Startups Got kicked out of a start-up. So I founded a new one by myself. |
- Got kicked out of a start-up. So I founded a new one by myself.
- Where to go from customer support?
- Earning Interest on VC Money
- Buying Time to Work
- Shipping Problems
- How we made 8.5k in 3 weeks of launching our agency without a website
- Is it legal to plagiarize a failed project?
- Desktop App Frameworks
- Ebike Ecomerce B2C
- Is it possible to launch a tech startup if i’m not a software engineer?
- Monetizing Desktop Application Help?
- Help please
- Surround yourself with people smarter than you? really?
- Framework/Tools for Startup App Development
- Small e-commerce startup. Need help!
- Bank account upload function ?
- I mom tested an idea, we're convinced it's a problem, but I still haven't got a B2B pilot. What am I doing wrong?
| Got kicked out of a start-up. So I founded a new one by myself. Posted: 11 Oct 2020 02:00 AM PDT Hey guys, like a couple of years ago, I was naive and foolish, "founded" a business with a couple. And I was out as explained in this post I learned from my mistakes and founded a business half a year later iirc. And this business is going quite well. Their business however failed hard due to Covid 19 as it was an event and promotion business. And my business is doing really well because of Covid 19 as I transformed it into an online business. What I founded was an incubator/accelerator. I used to create networking events and seminars where people would physically come. Covid-19 happened so, I turned it into online seminars. And because of the lockdowns, I noticed people started to become more interested in online learning. And the audience keeps on growing. We are also partnering up with other figures and organizations and also getting some funding. I also got a professional looking website and a private email which my previous "partners" whom I fell apart with never wanted. I just want to thank you all for pointing out my mistakes in the previous post. A lot of people pointed out that I made assumptions and never got them to write things down on paper, and that I gave everything before getting anything from them. u/very_nice_how_much said "This is the part of the story where you become the competitor and run them over." What s/he said stuck with me and it actually came true. Now I have registered the trademark on my name since the beginning so I can no longer be "kicked out". All I need to do is build the brand so it becomes valuable. Thank you so much. [link] [comments]  |
| Where to go from customer support? Posted: 11 Oct 2020 08:01 PM PDT A lot of my experience tends to be in customer support but I've been looking for ideas on where to go from here. I've been thinking of maybe going the supervisor, manager route but I also want to challenge myself and go into something like corporate trainer/teaching. Any ideas? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Oct 2020 06:17 PM PDT Hi, I was wondering, for all you funded companies out there, where do you put your VC money and why? A lot of banks, especially online, now have APY rates (used to be much better, now it sucks because of fed rates) in checking accounts, so the money is both liquid and earns interest. I'm surprised people still use SVB. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Oct 2020 07:17 PM PDT Long story short, I was having trouble finding local manufacturers to produce custom boxes and packing, so as a side project I created a B2B market place with just about every single corrugated and packing manufacturer in the US the entire focus is providing custom quote quickly and easily. It's been fun and I've had some minor success and would really like to devote more time to driving traffic to my site and improving the interface. All that being said I've got a stable well paying 9-5 and a small family to support. I also currently have around $1500 a month in rental income. My current plan is to spend some money doubling the rental income in the next few months and going to a 4 day work week at my 9-5 using the extra day to focus on my B2B website. I'd love to jump into doing things full time but I'm not seeing any great way to do this. Does my current plan sound like a step in the right direction? What are you experiences with transitioning from a 9-5? Thank you for any and all feedback! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Oct 2020 05:03 PM PDT Hi, I have just started a house plant business in Cardiff, however I would like to expand to the rest of the UK via online orders. The problem I have is getting cardboard boxes (the right size) and personalised stickers at the right cost. Does anyone know how much I should spend on one box and a good way to keep costs low? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| How we made 8.5k in 3 weeks of launching our agency without a website Posted: 11 Oct 2020 03:09 AM PDT Disclaimer: This is not a get rich quick feel-good stories. We are not newbies. We have invested over 20k in courses, books, tools, and more than two years of failure that amounted to "nothing" before a huge step up. I am grateful for the setbacks and failures because it gave us perspective and knowledge. The tools give us the bandwidth to scale and hop on to new opportunities. Highlights:
Why we failed for years Before all of these happened, my partner and I were serving the military. For the past two years, we embarked on many dead-end projects. That had us wondering why we were not making as much as we want to. My partner was an SEO expert. He ran an adult fetish site pulling 30,000k monthly view but could not monetize it. On the other hand, I was somewhat decent at generating business leads and doing sales calls. I ran a b2b lead generation company that could not scale. It was not a skill issue. Things were also pretty rough then, with the army taking up most of our time and mental space. We spent all of our time working on our "side-hustles", skipping out on parties, gathering, and all the stuff. I had this constant fear of not succeeding because it only meant two options. I had to either find a job or go back to school once my service ends. Neither option was appealing to me. Things continued to be a complete train wreck. The Covid-19 locked down happened nearing to the end of my service. It gave me time to focus and move as we were under stay home orders. However, we were not moving in the right direction. It felt as though we were still banging our heads against the wall, this time harder and faster. Before I knew it, I was out of the army. The direction was still murky, but with every failure and reflection, things started to click. Things were difficult and glim because we did them backward. We were solving problems before they even happen, such as information retention, tracking … etc. You can read my other post here. I took the risk and canceled my university admission. I wanted to focus on making this business work. It dawned on us that we were not out there at all. We were so focused on building the right service or product that we did not put it to test in front of the market. We had the skills, tools, and knowledge to scale but we could not because we have not gotten past step one. What is step 1? You need two things to make sales.
As stupid and generic as it sounds, there are no secrets. If you want to validate your idea, create a landing page with a sales copy and put it in front of your target audience. Our Strategy for the launch
We found a local listing site where people list their services or items. We researched all our competitors and decided that we could offer a simple web design service. There was not much competition as our competitors were not copywriters and their listing creatives were terrible(Funny how they are designers LOL). Next, we created a customer avatar based on the listed services, Reddit threads, local Facebook pages, and so on. This process helps us craft a sales copy that speaks directly to the market. We built a landing page, put in the copy, and threw in some illustrations from our tool stacks, and we have a minimum viable landing page ready to go. Branding and positioning matters, as your ideal customers buy based on the impression and general vibes you give them. So you have to stick out like a sore thumb. Lastly, we priced ourselves just below our competitors. Pretty sure this is counter-intuitive to what most Gurus preaching to charge your worth. Word of advice is to drop your ego, get the cash in hand, and prove your worth later. Leaving the table with money in your bank account is better than going home empty-handed. Moreover, you never know who this client can refer you too. Relationship building is of the utmost importance when it comes to the agency, so do not burn bridges. The service was up and live shortly after that. Duplicated our listings a couple of times to maximize exposure and also understand how the platform algorithm works. It was around the mid of the second week where we noticed a spike in leads. I was getting incoming calls almost every day. The leads were all over the place. Most were enquiring about services we do not offer but had the skills and knowledge to fulfill them. Out of the 25 total discovery conversations we had, we filtered down to 5 serious candidates. We closed all 5 of them over a 30-45 minutes video conversation with prices ranging from $399 to $6,000. Having a sales process is extremely important. Most consultants would spend hours talking to clients that would not pay for their service and products. I would structure the sales process with a 10-minute discovery conversation at the start. The initial call helps me gauge the prospect's level of commitment, budget range, and decision-making process. I would then schedule a strategy session. However, if they sound fishy or the deal did not felt right, I would disqualify them. (Always stick to your principles.) The strategy session is a 20-40 mins video conference where we find out if the prospect is a good fit. During the session, we understanding their pains, agree on the price and handling objections. One tip here is to collect a deposit instead of asking for the full price. We would then schedule a kick-off (onboarding) call where we meet them and get into the details and collect the whole sum. Why? Because this lowers the resistance and prevents a buyer's remorse. If the prospect is willing to pay you a deposit, they are committed and would pay you the full amount after onboarding. The other reason is that you are leaving your cash flow to factors of the unknown. For example, a client might commit to paying you after the onboarding session seven days away. Something might happen during the week and cancels the engagement. It always happens, so always secure a deposit and remember cash on hand is king. The onboarding process makes or breaks your relationship with your prospect. I have seen too many gurus talk about closing sales in one phone call and all that BS. Having a great sales process and a shitty onboarding process is like getting catfished on a dating app. It would not do good for your reputation and affects your future businesses. A well thought out onboarding process instills confidence in your client. One scenario that happened during the kick-off session was that the client was not exactly sure about engaging us because we were young (22-year-olds)in Asian culture. But after the onboarding session, he was extremely impressed with it. He told us that we knew our craft and felt confident in our capabilities that reflected in his firm handshake as compared to before. During the onboarding process, set the right expectation by understanding your client's goals, address their concerns, and formulate an action plan of deliverables to achieve the set goals. Do not make promises out of thin air and results, show transparency by helping your client visualize how the actionable deliverables would lead to the outcome they envision. What is our next step? … And we just rented an office last week. We are on track to hit the goal to hit 10-15k MRR within the next four months. After that, it would be just scaling, funding other ventures, and ultimately build an agency that can run without us. Here are our key movers: Optimize our presence (offline and online) to exist in multiple places to receive opportunities. Hiring and building an internal team. Improve our lead generation through strategic partnerships (networking) Building out internal structure to scale(Financials systems, Work tracking, Goal setting) I hope you enjoyed this post. Do follow me if you are interested in more business insights. Full post here. Cheers [link] [comments]  |
| Is it legal to plagiarize a failed project? Posted: 11 Oct 2020 08:26 AM PDT I recently had an idea for a technology project that I find very interesting. Of course my first reflex was to do some research and find out if my idea already existed somewhere and indeed it did. Indeed I found a similar project on kick starter which raised a considerable amount of money. However the team never delivered anything and many complaints were made against it. Still, reading their documentation I realize that they have, at least for a while, really tried to make the project work and that they have already solved several problems I might have. Do I have the legal right to use their ideas for my own project? This is my first independent project so I don't know at all what the laws are about intellectual property. If you have any resources for me to learn, I'll take it. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Oct 2020 03:58 PM PDT I'm developing a desktop app and wondering which framework I should build it in. The requirements are:
I've been using visual studio by creating a windows form, but calculations are cumbersome and honestly getting the user interface to look right feels very cumbersome. Any suggestions? I appreciate your help. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Oct 2020 02:32 PM PDT I am going to start an e-bike business and need a lot of information to prepare. Here are the areas I need help with. - Logistics(HUGE problem) Transport from port to my house/warehouse AND Shipping from the warehouse/FedEx location to Canada and US homes using FedEx - Finding the correct bike/Niche (Research Methods) - Finding the correct factory - Freight forwarder from China to the Port of Vancouver - Import customs fees/self-clearing (Gst duties ETC) - Importing from Canada to the US - Marketing Methods - Shopify custom front end website - Acquire funding from a bank via a written business plan I think I will order 30-50 ebikes (153cmX30cmX90cm AND 70 pounds) from China to the port of Vancouver. Who should I talk to? What am I missing? [link] [comments]  |
| Is it possible to launch a tech startup if i’m not a software engineer? Posted: 11 Oct 2020 02:20 PM PDT Hi guys, i'm 21 yo and for a few years i've really wanted to have a project/startup to take care of and if possible make it grow in the future. I'm always looking to problems of life and a way to solve them building something useful, i've had plenty of ideas in the past but i have one big problem. I'm studying for an Economics bachelor in Italy and even if i'm all into the tech world (i'm very passionate especially in tech company businesses and success strategies) i know nothing about coding etc and i feel cut out without any weapon to build my ideas. 2 years ago i made the choice of getting a bachelor in Economics and i don't regret it, study coding would have been too difficult for me that i hate mathematics and after all i'm more invested in the business and marketing side of startups, not really involved in coding. So the question for you guys is this: What can i start doing? I'm open to any advises and i would love to talk with you guys if you come from an economics degree and have built a startup etc. In conclusion, sorry for my english, not my first language! Have a nice day you all! [link] [comments]  |
| Monetizing Desktop Application Help? Posted: 11 Oct 2020 10:13 AM PDT Hello, I currently run a desktop application and a website it generates the following; Website;
App serves ads(728x90/350x50) from the website from a subdirectory;
Currently I am running advertising (header bidding) on the website generating ~$80 a month but I am failing to monetise the application itself. If I use my current ad network the revenue from the advertising falls through the floor sometimes earning less than just running ads on website alone. Primarily it is a free app, there is an ad free option that some have taken up on but I don't wish to make it paid or freemium. Any suggestions on what ad networks to approach or alternative options? Am I expecting too much, expecting more than $80 a month from the above traffic? Thank you for any help. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Oct 2020 01:04 PM PDT Good night, everyone. I'm a young entrepreneur aged 20 and I'd like to ask for your help or opinion. I had an idea to create in my country but after knowing how stupidly expensive it was to create the company from scratch, I find a foreign company that has some services that delight me. I contacted them and asked how much it cost to license their services in my country since they met the need of the market. They asked me for LinkedIn and saw it yesterday, they haven't told me anything yet. How likely are they not to say anything else? I hope I'm not harmed by my short experience in the market since I'm only 20 years old. [link] [comments]  |
| Surround yourself with people smarter than you? really? Posted: 11 Oct 2020 10:58 AM PDT I read often this advice in startups founding: "you should surround yourself with people smarter you." I guess it's a good advice ONLY if you are the boss or a real cofounder. If you are just somebody trying to build a team with no job security for yourself, you will end up destroying yourself... [link] [comments]  |
| Framework/Tools for Startup App Development Posted: 11 Oct 2020 10:46 AM PDT Hi, I'm experimenting with building an app for a startup idea. I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts/suggestions on which framework/tools to use? In short, I'm leaning towards ionic (I want to be able to deploy across devices). However, given my limited experience with software development, I'm also curious if anyone knows of low/no-code solutions that provide the functionality I'm looking for (see below). OR, perhaps I have no choice but to use a framework such as ionic for this. Please see below for detail on my experience and the app functionality I'm looking for. My Experience: I work in data science and have good understanding of python and object-oriented programming. I don't have much experience with software/web development, but I don't think it will be too difficult to learn as I go. The functionality I'm looking for:
Thanks so much for any insights! [link] [comments]  |
| Small e-commerce startup. Need help! Posted: 11 Oct 2020 06:54 AM PDT Me and a friend are planning to set up a e-commerce site by hiring a web design firm. The basic concept - vendors (sellers) can create their own account and sell on the platform. For first week, it will be commission-free and then we will charge the commission fee. In our country, it is not that developed and it is a good chance. Rather than random categories of products, we will mainly focus on skincare products, targeting at local online sellers who are selling through facebook. [link] [comments]  |
| Bank account upload function ? Posted: 11 Oct 2020 06:11 AM PDT There is a popular and well known budgeting platform... For users to engage on this platform, they have to create a login, but that are also encouraged have to provide login details for their bank and credit card accounts. The platform has a function where the it then logs in and accesses the users bank/cc accounts, to scrape key information to provide back to them in a budget format. Does anyone know of a service, company, technology or software platform that can complete this account access and information uploading? Thank you, -Jake [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Oct 2020 06:05 AM PDT So we mom tested this idea with large enterprise VPs/managers. It seemed to be going well. I've understood quite a bit about the problem space. But it's been months and every time I try to get a pilot, it ends up in a dead end. I'm trying to reach out to midsize now and move down market, but it's super slow. Any advice? [link] [comments]  |
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