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
- PayPal stole over $14k from my small business
- Specifically building up capabilities?
- Where should I start to open my own startup in the EU or UK?
- Crystal clear understanding of the company vision? Direction of company?
- How to determine if a startup is worth it if there are already some competitors gaining traction?
- Beginning now, should I start with my (perceived) best ideas first?
- A few friends and I are trying to create a startup in the entertainment promotion/outreach/distribution market, and we’re not sure which state we should file our business in and which ones we should register as foreign LLCs in.
- How would you prototype something like Coinstar, Redbox, or digital vending machines?
- How to find someone to design/manufacture your product?
- What’s your university degree or expertise?
| Posted: 05 Dec 2019 05:06 AM PST 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]  |
| PayPal stole over $14k from my small business Posted: 05 Dec 2019 04:21 PM PST Hi Everyone, First time poster over in r/startups but I have lurked for a while. I have a problem. My small business was using Paypal to process our credit card transactions until about 6 months ago when they shut down out account for violation of their terms of service. They took our entire operational budget(~$14k) and locked it in our account for 180days to guard against chargebacks. It nearly killed our business. Well, 180 days just passed and they went ahead and took the money. Our money. We made and sold the product and they not only held the money (of which there were zero chargebacks), made interest on it for 6mo, and then just deposited it into their account. After two years of working on this business, that money was finally a chance to pay ourselves a little bit for all of our labor, but that is now not possible. When we complained, they just gave us the mailing address for the legal dept and refused to be of any help on the phone besides repeating that we had violated their terms of service. Obviously as a small business we have little ability to fight the legal team of a huge financial corporation. Any ideas what to do? [link] [comments]  |
| Specifically building up capabilities? Posted: 06 Dec 2019 12:26 AM PST An example of something similar is biz dev. It is always looking to make stronger outward relationships and look for outward opportunities. For example tesla's rough goal to win over its new segment is a 20k electric car within 5-10 years. So in order to do that they build solar city battery factories and solar panels. And need to sell enough cars to lower the manufacturing cost. The same with beats by dre, it knew it needed to get brand deals, endorsements, X earned media, X paid media(TONS of product placements) to reach a level of brand image that allow them to win their customer segment of leader of urban trendy headphone. Is there already a role that looks at what capabilities/product/brand image/pr/ is necessary to build in the future whether its in a few months or few years? (already reached pmf). Is this looking at what stated goal/metrics is needed to win the customer segments and future customer segments, then implementing the new capability? (almost like six sigma but adding instead of subtracting) [link] [comments]  |
| Where should I start to open my own startup in the EU or UK? Posted: 06 Dec 2019 01:03 AM PST Hi guys! I have been working on different technical solutions related to IT and now I would like to start selling (as a service and product) online. I am wondering where should I start, who should I approach in regards to finances. (perhaps you know some companies/investors I should try) ? To scale, I would need a team and need to pay them wages.. Hope it makes sense. Regards [link] [comments]  |
| Crystal clear understanding of the company vision? Direction of company? Posted: 05 Dec 2019 12:38 PM PST I've heard a lot of times that it is highly important to have a clear understanding of the companies vision. To be able to explain to anyone what it is in 2 sentences. How should a company use that understanding of the company's goals to get a laser focus on iterating their solution, the benefits to the customer, and the positioning of their customer segment(s)? Additionally as a company changes segments or penetrates the customer segment should the offer instinctively change as a 'whole unit' to fits the new customer segments.Possibly iterating the brand vision, value prop, positioning as the company changes segments or grows large in company size? Everything is more fluid and willing to change and evolve in phases/strides? [link] [comments]  |
| How to determine if a startup is worth it if there are already some competitors gaining traction? Posted: 05 Dec 2019 07:05 AM PST So I have an idea that I love. The biggest issue? There's a couple of companies doing similar things that have been around for a year or two. They all have funding already and functioning platforms. What are your thoughts on continuing to pursue it? I've been working for a couple of weeks now, and the competitors don't have a huge presence, and it wasn't easy to find them (only an article or two about them). Do I go for it? Am I too far left behind? If any of you have been in a similar situation, what did you do? How has it turned out? What advice do you have? [link] [comments]  |
| Beginning now, should I start with my (perceived) best ideas first? Posted: 05 Dec 2019 12:35 PM PST So, quick thing about me: I'm doing a Master's in CS, was going to apply to get a SWE job, but if I worked while doing my Master's, it would leave me no time to actually start my own thing until after 2-3 years when my Master's is finished. So, I decided to just start now. I've reorganized a list of business/ project ideas that I wrote over the past 10 or so years, and I need to know where to start first: should I go with an idea that I believe will make me money, regardless of whether I actually like the idea or not, or should I go with something that I'm actually interested in/ passionate about doing? I realize that starting a venture isn't easy, but I have time to follow through with it (doing the Master's online, so more convenient) and a roof to live under in the meantime (living with my parents atm). Any feedback or advice would be appreciated. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Dec 2019 03:29 PM PST Just to add some clarity on why this is enough of a problem to ask about here, there are six of us total, and almost all of us live in different states and at different times of the year (we're all college students). I'm in Ohio year round, but the rest of our group is set up like this Member 2: Lives in FL, goes to school in WV Member 3: Lives in MD, goes to school in PA Member 4: Lives in PA, goes to school in IN Member 5: Lives in NJ, goes to school in PA Member 6: Lives PA, goes to school in PA We're not quite sure how we should go about filing as an LLC just because of how many different locations are in the mix. I'm in charge of business operations (among other things, being a startup) at the moment, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how we should go about filing. At first we thought of doing PA and then filing as a foreign LLC in every other state, but we genuinely don't know what would be most effective and efficient EDIT: Formatting [link] [comments]  |
| How would you prototype something like Coinstar, Redbox, or digital vending machines? Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:54 PM PST What would the minimum viable product look like, and how could you start testing without dumping tons into engineering and development? And even if you did have the funds for developing prototype machines, are there any starting points for anything like that or are they typically custom built? [link] [comments]  |
| How to find someone to design/manufacture your product? Posted: 05 Dec 2019 12:34 PM PST I have a product idea I think could be great and would sell. I have made a prototype but as most first prototypes it is ugly. I am in the process of learning how exactly this product can be made better cosmetically and functionally. What are the best resources or ways to find more experienced people in product design and/or manufacturing? The product would probably fall under sport tech/fitness/workout gear. [link] [comments]  |
| What’s your university degree or expertise? Posted: 05 Dec 2019 03:36 AM PST Really curious as what people who build startup studies for or expertise if you don't have a degree. I see a lot of founders that are either doing software or something that's related to software. I'm currently 19M doing degree in IT. Thinking about what to build next, maybe a unicorn someday. 🦄 Help as many people as possible on the way and keep doing so after I die. [link] [comments]  |
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