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    Thursday, August 20, 2020

    Thank you Thursday! - (August 20, 2020) Entrepreneur

    Thank you Thursday! - (August 20, 2020) Entrepreneur


    Thank you Thursday! - (August 20, 2020)

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 06:08 AM PDT

    Your opportunity to thank the /r/Entrepreneur community by offering free stuff, contests, discounts, electronic courses, ebooks and the best deals you know of.

    Please consolidate such offers here!

    Since this thread can fill up quickly, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts.

    submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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    If I see another “started business 5 minutes ago and am now a fucking millionaire! “ post I am going to blow tf up

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 09:05 AM PDT

    Can we actually have some productive non bs posts here ?? Like cmon. What really gets me is people actually believe it and upvote the hell out of it. I am sick and tired of logging on and seeing people make drawed out bs posts about how they made billions of dollars from starting a business two days ago.

    submitted by /u/Grindallday0003
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    How to use Reddit to validate your ideas and find your first customers, before you build

    Posted: 19 Aug 2020 03:11 PM PDT

    A few months ago, I saw a reddit post take off: "I built a python script to turn linkedin into an organizational chart" , and I was blown away by the comments. Hundreds of commenters across r/sales, r/consulting, and r/recruiting were begging for access to this "python script", that may or may not have existed.

    ​

    But whether it existed, or was just a photoshopped picture with a landing page really didn't matter. The demand for this product was validated to the nth degree before a commercial product even existed. As someone who has built full-fledged payments apps only to land flat once I started reaching out to customers, I had a eureka moment.

    ​

    I got in touch with Sean Lewin, co-founder of (Company name redacted, but you can find in the link above), and learned that this moment was, while an amazing moment for him, orchestrated. Not in the sense of fake comments or anything like that, but he had been testing ideas for a while on Reddit before he got this kind of response.

    ​

    Here are a few of my takeaways from our conversation:

    1. Find your customer's communities

    Reddit has hundreds of communities, and your customers are probably clustered in one of them. Engage with them in comments, see what their problems are, what they complain about. These are the types of people who care about and personally identify with their work, and they will champion products that they love and share them with the rest of the community.

    2. Stop when you find yourself "shoving things down people's throats"

    A previous idea that he had tested, a sales automation tool, had gotten some traction on similar communities before petering out. People initially seemed interested, but eventually he felt like he was shoving it down people's throats. It just wasn't a need, Sean found, it was a nice-to-have. Thankfully, he didn't have the idea "I need to build it, then they'll see" - he moved on.

    ​

    Demand looks like a dynamic shift - from hounding people to ask for feedback to customers inundating you with feature requests before the beta is even released.

    ​

    3. Ask for advice, not for customers

    Among the titles of Sean's reddit posts, you'll find the phrases "working on x", "would this help?", and "is this useful?". He didn't even include the link to the landing page. He talks in terms of the problems facing the customer, not in terms of himself, or his company.

    Refrain from self-promotion, especially on reddit. Just try and see if your idea would help people, and if it does, you know you're onto something.

    ​

    4. You CAN sell before you build

    My favorite takeaway from this experiment was that Sean didn't even need a product. He didn't build an MVP. He may have had a small, non-commercial, python script, or he may have just had photoshop**.** But it didn't matter – he was able to show people that their problem could be solved without spending time and $.

    ​

    While this is all common information on this sub, I think it's important to see an example of it really working out well: An example of true demand, so people have something to measure their market research, customer discovery, and hope of product market fit against.

    TLDR: Use reddit to test your ideas. Don't build without demand, and move on when the demand just isn't there.

    E: this blew up, thanks everyone! If you want to read more, here's a link with more information from the interview and some more specifics: https://www.ryanauger.com/blog/chartloop-validating-demand-with-social-media

    E2: because people have asked where they are now, their website is https://chartloop.com. To clear the flames, I don't have any relationship with this company other than speaking with their co-founder a few times over the last few weeks. Hope this clears things up and shows what you can do in only a few short months!

    submitted by /u/fenwalt
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    How can I make some money programming?

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 08:38 AM PDT

    Hey!

    Im 19, currently in college studying Computer Science. I love programming, I've programming since I was like 15 (not all the time, was jumping from skill to skill) but my progress was pretty consistent. Im not a pro programmer though.

    I know programming is a skill everyone is looking for. And I would like to use it to make some money in my free time. So I can have something to spend and invest. I am good at building websites, building java apps,

    submitted by /u/gueinibba
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    My e-commerce store is about to hit 1m in revenue - AMA

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 12:43 PM PDT

    I have been running my e-commerce brand for exactly 2 years now. We have been generating roughly 70k a month in revenue and are about to cross of the 1m mark! I love sharing my knowledge and asking questions, Ask Me Anything. P.s. I don't dropship, But I know how and will answer any questions in that realm as well!

    submitted by /u/michael082093
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    I launch my niche physical product today. 215 pre-orders fulfilled. I feel a huge sense of relief, but feels anticlimactic.

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 07:51 AM PDT

    It's been nearly 2 years in the making.

    High highs, and low lows... like last week it was meant to ship, but my warehouse binned a load of my packaging material (stickers/postcards, etc).

    Honestly, you can't plan for or predict half the stuff that happens when you embark on building and shipping something. That's part of the excitement and terror of being an entrepreneur.

    But now they're all shipped - it feels like a bit of a calm before the storm. It's been designed to be 'remarkable' - with the idea that the marketing strategy is word of mouth.

    Make something worth talking about, and it will spread itself far better than any ad or marketing budget could.

    Fingers crossed, next chapter is going to be an interesting one. Product development grind now turns into a content marketing grind.

    submitted by /u/hellvetican
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    What’s wrong with Uber’s business model?

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 07:34 AM PDT

    In theory it looks great, but in practice it loses them billions every quarter. Is the business model sustainable and they are having cash management issues (ex; spending too much on R&D), or is the business model just not sustainable at all?

    submitted by /u/bill-nye-the-spy
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    Not sure if this is a viable product because of my emotional connection to it lmao

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 12:18 PM PDT

    I come from a South Asian background so in short drinking chai is a time of day that is very therapeutic and something I always look forward to. The way we make chai is combining fresh ingredients(ginger/mint/holy basil) with tea leaves and spices. I want to give others the chance to make it the same way I do. My idea is to create a split container of some sort and have grated fresh ingredients in single serving packs. The other side would be loose leaf tea mixed with the spices and this whole container would have to be refrigerated. Since there are many pre made tea concentrates and pre made chais on the market I'm not sure if this product offering is viable. Give me some feedback please!!

    submitted by /u/simbhul
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    What are your top books about business and marketing?

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 10:40 AM PDT

    Weekday Nugget #7 - Do Things That DON'T SCALE

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 10:34 AM PDT

    Hey there ya lil nuglets!

    With these little gems I'm dishing out, my main purpose is to give you guys info that, if applied, will be the "difference that makes the difference."

    Yes, a lot of you are wantrepreneurs, but a lot of you are also people that took action, but didn't get any initial traction early enough---so you abandoned your idea.

    In an earlier nugget, I talked about why competition is awesome, essentially encouraging everyone to jump into industries that seem saturated, so you can stand out.

    But sometimes, in some industries---it's hard to find a way to either have a significantly better product/service, or show that your customer service levels are demonstrably better.

    What then?

    The answer is to do stuff that doesn't scale.

    Fact is, in every industry, there are people that do things wrong, but it can sometimes be tough to figure out exactly who, without polling customers or getting people to come to you, which requires targeted traffic.

    Maybe you don't have the budget for that.

    Maybe you're not established enough, whatever.

    That said, the majority of your business efforts should include tasks that you can eventually scale and leverage---that's the only way you're going to have something sustainable.

    So what types of things can you do that don't scale well, but can be effective for your project?

    I'll give you two examples for context.

    One is the notorious /u/garyvaynerchuk. Say what you will about Gary, but the man did daily wine videos for years, and with his energy level and enthusiasm---he was all but guaranteed to eventually gain real traction. Gary still maintains a daily podcast that he shows up for, even though he's worth more than 99.9% of this sub (and busier than 90%.)

    A lot of what Gary teaches might not work for a lot of you, but hustling is a great way to get noticed, and do things that don't scale. If, like me, you literally couldn't handle being in the job world, and the regular methods you are/were trying don't work, content creation is the way to do it.

    The other is a friend of mine named David. David owns a cybersecurity company which he just started this past year. A lot of the conventional methods David tried initially didn't get David to where he wanted to be---50k a month in profit, as quickly as possible.

    For David's firm, 50k a month is a lot of end users, so his goal was to land a lot of clients, quickly.

    Well how do you do that without a significant budget and as a newer company without a lot of clout?

    Well, David essentially went with an approach I'd like to call...all out assault on everything.

    David created:

    • A Udemy course
    • Self-published multiple books on Amazon
    • Maintains various social profiles with 3-5 posts every single day
    • Sends out personal video messages to every single person that ever connects with him (I asked him how many he typically sends out a day, he said 150. You read that right.
      (A great way to get videos done fast for free is Loom. I've used it for my course I created and it's amazingly convenient and fast)
    • Created a meetup group in his space where he hosts a weekly happy hour (that people in his industry attend, as well as decision makers for large firms he targets). Now is a great time to get some virtual hangouts going, wink wink.
    • All kinds of other crap I don't know about

    The point is that David has figured out how to put out such a shockingly high amount of content and value---a prospect can't help but notice him, and this helps win business.

    What David is doing is probably not sustainable for years, but the momentum he has gained will pay dividends well into the future, as he utilizes more resources to have other people fill in the blanks.

    David is a fantastic example of doing things that don't scale, and he can't be stopped.

    So the nugget here is simple.

    When you give enough value for enough time, people notice.

    There is no magic juice---just plain good old fashioned work.

    Go out there and get it!

    submitted by /u/SpadoCochi
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    Computer repair business ideas&help needed

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 01:37 PM PDT

    I'm currently 19 years old, lately I've been lazy and down since I moved from my home town, and so I left my grocery store job of 2 years, I have quite a bit of money to my name including a nice paid off car. Lately I've been door dashing for money, which isn't too consistent. Here I am sitting here wanting to start a computer repair business, I have no idea where to start and how, keep in mind I just graduated HS and have no desire to go to college. I probably will go to college for something computer related but if I can start something big and make big bucks, than I may just do that the rest of my life and grow the business bigger. I own a nice pc I built in 2015 for 1500 or so, she still runs like a beauty. I think I have the base materials to get a business up and started, a nice pc, a place to work, a car for advertisement, computer experience, and I think I have enough money to start off. The question is how do I do it? How do I do the legal stuff? What kind of legal stuff is needed for me to do? And how do I properly advertise to get peoples attention? What do you think I'll have to spend to get one started? If you have ideas and if you have experienced starting a business and run one, let me know how it went and how it goes!

    submitted by /u/Fusion_DoomZ_
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    Just trying to do an idea check.

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 01:04 PM PDT

    I've had this idea for about 2 years now. It originated from me feeling the wasteful packaging that is being done by corporates on our food like rice packets and flour and stuff.

    Im thinking of making a refilling station for stuff like

    Lotions Shampoos Conditioners (. Basically high value stuff )

    Then go for regular everyday food items.

    I wish to start with high-value stuff as the bottles they use cost more than the packaging done on the rice and flour.

    I want this idea to achieve two goals. Make earth a better planet and make me some money in the process.

    This was not a planned out post so I mustve missed a lot of stuff. Let me know if it's viable or not as there is nothing similar in my country yet.

    submitted by /u/IronBoundManzer
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    Should I Give A Potential Supplier My Full Product Info?

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 12:45 PM PDT

    So, I needed to have some printed Circuit Boards built. After shopping in the US, India, and China, the Chinese supplier has been the best communicator out of the bunch and had the lowest prices. This is the first run of my product, so I have not FULLY tested the printed circuit boards. I shared this problem with my supplier, and they advised that if I supply them with the other parts and the code, they can fully test the product in China to make sure everything works.

    The product is nothing revolutionary, and there are similar products out there "like" mine. Should I share this coveted info with the supplier?

    The cons are obvious, he can sell the full product himself.

    The pros are the product can be fully tested BEFORE shipping it to me.

    What else am I missing? Any additional pros and cons?

    submitted by /u/A_solo_tripper
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    I have a curated newsletter to showcase and introduce makers, founders and bootstrappers to cool stuff being created on the internet.

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 12:29 PM PDT

    The Slice is a curated weekly email that keeps founders up to date with emerging SaaS, hot podcasts, and actionable resources to grow your project. It's also a place for startup founders and indie makers to showcase their own creations on the newsletter to other founders to use and see.

    I'm also looking for awesome things to feature, so if you have a cool idea/product that you want to be featured, pitch me on what you're working on and I might feature it on my newsletter.

    Here is a list of my previous issues that will give you a feel of what it's like.

    submitted by /u/TheWonderingZall
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    Teenager

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 12:03 PM PDT

    So I'm 16 , is there any business online I can start that requires minima time and little to know capital expenditure ?

    submitted by /u/Dok711
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    How I started a business with $0 in quarantine and scaled to over 25k in MRR in 60 days

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 05:51 AM PDT

    Hi everyone! I have been working feverishly on getting my business started over the past 2 months and we have grown much faster than I originally anticipated so I wanted to share my story, thought process, and how I grew it with you all here -- hopefully someone can find value in this or the motivation to keep pushing. Some of the conditions that apply to my business may not apply to those of you reading this however the concepts/ plans/ methods that I am going to share with you in this post are almost universally applicable. I am going to focus primarily on how I generated demand, quantified that demand, and ultimately closed that demand.

    As I was originally thinking about launching this business, I had a few things to consider:

    1. I was working a very demanding and time-consuming consulting job that would not be thrilled to hear that I was planning to leave soon to start my own company so I had to be discreet and efficient with my time
    2. We were in the middle of a pandemic
    3. Because we are living through a pandemic and everything is so uncertain, I wanted the business to completely fund itself -- i.e. I did not want to invest/ risk any capital into growing the business until I had already acquired the customers needed to fund my growth.

    #3 may not totally apply for a lot of you folks out there reading this, but for a little context, the reason this is possible for me is because my business is totally svc based -- I don't need to develop software, purchase inventory, etc -- the product is me, my team, and the methods we use. The business is a sales outsourcing and consulting firm.

    High level, I viewed this operation as a total of 4 steps, the first of which was to develop my plan. I am going to skip over how exactly I decided to position and price my services, but in terms of developing a plan to acquire customers here is how I approached it:

    1. Develop my plan: Normally here you would want to build your sales model -- what does your sales process look like and what are the conversion metrics at each stage? If you do not have this information, you need to make a hypothesis and use it as your benchmark as you launch. Once you have your hypothesis, decide what your closed-won goal is for the month/ quarter/ year, then use these benchmark conversion metrics to determine how many intro calls (or whatever the first step of your sales process is) you need. Divide the total number at each stage that you will need for the given time period by the total investment for that time period to get your estimated "cost per metrics." These are your projected "unit economics" and are vital to making sure you are acquiring leads or customers at each stage of the sales funnel in a cost-effective way -- simply put: if the cost to acquire your customer is greater than the value of that customer, your business doesn't work. Many entrepreneurs skip this part of the process, fail, and don't understand why… For my specific case, I had two different sales processes that I wanted to test so I built out two hypotheses, started booking meetings with prospects, placing them 50/50 into each version of my sales process and tracked which one was more effective. To illustrate how this can be done, here is a random example of what something like this might look like:
    Investment $15,000
    Systems Costs $0
    Paid Costs $0
    ACV $30,000
    SALs needed (mo.) 24
    CPSAL $625
    SAL:SQL rate 90%
    SQLs needed (mo.) 21.6
    CPSQL $694
    SQL to Opp rate 50%
    Opps needed (mo.) 10.8
    CPO $1,389
    15X pipeline $225,000
    Close Rate 25%
    Closed Won (mo) 2.7
    Closed Value (mo) $81,000
    CAC $5,556

    Keep in mind these are not my metrics, simply an example -- lmk if you need more info around how this was put together.

    1. Become Demand Productive: Now that I had my plan in place, my focus was exclusively on building a predictable demand machine. The only problem was that I did not want to invest any money into the business yet so I had to use only free channels. Super high level, when you are trying to determine which channels you are going to generate demand from, you have 4 primary options:

    2. Outbound: think typical sales (phone calls, emails, social outreach, etc)

    3. Paid: think fb ads, google ads, etc

    4. Organic: think SEO

    5. Peer to peer: think networking, referrals, etc.

    They all have their pros and cons, but initially, I chose outbound and peer to peer because I could do it for free. I got involved and connected with people on LinkedIn groups, Reddit groups, sent personalized emails to people who I thought would be a good fit, etc, etc. I did everything I could (that was free) and just started talking to people either telling them about my business or listening to the challenges they were encountering to see if there was any way that my business could help them. This part takes some hustle and elbow grease, but it is a necessary part of the process if you want to build something for free initially. Stay up late. Take the extra time to provide someone with value with no expectation of reciprocity, but ask for what you want, and eventually, you will start booking meetings with people. Track all of your activity and conversions with psychopathic discipline -- your data will help you scale quickly. Initially, I used Google Sheets and the free version of Hubspot as my CRM to store prospects and report on my success. Eventually, I got our first paying customer and I immediately invested that revenue back into the business to purchase technology to scale my outbound efforts -- I purchased Hubspot sales professional for sequences, began working with and negotiating rates with different data providers, and purchased LinkedIn automation technology. Because I was utilizing only free channels initially, my unit economics were not as important -- my only investment was sweat equity.

    Side note -- before booking meetings for myself, I worked to qualify people as much as possible. I have some specific criteria that I use to vet people, but in a B2B environment, it all ultimately boils down to BANT qualification. Verifying with the prospect that they:

    1. B (Budget): have the budget to afford my services
    2. A (Authority): they have the decision making power to purchase my services
    3. N (Need): they have a need for my services -- this is the most important aspect of qualification
    4. T (Timeline): they are looking to purchase my services, hopefully NOW, and not the fall of 2021

    1. Become pipeline productive: From here, I needed to consistently be able to take my demand and produce opportunities that have pipeline values associated with them. For me, I defined an opportunity as a prospect who:

    2. Attended the intro call that we booked

    3. Fit all of my BANT criteria

    4. Agreed to next steps (in my case there were 2 different next steps options that I was measuring)

    The biggest piece of advice that I could give someone here in terms of hosting intro calls (and this is solely my opinion) -- the most important component of that intro call is to get your prospect to agree to your upfront contract. If you do not know what this is, google it and create one for your intro calls -- the typical Sandler upfront contract is extremely formal, which I am not a fan of. Keep it conversational, but make sure you clearly address your prospect's needs and get them to agree to discussing whatever it is you would like to discuss at the end of the call, before moving into the actual call. Once again, continue to quantify your success here compared to the model that you built during step 1 and adjust activity or spend at the top of the funnel to reflect any deviations from the hypothesis that might be occurring. I would be cautious not to make any crazy changes too quickly.

    1. Become Financially Productive: Once I had at least 1 closed-won customer, I knew I was financially productive -- the excitement of a closed-won customer can be misleading here depending on the unit economics, and this is why it is so important to track the entire time. You need to compare the actual cost to acquire that customer with the actual value of that customer. If the cost is higher than the value, something in your program needs to change, whether it is the channel you are using to acquire those customers, the cost of your good/ service, your sales process, etc.

    As a broad and generic statement, as long as you are acquiring customers for less than they are worth -- you should have a business! Once you have some data on the success of your actual sales process, the name of the game (and where most businesses struggle) is in generating enough demand to keep your pipeline full of qualified opportunities. Use your sales process conversion metrics to determine the TOFU demand and activity needed to hit your goals for a given time period and work to optimize constantly.

    Hopefully, some of you found this helpful! Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts!

    submitted by /u/Mr-BlueSkye
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    good businesses to start in line with any of my values

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 11:47 AM PDT

    Are there any business that make good profit, good startup for newbies that does not require thousands of dollars and makes a positive impact. I am very interested in health, nutrition, vegan food and microbiology.

    submitted by /u/lightseasonedguitar
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    Looking for guidance on a painting business

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 07:57 AM PDT

    I turn 30 years old this weekend and have always had a nagging desire to start something of my own; my full-time job is spent selling SaaS software and although I'm paid well and I enjoy it, I do want to attempt the dive into entrepreneurship.

    My background is in digital marketing and sales and I live in a suburb of NYC. I have a family friend who is finding his way a bit but happens to be an excellent painter. He painted my family's new house in additional to countless others. He actually works full-time at a casino but paints part-time as a side hustle.

    I feel like there is an opportunity to find painting jobs in my area and have my friend (and some of his network) do the work.

    I'm comfortable getting started in terms of web site, digital marketing, advertising and all that. I will need to learn to quote jobs but I'm sure with some time I can learn.

    My concern is two-fold:

    1) What margins should I be aiming for? It obviously needs to be profitable and worth my time but I don't want to seem greedy considering chances are that I will never even pick up a paint brush. If it's a $1,000 painting job, what should my cut be?

    2) Although the painter is a family friend who I do trust, how do I prevent customers from cutting me out and offering the painter the job with more money in his pocket? I understand that I'd be taking on more of the risk and still adding value (putting up money upfront for paint costs, putting in work to find leads, paying for insurance, etc.) But should I be worried that I could be cut out of the equation at some point if it grows?

    submitted by /u/smallsketch
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    Launched my first product, feedback requested

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 11:41 AM PDT

    Hi Entrepreneurs,

    I launched my website today: activity card games for young gifted children , primarily targeting parents and educators.

    Can you please give me some feedback on my website, product positioning and anything else I can do? Is the messaging clear enough? Am i missing anything on this website ? Do i need a separate page for educators?

    Here is my website www.tensorgifted.com

    Thanks!!

    submitted by /u/createalpha
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    starting possibly a herb business

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 11:31 AM PDT

    I am considering starting a herb business, but I want to learn more about if it is worth the investment etc. Where can I learn more about the herb industry/rules regulations. I am getting overwhelmed with everything online and just want a good reputable resource(s). I am joining the entrepreneur, gardenand a couple science clubs at my school. I am also trying to see if I can talk to someone that works around where I live, so I get a feel for the market in my area etc.

    submitted by /u/lightseasonedguitar
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    Is my approach to attract a cofounder faulty? 80k total social media followers with $300k annual revenue but no cofounder wanted to join.

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 11:20 AM PDT

    I just realized how bad I am at marketing myself.

    I had a side business where 70k~80k accumulated social media customers spending $300k+ annually online on automotive aftermarket products but my approach is not enough to motivate any technical founder or full stack developers to come develop another site to support these users and share profits.

    They all want cash up front, some I even paid to try out but ended up not finding anyone decent.

    I am also a full stack developer but not seasoned in cloud services only vps/lamp I am mainly looking through angellist/hacker news/reddit.

    submitted by /u/hevad
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    I started a business 5 minutes ago. I am now a millionaire!

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 11:16 AM PDT

    I hope this doesn't get deleted....

    This post is just to troll u/grindallday0003

    In reality, I agree with his post.

    submitted by /u/cdjaz
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    One-way NDA for tech (AI/ML) statup?

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 10:50 AM PDT

    Hi all, as the title says, I am looking for a one-way NDA. The NDA needs to be applicable to a tech company operating in the AI/ML fields.

    I know I can get a lawyer to do this... but surely there is a free/open-source template that is available?

    I would really appreciate a link to anything that you think might be suitable.

    Thanks

    submitted by /u/3DGuy2020
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    What are you doing during this tough time to create new customers?

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 10:41 AM PDT

    Little background - my Fiancée and I own a direct to consumer, all natural protein bar company that was started in January of 2019. We've been able to gain some solid traction through doing events (triathlon expos, sample days at gyms, local makers markets, etc) that has led us to creating loyal customers who have been extremely supportive this year.

    Our strategy going into 2020 was to keep getting out on the road to do events and drop off sample boxes at private retailers (speciality coffee shops & private gyms mostly). With gyms and coffee shops in survival mode and all events being cancelled, we are trying to come up with ways to reach new potential customers without going down the facebook/instagram ad route and without bothering private retailers with a new product, the last thing they want to be worrying about right now.

    We've found that included a few extra protein bars in customers orders and asking them if they could share with someone who might like them has worked really well, as well as including mini gifts in orders to create more social media buzz and action.

    Getting new people to try the product and actually meet a team member has created such a solid base and hopefully we can continue to do that soon, but for the near future it looks like that's out.

    Have you been doing anything in particular to help your business grow and reach new customers that seems to be working? Thanks so much for the thoughts!

    submitted by /u/chaz_nasty
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    No t-shirt sales on Instagram, no influencer responds to my DMs... What am I doing wrong?

    Posted: 20 Aug 2020 10:30 AM PDT

    I do t-shirt designs since the late June. So far I do have some sporadic organic sales, so it's not like my work don't have any selling potential.

    But on Instagram, I'm on 0. I do get 20-40 likes per post but still 0 sales. And I already contacted certain number of influencers (mostly in 10k-100k followers range, with 4+% engagement, half are related to my designs niches). My DMs are starting with the word "Business", they are short and straight to the point. And there are no replies yet.

    Can you tell me am I missing something or am I doing something wrong?

    submitted by /u/someguy8510
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    Never tell people how good your business is doing.

    Posted: 19 Aug 2020 02:23 PM PDT

    This is something I've learned over the years and wanted to share. People everywhere weather its vendors coming into your location, or friends or family will always pry and ask "How is business?" Unless it's your immediate family like your mom or dad NEVER tell them you are doing great, having record sales months, and making good money. Everyone out there is a shark looking to get theirs and if everyone see's you being successful they WILL copy you and start their own thing, and it's such a small business world that it directly equates to less sales for you.

    When people ask me I always swallow my pride and tell them "Yeah business slow but we are still here I guess." Or "I'm paying the bills at least but it's been stressful lately." When I go see vendors or other people in the industry I leave the BMW at home and take my old truck. I don't even wear my watch around my employees because they'll sniff out that money and want it! If everyone always thinks "you are barely getting by" they will want less from you. Shoot especially when it comes to legal stuff. "Yeah go ahead and sue me, what are you gonna take my old not-paid off truck?" It's not worth their time to even look into it if they think you're poor.

    Anyway, over the years I've had 3 somewhat friends start a business like mine because they saw that I could do it. 2 of them failed but one is still at it and I'm sure he's taken customers that could have been mine more than once. So swallow your pride and never show people how good you're doing and life will be easier I say. It's none of their business anyway.

    EDIT: I forget everyone on Reddit is so technical about things so I should explain better. Yes my family and friends know what I do, but they don't need to know what product makes up 80% of our revenue and how it's easily made. These are trade secrets. If I went and blabbed to everyone how much I make just sitting here at my desk trolling on Reddit all day with no college degree and starting my business at 22 with zero startup capital everyone and their dog would be doing it and I'd put myself right out of business and be fucked the rest of my life.

    Also don't overlook the fact that "my friend" who I used to golf with is now a direct competitor because I shared too much information with him when I was young and boastful.

    submitted by /u/rcw01
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