Startups Feedback Fridays - A Friendly Feedback Exchange For Ideas and Products |
- Feedback Fridays - A Friendly Feedback Exchange For Ideas and Products
- Mistakes are measured in regret.
- Objection-Handling Cheat Sheet: The 15 top objections your prospects will give you, and how to handle them!
- Finding your niche is vital to the success of your startup
- What is the biggest thing you didn't know you didn't know when you started your startup?
- Starting Completely New, Having that Stupid Nervous Moment
- A VC wants 20% of the company for incubating, should I go with it?
- Ideas to differentiate myself
- $130k in MRR in 11 months with no tech experience
- How to market my mvp?
- Launching MVP in single market vs multiple markets
- what are good first year milestones? What are some red flags?
- Getting production parts for a prototype?
- Best way to have a software built?
- Curious what you guys use as a secure all in one package for email client / cloud storage for your software dev company ?
- Seriously considering pursuing venture capital, but overwhelmed by how much I don't know...
| Feedback Fridays - A Friendly Feedback Exchange For Ideas and Products Posted: 06 Nov 2020 05:07 AM PST Welcome to this week's Feedback Thread. This is the place to request feedback on your ideas and products. Be sure to give feedback if you are requesting feedback. Equivalent exchange goes a long way towards reaching your own goals and it makes for a stronger community. Please use the following format:URL: Purpose of Startup: Technologies Used: Feedback Requested: Additional Comments: Post your site along with your stack and technologies used and receive feedback from the community. Please refrain from just posting a link and instead give us a bit of a background about your creation. Feel free to request general feedback or specific feedback in a certain area like user experience, usability, design, or code review. You can also find more support using instant chat on the /r/startups discord. [link] [comments]  |
| Mistakes are measured in regret. Posted: 06 Nov 2020 02:55 PM PST I believe that mistakes are measured in regret. If you don't regret a choice then it wasn't a mistake. It was just an experience that didn't work out ... I've worked at 3 startups so far. At startup #1 I was the 1st employee. I was 25 when I joined and the two founders were both 50+ with 40 years of collective experience. They were corporate titans and the Harvey Specters to my Mike Ross. Boy did I work hard for them! After 5 years we got nowhere. I realized that 50+ year old corporate titans who've been making bank for years wanted different things to me. They wanted to feel young again and tech savvy. I wanted to fly to Mars. No regrets though. Not a mistake. At startup #2 I was a product lead. The founders were young, hungry, and tech savvy. The company had completed round after round and were in the news every other day. They were a rocket ship to Mars. Boy did I drink that LEAN coolaid. When I joined we were 30 people. 6 months later, 100. Another 6 months later we had no cash. It was all VC money. All MVP all the time. Growth wasn't organic it was paid for with technical debt & too-low prices. No regrets though. Not a mistake. I'm now at startup #3. I am the sole founder. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for #1 & #2. I've cut my teeth building something nobody wanted. I've cut my teeth building something people wanted so badly it blew up. Those previous failures felt like massive mistakes at the time. They hurt. But looking back on them now I see that they weren't mistakes. They were just experiences that didn't quite work out how I hoped they would. I don't know who needs to hear this - you've got this. Keep moving forward and remember that mistakes are measured in regret. If you're not going to regret it. Do it. Take the leap of faith. It'll be worth it no matter what. Edit: typos. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Nov 2020 01:51 PM PST *Objection-Handling Cheat Sheet\* . Here's a fact: Your prospects object. That's just how it is. And when you think about it, it makes sense. . Because if the buyer didn't have reservations about your solution's price, value, relevance to their situation, or their purchasing ability, they would have already bought it. . Objections are a sure thing for almost every sale. And if you want great results, it's your job to be ready for them and know how to deal with them. . So without further ado, here are the 15 most common objections your prospects may throw at you: . 1. "It's too expensive." Price objections are the most common type of objection, and are even voiced by prospects who have every intention of buying. And 99% of the time, those objections don't mean they don't actually have the money. They just don't see enough value in giving you the money you're asking for the solution you're offering. But if the value scale were to shift, and they started valuing their money LESS than your solution, then you're in business. Beware — when dealing with this objection, do NOT focus on the price. The moment you start focusing on price as a selling point, you reduce yourself to a transactional middleman. Instead, circle back to the product's value, the benefits of solving their problem, and the pain of NOT solving it. . 2. "I don't have money." Again, 99% of the time when a prospect says this, it's not that they don't actually have the money. Most of the time they just value it more than your offer, and the way to fix this is by increasing the perceived value of your solution, increasing the perceived pain of their problems, and It IS possible that they're not lying about this and they really don't have the money (or they have it but can't spend it). If that's the case, what you need to do is ask questions and determine if they're telling the truth. Gauge if they're interested in your solution and perceive their problem as significant enough to warrant action. If they DON'T – they're likely lying. If they DO – try to figure out a solution – either a payment plan or something else that would allow them to start in their situation. Think outside the box and see how you can help your prospect get to a place where your offering would fit into their business. . 3. "I don't want to get stuck in a contract." A prospect with a genuine need and interest who balks at time-based contract terms is generally hesitant for cash flow reasons or because of negative experience. Luckily for you, there are workarounds — find out if you can offer month-by-month or quarter-by-quarter payment instead of asking for a year or more commitment up front. If you can't, then just dig deeper and find out exactly why your prospect doesn't want to get stuck in a contract, and deal with their concern. Once you deal with it, the objection will disappear. . 4. "We're already working with [someone else]." A prospect who's working with a competitor is a blessing in disguise. They've already recognized a need, realized their problem, and identified a solution. So much of the education you'd otherwise be responsible for has already been done for you. So in this case, you can spend your time doing the one thing you'd have to hold off on with a prospect who hasn't recognized their pain yet — talk about your product. Just because a prospect is working with a competitor doesn't mean they're happy with them. Probe into the relationship and the outcomes they're getting: Why did they choose this service? What's working well? What's not? Pay special attention to complaints that could be solved with your product. Also, even if they're happy with your competitor, you COULD still make a sale if your product can be used as an add-on to what they're using. If they can benefit from both your product and your competitors together (and there's enough value in it for them), you should communicate that to them and show them why it would be a good idea. . 5. "I can get a cheaper version of your product/service somewhere else." This objection is a lot easier to deal with than you may think. First off, you need to find out exactly what you're dealing with. Are you in a competitive situation, and the prospect is playing you against a competitor to drive up discounts? Or is your prospect under the impression that a similar, cheaper product can do everything they need, or that it can do the same things your solution does? If it's the former, get some information and then focus on the benefits of your solution over the cheaper one. Emphasize on the features that make your product superior, and the problems that may arise from using the cheaper solution. Don't give them a discount too quickly – this is a trap. But if they're unrelenting and they insist on getting a discount, negotiate the price and try to close them on something extra (like the promise of giving you a review after they're happy with your service). In the second scenario, take advantage of the comparison. What are the things that would provide your prospect the most value? Why is your solution so much better than the cheaper one? Play them up and emphasize overall worth, value and benefits, not cost. . 6. "There's too much going on right now." If your prospect feels overwhelmed or "too busy" to deal with the problem you're looking to solve, it's likely that they're just not placing enough importance on the problem you're looking to solve for them. Ask them to define their priorities for you. If they can't (or don't want to), it's likely a brush-off and you should press them on precisely why they don't want to engage with you (find the real reason or concern that made them say that). If they can provide concrete answers and their case is solid (if they really SHOULD focus on the other things and not on this), don't sweat it. Set a meeting time for a follow up and send over helpful resources in the meantime to stay top of mind and on your prospect's radar. . 7. "I've never heard of you or your company." Treat this objection as a request for extra information. It doesn't mean they won't buy from you. It just means they need to know more about you so they can trust you enough to buy from you. Don't give an elevator pitch. Just provide a very quick summary of your value proposition, or some impressive facts or stories about customers you've worked with (best if they're similar to your prospect). For example: "We're a company that sells ad space on behalf of publishers like yourself. I'd love to speak with you about your revenue model and see if we can help." . 8. "X problem isn't important right now." Sometimes, a simple "Oh?" will be enough for your prospect to start talking. Listen closely for the real reasons the problem has a low priority in their eyes. Keep in mind that excuses can be a sign that your prospect understands they have a problem and are trying to rationalize their inaction. Capitalize on this, get them to realize the importance of taking action and solving their problem, and instill a sense of urgency. . 9. "I don't see what your product could do for me." This is another request for information packaged as an objection. Reconfirm the goals, challenges or pain points you've discussed, and explain how your product can effectively solve their specific problems. . 10. "I don't understand your product." This usually means you're overcomplicating the explanation of your solution. You need to Keep It Stupidly Simple and make sure you're explaining it in a way that even a kid would understsand. If your prospect literally can't wrap their head around your product, that's a bad sign. If your product is particularly complicated or specialized, it may be time to disqualify your prospect (so they don't just give up and ask for a refund a few months after buying). Don't give up immediately though. Ask your prospect what aspects of your product they're unclear on. Then, try explaining it in a different way. Alternatively, bring in someone else from your team to re-explain it and answer your prospect's questions. Sometimes just hearing it from someone else is enough. . 11. "Your solution is too complicated." Find out if your prospect is confused about specific features or if the product is indeed over their head. If it's the latter, you might have to disqualify. But if it's the former, remind your prospect about how you will support them throughout the journey. For example, tell them that they'll have help from your customer service team and that you'll support them every step of the way when it comes to implementation (if that's true). And if you won't be doing that – tell them whatever IS true in your case. For example, if you have a community where they can find support, tell them about that. Whatever the case, make them feel supported and tell them how you'll help them effectively and easily execute and implement your solution. . 12. "You don't understand my business." If your prospect feels like you don't understand them, their situation or their business, that means you've made a mistake somewhere along the sales process. If that's the case, don't worry – it's fixable. Just focus on figuring out why they're thinking like that, and show them why they're wrong. If you sell to a specific industry and have some experience doing so, chances are you DO know a bit about your prospect's business. Let them know that you have experience working with similar companies, and have solved similar problems in the past. But don't just tell – DEMONSTRATE! And if you simply made an incorrect assumption about your prospect's company or industry, don't be afraid to own up to it. Your prospects will appreciate your candor. Say, "Sorry — I assumed X was true, but it looks like that doesn't apply to your business. Can you tell me a little more about X?" . 13. "We're happy the way things are." Maybe everything really is going swimmingly (however unlikely that is). But don't believe this without checking. It's extremely likely that your prospect is having some sort of challenge (after all, who isn't?). Do some light digging to determine if they're facing any problems you can solve, then move forward or disqualify based on their answers. . 14. "I want to think about it." When your prospect tells you "I want to think about it", they don't actually mean they'll get off the phone and go into a 'thinker position' for 2 hours actively thinking about your offer. 99 times out of 100, they won't put too much thought into it after the call. And that's because they usually say this to brush you off and avoid making a decision. So whenever you hear "I want to think about it", you need to understand there's something else hiding behind that objection. There's a reason why they don't want to move forward (or don't want to make a decision at that moment) – and you need to find that reason and overcome whatever's concerning them. . 15. "Your solution sounds great, but I'm too swamped right now to handle [implementation, execution]." Prospects are often put off by the effort required to switch products, even if the ROI is substantial. Most people just don't like doing new things, going into the unknown, and putting in a lot of effort (unlike us – we thrive on that, right?). To overcome this objection, you need to empathize with them, prove that you're trustworthy, and ensure they actually CAN handle the implementation (they just FEEL like they can't). You can say something like, "I understand. It typically takes our customers [X days/weeks] to get fully up and running with [your product]." OR here's one that may work even better, "I hear what you're saying. Many of our prospects felt like that when we were discussing this. But after we started working together, what they found was that, with our help, implementation was a breeze compared to what they expected. So let me ask you, if you knew that we'd be there every step of the way and help you with the implementation, how much time could you allocate for this?" If they're still hesitant, next you should combat their reluctance to change by digging into the costs or pains of their current situation, and building on the cost of inaction. You might ask something like, "How many minutes do you spend every day [on X task]?" Then calculate what they're currently losing as a results of this, and what they stand to gain — in time, efficiency, money, or all of the above. . This is a bit of a longer post, I hope you found a lot of value in it. . Knowing how to deal with objections is one of the most important things for high-level selling. Apply the ideas in this post and, hopefully, you'll see quite a jump in your conversion rate. . 𝕻.𝕾. Let's have a discussion! Leave questions, challenges or ideas below and let's make this thread more exciting. . 𝕻.𝕻.𝕾. If you have any sales-related challenges that are a pain, it would be awesome if you share them in the comments. If I can solve a problem for you in my next post, that would be great. I'll be here to answer all the questions related to this topic – 'coz that's my 'thing'. Let's go! 👇 . Stay awesome, Champions! 🏆 [link] [comments]  |
| Finding your niche is vital to the success of your startup Posted: 06 Nov 2020 09:45 PM PST So you've built your product. You know that it has value. You know that when people see it, they'll realize it's amazing potential. Now it's time to take the market by storm. You visualize your new product toppling the titans of the market. Clawing its way into the minds and hearts of hundreds of millions of consumers. But how? How can you go from an unknown David to a standard in a market governed by Goliaths? The answer can be summed up in one phrase. Conquer a niche market. Why is finding a niche critical to the success of your Startup? "What allows the fledgling enterprise to win over pragmatist customers in advance of broader market acceptance, is focusing an overabundance of support into a confined market niche. "— Crossing the Chasm By Geoffrey A Moore The book 'Crossing the Chasm' uses the best comparison I've found for the importance of finding a niche. It compares taking a market to the battle of D-Day. "Just as the objective of D Day was to take Normandy beaches but the goal was to liberate France, so in our marketing strategy we want to establish a longer-term vision to guide our immediate tactical choices" — Crossing the Chasm By Geoffrey A Moore This analogy is perfect. Imagine you're assigned to conquer a country. How would you go about it? Would you split your troops into a ton of sections and attack the entire landmass at once? Of course not, you would lose that battle. Instead, would you not focus your troops on a single area. Focus your attention on that area until won. Then move on to another area. The latter is the course of wisdom. The latter is what inspired the battle of D Day which meant the winning of a World War. Why? Because… …in a Startup, you can't come in and take over an entire market without an entry point. …at the start, you can't dominate an entire market, but you can dominate a very specific niche market. …you can't be the best at solving everyone's problem. But you can be the best at solving a small group's problem. Story Time: Instagram and Intuit (Quicken) Instagram began as what? A simple way to filter and share images. — There were no sharing of videos. — It didn't have many features tied to social. — There were no reels, no stories. It was only a very simple way to filter and share images. Instagram conquered a small niche market: users wanting to easily share images. But look at Instagram now. It's a leading social media application. All because they conquered their niche. Quicken When Quicken first started it was not the first of its kind by any means. The market was dominated by a platform called "Managing Your Money". How did they conquer this money management market? "Intuit hit on a very simple value proposition for the home computer user — make it easier to pay bills." — Crossing the Chasm By Geoffrey A Moore "The product alternative was Managing Your Money. Rather than fight it in a features war, Intuit could now use it as a reference beacon. That product, they could say, is the one for financial enthusiasts who want to analyze their investment portfolios. This product is for ordinary householders paying their monthly bills" — Crossing the Chasm By Geoffrey A Moore Notice what Quicken did… …they found their niche — Ordinary householders paying monthly bills …built features for their niche — They made it simple to pay bills with checks. …they marketed to that niche. The result? Quicken now dominates the managing money market. These examples show why you need to focus on a niche. Because once you conquer the niche, you'll be in a position to conquer the market. Once you've conquered a niche, other users not in that niche will be put on notice of your product. Intuit at first was the householder's product. But now it's the product of choice everywhere. Large corporations, small businesses, households, etc. Everyone uses Quicken. Why? Because first, Quicken conquered their niche. This allowed them to conquer the market. But, what does it even mean to focus on a niche? Focusing on a niche involves two things. 1 — You market exclusively to that nicheThis might sound like a bad idea. Many balk at this. But it's essential. You need to focus your marketing efforts almost entirely on your niche market. Why? Because marketing is not easy. It requires tons of trial and error. Scores of research. A lot of feedback and iterations. At the start, you can't focus your marketing on multiple areas. What happens if you market outside your niche?
Story Time: We were hired to build an app for a client trying to break into the restaurant review market. We explained to the client the importance of building for a niche, before focusing on everyone else. Unfortunately he, like most founders, did not listen. What happened? The product was built, but it didn't cater to anyone specifically. The market was too broad. It didn't fix anybody's specific problems. It just was an app that the founder wanted. Needless to say, the Startup failed. That's the result of not focusing your marketing on your niche. But as you focus your marketing on your niche, your marketing improves. How? - You find what works and doesn't work for that niche. - You can hone in on what works. Disregard what doesn't. - You learn to understand what your niche is looking for. As you see what appeals to them, you understand their needs. - You discover so much about that niche, that your marketing conversion rates increase drastically… The last two points bring us to the second act of focusing on your niche. Develop features only for the target niche As you learn more about your niche, you're able to work on features that will help them. Once you understand what they need, you can build it. You can't build features for everyone. Knowing what everyone needs or wants is too difficult. Even if you did know, you don't have the resources to build it. Instead, when focusing on your niche, you build precisely what your target niche wants. This leads to... - More satisfied customers. - A product that is built to handle actual needs as opposed to what we think are needs. The results of conquering your niche: Once you have a product loved by your niche, they'll become your advertisers. They'll tell others about your product. As you make noise within your niche, others in the market will hear and jump on board. Others will begin using your product in ways you didn't expect. This will drive your product deeper into the market as more people realize it's value. Look at what Instagram and Intuit are today? They've conquered a market. But it all began, by conquering a niche. **If you haven't yet, I'd highly recommend reading Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A Moore. Great book for anyone involved in a Startup. [link] [comments]  |
| What is the biggest thing you didn't know you didn't know when you started your startup? Posted: 06 Nov 2020 04:56 AM PST I saw in the comments of a recent post, someone said they failed because they had no idea of business models. Can you share what was it for you? Please, if you can stick to shorter format: What was it? Business models... How did I learn it/how to learn it? Blablabla And then add some context if you feel like [link] [comments]  |
| Starting Completely New, Having that Stupid Nervous Moment Posted: 06 Nov 2020 09:23 PM PST Sold my company for a bit less than I could have, but wanted a clean break so that I wasn't held back by emotions of what I've built up for these last several years, all the work and passion and now it's gone. Now I'm starting a new business, well within my skillset but I'll be getting paid differently from anything I've really done in the last two decades. I'm used to working very hard and very smart, and now I'm much older and I'll mostly only be working smart... hard work won't really be a crutch for me anymore during the hard times. Super confident but also having that moment of extreme anxiousness because there's no turning back now!!! Maybe I'm just exhausted and I'll feel better after sleep, if I can get any.... Not used to these feelings of self-doubt. Advice will be greatly appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| A VC wants 20% of the company for incubating, should I go with it? Posted: 06 Nov 2020 10:56 AM PST After a year of failing multiple ventures due to one reason or another, I'm back to square one. Recently, a VC reached out to me discussing about the possibility of starting something "together", as in incubating. Pros:
Cons
Sure, we can pretend it's like sutter hill ventures and I'll be making the next snowflake, but I just can't shake the feeling that I'm effectively giving up control + 20% for an occasional email or phone call. It's not a proper incubation program, they're just promising to help with networking, finding PMF etc. Also, there's no investment upfront. I mean, if he was betting on me on day zero at the idea stage with some funding, then I guess 20% makes sense. However, they can likely provide access to the ecosystem that I might not get on my own. I don't have a great network, struggling to find co-founders etc. - they've already started connecting me with potential folks, so it's not all bad, I really do believe they can add a lot of value - the idea for the startup itself came from the VC and they do know a lot about the space. But, I'm also not certain of the integrity of this individual (although they have almost a mythical reputation with 100+ investments). At more than one occasion, they've tried to pass off an idea to me as their own, which they merely saw in another founder's pitch deck, so I wonder what kind of games they might be playing with me. So, as a naive founder I fear that I might simply not be aware of all the information that might be important in situations like this which further dissuades me from pursuing this. I've also witnessed the shady tactics/mind games employed by founders/investors 10-20 years older than me, which is my biggest concern. What do you think? How do you make decisions like this? What all would you want to know? What might some red flags to look out for? What would be some green flags? *Note that there are, of course, several layers of information that go behind a decision like this, wasn't sure I could fit all of them in the post, feel free to ask if I missed something important. Edit: Thanks y'all for knocking some sense into me, I'm not gonna do it. I was super unsure myself and I even tried my best to portray it in the best light above, but if even that looks so bad, then this is just a shit deal. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Nov 2020 01:39 PM PST How to differentiate myself Hi, I'm looking at starting an online distribution of hay for rabbits. I can buy a ton of hay for £350 and sell it for £5 a kg as an online subscription. As my dads business is making high quality hay for racehorses I thought it would make a good side project to fit into the farm. The only issue is that there is just one other company doing this already, and doing it well from my research. Have you guys got any tips on how to differentiate my service/brand to theirs without having to compete on price and how to get the attention of UK small mammal owners. Thankyou :) [link] [comments]  |
| $130k in MRR in 11 months with no tech experience Posted: 06 Nov 2020 01:21 PM PST My company sells websites and marketing software to boutique gym owners. Our websites are built on Wordpress and we use whitelabeled marketing software. Like the title says, we've been able to grow quickly, but there is a much larger opportunity in our space if we could incorporate gym management software into our platform. Right now most gym owners are paying $200-$300 a month for marketing software (appointment scheduling, automated lead nurture, opportunity tracking etc.) and another $200-$300 a month for gym management software (member management, billing, class reservations etc.) Adding gym management software to our platform could reduce cost and complexity for our customers if it was done well. As the title also implies, building software is not our skillset. We don't have the technical talent to do this well. That said, we are committed to reinvesting a large portion of our existing profits into building something that better solves our customers' problems. I came to this sub to get help from people who're smarter than I am. I want to get an understanding of how viable something like this would be and whether we'd be best served by bringing on a technical co-founder, outsourcing this to a dev shop, or doing it some other way. Any help is appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Nov 2020 11:46 AM PST I am a developer and I quite often have ideas for new products.For some of which I end up building an mvp. But I find it always so hard to share it around. It feels that most of my time is spent on social media rather than developing the product further... Is it a problem for you? How do you do it? [link] [comments]  |
| Launching MVP in single market vs multiple markets Posted: 06 Nov 2020 02:45 PM PST My startup is launching our MVP in a few weeks, but I'm suddenly re-thinking our launch strategy. Quick info about the company: an online platform to find local arts events. Think Yelp for local music concerts, arts galleries, comedy, dance & theatre shows. Because of Covid of course, many arts venues/organizations are not having events at the moment, but some of them are getting back in business. We've specifically been targeting members of the National Independent Venue League - a group of 2500 venues, arts organizations, and promoters throughout the country. Although we are based in Chicago, anyone can use the platform. We've actually garnered much interest from organizers in LA, NYC, and Atlanta for example. The problem we're running into is not signing up these organizers, but getting users to find these events - marketing to users not just in Chicago, but in LA, NYC, etc. And we obviously do not have the marketing budget to effectively sign up users across the country. Should we focus on just Chicago organizers, and marketing to Chicago artists and users? Or should we just let organizers across the country sign up and track how they utilize the site? Again I feel like our advantage is that events are not happening that much, so we could see how early adopters across all markets utilize the site. Would love to get any thoughts and feedback! [link] [comments]  |
| what are good first year milestones? What are some red flags? Posted: 06 Nov 2020 10:21 AM PST It's been a year since I started my company with my cofounder. We are both working on this about 20 hours a week, but were full time over the summer. I was curious how our accomplishments stack up with what typically happens in the first year. Here are some things we accomplished:
Some key things we haven't accomplished yet:
Is this progress typical and a good sign, or is the fact we haven't released the app yet a red flag? [link] [comments]  |
| Getting production parts for a prototype? Posted: 06 Nov 2020 12:38 PM PST I am finishing up designing a micro reflex sight and prototyping has been a nightmare. The pieces I need don't exist in a standardized fashion, and to get them made, tooling costs often exceed $1000. For instance, to get a small FFC cable made to connect the PCB's, the tooling would be at least $1500. Then there's still the buttons, the lenses, CNCed parts, etc. The prototype thus far seems like it will barely have any of the production parts and will only work as a proof of concept, meaning another production prototype will be needed and further drains any source of funding I can get. To top it, I am not wealthy in the slightest. I exited college with my degree in engineering, hated engineering companies for being terrible and there are no local jobs for what I am trained for (they want 10+ years of experience). So I started working on this idea and after a year by myself it's almost ready. But like I said earlier, the prototype has been nothing but a nightmare to figure out. How am I supposed to get the production parts without having much money at all (~$3k)? [link] [comments]  |
| Best way to have a software built? Posted: 06 Nov 2020 10:13 AM PST Hey guys So i run a marketing agency and we have some excess revenue. I'd like to invest it into a SAAS software i know will fill a niche market that will be easy to monetize, and i already have the marketing strategy built out. Now with that out of the way, what would be the best course of action in getting this software built if we have ~$10k/mo (or ~$40k-$60k total) to spend on making this
I've been stuck on this for a while, thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Nov 2020 10:01 AM PST Email, Cloud Storage, Achieved Chat Channels (currently using discord) are the main 3 at the moment we need. Any services you recommend for cost efficient but also secure vs. all the free and therefore not secure options? I looked into Gsuite, and it looks like its a subscription price for pretty much anything (email, storage etc.), so was wondering if people have other more cost efficient options they've found? This is for a small team of < 5 people. [link] [comments]  |
| Seriously considering pursuing venture capital, but overwhelmed by how much I don't know... Posted: 06 Nov 2020 07:45 AM PST My company is 2 1/2 years old. Over the last year, we experienced significant growth and had reached 25k/month. I bootstrapped our way to this point with only a 6k loan early on, which I've since repaid. However, we are losing customers right and left. I've known for years that we needed to develop a tech solution to scale to 7 figures, but I was hoping to scrape together the money to do that without seeking outside investment. With the impact of covid this year and the retention issues, I won't be able to do that. Our retention issues would be completely solved with the right tech- they're all due to the same problem. I'm very seriously considering pursuing venture capital. I believe we have a good case for it based on the size of the market we're in and the lack of competition. I've worked with and spoken to hundreds of business owners in this market that are willing to spend a couple of thousand dollars a month on a solution for this pain point and I know what they need. I'm well-networked and established as a source of authority in this area. My biggest concern is that I'm too ignorant or naive about the process to represent our company well. There is so much I don't understand about stock, equity, and legal issues. I have concerns about current equity arrangements I've made with employees that could turn off potential investors. I'm worried about the legal formation of our company and the possibility I've screwed something up. I don't even know how to setup a board of directors and what that entails, but I know it becomes key at some point... I'm trying to learn as much as I can, but I'm terrified that a mistake on my part will put everything I've worked for at risk. I would also need to supervise web and mobile developers. I have no experience in this area and am afraid of wasting money on poor quality work. My question is, how do I either overcome these fears or get the right kind of help? Is there some kind of consultant or advisor I could find to help with all my questions- even the dumb ones? How do young founders confidently start huge venture capital-backed companies? One of the solutions I've considered is hiring developers and fractional CFOs through upwork just to ask questions and get an idea of what I need. i.e. hire a developer just to ask them what I need to look for in a long-term developer and how to avoid being taken advantage of. Is that a reasonable step forward? [link] [comments]  |
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