9/30. On 9/20 they said they were still doing due diligence and had to push the payment date to 10/15. Is this normal? I don't trust the founder/CEO, but I thought the law firm could be trusted? The founder is basically a scam artist who left her employees high and dry and not a good person, but I thought a third party (the law firm) could be trusted I can't actually reach the managing partner of the firm for answers and I think the lead associate is sick of me following up The first email I got on 8/27 said "We are writing to you because we have been informed that you are a creditor of —— Holdings, Inc. We have been engaged to manage the orderly distribution of funds paid by a third-party acquirer of the assets of —- Holdings Inc and its affiliates or subsidiaries (the "Company")." "The Settlement Sum will be paid by the Company on or upon closing of the Asset Acquisition Transaction on or by XXXXXX 2019 (the "Payment Date") through the Law Offices of —— LLP from their Trust Account at the Bank of America either by check, wire transfer or bank draft." I was counting on this money to pay off my own creditors [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:47 PM PDT Hi I've had some folks suggest to me that I consider applying for accelerators, and that me/my project would be well suited for some of them. The thing is, I'm not sure that it is what I want. One of the reasons that I am working on my startup is the autonomy and independence. It seems to me that accelerators, while very useful from access to financial resources and expertise, would basically put me on the path of growing a 'big' company. Which isn't all that attractive to me. I have some questions, though. Am I looking at this the wrong way? Am I selling my startup/myself short by looking to take the bootstrapped / solo approach, and not giving myself access to these resources? Similarly, by putting a self-imposed limit on the type / size of business that I want to grow, am I selling my business short? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Flat rate shipping for a marketplace startup? Posted: 09 Oct 2019 11:51 AM PDT Hi everyone, I am very early in the process of launching my marketplace startup. I am identifying all costs associated and one unknown is going to the shipping rate. To give some detail: we will be selling one specific range of products, all with similar dimensions and weight. Part of the product will require two sets of shipping - one to us from the seller, and one from us to the buyer. Due to this, we will incur a large cost with shipping. I am wondering, if there is any way to partner with Fedex, USPS, or UPS to get a flat rate so we can pass savings on to the customer. What do people typically do to get their shipping expenses lower? [link] [comments]  |
| How early should one think about protecting IP? Posted: 09 Oct 2019 05:39 AM PDT I am close to finishing the first prototype of my product idea, and in moments of downtime I have started to wonder whether/when I should apply for a patent. At what point in the process should one go about this? As early as possible? The product in question is a physical device, if that makes a difference. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Oct 2019 06:32 AM PDT Also, what other tips and lessons you would like to share regarding creating an online brand presence and growing the brand identity of the startup? Would love to hear more suggestions and ideas! Have been a long time lurker and since since am just starting my journey, I wanted to seek guidance from this community. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| Which option should I go about marketing? Posted: 09 Oct 2019 05:37 AM PDT I have a an A.I. startup and I create ml solutions for clients. These are my ideas for marketing...
I am thinking of doing a combination of them but I don't know which ones. I am thinking about 1 and 3 but I'm not sure. [link] [comments]  |
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