Startups Manic Mondays: Support To Get You Through The Week: Share What You Need Help With, Job Postings, For Hire Offers, or Resources

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• Manic Mondays: Support To Get You Through The Week: Share What You Need Help With, Job Postings, For Hire Offers, or Resources
• What do you do when you're feeling unmotivated and don't have any pressing tasks in front of you?
• How Volvo won the Super Bowl (without running an ad)
• Early engineer in a hostile environment
• Job board for tech jobs
• How do investors evaluate startups in reality?
• Good source of funding? Or No
• Contracts around funding are the most important thing for startups to consider - more so than the funding itself.
• Help Finding Your Target Audience
• At what point is it enough to stop asking for beta test feedback and enter the next phase of the product?
• How much equity to offer to the top employees in the company and not be screwed by the funds later?

Manic Mondays: Support To Get You Through The Week: Share What You Need Help With, Job Postings, For Hire Offers, or Resources Posted: 04 Nov 2019 05:07 AM PST 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 REQUEST What 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. submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

What do you do when you're feeling unmotivated and don't have any pressing tasks in front of you? Posted: 04 Nov 2019 02:42 PM PST For years I've been trying to get my company to a place where I wasn't mired in day to day operations and putting out fires. As the CEO I thought it wasn't the best use of my time and that since my time was occupied with just keeping the lights on, the company was somehow being held back. Now I have a great team in place and solid managers who handle most of what I used to. I'm finding it hard to adjust to this new normal where I don't have an inbox full of checklist items that demand my immediate attention. I was reactive before, and now I need to be proactive. But I don't always know what to do with my time. Future planning, brainstorming, refining processes, reaching out to form new relationships all seem like natural things for me to be doing, but it sometimes feels hard to get motivated to do that. Before I didn't have to get motivated, everything came TO me. Now that that's all handled and I have to be the one to initiate all of these new things, it's different. Has anyone gone through this transition themselves? Any advice to share? submitted by /u/doot_doot [link] [comments]

How Volvo won the Super Bowl (without running an ad) Posted: 04 Nov 2019 02:32 PM PST On the 1st February 2015, car companies Toyota, Lexus, Nissan, Kia and Fiat each spent $4.5M on a 30 second Super Bowl commercial. Yet, somehow, it was Volvo, with no Super Bowl ad, and 1/15th of the budget, who stole the limelight. Their idea was both simple and genius: Whenever you saw any other car commercial during the Super Bowl you could win a Volvo XC 60 for a loved one. All you had to do was was tweet why they deserved the car using the hashtag #VolvoContest during the commercial. Volvo's "interception" was the ultimate troll. It shifted eyeballs from rival commercials to Twitter where the conversation was all about Volvo. And it worked: More than 55,000 people used the hashtag #VolvoContest Volvo was the only automobile company to trend globally More than 100 different stories were written about the stunt The result was a 70% increase in Volvo XC 60 sales the following month. WHY DID IT WORK? Well, firstly, Volvo made sure to build awareness. Two days before the game they donated an XC 60 to "Jimmy Kimmel Live". He gave it away on his show and in return spread the word about their contest. Secondly, they decided to run the giveaway exclusively on Twitter. This allowed momentum to build (unlike sending people directly to a competition website). And finally, targeting rival commercial slots was quite the masterstroke. It resulted in 30 second windows of hyperactivity on Twitter. This led to the #VolvoContest%20until%3A2015-02-02%20since%3A2015-02-01&src=recent_search_click) hashtag trending on 3 separate occasions. A slower, consistent stream of tweets would never hit the velocity required to trend. Any questions, I'll be in the comments submitted by /u/jamesfriedal [link] [comments]

Early engineer in a hostile environment Posted: 04 Nov 2019 11:44 AM PST Hi all, I'm an early engineer at a startup which seems to be doing well in terms of organic growth and recent deals. We're series A with 5-10 employees. One of my biggest issues with the current role is the dynamic between the founders. Let's say the CEO is named "Chris" and the other founder is named "Will". FWIW, Chris and Will are in a relationship. Chris is mostly hands off in terms of engineering. I work the closest with Will. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Will is the least effective communicator that I've ever seen in my career. I've brought this concern up to the CEO multiple times, and have seen little progress. In fact, things seem to be getting worse. He'll swear at the CEO in-front of the entire team in response to appropriate questions from the CEO. Conversations with Will include constant interruptions and talking in circles. One such conversation ended up with a resolution which I very clearly asked him if he agreed with and he said "yes". No less than 5 minutes later Chris came by to ask if there was a resolution, to which Will said no. I'm finding it very difficult to work with and respect these people. Code quality is another huge pain point, but we'll save that for another day. My questions are: - how common is this kind of dynamic in startups of this size? - does this sound like a bigger issue down the road? - how might this dynamic be resolved? - if you were in my shoes (super subjective, I know) how much would a dynamic like this bother you? Other relevant information: - I have previous startup experience (with slightly larger teams) and have been in the industry for 5-10 years - Chris and Will are in a relationship ​ EDIT: With the fresh perspective from you all, I'm seeing how I was pretty much just looking for validation to leave my role. I've overlooked the opportunity cost of staying in a role where I'm not happy for a handful of large reasons, some of which are clearly not fixable. (the rest of which are probably not fixable) I can't quit today or in the next few weeks, but I'm seeing more clearly than I ever have what I need to do to make that happen. submitted by /u/wake_up_throwaway [link] [comments]

Job board for tech jobs Posted: 05 Nov 2019 01:30 AM PST submitted by /u/saratonite [link] [comments]

How do investors evaluate startups in reality? Posted: 05 Nov 2019 12:30 AM PST At the very beginning of the way to success, startups get money from the sources also known as FFF(Friends, Family, Fools — auth.). However, such a way is quite doubtful to acquire a sufficient sum of money to develop your project in a normal way. At this point, founders are facing several interesting stages of the project's lifeline — search and involvement of investors. It is quite difficult, as startuppers do not always clearly understand, what investors need and which project metrics are crucial. Specifically to these criteria, vivid or not really, our today's article is dedicated. What is important to the investor? 1. Favourable industry and market forecasts For example, among perspective investment spheres in 2019 were highlighted educational technologies (EdTech), artificial intelligence, property sphere (PropertyTech), food tech market, hyper-personalisation in advertising (ads via Stories, sells via DNA), entertainment and cybersport. 2. Product, its functionality and competing advantages The final product of your startup has to solve a real user's problem. Scalability is an important startup feature by default. The project has to promise an ability to become a big company, at the same time saving its business model. At this point we are back to the use of your product: if it can solve a problem for many people, it has growth prospects. The greater are the prospects, the more interesting is your project for capital owners. A startup cannot survive without competitive advantages. If you have a unique value proposition, still not presented on the market — that's perfect. And if moreover, if a startup already has a client base, it will be a great advantage for the investor. 3. Startups' survivability Some founders believe that their project is impossible to launch without investments. At the same time, the investors are quite cautious about such type of startups: what can you expect from a project, founders of which do not want to invest in it. Minimum valuable product (MVP), or a prototype, that can be shown to the investor, you can create using own resources. A prototype can define reaction of project potential consumers, you can get feedback and taking it into account, you can develop your final product. 4. Elaborating risks For the investor, a startup is a bunch of risks, which have to be covered with project value, its development and a number of possible dividends, in case of project success. The investor will choose the startup, where each of the possible risks is foreseen and elaborated. In your turn, you aim to define all the risks your startup can face and elaborate solutions to those risks. The following moments can scare off the investor: 1) First of all, the wrong and/or incorrect definition of the target audience. For instance, your product may not get into the interest area of the target audience. The last-mentioned can be defined incorrectly, it can be way too conservative and not ready for your product to come on the market. 2) Secondly, the low quality of the startup business plan. The project may screw up because of the bad business model, careless planning and, as a result, failure to meet the development deadlines, and careless budgeting. 5. Team Both your competencies and determination, faith in the success of the project team as a whole and each member, in particular, are important. At this stage, a good reputation and authority a bonus for the team can be — both personally yours and members of the startup team. To do this, you need to be well-known: attend profile events and conferences — preferably as a speaker, make useful contacts, talk about yourself and be interested in opinions from the outside. You must be recognizable — in a good way. What other points can you add? submitted by /u/RocketDAO [link] [comments]

Good source of funding? Or No Posted: 04 Nov 2019 04:39 PM PST I'm involved with a startup that is finally off the ground with users etc. nothing too crazy but we're getting the ball rolling. We have looked into financing options to really put our name out there and help scale and some companies we come across that sound enticing to work with in that regard are clearbanc and fundwise type businesses where they help fund the startup but differently (no interest for first year, where it's not so much an investment but rather a loan in favor of the startup) Does anyone have any experience or advice on a good reliable place to get funding from for an early stage startup, or any info about the companies I listed in this post! Thanks, looking forward to your responses. P.S. not looking for a million dollars or anything like that, something below or around the $50k mark would work very well for us. submitted by /u/whatsnottoreddit [link] [comments]

Contracts around funding are the most important thing for startups to consider - more so than the funding itself. Posted: 04 Nov 2019 10:49 AM PST A long time ago, I was offered equity working for a company where the equity was tied to the most terrifying contract I've ever seen. I was presented with a number of shares. The contract stated that the share price was to be determined by the board in the event of a sale or merger. This means my shares could amount to 1 penny if they decided that. I told them to go fuck themselves. Not so long ago I got far along with a potential investor who offered a contract with a 3x preference multiple - meaning the investor gets their equity percent in a sale of the business + 3x what they put in for investment. I told him to go fuck himself. This language was warranted and I'd use it again. This stuff is massively important and needs to be discussed here. There's no way to escape a bad contract - short of dissolving your company and moving on to the next one - but your business will forever be unable to create any wealth for anyone outside of the investors if you sign a shitty contract. Let's discuss some things you think might be ugly in your contracts. submitted by /u/turnprobro [link] [comments]

Help Finding Your Target Audience Posted: 04 Nov 2019 02:14 PM PST Hello everyone, I recently launched an online dog boutique that offers preppy printed harnesses, collars, leashes, and bandannas. I'm slowly getting more inventory on the site as we produce designs, but I'm struggling to convert with my ads. I've tried several different audiences but my conversions are extremely low. With Facebook removing the ability to target dog owners directly, what can I do to improve my ads? ​ My current target audience is as follows: - Optimized for landing page views until my pixel gets more add to carts. - $20/day budget - Instagram ads only - Gender: Female - Age: 19-40 - Locations: California; Florida; New York; Wilmington, North Carolina; Portland, Oregon; Pennsylvania; Charleston, South Carolina; Texas; and Seattle, Washington. - Interests: Dogs, Labrador Retrievers, Mini Australian Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, American Bulldog, Australian Shepherds, Labradors, or French Bulldogs - Narrowed to: Engaged Shoppers ​ Any help is appreciated. The product quality is great, the ads are professionally done, promotions, free shipping, etc. I have a few sales here and there and a lot of add to carts. ​ edit: formatting submitted by /u/WiseRevise [link] [comments]

At what point is it enough to stop asking for beta test feedback and enter the next phase of the product? Posted: 04 Nov 2019 04:47 AM PST We had a private beta of about 25 people and we surveyed each and every one of them to talk about the app, features and what'd they like to include in the future. We have a pretty clear consensus on what the users want but is it enough to actually take that feedback and apply it to the next update for the app? Or should we beta test more users? Once we have another update we plan on launching to the public. Thanks! submitted by /u/Clubpenguinfeen [link] [comments]

How much equity to offer to the top employees in the company and not be screwed by the funds later? Posted: 04 Nov 2019 02:49 AM PST Hey guys! Have been googling some articles about offering equity to potential cofounders or key members and still cannot understand how does it all work. So I own 100% of 1mln shares in a LTD company incorporated in London, UK and I want to propose some equity with a tech guy to motivate him, who is working with me at the moment. My question is: how should I structure equity ownership so that I don't have problems about arguing with this or other employees about fundraising and funds onboarding later? For example: I can share 20% of the total 100% and I will be left with 80%. So if we get an A round of investments of $500k at 1mln valuation (for example), but will that shares be diluted and I will own only 53% after that? In this case I think that 20% is a good enough number to be motivated but it also gives some rights that may cause problems in the future. As far as I understood - I can also "lock" 80% of 1mln shares for the future investments, so the 20% will become 100%. So I will share 4% of the original 100%, that will equal to 20% of the new 100% of shares. This way, I will know that I will be able to control 80% of the total shares for future investment oportunites and funds onboarding and I will not have to ask this tech person if an investment is a good option or not. 1) Is there a right solution from these 2 that I have proposed? 2) What is the best way to give some equity to the person so that he gets motivated by the big number but actually he will not be in control of the company? 3) Are there some REALLY good and helpful materials that can help me with asking less dumb question? submitted by /u/kodjima33 [link] [comments]

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