Startups Manic Mondays: Support To Get You Through The Week: Share What You Need Help With, Job Postings, For Hire Offers, or Resources |
- Manic Mondays: Support To Get You Through The Week: Share What You Need Help With, Job Postings, For Hire Offers, or Resources
- Study: Being part of an accelerator doesn't help startups survice
- How to best help users learn the tool you're bulding?
- Which startups seem to have good market fit however it turned out they did not after launch?
- Product Hunt - Here's what we learned!
- Is it a good idea to seek an SBA or bank loan before seeking investors?
- Working towards understand the market while getting pmf?
- Trying to launch an app, half way across the world
- Asking users for credit card information before or after free trial - any experiences and recommendations?
- Digital Products Startup - Giving Co-Founder Profit Share vs Equity
- Help with valuation
- How to grow your email list through Twitter DMs
- What happens if an investor fails to vest their equity?
- How to register an incorporated business in another state
- Market Size Estimate Doubts
| Posted: 27 Apr 2020 06:08 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]  |
| Study: Being part of an accelerator doesn't help startups survice Posted: 28 Apr 2020 01:02 AM PDT I thought this study was really interesting. I came across it via the Sifted newsletter. The author classifies startups in five ways:
He looks at the common "1/10 startups survive" figure but focuses in on European startups. He finds a similar number (11%). But, most interesting to me was the fact that the success rate for startups that go through accelerators (thereby giving up equity) was just 12%. And if you go through a corporate accelerator that drops to 8%. Curious to hear your thoughts on this. Are accelerators a scam? [link] [comments]  |
| How to best help users learn the tool you're bulding? Posted: 27 Apr 2020 10:20 PM PDT We are in the early days of a MVP. Initial metrics are looking OK. There are clearly areas in the webapp where users are struggling or not finding at all. We are however constantly making progress by looking at metrics and iterating on changes. I would LOVE to be able to chat to a user however, but up until now no user has replied or joined our community chat thing. We have a Help page, and through our metrics I can see a good percentage of users are clicking on Help. Which makes me think they are interested... and want to learn how to use the webapp. At the moment, on the Help page, we have a Youtube video (that by now is out of date), and a link to a Discord server. I would be ecstatic if users would join the Discord server so we can get feedback and help them use the app, but also to make it better. I have also tried e-mailing the users that get stuck to ask them if I can ask some questions, but no replies as of yet. I guess my question boils down to the following:
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| Which startups seem to have good market fit however it turned out they did not after launch? Posted: 28 Apr 2020 04:39 AM PDT Almost half of the startups fails because there is no need for their solution in the market. I wonder if are there products that seem realy good in theory and/or are validated but after launch, they haven't been used? This is the of the biggest problem with startups and some of them are funded big. I mean some thinks they have a perfect product and will be used by someone eventually and fails because there is no need. But there must be some seems-to-be-needed products that failed to have 1/2 fail ratio. What are they? [link] [comments]  |
| Product Hunt - Here's what we learned! Posted: 28 Apr 2020 04:33 AM PDT Hi everyone! I said I'd drop back in after our Product Hunt launch with a progress report, hoping that it might help some of you when pursuing your own. So, on the 21st April, at 7 am (GMT) we launched VAYU on Product Hunt. VAYU is an end-to-end data platform. It enables people to prepare, analyse and visualise data, then save their workflows as templates or share them as reports. It requires absolutely zero coding experience. No knowledge of Python, R or what have you. It's easy to use. Most of the functionality is intuitive; drag and drop querying, basic commands and one-click visualisations. (By the way, if you're interested, you can still sign-up for free!) It is of value for many sectors and many job functions, so we had a job on our hands communicating that as succinctly as possible on Product Hunt to a variety of different people. Here's what we did. Feel free to ask questions below and I'll do my best to answer them.
At the end of the day, it was all an experiment. We took what we could from other companies who had used PH but had to adapt as we went to suit our team, budget and needs. We knew what we wanted to get from it, and we achieved it. Could we have done better? Yes! But you live, you learn. ------------------------------------------ TLDR: Plan. Communicate. Get a hunter early. Others will buy upvotes, so don't worry if you don't finish high up the rankings. Just take what you can from it, learn your lessons and adapt. Be aware that it is an international community. Users from India will not be online at the same time as the US. ------------------------------------------ Side note: We noticed a pattern emerging with a few of the products above us in the popularity rankings. They were definitely using upvote bots. It was actually rather farcical, and plainly obvious. MelissaHughes1, MelissaHughes2 and MelissaHughes3 all upvoted the same products, had the same amount of followers (0), followed the same topic, and had eerily similar names…Reverse image search on some returned a "fake user profile generator" site. Apparently, the PH algorithm penalises you for a number of unknown factors to do with upvotes, comments etc. Yet these products were flying high above us for most of the day. Some even finished above us. Because we were playing by the rules we weren't going to finish high up. Instead, we took heart in the fact that we didn't have to employ tactics like that to stand out, and we still finished the day with a respectable amount of upvotes. We took what we needed from this launch, and came away proud of our outing on the site. [link] [comments]  |
| Is it a good idea to seek an SBA or bank loan before seeking investors? Posted: 27 Apr 2020 10:25 AM PDT If you were creating a tech startup, would you consider these types of loans first before giving up equity? Do most successful startups find investors as soon as possible or delay this as long as possible? Also, assuming the company is registered as a C corp, what happens if it becomes unable to pay back the loan? [link] [comments]  |
| Working towards understand the market while getting pmf? Posted: 27 Apr 2020 11:32 PM PDT I am studying case studies of certain companies to learn how they got to their end goal. The general take away I am seeing is they are iterating, and pivoting till they get a small, yet unusual amount of interest and traction. From there they keep iterating the business model closer to pmf. After a point they can conceptualize what the marketplace truly wants and have a better idea of what pmf is. For example, and this is a personal care brand, the brand burt's bees did okay as a candle seller, then transitioned to personal care. Caught immediate traction in personal care to continue building in that direction towards their pmf. The same story happened with Oppo who were in audio, did fairly well but never could grow to a large business, until they transitioned to niche tech enthusiast focused phone. And found a spot in the market to reposition to. they became a niche premium style focused phone. Others are amazon and tesla that immediately saw the business model that would create pmf. For all these businesses it was either immediately obvious or they slowly uncovered bit by bit how the market is structured and what different parts of the market truly wanted(roughly) in order to put together an offer ( much better, or innovative / few alternative) for a ripe customer base.. In the case of amazon it was obvious it was an online mall which would gain pmf. Tesla saw that the sub $20k electric car could work as their goal. Oppo found they could use their strong creative product development to better make these niche type of stylish premium phones. If you don't mind sharing, what has been your experience with what the path to pmf looks like? Is it partly try to understand the market place better as time goes on, partly iterating the product closer and closer to find a fit for one of the ripe pmf opportunity in the market, and partly finding a way to get the capital and resources to get the product up to a high standard? What are the ways to get a clearer picture, to help aid the process of being able to build the company bigger and bigger towards the right direction? [link] [comments]  |
| Trying to launch an app, half way across the world Posted: 27 Apr 2020 02:30 PM PDT Hey all, Hope you're all keeping safe and well. Last year I was on holiday in Vietnam and had an app idea I thought would be perfect there. I started to have it developed with a friend who lives there. We're slowly getting close to it being completed, however I have had the realisation that I have absolutely no idea what my steps would be to advertise it. I've been reading stuff about building a customer base pre launch, and then contacting them in the build up, but how do I even do this, without any other product there? Do you guys have any tips on how to advertise and kick off my project in this sense? Any tips, advice would be very helpful! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Apr 2020 02:10 PM PDT We are offering a free demo-version of our web-app based B2C service right now and are planning to launch the "full" paid version in the upcoming weeks. We will continue to offer a 2-week free trial. We are still trying to figure out at what point in the registration process we should ask users for their credit card information: a) Ask for the credit card information before the free trial starts in order to facilitate conversion from the trial to active, paying user. But probably keep some users from even trying the service, as they don't want to put down their credit card info for something they don't know at all. b) Let them use the free trial just with registering by e-mail and ask for the credit card information only after the trial ends and they want to continue using the service. Reducing the barrier to try it out, but probably having a much harder time converting the test user into an active, paying user. I was wondering, if anyone of you has experience they want to share, if you are using either one of those options and what feedback you get from your users? Maybe even some numbers on conversion rates? Have you ever switched from one version to the other and what was the result of the switch? I would be very grateful for any pointers. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Digital Products Startup - Giving Co-Founder Profit Share vs Equity Posted: 27 Apr 2020 07:20 PM PDT I will be launching an online digital products start up later this year. Once launched the company can start generating revenue fairly quickly as there is minimal overhead (as with most digital products) and we have a highly scaleable marketing strategy (mostly online ads). Recently I approached one of my mentors (a high profile figure within our niche industry) to propose we collaborate on the companies initial product offer (utilizing his likeness & image) and split all net profits 50/50. He was not only onboard with the idea, but he also expressed further interest in being apart in growing the company as a whole. He wants to form a partnership in which he strategically helps the company grow as an advisor and also setting up meetings with other high profile figures (his network is wide with access to many notable figures IE celebrities he has worked with before) and potential investors, while I take care of the day to day operations and overall company direction. In addition, he has access to contribute some resources (equipment, workspace, some initial [small] capital, etc) to help the company create our first initial products. He just asked me to send him a document outlining potential terms for our partnership in the business. Besides the 50/50 split of net profits from his self-branded digital product, we did not discuss specific numbers or titles as to what our partnership could look like. My thinking was to bring him on as a co-founder / limited partner while I retain the CEO / Founder moniker. Given that the company can start generating revenue quickly I figured it might make more sense to offer a profit sharing program instead of a traditional vested equity offer that takes years. This not only provides him with a quick ROI but also provides me the bonus of me keeping control of the company and minimizing giving out equity (especially as this person will not be working full time on the business). My proposal at the moment is as follows: 50% of net profits to the partner for all sales of his own self-branded digital product 10% of net profits to the partner for all sales of digital products from notable figures he onboards to the company (IE: If he sets up a meeting a high-profile "influencer" who signs a deal with us to create their digital products on our platform, the partner gets 10% of those sales) An alternate structure that came to mind is to have somewhat similar profit sharing numbers as these, but then to also offer a small piece of milestone based equity (lets say 5% - 10%) (IE: Successful launch of the partners self-branded digital product = 3%, hitting over 100k rev on the product = another 2%, successful on-boarding of high profile figure = an additional 3%, etc). Curious to know what you guys think on this kind of structure? Also, does it make sense to give my mentor the co-founder / partner title given all the variables listed above? Would a Multi-Member LLC, partnership, or S-Corp make more sense for the business formation? Pardon the long post. Although I am very experienced in the creation of the digital product we will be offering I am not particularly experienced with partnerships & business structures so I am seeking some general feedback to formalize my thoughts before I spend money on legal experts (which is certainly the next step). Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Apr 2020 04:37 PM PDT I am currently developing an innovative English as a Second Language e-learning program but have reached a point where I can't go at it alone anymore. I have the IDEA well structured, but nothing "developed" yet. I have a friend that I would like to join the project (she has vast experience in the matter and has objectively said that she sees the potential) and I also still need to attract a CTO. The issue is I have no capital whatsoever, only an idea that I have tested with students and seen that it works (Also, I have run the premise by quite a few experts and scholars in the field and have received very positive feedback), a specific market to point to (and and other attractive markets to grow towards) and possibility of getting interest from investors without the need for traction. (I've consulted this). My concrete question is ... can I estimate a value (only as a reference) in order to calculate vesting? and how can I go about this (if at all) with no traction, only a well-tested idea on paper? This is crucial because it is the only roadblock that prevents me from progressing. The person I am recruiting is fully aware of the situation, but would like some sort of assurance that she'll be rewarded in the future for her time invested in this stage (as most people would, of course). Any guidence will be greatly appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| How to grow your email list through Twitter DMs Posted: 27 Apr 2020 05:35 PM PDT I was stuck at 190 email subscribers for the longest time. Yet, I have over 1,000 Twitter followers. So, I figured why not DM each follower individually telling them about my weekly newsletter? I went into this not expecting much of a response from a majority of people. But to my surprise, my approach is working – people are even thanking ME for adding them to my list. Here's how the DM looks: "Hey [NAME], [insert personalized compliment here / ask a question about their favorite sports team]. Just wanted to let you know that I run a newsletter (free) that I send out once a week recommending great articles, videos, and podcast interviews on the most inspiring underdog stories in sports. If you're interested, send me your email & I'll add you to my list!" I've found that the key is to be totally genuine – find some common ground with the person you're reaching out to and legitimately start a conversation. Then throw in your elevator pitch – position it as something that'll be valuable to them (i.e. providing interesting sports stories to fans who are currently starving for sports of any kind). So far, I've sent ~ 100 DM's and am currently sitting at 230 subscribers. Let me know if this strategy works for you! [link] [comments]  |
| What happens if an investor fails to vest their equity? Posted: 27 Apr 2020 04:34 AM PDT For example, you bring on an investor/CEO who will assume the role of CEO, the investor offers $40k funding for 20% equity. He's not being brought on purely as a financial backer, so there's a need for him to perform as a CEO as well. What if the guy is totally incompetent and I want to fire him? What happens to the funds invested by him? I guess what I'm asking is, what is standard procedure here? Does it depend on the contract? Edit: this is a hypothetical situation, please don't respond politely calling me an idiot, I'm posing this question to learn. [link] [comments]  |
| How to register an incorporated business in another state Posted: 27 Apr 2020 12:45 PM PDT I'm trying to register my C-Corp to be able to conduct operations in NC (it's already incorporated in Delaware). It's telling me to file a Certificate of Authority I need to attach a Certificate of Existence that is less than six months old, but doesn't the COE come after my business is registered in NC? Am I doing this wrong? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Apr 2020 07:56 AM PDT Not sure if this is the right subreddit for this question. I'm working on estimating the market size for our startup and have run into some doubts. We are based in the UK, and one theory we'd like to test is to target mid-size UK companies in the financial services, health and tech sectors.
My plan is: # of midsize companies * % in our target sectors * average annual spend The problem is that the sector breakdown is for total UK companies, and not broken down by company size. I was wondering, for the sake of estimating, if it's accurate enough to apply the total sector percentages on mid-size companies even though it wouldn't be 100% accurate. What do you all think? Alternatively, I was wondering if anyone knew a free or cheap source of the missing information. [link] [comments]  |
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