Startups Feedback Fridays - A Friendly Feedback Exchange For Ideas and Products |
- Feedback Fridays - A Friendly Feedback Exchange For Ideas and Products
- STORYTIME: How to NOT launch a startup
- Non-Partners Splitting Startup Costs
- Is there a smart way to set up VC fund (raising more money) for i.g. PropTech startups?
- Finding the right startup partner - Share how you met yours
- What are the tax implication for a Germany Tax resident investing in a UK company after Brexit?
- Sales channels - how to find them
- The problem with MVP is that while validation is conclusive, but invalidation is not!
- For early employees, has anyone ever anonymously outed a terrible founder?
- Is cold calling dead?
- Hurdles in starting a food delivery app
- How to find eCommerce focused angels and VCs?
- What does your daily schedule look like?
- Logistics of paying myself via S-Corps (such that 50/50 distributions/wages)
- How do you overcome the sales anxiety?
- Cost Effective Freedom to Operate Patent Research?
- Is sort of need help getting sellers?
| Feedback Fridays - A Friendly Feedback Exchange For Ideas and Products Posted: 31 Jan 2020 05:07 AM PST Welcome to this week's Feedback Thread. This is the place to request feedback on your ideas and products. Be sure to give feedback if you are requesting feedback. Equivalent exchange goes a long way towards reaching your own goals and it makes for a stronger community. Please use the following format:URL: Purpose of Startup: Technologies Used: Feedback Requested: Additional Comments: Post your site along with your stack and technologies used and receive feedback from the community. Please refrain from just posting a link and instead give us a bit of a background about your creation. Feel free to request general feedback or specific feedback in a certain area like user experience, usability, design, or code review. You can also find more support using instant chat on the /r/startups discord. [link] [comments]  |
| STORYTIME: How to NOT launch a startup Posted: 31 Jan 2020 11:13 AM PST TL;DR: Back in 2018 we launched our beta. We did every possible mistake. We relaunched and so far, it is going quite smoothly. This is the story of all the f*ckups and lessons learned. --- Our horrible 2018 beta launch. In 2018 we did our small, invite-only beta launch. It was the first time we ever did something like that, and of course, we walked into it blissfully inexperienced. The excitement, the stress, and stage-fright of finally pushing the product we've been working on to the people who signed up to our smoke tests was a fantastic rush. It ended up being one of the most enriching experiences our team ever had. We failed. Hard. Instead of folding and disappearing into the darkness, we did our post-mortem, learned and kept going. The product failed, not the idea; our approach failed, not the concept. " What do we do when we fall? We pick ourselves up." And that's what we did. We came out with a stronger team. It's more difficult to kill us now, we just refuse to die. Here's a short story of how NOT to launch a startup: It's March 2018 and our to-do list is almost empty. Two solid years of designing, coding, good days and bad days. We turned a few drawings into a fully functioning music web app. Music was playing through it, loops syncing… this is perfect. The interface is exactly what we need. I pushed hard for that design. I thought it was perfect. My background is in economics, I'm color-blind, and awful at drawing. Naturally, I'm the best-suited person for the job. We had thoroughly tested the idea. The first round of Smoke Tests helped us to validate the idea — before a single line of code or design meeting ever happened. The response was overwhelming: people wanted this. That was the initial spark that jump-started this madness. We lined up the core working team and plunged into work. It took time, more than we ever thought it would take. I wish I could say we are a team that goes from idea to launch in 3 days. We're not. Most teams aren't. We're no exception. A month before, in February 2018, we took the app to the rehearsal studio and played with it (we're all musicians). It worked. Did some stress tests. Worked. The browser can hold multiple high-quality audio files streaming at the same time. This works. We got an extra batch of loops from friends and users who subscribed to the smoke test, we ran a Facebook campaign to get more people for the launch. We had music, users lined up. Just a few more touches and we'd be good to go. We coded a basic admin interface, an email-based invite system and our social media was packed with content. We were getting ready to launch a rocket to the moon. And so, by early March, we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. L-Day (launch-day) was set for April 20th, 2018. We were getting anxious. I was bursting at the seams. I was very, very anxious. I was so anxious, I bought a ticket to Amsterdam (we're a remote team, Federico, our CTO, lives in Leiden, The Netherlands) without much thought — "I'm flying over there to launch this, is going to be awesome!". Was it my wedding anniversary around the same time I was supposed to be in Amsterdam? Yes. Was it Federico's anniversary also around the same days I was crashing at their place? Yes. Did I think about it when I bought the ticket? Nope. During that final month we did the migration to Amazon S3, did a backend cleanup, tested the invite system, our admin system, a basic analytics Federico built and we were — almost — good to go. Spoiler alert: did I mention anything about thorough QA? No, I didn't. Did I mention anything about UX testing for the interface? I think I didn't. Any hints of where this is going? My ticket to Amsterdam was for April 19th, arriving on the 20th. A 90-minute flight from St. Louis, MO (where I live) to St Paul, MN; a 3 and-a-half hour layover and then 8 hours to Amsterdam. Almost 13 hours of travel time. The same day you decide to launch. This will work, of course. April 19th came. I packed, said goodbye to my wife and got on an Uber to the airport. Not before I made sure to send the first batch of "Welcome to XXX, here's the link to log in" emails to some users. I wanted to "test" how that went, see what kind of response we'd get and iterate — on my way to the airport and flying over the Atlantic! For the following 20 hours, I behaved like a maniac. Got to the airport, checked in, went to the gate, double espresso, opened the computer and kept going. Re-read a few Paul Graham essays, my notes on 2 books on launching products and previous notes I made. Got to St. Paul, MN; another double espresso and listed all the early users, friends and family who would get the email. "Group 5 for Amsterdam Schiphol is now boarding". Closed the computer, got on the plane, opened the small table, opened the computer and started to re-write the templates for the invite emails. "Sir, you have to close the computer and your table, we're about to take off"… Sh*t… "We have reached 10,000 feet, it is safe now to use your electronic devices". Opened the computer, finished the template, planned the next few days, wrote templates for all the follow-up emails, got my notes and the flow of actions for each scenario. 8-hour flight. Not a single minute of sleep. I'm on a roll. Landed in Schiphol, met Federico, got on a train, arrived at his place, said hello to his wife, fresh pot of coffee, opened the computer, sent 223 invite emails + follow-ups, ate an entire tray of lasagna together with Federico, kept going for another hour, went out for beers. System crashed. Please stand by… April 21st, 2018. Noon. Wake up. Feel I've been hit by a train. I need coffee and a decent breakfast. I check my emails and there's not a lot happening. Strange… OK… we check the app analytics, a good number of sessions but not as many as users on the database. Not even half. OK, maybe it's early. Let's wait a few more hours. Early evening comes by, let's apply the follow-up flow of "hey did you get our invite?" and for those who logged in, ask for feedback. Emails sent. Let's wait. And the answers started to roll in…
And a lot more of the like. This is not looking good. There were multiple issues that were being reported, and given the time difference between the US (where most of our initial users were) and Europe, there we were… pulling hotfixes like maniacs at 2 AM. When you logged in to our app, we used to send you to the "Profile" view, where you had to fill your personal info (name, instruments you played, your social media, etc). We realized that a lot of users were staying in that view and not doing anything, which was very strange. And then, we got an email with a video. You can watch the video here https://youtu.be/xrh7Ly_Cwk4 What followed were two weeks of fantastic feedback (fantastic = you're doing it all wrong). We fixed all (or nearly all) the bugs and let users know when they were fixed. But, there was still one problem that needed more time to fix: the interface was horrible. The same user who sent the video was kind (and awesome) enough to — instead of sending a note -, he actually sent an audio explaining why our product was not working for him. Audio here https://soundcloud.com/tomas-sawada/robinsfeedback/s-r3gVk And that was the case with many others. The interface wasn't good. Users were confused. A month after the launch our engagement was almost nonexistent. It didn't matter how much we pushed, nothing was happening. Launch: failed. We let a few days go by, but we felt strong. I don't know why. I was brain-fried (no surprise there), but still eager to understand, learn and keep going. The team was the same. And so, we did a post mortem. An honest, as unbiased as possible, exercise to understand our next steps. Below, the main points we arrived at: What worked:
What did not work:
What we learned and have to change for the next version
There's a limit to the "launch fast and iterate". If you frustrate your users and they hate the experience, then there's nothing much to iterate. They're gone. This experience could have easily killed our team. In fact, an experience like this killed the previous team that Federico and I formed a decade ago. What is most surprising to me is the fact that I repeated mistakes, especially launching like this and doing exactly the opposite of what I should have done: be calm, collected and launch in the most efficient way. A decade ago, we launched a product in some similar fashion — although it wasn't a code-based product — and I (we) crashed and burned. I few weeks after this 2018 launch I felt like a complete idiot. It's not a nice feeling to have. Never again. My burnout lasted for a few months, and the team rallied and pushed through like spartans. We want to keep working together. The product failed, the idea didn't. Our approach failed, not the concept. But we had to change a lot and learn. We changed the interface, we now do thorough QAs, UX tests with users. We don't take anything for granted. But, most importantly, we're creating a process for launching products. We still have a lot to learn, but we're getting closer. We've made tons of mistakes, and we'll keep making them. If we're making mistakes, we're moving forward. This experience didn't kill us. It made us a stronger team. In fact, as of January 2020, we are doing our second launch, incorporating 100% of the lessons we learned. So far, it is going quite smoothly. And while things took longer than expected (don't they always?), we're proud and happy with what we've learned and achieved over the past two years. We're here. Up & running. Cherish your failures, they are amazing learning experiences!! Hope is useful for some of you before you embark on a launch spree. May the force be with you. [link] [comments]  |
| Non-Partners Splitting Startup Costs Posted: 01 Feb 2020 02:12 AM PST I'm starting-up a video production company with a friend, but she isn't ready to legally partner just yet. That said, she has generously offered to pay half the cost of the website and brand design costs. Would this technically give her equity in the company? [link] [comments]  |
| Is there a smart way to set up VC fund (raising more money) for i.g. PropTech startups? Posted: 01 Feb 2020 02:06 AM PST Hi There! I am (41M) currently setting up a VC fund with my business partner after a successful exit. We have invested micro seeds in several startups and several big real estate project. We have booked some succes (X2.25) in the fund and we want raise a lot of money. Our angle is focus to obtain tickets from Angels between €100K-1M, risk averse VC's €1M-5M, Pension funds €5M+ We offer risk averse investors loans, convertible loans, equity or hybrids. Does anyone have any tips how to bring this fund to the next level? Would it be good to start with an investment deck and raise money for the second fund? We don't have a real background in VC but are both successful entrepreneurs who can scale companies globally. Would you recommend to hire a fund manager? What is your experience in fund raising? Can you outsource that a sales reps on a no cure no pay basis? The fund is very early stage and has a PropTech, FinTech, Security SaaS and AI oriented focus. Tickets start from €50K up to €500K. Sorry the English. Its not my native language.. [link] [comments]  |
| Finding the right startup partner - Share how you met yours Posted: 31 Jan 2020 08:34 AM PST Hi guys, For most of my ventures, it's been just me. I've come to realize that I can't wear all the hats & make progress as fast as I'm wanting too. I want to find a partner that picks up where I lack, but am having trouble doing so. I would love to hear any stories of how you & your startup partner met [link] [comments]  |
| What are the tax implication for a Germany Tax resident investing in a UK company after Brexit? Posted: 01 Feb 2020 02:21 AM PST I own a UK company and we are raising a seed round. We have found an angel investor who wishes to invest into the company. However, he has expressed concern/ uncertainty about what will be tax implications of his investment after Brexit. In short, I got a message:
What should be mine response? [link] [comments]  |
| Sales channels - how to find them Posted: 01 Feb 2020 01:15 AM PST How do you go about discovering sales channels? So I am able to find a few business that look to have good sales channels. The customer base they reach has a lot of cross over with the customer base I want to reach. Given a website, are there good methods of discovering what sales channels that business website is using to reach customers? [link] [comments]  |
| The problem with MVP is that while validation is conclusive, but invalidation is not! Posted: 31 Jan 2020 09:06 PM PST Every time I've heard someone promote MVP as the best framework. They always say if your product without all features, a crappy version, is able to get users excited then that's a great place to be at. Because now you didn't have to spend months developing something only to find out there is no demand for such thing. Which is in itself a valid point. But what is important is what it leaves out while being promoted as the complete and only strategy. The problem is just what the title says. If MVP works great you know for sure, if this crap can be sold then better version (faster, easier, ...more valuable) version can also be sold. But if you it fails to get any users then that doesn't really invalidate the idea. It leaves you with ambiguity to say the least. Was the implementation really bad, i.e. if you try to sell burnt pizza and nobody buys then you can't really conclude pizza is a bad product. Was wrong segment approached, wrong cycle?, founders first impression is bad? This is really frustrating. If things don't work, which is mostly the case pretty much always. You don't have any disciplined approach. [link] [comments]  |
| For early employees, has anyone ever anonymously outed a terrible founder? Posted: 31 Jan 2020 07:40 PM PST I have worked in a few startups over the years, and in some cases, the founders are truly truly terrible. Pathological liars, committing fraud, lying about numbers, just outright lying to investors and customers. Has anyone ever alerted the board or investors about what's really happening? If so, how did you do it and how did it go? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 31 Jan 2020 09:33 PM PST Today morning I cold called 100 jewelers across the US to pitch them to try to make a website or upgrade there current one , I either got brushed off or got no answers on some threw yellow pages: I've massed email before and had some success but now that method had become too expensive too afford , should I keep cold calling or should I find a different method? Has anyone had any success currently? Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Hurdles in starting a food delivery app Posted: 31 Jan 2020 06:40 PM PST Hey! This is a also posted on another subreddit but I felt here was more fitting. Thanks a lot for looking at my post, At it's very core I have a two part question, I'm writing this at 3AM so I apologise at how draw out it is, I hope to get some feedback here and thank you in advance for reading. Should I A) Use the existing codebase for the MVP & tweak it as I need from freelancers, with an eventually rewrite if it finds success and requires updating B) Buy a boxed solution (or "clone" app) And A)Bootstrap it, Do support, Deliveries & sales myself B) Hire sales, support & drivers With the two questions in mind here's a bit of backstory, In 2016 I had an idea for a system intended for coffee shops to manage take-away orders and customers to be able to place orders ahead of time, rock up, flash a QR Code/Code and pick up their coffee, This is still something I want to pursue but I feel the pivot I'm trying to make is a better plan. I ended up having an application developed after speaking to hundreds of coffee shops, Understanding their needs, wants and reservations about a system like this, It's highly configurable, Works amazing but looks quite dated - It also didn't have a delivery driver component to it now that I want to pivot to on demand food delivery , My main concerns are the frameworks age & design, an old tech stack generally means at some point this app is going to need a re-write, and that means money and potential downtimes in my eyes. I did a bit of digging to see if there's any solutions and found that there's a lot of clone app marketplaces, They'll build a generic clone of whatever is popular and then create vertical marketplace style apps, Uber for X, Fivver for X, Facebook for X. I found a decent one built on what I believe is a decent stack, it looks really nice and is around the 7k mark, My only concern is that their business is focused on copying something, There's a large chance it's hacked together and a decent chance they have put time and effort to ensure it's built properly, Regardless if it works or doesn't a lot of time will need to go into getting familiar with it and tweaking it as I need, Worst case their claims of superior features and scalability will end up being in a refund request or a dispute with my bank, time wasted. So my options are - Stick with what I have and hope it does it's job as a slightly dated MVP - Bite the bullet on something new and hope it pays off. The other part of the question would come into play after the MVP is ready to be used, I have 5 restaurants happy to install the system in their stores on launch and know there's demand for a delivery app in my area from consumers but I have not taken the time to pre-register anyone to become a driver, partly because I feel the best way to start this out would be by doing deliveries myself, Support can be handled by a family member who has made themselves available and comes from a call center background and partly because I don't have thousands to spend on a high budget marketing campaign as I plan to only start with the 5 closest suburbs to me, There's a customer acquisition plan in the works but I'm not expecting a blazing launch until we've signed up a larger number of restaurants and pushed more money in marketing. Is there anything flawed in my approach? Should I be putting the money down now for a driver and hire a sales person to pitch to other restaurants before even launching? This would add some delays but if it's the better approach I'd be open to it. I think subconsciously I know the answer but I've instilled a lot of doubt in myself the last few days and would love to have someone else weigh in, I know this is lengthy so if you got to read this in full I truly appreciate it. Thanks in advance. [link] [comments]  |
| How to find eCommerce focused angels and VCs? Posted: 31 Jan 2020 06:01 PM PST I am a co founder of a tech startup called glo3d.net How can I find Angels and VCs specializing in eCommerce? Is there any place to search for investors based on their segments or this is just a search and find game? We are planning to start our angel round and looking for angels and VC [link] [comments]  |
| What does your daily schedule look like? Posted: 31 Jan 2020 06:42 AM PST I've recently started my own tech business (first business ever) and it's really hitting home how much grind there is! Not to say that I don't enjoy it though. I'm curious what my fellow startup founders daily schedule looks like? Do you live up to the stereotype of 16 hour work days 7 days a week? [link] [comments]  |
| Logistics of paying myself via S-Corps (such that 50/50 distributions/wages) Posted: 31 Jan 2020 10:20 AM PST Hi there, This might be a question for my accountant (I'm not avoiding her, but I'm avoiding her today, darn quarterly tax payments!!@!@!). How do I pay myself such that it makes the books like clean? Is this just me withdrawing cash / writing myself a check / making a transfer and then later on declaring 50% of it was via distributions??? Do I do two transfers??? Do I jump up and down while rubbing my belly for the IRS? I know this is a dumb question. I'm kind of asking ya'll how to button my own shirt here. But I wanna pay myself today, so thanks for your help!!! [link] [comments]  |
| How do you overcome the sales anxiety? Posted: 31 Jan 2020 09:44 AM PST Hi all, I'm running into an issue I didn't think I'd have. I've built a product in an industry that I have loads of experience in, spent 6 months getting to ready for sale, created a website and now I'm ready to go. Here's the rub, I know full well that I'll get very few sales by just putting out a website and expecting people to turn up. My plan is to go out there, send letters to business owners, make calls and do the selling personally. I've yet to get my first sale (which is in no way surprising, I've been ready for exactly 3 days). My issue is that Im struggling to shake the feeling I'm annoying people. I'd be interested to hear some feedback from people who have had success in selling in a B2B environment on how their first sales went, and what the process was like. It's worth noting that I'm the technical half of the founding team. My partner I'm sure will have no issue with selling, but I also want to do my part. Thanks for reading. [link] [comments]  |
| Cost Effective Freedom to Operate Patent Research? Posted: 31 Jan 2020 08:23 AM PST Hi lads, We need to do a freedom to operate analysis (FTO), as interested investors would like to to invest, but are worried about our IP position. Part of the investment will go to file patents, as they are a core to us, and working with a very good IP lawyer firm is expensive. Is there a Thanks for your feedback. [link] [comments]  |
| Is sort of need help getting sellers? Posted: 31 Jan 2020 02:37 AM PST Hi, I currently have a side project that I'm struggling to get (online) sellers. So the platform allows sellers to share all their sales in one place using an API. The product is focussed on filtering products based on their (shopper's) preference. I'm not sure where to start considering I'm on a small budget? Thanks. EDIT: The title should say: sort of need help getting sellers [link] [comments]  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Startups - Rapid Growth and Innovation is in Our Very Nature!. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment