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    Home Unlabelled Startups Some things I have learned as VPE/CTO in my career so far that I think it will be most useful to you if you own or are about to start a startup.

    Startups Some things I have learned as VPE/CTO in my career so far that I think it will be most useful to you if you own or are about to start a startup.

    June 01, 2020

    Startups Some things I have learned as VPE/CTO in my career so far that I think it will be most useful to you if you own or are about to start a startup.

    Some things I have learned as VPE/CTO in my career so far that I think it will be most useful to you if you own or are about to start a startup.

    Posted: 31 May 2020 02:17 PM PDT

    I have been a very active reader in this community, I have noticed some things that many seem to have an issue with, but it became more clear during this month when I started looking for a new position as Vice President of Engineering in startups. So I'm writing this.

    (Please note that the content written in here is solely based on my experience as, and have proven to be very successful, specially with teams working remotely)

    ​

    Understand a few things.

    • Understand that you will have to sacrifice your time.
      • Other than usual corporate jobs, working on your startup will require more than your 9 to 5 work. Of course you can work that way, or even less, but you will have a really hard time trying to succeed in the market you are trying to target when other startups are putting 10-15 hours a day.

    ​

    • Understand that you might push your loved ones (or those close to you) away.
      • If you are putting the extra amount of hours on your idea, you will realize that you won't have much time to spend with those close to you. Specially your girlfriend/boyfriend.
      • Personal example: during my first startup, I was leading a team of 38+ people and would work 15 hours a day on average. During that period of 2 years and 7 months, 3 girlfriends told me they couldn't continue dating me as I would see them only a handful of times per month.

    ​

    • Understand how hard leading a startup is.
      • Running a startup in a competitive market feels like you are in a knife fight in a prison yard. If you are a weak leader, your startup will be weak. Not just physical strength, but mental strength too and most importantly, your strengths/skills in leadership and negotiation.

    ​

    • Understand that you need the most excited people to work with you, on board with you.
      • This might be confusing, so let me explain. When you are recruiting your co-founders, if their answer is not "FUCK YESS!" then its a no. Co-founders are the basement of your startup. You and they are the foundation on where your startup is built. If the thought of working with you and your startup doesn't generate a response of FUCK YESS! then it it should be a no. Don't waste your time dealing with someone that kinda wants to add value to your start-up.
      • This also can be applied with advisers and investors.

    ​

    With that being said, here's some things you can apply to your start-up.

    • Goals and Objectives
      • Always have goals and objectives for everything you want to develop. Lacking objectives and goals will make developers disorganized and they will lose interest in the development very quickly.
      • Having goals helps to maintain developer presence and keep them busy with their own tasks. It cements the path for a goal-driven development for the future.
      • Having long-term goals without small goals and objectives in between will lead to the exhaustion of the developers involved. (This is risky and can break the development and push your team apart)
      • Objectives should be specific, measurable and have a short time frame. Their purpose will be to achieve your goals.

    ​

    • Deadlines
      • By setting a deadline, it gives the people involved a sense of urgency, which makes all the members more productive. It also allows newer members a way to prove themselves and be useful.
      • Deadlines should be strict but reasonable. Their purpose is to help you reach your goals and objectives, but they shouldn't be final. As everyone can get caught up with life and can't reach them in time. If that happens, then try to understand what was the reason for their delay, try to be affectionate with your developers. See if you can help to reduce their stress or work overload. They will recognize this and love you for it.

    ​

    • Manifesto and your start-up virtues & spirit.
      • Write your start-up manifesto to specify your company's intentions, motives or views. This way you can attract like-minded people and form a stronger bond with people working with you.
      • Know what the spirit and the virtues of your start-up are and apply them. You will create a better work environment for your co-workers, and they will love you for it.

    ​

    • What, Why and How
      • Always know What you want to do, Why you want to do it, and How you will do it. This will make your vision stronger, and make you be seen as a strong leader who knows where he's leading the team in the long run.
      • Simon Sinek has a very good video about this. (Not sure if I'm breaking Rule nr.2 with this, but please let me know if I am so I can edit it out).

    ​

    • Mentor your people
      • When mentoring people, don't show them how they can do it, but help them to understand the issue better, and how they can solve it.
      • If you are mentoring a group of programmers/developers, NEVER give them the solution in a plate, but instead try to appeal to their solution solving skills with ideas on how they could do it, and let them figure it out. You might be the best programmer in the company and the solution is easy for you, but they won't learn it good that way. Teach them how to solve the problems, not how to write the code for it, as you can find many things online who have a better solution on how to fix your bug, but they more than often, don't teach your developers how to figure out the solution is.
      • Personally, I would hire someone who is a 3/10 programmer/code writer, and a 8/10 problem solver than a 8/10 programmer/code writer and a 3/10 problem solver.

    ​

    • Never micromanage your development team.
      • Just don't please, you won't be helping your developers.

    I could write in this on-and-on for days, but I think these are some good examples.

    Hope you had a good read.

    PEACE!

    ​

    A.B. BTEK

    submitted by /u/BTEK9
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    Entrepreneurs appealing to middle and high school students

    Posted: 31 May 2020 11:15 PM PDT

    I will be the instructor in a program where middle & high school students learn about entrepreneurship and launch a startup. For the initial introduction to entrepreneurship, I would like to share some examples of entrepreneurs that they might be familiar with. I am looking for ideas of entrepreneurs that a young person might be able to relate to or know of. Any ideas?

    submitted by /u/alanboy
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    I would like to have an app idea developed in Flutter or React Native. Does it make sense to buy a pre-made template online and then hire a developer to re-skin/tailor it to what I want in order to cut costs?

    Posted: 31 May 2020 08:30 PM PDT

    I understand a Flutter or React Native developer may cost a lot, but I currently only have a budget of $3 - 4k maximum. My app idea involves a firebase backend (which I already made on my own), a photo sharing feature, and basically can be described as similar in nature to instagram. Would it make sense to buy a template online and then hire a developer to change it up? My concern is that the template might be too far out from what I want, or the developer may take more time doing this because they need to understand the template coding first.

    Is there any reason I might want to start from scratch vs. a template? Templates for RN or Flutter I did come across was on instamobile.io and codecanyon.net (not sure if either are legit), which looks to be around $500 or so. Any other suggestions for places I can find a template would be greatly appreciated!

    submitted by /u/SeparateFly
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    How do you launch a marketplace startup?

    Posted: 31 May 2020 08:49 PM PDT

    For those who have started a marketplace startup successfully, what was your execution process? Were there any software (sharetribe) you used? Did you create a mobile app eventually (was it easy to port information over)?

    I know where my supply/demand is going to come from. And exactly how to reach them. I m thinking of building the supply first (and creating artificial demand) to test out the water before sending thousands of messages to bring in the supply. I have identify the supply to be critical. Demand is very easy to generate.

    The execution has to be very precise because I want to capture most of the market because the idea is very easy to replicate (i.e. no one has thought of the idea before though). It's similar to Patreon.

    I think I'm on to something but I wanted to make sure I execute the steps carefully ...

    submitted by /u/frustratedstudent96
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    SaaS to On-Premise market validation

    Posted: 01 Jun 2020 12:20 AM PDT

    Hi, I have an idea I'm trying to validate. I feel like there's a gap between what's available to companies that can share data across the internet and large enterprises/government agencies that can't or won't do that because of privacy or security issues. Since it's a lot easier to develop and validate SaaS many companies do that and grow, and only at a later stage address this market. Even for enterprises that are using SaaS in the long run they pay almost the same for both solutions (at least to some sources I was able to find online)

    It also seems like selling to large enterprise feels like the holy grail for many companies for many obvious reasons.

    I was thinking on trying to validate if there's a need here and exactly what it is and I would be happy for any advice. So far I had to ideas on which solutions could be interesting (if there's indeed a market):

    1) From the dev point of view - offer companies tools to easily migrate their SaaS solutions to On Prem

    2) From the enterprise point of view - simply create on prem solutions equivalent to existing SaaS solutions and sell these as a customizable package for large enterprises

    I'd be happy to share more information about why I think there's a need for this but of course I'm more interested in the community's perspective and how you would go on to validate this

    Thanks!

    submitted by /u/qeVut7tguCpxKqqMPtWU
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    Intentionally losing control of my company/board

    Posted: 31 May 2020 10:51 AM PDT

    I'll start with some background bullets points:

    • Bootstrapped a company, profitable (couple of millions I've mostly taken home)
    • Ran said company (almost) into the ground
    • I'm creative but bad with money and management (probably related to the fact that I'm bi-polar).

    As part of a re-organization I realized I need "grownups" running the company, but most importantly I realized I need LESS control.

    I'm a very charismatic type, and past management personnel found it hard to oppose me and allowed me to harm the company (extreme example: taking an irresponsible dividend).

    While I'm not comparing myself to WeWork's Adam Neumann, I can see how I can become a problem for myself and the company if/when we get really big.

    On the other hand seeing how people like Elon Musk and Zuckerberg retained control of their companies is inspiring, and emotionally, this is my "baby" I've built from zero.

    At the moment I'm in the process of adding people to balance me out

    1. A new, stronger CEO who is very experienced with bigger companies and will be getting most his compensation in equity (vesting over 4 years), and eventually maybe a seat on the board)
    2. A strong, experienced businessman I trust, as a partner who will get about 20% in equity (probably w/ vesting), and will be on the board with me (just the two of us for now).

    I'm retaining 80% for now.

    We'll both also have titles, he'll probably be a CFO for a year, and I'll be CMO.

    We're also considering a strategic investor who is interested in buying 10%.

    Here's the issue:

    The current contract I'm working on with said partner gives him the right to veto decisions in some areas (most importantly: financial decisions, up to $100k, over this amount both signatures are required).

    I get to veto in other areas that are my expertise.

    We each get one seat on the board, I.e. equal voting rights.

    The thing is that while he gets 20%, in terms of the day to day operations, his control over the company is just as mine, as if he had 50%.

    Now, I can probably change it so I have more voting rights or something like that's kind of missing the point.

    I'm trying to think of a mechanism where I can retain control of my company, but also be restrained so I can't fuck it up.

    At the time being I don't mind that he has more control, I worked with him closely and on some joint ventures, he's just much better than me at it and he takes a huge load off my shoulders.

    I don't even see it as a problem in the long term.

    What I'm worried about is missing something that - is there a scenario I can't think of where this would come back to bite me in the ass?

    I feel like the decision to give up the control is a big one.

    Would love to hear any thoughts and advice.

    Thanks

    submitted by /u/nothingsurgent
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    Building a great product only gets you 20% there

    Posted: 31 May 2020 03:05 PM PDT

    Original post - https://breue.com/building_a_great_product_only_gets_you_20_percent_there

    ----------------------------------------------

    "If you build it, they will come."

    Except, they won't. Even after begging them to, they won't. Maybe they'll tell you they even hate it.

    A lot of first-time founders think that if they build a great product, it will take over the world. That's it, you just build it, and you're done.

    Building your first version of the product, when you are trying to validate your hypothesis, without making it too clunky, and knowing what features to put in it and what to leave out, is a big challenge in and of itself.

    Even if you do this part really well, you are at best 20% of the way there.

    You have just entered the trailhead of a massive hike. A hike with a brutal incline, with pebbles everywhere, that you slip on, and bust up your ankles. As you make progress, you feel like you're not actually going anywhere. You are constantly debating giving up and returning home. Maybe you have the courage and patience to get to the summit. But even when you get there, you might not like what you see.

    Anyone can find or come up with an idea. Some can build out the idea into a good product. But, very few can do the rest.

    It's a very common journey. After spending months or even years having your product built. You are ready. You start telling everyone you know. Friends and family. Every random person you have met in your life. You go down your contacts list. You post on Facebook, Twitter, and every other social media outlet. You write some blog posts. You email a bunch of reporters trying to beg them to write a piece on your product/startup.

    You really give the launch all you got.

    Then comes the shock. The shock that no one cares. That you can't even get your friends and family to use your product. That you spent all this time, energy and money to reach this state, and literally no one cares!

    This is the part of the journey where most founders choke. They don't have the heart to keep going. They will do a bit more here and there to market their product. But, it ultimately just dies out.

    Then there are the founders that understand that there is no such thing as "the launch". They understand that they will have to launch a thousand times. That they will have to keep going at it again and again. That they will have to try everything and anything imaginable. They are the ones that don't let rejection overtake them. They are usually those that have been on this journey before. And they have a better understanding each new time they navigate it.

    They understand that it could be 6 months to a year before they see anything remotely worthwhile.

    This is the hardest part of the journey -- the 80%. The 20% is important. You can't even start with the 80% if you don't do the 20% well. But it is ultimately the 80% that makes or breaks it.

    The journey may not be worth it. It may be a total waste. But it's part of the process. Almost no one ever gets to skip it.

    But, it is the journey where great things can happen...

    submitted by /u/zachvanness
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    Budget/Free PHP hosting with PDO SQLite

    Posted: 31 May 2020 08:47 PM PDT

    Hey guys! What's up?

    ​

    I need a Budget/Free PHP hosting with PDO SQLite ENABLED. I must have it as my software vendor uses it for my PHP script. I need something quick and simple to setup. Better to have a cPanel.

    I realize that I have an option for Google Cloud, AWS, and Azure free tires but too much for a simple few pages CMS website.

    ​

    Please give me your advice.

    ​

    Tried Hostia, 000webhost, and a few others.... not even close to what is needed. Basically trying to upsell their expensive plans.

    ​

    Thanks and cheeeeers!

    submitted by /u/germandar
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    Biotech Startup question

    Posted: 31 May 2020 04:42 PM PDT

    Biotech startup question:

    Considering a job offer from a biotech start-up and wondering how to factor equity into the considerations. What percentage equity would people expect to be offered to a senior leader, one of 5 or 6 people reporting to a CSO, coming on at the same time as the series A funding round closes?

    While the offered salary is higher than my current position, with restricted stock vesting in the coming years at my current job, the new offer falls about 50 K short in total compensation. Trying to understand how equity in the start-up should be factored in.

    Thank you

    submitted by /u/BigBellyB
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    How, as an accredited investor, do i get started networking as an angel investor who knows NO ONE in the industry? I'm trying to graduate from my syndicate and move to the Austin area to start making my own offers. What are some ways I could make new connections with people in the startup industry?

    Posted: 31 May 2020 07:07 PM PDT

    I'm a 25M ex mechanical engineer turned retail finance nerd. I'm spending a large portion of my income to invest into deals via the syndicate im with. I'm trying to find a way to establish a network of people in the industry to work with and find good startups with.

    My understanding is that the industry is all about networking. So if i can't establish a network then I would be dead in the water, right?

    How, as an accredited investor, do i get started networking as an angel investor who knows NO ONE in the industry? I'm trying to graduate from my syndicate and move to the Austin area to start making my own offers. What are some ways I could make new connections with people in the startup industry?

    submitted by /u/BAMFoftheNorth
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    ELI5 Dating app development.

    Posted: 31 May 2020 06:21 PM PDT

    I have an idea for a dating app. I want to get an idea of the steps and time line so I can start planning financially.

    1. Finding a developer for both platforms
    2. Finding more $
    3. initial staff needed to start up
    4. staff and infrastructure needed to operate full time and expand

    Right now I'm just a guy with an idea. I have some funds to get started but not enough to finish.

    I have thought long and hard about this app, the features, and the benefits of it over existing apps.

    I know nothing about apps or the app business so I want to get an idea of what creating and launching one looks like. Sorry if I sound super uninformed, but I am.

    Thanks

    submitted by /u/tunaandthefishgang
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    How much equity for close family members

    Posted: 31 May 2020 03:30 PM PDT

    After 1, 5 years of hard work I finally launched my company this January. Its doing extremely well, demand is high and its easily scalable. But guess what? I dont have the capacity. Im a mother of two toddlers and I honor my health (after an almost burn out in december). Im doing this all alone as of right now and i know that if i want this business to become grow further I will need a partner/ co-founder!

    Now there is a close family member, lets call him Person A, who i am in talk with . He has a business background, startup experience, very strategic, structured, and very good with finances. He is very very interested. However he has a day job and a family and he said he would be able to put in 15 hours per week. He suggested 20% equity and a little investment (approx. 3 months of revenue).

    I also was able to get another close family (person B) to join full timen1 year (possibly longer if it hits off ) He just finished his masters. Hes a smart guy. I will pay him a little salary plus shares as an incentive.

    The ground work is done. They are basically entering a comfortable situation. Its all about getting this thing big.

    Im consider myself and allrounder and im highly creative. I basically did everything myself. From product development to the website as well as marketing (still doing it). I am however lacking in the financial department plus structure.

    Now im not sure how to proceed. How much equity is appropriate. Who deserves more. Any tipps? Any opinions.

    submitted by /u/HeyLu100
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    Where to find someone to hire to help me with regulatory research in the payments space?

    Posted: 31 May 2020 03:24 PM PDT

    Hello r/startups! Long time lurker and appreciate the great comments I've read in this community! Hoping to get some guidance from some of you!

    I'm starting a payments business in Europe and want to hire someone to research the regulatory requirements to obtain an e-money license and to become an approved payment facilitator with Visa/MasterCard.

    I essentially want to hire freelance, ideally someone that has experience in the payments processing space. I'm torn on where to start to look for someone whom I can hire to do this specific kind of research. There seems to be a lot of freelance sites for many different tasks, wondering if anyone in the community can make some suggestions to give me some direction on where to look.

    Thanks, everyone!

    submitted by /u/tabletennis55
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    Which one is a better choice? Multiple small apps vs single multi-function app?

    Posted: 31 May 2020 07:08 AM PDT

    Would you prefer building a small app every week which reaches $50-$250 MRR each or would you prefer spending months building a bigger single app? There are people already doing it right now but how sustainable is it for someone to completely live just on multiple smaller apps?

    Some points that might help in deciding

    Multi-purpose bigger apps are :

    • Easier in managing analytics at one place
    • Everything is available in one place, no need to signup and login to multiple places.
    • Cheaper in hosting on one server or interconnected serverless apps with unified database

    Single purpose micro apps are :

    • Can be easily managed on it own by separate development teams and frequently updated
    • Makes it easier to find hidden features that were otherwise listed in internal pages
    • Built to help in completing one particular task.
    submitted by /u/linkish_io
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    Findind the right way to explain a solution.

    Posted: 31 May 2020 07:56 AM PDT

    Hey everyone,

    It's been a little while that me and my brother (also my co-founder) try to find the right way to communicate what our software do for people in a way that they can understand.

    My girlfriend, who's not at all into tech, have no idea what we do, sometimes I think I've managed to explain it to her but then, a day later, I notice that I didn't.

    When I sit with a professional in a domain or another, I usually manage to explain to them by giving examples they can relate to which then usually have them say "I need this" (the example).

    The problem is, when it comes to a websites landing page, you need some sort of general approach that anyone can understand rapidly. So far what we've done is make 'uses cases' so people can relate to them, a little bit like I'd do when explaining person to person. The issue with it so far is that people want the 'use case' but don't understand the solution underneath.

    I'm curious to know how some of you might have approached this kind of issue. How did you find your way to explain it?

    submitted by /u/MaximeBeaupre
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    I started a Subscription business 4 months before the lockdown not sure how to get customers during or after this.

    Posted: 31 May 2020 04:04 AM PDT

    They say there's always a boom after every recession. I started a self care Subscription box business targeting working women. It focused on women who don't have the time to take care of themselves. You get a personalised box with self care products and activities with every box. It's a luxury box with feel-good products. I am not sure how to sell it currently. I am going with the "Take care of yourself" and "Deal with stress" angle but the buying sentiment seems low with people especially for luxury products. It's a bootstrapped company so if you could help me understand what position a luxury brand should take in such a terrible situation and if there you have any suggestions on how I should reach more clients please let me know! All ideas are welcomed.

    submitted by /u/Theweirdweird
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    Starting a review website

    Posted: 31 May 2020 07:45 AM PDT

    Hello All

    I want to start a review website based on user reviews, similar to rotten tomatoes or TripAdvisor, for a different industry.

    I have no experience in web development, how difficult/costly would a website like that be?

    Anyone have similar experiences ?

    Any advice, critique, or recommendations welcome. Just looking to get a base level of understanding.

    submitted by /u/I-Vote-Camacho
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    Is it possible to start a space based start up ?

    Posted: 31 May 2020 12:56 PM PDT

    Hello

    I always were and still am a big fan of space travel. I would really like to do a start-up in this direction. E.g. For future Moon or mars mission. My Question here is, if it really possible to this as a start-up or if you need a big company to do it.

    Greetings Losspost

    submitted by /u/Losspost
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    Choosing a good name for your startup

    Posted: 31 May 2020 11:53 AM PDT

    Alright so you had the idea and maybe some sort of a plan, now you're very excited to get started but you need to brainstorm a brand name.

    And most of the time its hard to get going without a name.

    First day of storming names goes by, no progress. 2nd day, 3rd day, 4th day you get fed up come with a silly name, tow days later you realize the name is bad and start all over again...

    My question is, Im a the only one who struggle when it comes to names? has anyone hired somebody to come up with a business name? Is that a thing?

    Any tips on picking a brand name will be greatly appreciated

    Thanks.

    submitted by /u/7haz
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    What can I do if I cant find CO-founder?

    Posted: 31 May 2020 02:24 AM PDT

    Hi

    ​

    My problem seems always to be the same. I find some people I know at least a little bit. When I start to talk with them about ideas. They always are like "Yeah sounds interesting. I would like to work with you on that or Brainstorm on it". But sadly it always ends the same. After 2-3 times I tried to set up another time for a Brainstorming evening. And they like never have time. I ask them then wait a few days but it always ends the same way. They "maybe" have time for like 1h in 2 weeks. But I don't think I need to tell you that you cant be productive with that little time. I can understand they have a lot to do, but in my opinion, if you are really interested in founding you should at least have a few hours each week.

    So am I doing something wrong? Or should I keep looking for people who have some time for that?

    Greetings Losspost

    submitted by /u/Losspost
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    Software Agency startup - Advice on next steps

    Posted: 31 May 2020 09:39 AM PDT

    My business partner and I have recently decided to start our own software agency where we build bespoke systems for clients. At the moment we have a landing page (just an email form to capture users) and we have our first paying client. We also have accounts on Bark, Upwork, Fiverr and a few others but these have not yielded us any work as of yet.

    In terms of next steps, we have decided that in the short-term we want to:

    1. Replace the landing page with a fully fledge website that boasts our services
    2. Implement some of our own ideas that would serve as portfolio content for the website.
    3. Some kind of social media marketing (:shrug:)

    So as well as the actions that I have mentioned above, is there anything else we should focus on in order to get more clients? Also, how should we tackle marketing to get the word out and direct potential clients to our website?

    We really appreciate any input. Thanks.

    submitted by /u/mcpolandc
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    App marketing problems

    Posted: 31 May 2020 05:30 AM PDT

    Hey I am an indie game and app developer and I currently need some really good advice on marketing and making my games/apps popular. I have already published some, and none of them got over 1,5K downloads. Does any of y'all guys have some advice regarding this problem?

    submitted by /u/felixnice2
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