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
• Our own step-by-step startup/project launch checklist
• What skill to utilize first?
• Will VCs fund a remote startup?
• How to pick an idea that is right for you? A math approach here...
• easy site builders: recommended easy site builders currently?
• How Much Time To Spend "Cleaning" A B2C App?
• What is "Innovation Culture" from an engineering point of view?
• Solutions for quickly setting up a checkout page
• Where to find people to test an app demo?
• Landing page for merchant and users.
• Compensation Model for Lead Generation
• Setting up Gsuite
• How to send out a press release?
• Family offices vs VCs
• Market timing help
• How do you launch a service like Uber when you don't have any drivers?
• Can someone explain to me the basics of how manufacturing and distribution work?
• If I want to make money from multiple websites, do I need separate bank accounts and corporate entities for each website?

Manic Mondays: Support To Get You Through The Week: Share What You Need Help With, Job Postings, For Hire Offers, or Resources Posted: 25 May 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 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]

Our own step-by-step startup/project launch checklist Posted: 25 May 2020 06:06 AM PDT Hey guys! So my co-founder and I launched several projects/businesses over the past 2 years (incl. our marketing agency, local tour agency, and a bunch of other stuff). We usually go through the exact same process for every project launch, so we decided to turn it into a checklist, both for ourselves & the internet people on Reddit. You can check out the complete checklist here, and here's a Reddit-format-friendly post: Step #1 - Research Phase Before you start planning your launch, you need to figure out your overall product and marketing strategy. Here's what you need to think about: Create a list of competitors in your niche. Make a spreadsheet that includes: Competitor Name Link Pricing Options Key Features Define your product & business. Decide on the following: What's your business model? What's your pricing model? How many pricing tiers do you offer? Do you offer a free trial? Is your product freemium? Which key features are you going to focus on for launch? What's your differentiator? How are you going to beat the existing products on the market? Spy on your competitors and figure out which marketing channels are getting them the best results. Content Marketing. Do they publish blog posts on a regular basis? Do they promote their content on social media? Do they get a lot of Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn shares? SEO. Do they have good rankings on Google with their blog posts? Do their landing pages rank on product search terms? You can check this by running their website through SEMrush or Ahrefs. Search Ads. Are they running ads on Google Search? You can check this by running their site through SEMrush. Facebook Ads. Are they running ads on Facebook? You can check this through Facebook Ad Library. Affiliate Marketing. Check their website footer to see if they have an affiliate page up. You can also do this through a simple search query: "site:[competitor website] affiliate program" Referral Marketing. You can usually find this in the footer. Check what kind of referral terms your competitors offer. Now, use everything you've learned so far and create a pitch deck if you're planning on raising money, or a business plan if you're not. Step #2 - Slap Together a Website Time to get things rolling. The next step is to create a website & lay the foundation for your marketing. Pick a domain name. Pro-tip, all the good ".com"s are taken. Go for something more creative like a .io, .xyz, or other TLD. We recommend using NameSilo for buying the actual domains, they don't do price-gouging, unlike most providers. Buy hosting. We recommend using SiteGround - they have 99.99% server uptime, and their customer support is amazing. Pick an email marketing provider. It doesn't particularly matter which one. We usually recommend MailChimp since it's free for up to 2,000 subscribers. Create relevant social profiles. The key here is relevant. If you're a B2B enterprise software company, you really don't need an Instagram profile where you post selfies. Usually, most startups go for Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Create a landing page for your product. You'll need to create a landing page that sells your product. In 99% of cases, we recommend using WordPress. It's going to allow you to be a LOT leaner than having your tech team code your entire website from scratch. Create other essential web pages. E.g. about us, contact us, pricing page. Set up a payment processor. We'd recommend Stripe (the best option on the market) or PayPal (if you really have to). Set up Analytics. You can pick between Google Analytics, MixPanel, or other alternatives. Set up a business email. We recommend using G Suite. Dealing with your hosting provider's email service will be a pain when scaling. Launch a blog. If you're planning on using content marketing or SEO for your marketing (which, in 2020, most product companies do), you'll need a blog. Step #3 - Do Some Pre-Launch Marketing If you have the extra time and resources, you can start marketing your product way before you've even launched. Usually, this involves: Add an email capture on your landing page Incentivize early adopters. Offer them something extra than just a "we're going to email you once we launch!" Drive traffic. Usually, the best channels to use for pre-launch marketing are content marketing, SEO, and PR. More on each channel under "Ongoing Marketing" below. Step #4 - Get Some Initial Traction Once you have an MVP, you want to validate 2 things: that your product works, and that it can drive conversions (and hence, revenue). Here's how to do it lean: If you did pre-launch marketing, launch an email to anyone that pre-signed for your product. Cold call your first 50 customers. The easiest way to get your first customers is to do some cold calling. After all, if you can't sell your product on a one-on-one call, how will you sell it to strangers on the internet via text? Find leads on social media. Use Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter to find leads on social media and pitch them with a direct message. Run search ads. If you have a flexible budget, you can run search ads on direct intent keywords. E.g. if your product is a resume builder, you advertise on the keyword "resume builder." Step #5 - Prep For Launch Every startup gets one "launch" in its lifetime. Here's how to make sure you get it right: Create a Press Kit and put it up on your website. This is going to be helpful for journalists who want to write about your website. Gather a list of journalists that wrote about your competition. You're going to email them during launch and ask for a feature. Use tools like Hunter.io or Clearbit Connect to find the journalist's email addresses. Create a list of all your acquaintances that use ProductHunt (PH). You'll want to ping them and ask for support once you launch on PH (more on this in the next step). Create a list of all your friends and acquaintances who might have connections to your target audience. You'll reach out to them during launch. Step #6 - LAUNCH! Time to hit that big, shiny red button and LAUNCH! Reach out to all the journalists you listed in the last step and pitch your product. The PoV of the pitch should be "hey, you wrote about [competitor x]. We have a similar product, but here's how ours stands out…" Launch on ProductHunt Reach out to all your friends and acquaintances we listed out in the last step, and ask for a share of your product landing page. For the best results, you should also give them the EXACT text they should use when sharing the page. submitted by /u/DrJigsaw [link] [comments]

What skill to utilize first? Posted: 26 May 2020 12:22 AM PDT I am coming to a crossroads in building my sole proprietorship business plan in the form of my own skill set. I am multi-talented and can competently handle basic woodworking tools such as table saws, chisels, draw knifes, ECT. I know how to use a soldering iron, I can assemble or dissemble most electrical devices and understand basic electrical circuits. I can paint various simple designs, use and maintain a 3d printer. My business model will be focusing on mostly home decorations, personalized items, figurines, and various crafts. I believe I should start with crafting various simple things, I'm hesitant to pick up a new skill but sculpting, and embroidery/sewing is another interest of mine. Currently I have only enough space and resources for one focus, eventually I plan to incorporate all my skills. That said I already have an embroidery machine. Specifically the husqvarna designer ruby that ex wife decided she didn't want. So I'll probably set it up and dabble. With all this in mind I'd like some opinions on what the best strategy would be to start up this plan. submitted by /u/CaptainKerrly [link] [comments]

Will VCs fund a remote startup? Posted: 26 May 2020 01:34 AM PDT We are 3 co-founders. 2 of us are based in Vancouver (Canada) and one of us is based in Netherlands. Vancouver ones have met in person but the Netherlands co founder is someone we have known for a while (for at least a year now). Then we have several other people based in Mexico and India that are working and getting compensated in equity. We may get others as well from different jurisdictions. The co-founders in Canada own a majority of the startup. As a startup, We are working on a VR app. ​ My question is, would VCs and angels fund this type of startup? I have heard ups and downs about this. I have seen some say they would because of diversity. I have seen people say that not really because it won't be good for due diligence along with the fact that remote startups struggle with management, different time zones, and remote startups are harder to manage which is why there hasn't been very many successful remote startups that are all over the world. I have heard with different jurisdictions and different legal systems it is a bit difficult. But I would love an answer on this! I hope you guys can all respond and I thank you all for your answers! submitted by /u/jazilzaim [link] [comments]

How to pick an idea that is right for you? A math approach here... Posted: 25 May 2020 10:35 AM PDT Every time when a new idea came up into our inflamed brain, we want to start working on it immediately (if you are not like us, please stop reading this article :) But these days, we are smart enough to validate any idea first before writing a line of code. Doing so, we save our time and efforts and avoid unneeded disappointment and demotivation when it turns out nobody wants our product and / or ready to pay for it. But we decided to go beyond and add one more "filter" - to avoid spending time for the validation stage. For this purpose we apply the math! The idea is we listed 15 parameters that any idea can be estimated with. Each parameter has its own weight and participates in the common formula. The result is based on the influence of every parameter. Our ideal product has a score of 454 points. Real products have much fewer points. It's probably not a good idea to compare real products with an ideal one but you can compare real products each with others to pick up a product with a higher score. These parameters are: How easy to find first clients (0 - hard, 10 - easily, weight = 5) - it's critically you will able find first adopters as fast as possible. How easy to create a first working version (0 - very hard, 10 - easy, weight = 3) - if it's very hard to create a working product we will subtract points instead of adding. If it requires making regular content (0 - very often, 10 - rare, weight = 2) - all the product require creating at least marketing content but it's better when it's not required for the product itself (like for blogs or news websites) If it requires a lot of content as a product (0 - yes, a lot, 10 - no, weight = 4) - better not to be dependant on the content volume (like for learning courses) If I know the subject well and can create content easily and with a pleasure (0 - hard, 10 - easy, weight = 4) - you shouldn't pick the idea if you are unfamiliar with the subject Target audience ( 0 - very small, 10 - big or niche, weight = 5) - it will be harder to work with a smaller audience but a niche audience is good (on the assumption you know it). Is it easy to validate an idea (0 - very hard, 10 - very easy, weight = 5) - a landing page, survey, several phone calls or emails - if it's enough, it's good, else... don't pick the idea It's rather a program or service (10), but not a content website (0), weight = 2 - we are fans of programs than content web sites. If I'm interested in the subject (0 - no, 10 - yes, weight = 5) - it's hard to work on something that you are really not interested in. Will I have a personal profit from it (0 - no, 10 - yes, weight = 4) - you have a chance to eat your own dog food and get profit from it. How many competitors (0 - empty market, 10 - a lot, weight = 6) - it's not good if there are no competitors at all (less than 3) or too many of them (more than 7) - so subtract in this cases, else add. Vitamin (0) or pain killer (10, weight = 1) - pain killer is always better. If it uses interesting, cool, modern technologies/approaches (0 - no, 10 - yes, weight = 2) - it may distract you but the point is you can use it as a good marketing trick. Do I have an idea how to monetize the product (0 - not at all, 10 - yes, in detail, weight = 4) - having a good plan of monetization is always better. We also recommend asking people if they are ready to pay during your validation process. How easy for others is to clone the product (0 - very easy, 10 - very hard, weight = 3) - if a product is easy to clone, maybe it's better to stay away from it. Another way to avoid competition is to pick up a narrow niche. You can find the spreadsheet convenient to use here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AIg4-rc_NxfNAPVZfGpCrVnDWQm9oWPXo6Mz9_rMALY/edit?usp=sharing Find the additional explanations and pieces of advice here: https://www.saasforge.dev/blog/how-to-figure-out-which-idea-worth-to-implement:-a-math-approach Please let us know what you think! Did you find this approach useful? If not, why and what are your suggestions to improve it? Thanks! submitted by /u/K_Rains [link] [comments]

easy site builders: recommended easy site builders currently? Posted: 25 May 2020 10:30 PM PDT a few different needs 1 - a site / theme where you can share youtubes in a grid-style? (visually like pinterest) able to drag drop youtubes to rearrange them 2 - a site / theme for long texts docs that has an outline, and where everything is on 1 page see for example https://twinelab.net/twine-resources/ 3 - a site / theme for images / gifs from the web maybe going with a good.. pinterest alternative it took 7 entire steps just to link something to pinterest.... that's insane easiest: since these are very very simple needs, should be the no cost + easiest options out there know about 'most', but not all, of the options, i wasnt able to find an easy option for any of the first 2 needs, and #3 still looking submitted by /u/solvew10problems [link] [comments]

How Much Time To Spend "Cleaning" A B2C App? Posted: 25 May 2020 07:17 PM PDT I'm a software developer with a full-time job at a megacorp in the digital marketing space. However, I've been working off and on on a B2C phone app during nights for the last 5-6 months. I haven't gotten much feedback from potential users so far. I think fills a niche that others in the space are ignoring. I also think that I would use the app myself. I think that I have a minimal viable product done where the product will provide the substantial value that I hoped. I think that I want to get feedback from other people on the user flow and user experience. There some rough areas of improvement that I still want to do. But, I don't know if I should get more feedback before I jump in to fixing those areas. My impression of B2C is that users are generally less forgiving of unintuitive user interfaces and the experience needs to be tuned quite a bit more than if you were making B2B software. Otherwise, I could be throwing marketing money and time at these users that would get lost in an unintuitive flow. I've thought that my next step at this point would be to create internal builds in the app store and share them with people I know to get feedback from them. What's the best way to collect feedback from after that process? Is responding to app store comments the best way? Or should I have an internal-to-app mechanism to collect feedback? Is there any general advice from others who have launched B2C phone apps and been in this position? What do you wish you'd done? As a side question, the app requires a "network" of people geographically close to you for it to work well. My plan was to buy paid ads (likely Facebook ads) to get people to join and throw money at user adoption. I make quite a bit of money in my day job and am already financially independent and think I could throw a lot of money at ads if I wanted to. This is in lieu of seeking investment capital or looking for another co founder that would do marketing. I've had so many bad experiences with other potential co founders that I'd rather just avoid finding someone and go alone until I know i find the right person. I also hear a lot that if you don't have a co founder, you're likely to fail. Do I need to go find someone for the sake of having a co founder? Thanks in advance for any help. submitted by /u/exmormon13579 [link] [comments]

What is "Innovation Culture" from an engineering point of view? Posted: 25 May 2020 02:45 PM PDT Hey all! I often hear that engineering teams in startups should have "innovation culture". A bit of background. I am an engineering manager with a technical background. Having 10 years of professional software engineering, I cannot name any technological innovations that have been created in companies I worked for. Of course, I haven't worked for tech giants like Google, rather mid-size tech companies and startups. We've been implementing some innovative consumer products, of course, but technology-wise everything was pretty standard. Java, Python, ReactJS, Git, CI, Code Reviews and other commonly used tools and approaches, you know. The biggest "innovation" could be maybe an upgrade of a framework or implementation of a new CI server. What do I miss? Where is "innovation" in software engineering? What do people mean when they say that? I understand there are some research-oriented companies that do basically computer science. There are companies like Google that build new databases and clouds. But what about companies building mobiles app and web services (which is the majority)? Is there any innovation there? ​ P.S. The service or app itself is innovation, I understand that. I am more about technologies. submitted by /u/dborovikov [link] [comments]

Solutions for quickly setting up a checkout page Posted: 25 May 2020 06:12 PM PDT TLDR: What minimalist solutions are there to extend an existing website with a checkout + payment page? Success in the startup world often comes down to beating others to market. For example, the first people to begin selling mouth masks at the start of the lockdown are probably well off right now. Online platforms such as Shopify enable both devs and non-devs to quickly and reliably build complete shopping websites. However, I was wondering whether there are any minimalist / cheaper solutions out there that just extend an existing website to have a checkout page including payment (without having to integrate PayPal or Stripe payments yourself)? Thanks! submitted by /u/simonsaurus [link] [comments]

Where to find people to test an app demo? Posted: 25 May 2020 05:48 AM PDT Hey! I have made a very simple, click-through prototype for an app idea and am wondering where are places I can ask people to test it. I don't have the budget to go through the big shot user testing sites. I'd like to get between 100-200 testers to see if the idea is worth pursuing. submitted by /u/chasitynycole [link] [comments]

Landing page for merchant and users. Posted: 25 May 2020 04:59 PM PDT Hi all, I am working on a business which resembles Uber's business model. I am in the process of creating a landing page but I am a bit confused on the following options: Separate landing pages for merchant and users. The same landing page with an option to select the user type. Onboard merchants first and then create a landing page for users after couple of months. Please do let me know if there can be other options as well. Thanks, submitted by /u/b_curious [link] [comments]

Compensation Model for Lead Generation Posted: 25 May 2020 02:24 PM PDT Howdy, new this page and looking forward to learning a lot and sharing what I learn on my journey! On to the question, I have a startup company in the IT Consulting field, and we have a colleague who could potentially bring in leads and help with proposal development for some fairly large contracts. This person is not an employee of our company, but may become one at a later date in the future as our company grows. We are considering different compensation options/models to 1. provide equitable compensation for the work he will do for us as a 1099 in Bus. Development, and 2. Provide incentive for this person to continue to bring in deals. A few models we've tossed around are: flat fee, a percentage of net profit for each FTE hired for a specific contract, a percentage of the net profit for the contact value as a whole. Do you have any thoughts or input on pros/cons for the models listed above or other possible methods we've not considered yet? submitted by /u/jblaw22 [link] [comments]

Setting up Gsuite Posted: 25 May 2020 02:20 PM PDT Hi all, I am the founder of the company and just setting up my landing page. I have two other people in my team who will be handling marketing. What are some tips for setting up a Gsuite account? I am not sure if I should open up a personal or business account? The current submitted by /u/b_curious [link] [comments]

How to send out a press release? Posted: 25 May 2020 12:58 PM PDT We are a small startup, providing a software tool for development teams in the DevOps space. We just integrated with Google Marketplace and are now offering our product as a "click-to-deploy" service. We want to tell the world about this news, especially reaching out to the tech community. We have already promoted this on Social Media, but would also like to send out a press release. How should we structure the press release to make an impact? Where should we post it to reach out to the tech community? PS! We are on a budget. submitted by /u/ivarconr [link] [comments]

Family offices vs VCs Posted: 25 May 2020 12:31 PM PDT Hi everyone So I have a friend who runs this startup. He asked me for advice on which is a better source of capital for funding. I was wondering if anyone had raised from either family offices or VCs and could share their experience or better still anyone with knowledge on both. He is well connected and I think could raise from either, he's just not too sure which source should be prioritised. submitted by /u/shaneoaddo [link] [comments]

Market timing help Posted: 25 May 2020 12:07 PM PDT Background : I'm a final year postgrad student and i'm literally a month away from exams, assignments piling up etc. And i want to start working on my start-up because i'm worried i'll miss the right window of opportunity for best launch scenario. (2-ended marketplace) I have no money or time to build my own website so i asked for a quote from web dev. And it's expensive. My choice is whether i dump the cash now and build the website or wait 5 weeks to start doing it myself? Still putting together the business model and things are a little bit messy now but i'm confused if i should just go for it and see how it goes or use this time to refine everything and get suppliers etc. submitted by /u/HikenNoSabo7 [link] [comments]

How do you launch a service like Uber when you don't have any drivers? Posted: 25 May 2020 11:31 AM PDT I figured this might be a good place to ask this question. When your company is brand new and it offers a service like Uber where you need other people to sign up as contractors in order for it to work, how do you launch without having the workers? Getting workers to sign up would require you to launch right? But if you launch you won't have any workers. Is there some grace period after launch where companies just wait for workers to sign up so that the service can work? Or do they advertise for workers first before they launch to customers? I'm not starting a ride sharing service but the model is the same for the app that I'm creating. I'll need people to sign-up to work as contractors before the app can provide the service. Just wondering how other companies bridge the gap. Thanks for any input. submitted by /u/domo018red [link] [comments]

Can someone explain to me the basics of how manufacturing and distribution work? Posted: 25 May 2020 05:48 AM PDT I'm thinking of starting up a company for an accessory but literally have no idea what I'm doing or what to even learn/who to ask. Just not in this world and never grew up with anyone in it either. I come from a poor uneducated family so this is surreal to me to even begin thinking about it. I hope u guys understand I have an idea for an accessory that isn't on the market and I'd think it would sell well. I'm in the USA btw but I would sell it in as many countries as I can My questions are How does outsourcing work and why do it? Why do so many manufacturers go to China? Is it because the employees are cheaper? Is it for taxes? Is it expensive to ship many units back to USA after they are made? How do I protect my idea from copy cats or even thieves? Is it true that China has its own market and their own laws where they can do whatever they want? Couldn't the manufacturer just take my investment and my idea and use it for their own? how does international selling work? Is each country need paperwork and it's own tax obligations? Can I sell in China without too much headache? How long does it take to make 100,000 or 500,000 or 1,000,000 units of the same accessory? Can one factory handle it in a short time or is it better to use two? And yes I think I can sell that many :) How is that large amount of units shipped from China to around the world to get ready for distribution? Besides amazon and my own website what other platforms would I sell it on? And does the money go into a bank account? How do I pay taxes or does the customer pay depending on where they are? how does the product get to the customer after they order? I can't store, package, label and drop off 1 million packs to the post office and I'd expect a large initial wave and influx of orders where everyone orders at once and most of the stock is demanded What can go wrong when selling besides customers returning their orders because they don't like it or it's faulty? How do I learn all this? Who are the right people to ask that won't screw me over? Do I do consultations? All I know so far is to read books What are the legal costs, manufacturing costs , distribution cost, website and tax costs? Or any other costs I don't know about I would appreciate any insight basic or advanced. Even if you only know the answer to one question and not the rest I'd love to hear it. Thanks everyone so much Edit: also do I need a prototype or is a design and idea of engineering enough? I already know it will work so a prototype wouldn't make me feel more confident submitted by /u/coronasharwama [link] [comments]

If I want to make money from multiple websites, do I need separate bank accounts and corporate entities for each website? Posted: 25 May 2020 09:17 AM PDT I have 3 websites comprised of similar content and thought about making a C-Corp via Stripe Atlas that controls all 3 of the websites. Is this possible or do I need to make separate legal entities and new bank accounts for each website? (I'm in USA) Should I make an LLC for each website and then have those LLCs controlled / owned by the Delaware C-Corp? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks submitted by /u/cocaine___ [link] [comments]

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