Startups Manic Mondays: Support To Get You Through The Week: Share What You Need Help With, Job Postings, For Hire Offers, or Resources |
- Manic Mondays: Support To Get You Through The Week: Share What You Need Help With, Job Postings, For Hire Offers, or Resources
- Non-app and non-website startups
- How do you create an accurate market assessment for a game dev startup?
- Any recommendations on insurance for a tech startup in the US?
- [Advice/Discussion]: "I have invested in a small startup concept and Google just released a feature that directly competes with it! Help!"
- Approaching with a potential job offer at a Series A startup. What questions should I ask and consider?
- Tell me your "I wish I'd known then what I know now" stories from hiring your first employee
- Software Design Planning Help?
- Founding Team Equity
- Feedback on MVP?
- How can I promote my product without forming a firm?
- Looking for investors in Canada
- How do you mobilize your network for a product launch?
- What influences a customer/client to go with your startup product/services?
- Copyright Issue for Web App Startup
- Starting a candle business
- ADVICE: Corporate to Startup 2021
- Seeking advise on sizing my market. Thanks!
- Advice for Validation and Prospecting
- Good Project Management Tools?
- Offered Sales Based Vesting Equity
- Why has equity crowdfunding performed poorly vs. rewards-based crowdfunding?
- Fell into same trap of building first (again)! How can I talk to more customers to look for patterns?
- How to start a digital payment service in a developing country?
- Best practices for a building a dataset fast?
| Posted: 02 Nov 2020 05:08 AM PST Welcome to this week's Support Thread. Please refer to the below suggested formats to get the most out of this thread. Need Support?Please use the following format to seek support: SUPPORT REQUESTWhat I am working on: What I need support with: Why I need support with this: My questions to the community: Requested Resources: Relevant URL: [if applicable] Additional Comments: Please add any additional comments that may provide more context around what you need support with so others can provide the most relevant support or guidance to you. Job Provider?Please use the following format to post a job listing: HIRING Company Name and URL: Job Title/Role: Employment Type: [Intern] [Contract] [Part Time] [Full Time] [Remote] Job Description/Responsibilities: Necessary Skills and Experience: Requested, but not necessary Skills and Experience: Job Compensation: Willing to Relocate New Hire: [yes] [no] Job Listing URL: Additional Comments: Please add any additional comments that may provide more context around the job listing to make it easier for the right people to apply.Job Seeker?Please use the following format to post an offer to work : FOR HIRE Title/Role: Desired Location: Willing to Relocate: [yes] [no] Remote Availability: [yes] [no] Relevant Skills and Experience: Requested Salary/Hourly Rate: Resume/Portfolio URL: Additional Comments: Please add any additional comments that may provide more context around the job listing to make it easier for the right people to apply.Resource Provider?Please use the following format to post an offer to work : RESOURCE Organization Name and URL: Location Served: Resource Name: Resource Description: Resource URL: Resource Cost: Do not forget to explore the /r/startups discord. We have many relevant channels to seek support, post job listings, share for hire offers, and share resources. You can also find more support using instant chat on the /r/startups discord. [link] [comments]  |
| Non-app and non-website startups Posted: 02 Nov 2020 11:29 AM PST In the last few days I was thinking more and more about projects/side-projects/startups that don't require app or website, something that is not tightly coupled to visual presentation or is loosely coupled. For example bitcoin, email, text messaging... Another example, someone pitched idea about email paywall, basically it doesn't require app or website, it's uses already existing service and just plugs into it. What do you think about those kind of projects/startups? Have you heard of any similar? [link] [comments]  |
| How do you create an accurate market assessment for a game dev startup? Posted: 03 Nov 2020 12:35 AM PST I'm looking for some advice from those who have had successful funding runs or know their way around market assessments for pre-seed startups (especially for the game dev industry). Our game studio (pre-seed) is trying to put together a simple market assessment slide for a pitch deck, but we're getting stumped trying to use publicly available data or reasonably affordable data (and not spending $3000 or more for in-depth industry reports). We need to determine our total number of customers. What we know: the global number of video gamers, and even the regional breakdown of this; the average age and proportions of gamers falling within certain age ranges for *some* regions. Ideally, we want to know the total number of gamers who fall into our target age range AND who also play games tagged by genres x, y, and z ("platformer", "adventure", etc.) The latter is the hard part because: (1) we can only seem to find data for genres/tags for Steam (we do plan to invest in SteamSpy for this); and (2) we plan to launch beyond Steam (Switch, PS, Xbox). Is there a way for us to combine these data without doing shoddy top-down market analysis that will be a red flag to the committee reviewing our pitch deck? Is it an acceptable compromise to have half of the market assessment slide convey the total number of gamers who fall into our target age range, and the other half present a Steam case study regarding customers who buy our types of games? (This is obviously not ideal because then we are ignoring consoles like Switch, which we do anticipate to get a good chunk of sales from simply because of the genre of our game.) Can anyone answer some of these questions, or provide other guidance? Many thanks in advance. My co-founder and I have been bashing our heads against this for a while and need help. We understand to not work top-down in a market assessment, but dealing with this (limited) data properly is out of our wheelhouses. So yeah, any assistance would be much appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Any recommendations on insurance for a tech startup in the US? Posted: 02 Nov 2020 09:10 PM PST B2B, SaaS web app based in the U.S. Strategic advisor recommends we look into business insurance before bringing on our first paying clients. Any recommendations on what company to use/what policies to look into? Based on basic research, looks like we may need General Liability, Umbrella, E&O, D&O, Cyber. Any feedback is welcome. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2020 02:33 PM PST Hey, First of all, I'm ok. I'm less nervous and more excited. But When something like this happens from any larger competitor, it's normal to freak out. Having said that, I am a little more sensitive to it, as it is currently an extension of google maps, a highly used google product. But after a flash of panic i decided to ride with this tide. First of all, I'm no expert, this is just me live streaming my life, so I'd appreciate any advice. Secondly, I hope it generates some good conversation. My takeaway: Like i said, ride with the tide. Let them clear the roadblocks for you, and surf on their ability to invest capital while you benefit from it to develop your product. What have I done in that regard?
Anyway, I've found the past month an opportunity to reevaluate my product, learn more about the market, and improve my product faster than i could have before, with the confidence that i'm headed in the right direction. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2020 03:58 PM PST What I know so far: Company sells advisory/consulting services, I'd report directly to one of the founders (assume he's hiring me to take that role so he can focus more on the company), just finished 10mil in series A, offering a 50% salary increase vs what I make right now, offer equity but haven't heard anything on what this would be. haven't heard anything on benefits yet. What questions should I ask to decide if I should take this offer? I currently work at a massive global company so have never had to even consider company going under. Obviously the salary is great, but can't imagine being out of a job in 6 months because the company went under. So far I want to ask what revenue is, what the future book of business looks like, how long they have projects/engagement letters signed with their clients. What else should I ask? If they would be doing another round of funding? How much stock there is and how much went to the investors in series A? Any advice would be appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Tell me your "I wish I'd known then what I know now" stories from hiring your first employee Posted: 03 Nov 2020 01:05 AM PST Bootstrapping startup and I've never hired before, so it's going to be a huge step for me! In my mind I have three really simple selection criteria:
Number 3 is easy to deal with and from what I've researched it's achievable on my budget. I have a fixed limit of what I'm willing to safely spend so if I can't find anyone within this range I'll have no choice but to persevere for a while. It'll slow things down a lot but I'll get by. I think I have a fairly good plan of how to verify number 1. It's a software engineering role and this is my background. I've been through enough recruitment processes on the other side to know what works and what is respectful of a candidate's time and effort. This criteria is also easier to manage since I'm willing to invest a bit of extra effort on support in case someone doesn't initially meet expectations. In the unfortunate scenario that they're incapable of making progress or they're actually dragging things down with no sign of ROI it's also easier to justify letting them go. I'm expecting number 2 to be the hardest. In fact I'm not really sure how to tackle this problem. I suppose it's whether I get along with them in the interview? I'm aware that gut feel is a terrible approach but I can't think of a way to quantify "team dynamic". It's my biggest concern for things go awry since this kind of drama can be disastrous. I suspect it would also be more challenging to let someone go on these grounds. So now that you have some context and insight into the kinds of things I'm thinking about, I want you to fill me with anxiety by revealing your hiring horror stories, or revel in your times of triumph, or any other tidbits/advice you think might come in handy to me. Let me bask in your wisdom! [link] [comments]  |
| Software Design Planning Help? Posted: 03 Nov 2020 12:18 AM PST I'm currently making the first version of my SaaS which several people have said would make their lives much easier and they would pay for it. The problem is that I am still a college student and don't have the most experience is programming so I'm having troubles architecting the solution. I have 1 feature done and ready, but now for another I'm confused on how to even approach the problem. What would be the best way to get some help? I'm not sure if freelancing is the way to go as I can develop the feature, I just need a little help figuring out how to develop it. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2020 02:24 PM PST Hi everyone! I have encountered an issue that goes beyond my limited understanding of startup equity and I am hoping some of you would be willing to share your experience and insight. Thank you in advance for reading this. I am part of the founding team of a biotech startup (got involved before the company had a name and my project is one of the core focues of the company's short term growth goals). I am currently finishing my PhD and my boss is one of the founders of the company, so I am not currently an employee but I am performing work directly related to the company in addition to my grad school work. I reached an agreement with the other founders a couple of months back that I would officially join the company upon completing my PhD for an equity percentage vesting over 4 years. Now, one of the lawyers for the company is claiming that it would be better for me to sign on as a consultant now and purchase my shares at a reduced cost once they finish the valuation in the next few weeks. The justification offered is that it will be better for me in the long-term in ragard to the taxes I will ultimately have to pay if the company succeeds and I sell my shares. However, I am not interested in purchasing anything considering the fact that I am a key member of the team and I am currently performing free work for the company (one of two people currently working on the science that the company is founded on). So, I guess my question is, is there any validity to the claims that purchasing my shares is a better choice than the vesting schedule that was originally agreed upon? I am working on talking with a lawyer of my own but I was hoping I could get a little bit of feedback from here as well. Thanks again for any assistance! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Nov 2020 02:15 AM PST I'm starting a productized service offering to law firms. Here's the ELI5 version: "I write x blog posts for y $$ delivered to you within a month". Having worked both as a lawyer and marketer, I noticed that law firms spend an obscene amount of money on advertising and PPC - approximately 100,000 USD per month. In fact, bidding on legal keywords is an extremely costly-affair and I figured quality-organic content would compound over time and build a credibility moat for law firms. This becomes specially important as law firms mostly have the same practice areas - so the only way to stand out is to do things differently. Which is why I started Undraft. Anyways, I would love to get your inputs on what you think of the landing page, its copy, the value prop, pricing etc. I'm fair game for anything. You can check it out here [link] [comments]  |
| How can I promote my product without forming a firm? Posted: 02 Nov 2020 11:57 AM PST So forming a firm in my country (at least LCC) is everything but cheap. I need to invest 8000€ just to form it. Can i just write emails to my future clients asking if they would be interested in my product (i have a fully working prototype)? Or is this just a waste of time and should i just form a firm first? [link] [comments]  |
| Looking for investors in Canada Posted: 02 Nov 2020 04:54 PM PST Hello everyone my project is completing in next 2 months and my all team set up done. Everything is on blue print as we are no more just an idea.. we have huge market and huge demand, on top of that we are very unique concept launching so we need some seed money as we going to have revenue from day one or weeks.. as we know only 1% of starts up pays well and we belong to under 1% or even lower.. any kind of suggestions would be fantastic guys.. I am very open minded and just willing to solve the real problem, we have 1000 fold income opportunity. [link] [comments]  |
| How do you mobilize your network for a product launch? Posted: 02 Nov 2020 11:36 PM PST Hi! I'm new here and would really appreciate your help. Short story: Strong network of target customers were super excited to buy my product a few months ago during development phase but now that it's launched are absolutely nowhere to be found. HELP. What can I do to regain their attention? Long story: So I just launched a product that I've been researching and testing for over a year. I built a strong network of target customers (working moms - this is relevant) in the last year professionally and personally over 9 years while working as a babysitter. My product is a super affordable/ simple tool to help working moms create family balance (sorry for the vagueness, trying to stick to rules of not self-promoting). I've had several pivots from more complicated/ expensive tools in the last year and my network has been extremely supportive/ responsive to my pivots as I work to find product-market fit. So, leading up to my product launch a couple days ago (with emails sent, social media done and personal texts made) I thought my network was all prepped and ready to buy my product (which they were super excited about doing back in June when I announced my final pivot with more research and tests). BUT it's almost a week into my launch and most of them are nowhere to be found. I've absolutely communicated the launch and kept them in the loop about the process for the past couple months, but as of two week ago, nada. I can only imagine that the working mom struggle is only getting worse (1M left work in September alone) and they don't have the mental/ emotional bandwidth to respond/ check out my launch even though it's a product to help them right now when they need it most. OR. maybe I haven't found product-market fit (even though they were fully on board in June) and it's back to the drawing board. I've gotten some traction from the launch but super underwhelming compared to the size and previous loyalty of my network. I'm shocked. And not really sure where to go from here other than trying to tap into a network of strangers through IG/ FB ads and hope the launch is successful. THOUGHTS PLEASE and thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| What influences a customer/client to go with your startup product/services? Posted: 02 Nov 2020 11:13 PM PST To answer that question, we need to ask another question "What are our thoughts made of?" All of our values, beliefs, behaviours, etc are all made up of STORIES. The stories we tell ourselves about when we were kids, when we were growing up, our bad moments, our good moments, etc. Everything we think of today is just a story we've believed in. So if we can try to relate with a customer's story, and create a message around it, we can influence them to buy. Or even better, be a part of one of their stories, it takes a lot to be one of those, but eventually your brand should become an integral story of their life. It's not a coincidence that Lays wants you to eat them during cricket, or Tanishq wants to be a part of your weddings, or Nike wants to be a part of your athletic endeavours. It's a big grand scheme of creating a STORY with you. [link] [comments]  |
| Copyright Issue for Web App Startup Posted: 02 Nov 2020 02:49 PM PST I'm currently developing an application that at first was just a personal project but has gained some traction and I am now interested in marketing it. I'm hoping someone here has been through something similar. The issue is that I am using some copyrighted material as the source of some of the data for the application. I'm finding mixed results online as far as fair-use material and web scraping. Any help would be welcome. The application involves cataloging your coin collection. The copyrighted materials is data that serves as a list for users to select from. I am in no way trying to compete with the owner of the data, in fact i have links to let the user buy the item from the website of the owner of the data. Here are some specific question:
Thanks in advance [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2020 06:19 PM PST So I'm starting a candle business.I will be making and selling the candles. Just ordered everything I'll need to get started. I assume for the first month or so it will be trial and error l. I already work for my family business, and make a decent amount of money. But I also have the urge to start something on my own, as a hobby, and to eventually make it a full time business. From everything I've seen/read, candles seem like a simple, cheap business.(compared to the cost/stress of other business ideas). They seem to be in high demand, and although there's lots of competition, everyone seems to do fairly well. Does anyone here have any advice for me before I dive into this?? Any ideas from a fellow entrepreneur?! Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| ADVICE: Corporate to Startup 2021 Posted: 02 Nov 2020 09:50 PM PST Hello, I hope I am not breaking any rules but I need to ask this community advice. I am going to try and be as thorough as possible while ensuring this not long drawn out text. I am currently 25, working at a bank in a senior role. The position I am in is great. I have a great team and manager. However, from a challenging point of view, it's not complex for me. I am an entrepreneur at heart and enjoy problem solving. I currently feel my ability is wasted. There has been a recent opportunity to leave the bank and run a startup. The opportunity presented itself from a colleague of mine who has hand picked me due to my ability, willingness and hunger to succeed. If I go ahead, we would both have to leave the bank all together. The idea is great and I can see the potential and scale opportunities. However, the problem is as follows. He is currently 50/50 with investors and wants me to jump on board starting as a salaried individual. My role would be as a Managing Partner and I would learn a hell of a lot within two years (the projected capital runway). We would both manage the business, I just wouldn't have equity. I have mentioned that in order go ahead I need to have skin in the game (equity) otherwise I'm simply in the same boat as I am now, with maybe more autonomy and room to grow. Is this the right thinking? Unfortunately the investors aren't happy with this as they believe we need to "earn our stripes" and will allow me to receive profit share. I will ensure that from a contractual point of view I am paid every month, so the monthly income isn't a concern. I will be earning more than I am now. Alternatively, if I pivot to be a co-director, I will then be able to access sensitive documents/ information as well as have weight in direction. I'm not sure if I'm willing to "risk it all" for no surety. Yes I'll make more every month (he said he can pay me more) and I'll be open to profit share, but I won't have vested interest in the business. If I were to be comparative, I have 0 equity now, so I don't lose anything. Eventually (if all goes well) I will be open to equity options (within 2 years) as per the conversation with my potential partner. What do you think about this? Am I helping build a business with no personal guarantees? Should I take the plunge? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| Seeking advise on sizing my market. Thanks! Posted: 02 Nov 2020 09:46 AM PST I'm working on a problem that isn't currently well-addressed. It's hard to get a sense of the size of the market, but it's in service to a really large, definable market. Is it better to say we're "in service of ___ market of $x size?", or just say "We don't know yet," or just 'Get better at sizing the market?' Happy to get more specific later, but I want to keep it general for now -- hoping it can help others as well. Plan to put a deck in front of some angel investors soon, and I'd appreciate any advise for this glaring hole in my deck. Thank you all for your thoughts & generosity. edit: advice* [link] [comments]  |
| Advice for Validation and Prospecting Posted: 02 Nov 2020 06:41 PM PST Hi everyone, Am in the process of trying to validate a business idea and I finally narrowed that down a bit more to that ONE problem I'd like to solve and how: -Help companies establish and maintain knowledge bases -Use tools like confluence, Help Crunch Zendesk, Airtable, and Notion -This will help create a centralized location for customer service or tech support employees too find critical information to answer customer request efficiently My question is to any who works with clients who are medium to large enterprise businesses be able to give me some guidance? I'm in the process of trying to validate this business idea and this group would likely be my target.What has been the best strategy for reaching out to such massive companies? I know they aren't massive but it's still slightly intimidating to me. Do you cold call or cold email? Message key people on linked in? What worked well for you in making contact but closing deals. I guess also how did you get over that fear if prospecting. [link] [comments]  |
| Good Project Management Tools? Posted: 02 Nov 2020 02:44 PM PST Hey guys, I'm working on a mobile app idea and I was wondering what tools you guys use for your personal project management. I'm currently considering something simple like Trello or just GitHub for project management, but I was wondering if you guys have any recs for good project management applications. I know most apps of these kind are designed for teams, but I'm looking for something more catered toward an individual, since I don't expect to be working with a team anytime soon. Willing to pay for a subscription, but nothing crazy expensive since I don't plan on using it for enterprise purposes. [link] [comments]  |
| Offered Sales Based Vesting Equity Posted: 02 Nov 2020 02:29 PM PST Im wondering if there is certain things I need to look out for and ask for in this contract. I am being offered 20% equity that vests over 4 years (5% per year). One thing I am worried about is the contract only specifies what my first year milestone goal is for the first 5%. The cofounder said its hard to predict what the milestone goals for year 2, 3, and 4 should be (which I understand is a common issue in milestone vesting agreements & why time based is more common). He wants the contract just to say after year 1 we will negotiate the remaining 3 milestones in good faith. Is this common? Im a little worried that if the remaining 3 years and 15 percent arent ageed to now he could decide to not even offer the remaining 15 percent, create unattainable milestones, etc. What are my options here? Can we setup a milestone goal for year 1 & if I prove my value the remaining vesting schedule is time-based? Should I not be so worried about the remaining 3 year milestones being negotiated in good faith after the 1st year of vesting? Is there anything else I should ask for, request, or make sure I look out for? [link] [comments]  |
| Why has equity crowdfunding performed poorly vs. rewards-based crowdfunding? Posted: 02 Nov 2020 01:13 PM PST Something I've just been curious about lately. I cant seem to put my finger on why equity crowdfunding has largely (though arguably) been considered "disappointing" as a fundraising mechanism to-date vs. the relative success of rewards-based platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo. People take relatively high risks in both cases. People seem to provide capital in brands or products that they believe in in both cases. Is it the minimum capital requirements? the nature of equity vs getting an actual product in your hands? The type of companies that list on the platforms? liquidity? Why is ECF performing poorly in comparison to rewards-based crowdfunding? EDIT: Clarity. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2020 06:21 AM PST I'm a serial entrepreneur but also a former coder and each time, I can't help but start building solutions thinking I know what's best -- classic "if you build it, [they] will come" syndrome. As a result, I've had mediocre successes through a combination of luck, perseverance, learning the hard way...and most of all, not enjoying the journey. This time I wanted to do it better/smarter but fell into the same trap for the first 4 months. I've hit the pause button to go back to the basics: talk to potential customers to do problem, solution, etc. validation (basically Steve Blank/Lean Startup). Do you have any advice on how I can talk to more customers? My target market is ~1.3mm tech startups worldwide annually. I'd like to learn about a "day in the life" of founders/execs to look for patterns. I know of sites like usertesting.com, userbrain.net, lookback.io, userzoom.com...but they don't seem provide 1:1 interviews with tech startups. SurveyMonkey is another option but it's only online surveys. I'm also reaching out to my personal network on LinkedIn, etc. but that's going slower than I like. Any help would be highly appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| How to start a digital payment service in a developing country? Posted: 02 Nov 2020 03:51 PM PST I'm interested in starting a fintech start-up in my home country, Ethiopia, sorta like cash app or Zelle where people can send money through an app and also use it to make online transaction such as digital payments or even things like online subscriptions. The country has the fastest growing economy in Africa and second fastest in the world. It's growing at surprisingly rapid rate, and I feel like there is a huge opportunity in the fintech sector. More and more people are connecting online, and with the Grand renaissance dam completing soon (the largest dam in Africa) the country will be a powerhouse. Unfortunately, I know little about finance nor startups (I'm a Philosophy and Mathematics major) so I'm hoping anyone here can advice me how to take the first step- things I can research into, books to read, sort of people to reach out to....etc. As cliche as it might sound, there are many diasporas going back and making changes in the country and I want to do the same and I feel like this idea has a lot of potential and I'm willing to pour anything to it [link] [comments]  |
| Best practices for a building a dataset fast? Posted: 02 Nov 2020 03:45 PM PST Hey there. I've gotten to the point in the development of my app that I need data. Specifically restaurants, bars, sports venues, music venus, etc. I started going the API route (Yelp, Ticketmaster), but realized I can't actually store any of their data on my servers. Can only cache it for 24hrs. Which causes... problems. Due to how the app work's I may need to be able to store at least names and locations on my servers. (There are workarounds but it's not really what I want). In essence, I want my own internal dataset of restaraunts, bars, etc. And I want to avoid users having to add their own hubs on launch due to friction (I honestly think the launch would fail without some sort of data to show users how it works). I've researched webcrawling/scraping, but that seems legally sketchy at best. I've found companies online that provide the data for sale, and I'm looking into it, but my concern is that they're also just scraping or they are scams, and I want other options. There's always the option of a slight pivoting (my original plan was to draw business owners to the service with a strong base of users, but we could adjust to add features so that business owners would want to use the app from the get go). What I would really like it just a basic starter dataset, so I don't have to start from 0, then we could update as we go. Anyone else been through this issue? [link] [comments]  |
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