Startups How storytelling can increase any product's value by ~7000%. Bonus: how Bryan Cranston taught me this. |
- How storytelling can increase any product's value by ~7000%. Bonus: how Bryan Cranston taught me this.
- Do Start Up Founders Make any money pre-acquisition/IPO ?
- My users will be watching 3 to 10 videos ads daily, what is the best ad-network/strategy to monetize the app?
- Is this a fair offer?
- Sending second follow up to dream job at start up - nuisance or go-getter?
- Do most startups want to be acquired?
- Using a design studio for Brand Identity, Packaging, Print, Typeface
- I need to find the right tech partner. What should I be looking for?
- Is it possible to raise money for 2 startups at once? We (me +2) have developed 2 different hardware products and have decided to put them into different companies. The markets we are targeting are completely different and we believe there is no real advantage of combining them.
- AirBnB for group fitness classes
- Developing a marketing strategy for an online C2C marketplace
- What happens to your shares if you're kicked out of your company?
- Help with first call with a VC firm
- How do I deal with this mini-crisis?
- Why I often prefer juniors to “superstars”: confessions of a startup CEO
| Posted: 10 Feb 2021 02:01 AM PST Bryan Cranston was the lead actor in my favorite TV Show of all time: Breaking Bad. This story is not about him. It's about Rob. PrologueWhile on my journey to build a $1B company (spoiler: I failed), I was lucky enough to travel the world demoing our video recognition technology. In January 2017 I landed in Seattle. It was a cold snowy day. I was visiting one of the most exciting headquarters of the technology world: Amazon. More specifically I was meeting IMDb's Head of Business Development and Product team for a possible integration of our technology in their mobile App. For context, Amazon holds in its HQ several subsidiaries including IMDb (acquired in 1998) and Amazon Studios. I arrived at the building 10 minutes earlier and was invited to go up to the 10th floor. After registered my entrance at the lobby, I sat on the first couch I saw. I wanted to double-check the demo to make sure everything was working as expected. I was heads down on my computer and phone when I realized someone just sat in front of me. After glancing at the couch in front of me I immediately went back to my computer. Not for long; I just realized I knew the person sitting on the other side of the lobby… It was Bryan Cranston. The Conversation"Bryan!" Was the word that came out of my mouth against my will. I almost yelled his name at him… What a poor start of any conversation. I was shocked to have one of my favorite actors in the whole world sitting in front of me. He looked at me surprised: "Yes man, what's up?". I quickly stumble on my next words saying that I loved his work and apologized for screaming his name awkwardly. After this initial weird interaction, he was kind and curious enough to ask me what I was doing with my phone… I answered I was scanning movies to test the demo I was doing to IMDb. And one of the most interesting conversations started to take place in Amazon's HQ lobby. I started demoing the technology to Bryan; he even tried it himself. It was surreal. Interesting topics we talked about:
At the time, I didn't understand how his job is to tell stories, he is an actor and producer. I wanted to learn more. It went something like:
I was absolutely shocked by the simplicity and accuracy of this statement. I knew this empirically but never thought about it for business or marketing. People pay billions of dollars to hear a story. Enter RobIn 2009 a journalist named Rob Walker (alongside with writer Joshua Glenn) wanted to find out if storytelling was powerful enough to make people spend more money on ordinary / low-value objects. He named this project: Significant Objects. His strategy was brilliant: have creative writers invent stories about the objects and then post them on eBay and understand if the invented stories increase the value of the object measured by the eBay auction. He bought 200 objects with an average of $1 each. The objects couldn't be clothing or anything that could be considered artwork. The results were mind-blowing. The ResultsSome of my favorite results:
One of the most impressive facts about the Mug object — a massed produced mug — that proofs the whole concept, was that people could buy the exact same mug on eBay for a fraction of the price but decided to licit the one with the story. Take some time to read some of the stories (e.g. the banana is in comics format). They are brilliant! This whole project's conclusion is exactly what Bryan was referring to… People pay billions of dollars to hear a story. Lessons LearnedEveryone knows storytelling is powerful but few people think of it as a revenue propeller for their businesses. Storytelling is the best marketing you can ever have. Rob's project shows us that if you tell a story about literally anything (e.g. irrelevant day to day objects) you can increase its value orders of magnitude. That's how our mind works. It needs a story. PS — if you came thus far you are the living proof storytelling is a magnet. Go use it for your products/projects! Hope you enjoyed this story about storytelling :) Let me know if you have any questions. [link] [comments]  |
| Do Start Up Founders Make any money pre-acquisition/IPO ? Posted: 10 Feb 2021 08:12 PM PST For those of us with multiple mouths to feed, working for years on end at near poverty wages is not a realistic option. Are there ways to take some small amount of money off the table (500k/1M) relatively early on in a company's life. I am specifically talking about businesses with a long runway to getting to cashflow positivity. We have a scalable business that looks to disrupt a traditional industry, however it would require a large upfront investment. Say, we're able to raise decent amounts of money, are there avenues for the founders to take some of the raised money off the table, relatively wary on in the company's life ? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Feb 2021 12:28 AM PST I am working on an app where the only source of revenue would be ads (full-screen video ads). I conducted some interviews and showed my prototype of the app. I learnt that my potential users would watch anywhere from 3 to 10 video ads daily (Not is one go obviously). I need the app to have an ad-partner before it goes live i.e. before the app has any users. I am currently considering something like charity miles - have corporate partners show their video ads as I feel this would pay out better than google or facebook's ad network for each ad impression. But the downfall is I do not have any users so I don't know how much luck I will have getting companies to display their ads on my app at first. Is there any other way I can monetize this app? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Feb 2021 12:18 AM PST I received an offer from a newly formed startup. There's not even a MVP. Basically there are 4 people - 3 technical, 1 non-technical. Equity split is like the following:
Here are the terms offered to me:
Additional things to consider:
I have no experience with startups but to me it seems like an unfair offer and feel like I would be exploited. Is my gut feeling is right on this one or not? [link] [comments]  |
| Sending second follow up to dream job at start up - nuisance or go-getter? Posted: 10 Feb 2021 12:21 PM PST I recently applied for a position that I was under qualified for at a startup that I was really interested in. They had another position that I fit the qualifications for/might have been slightly overqualified for and decided that if they didn't consider me for the higher position, they might for the other position. The operations lead came back very quickly and thanked me for the interest, but that I didn't quite fit what they were looking for in the higher position and to apply for any future opening that may interest me. I was planning on applying separately for the other position, but 4 days later she reached out to me about the lower position and it I'd be interested in it. I said yes and I set up an initial interview with their CTO. The initial interview with the CTO went well, albeit very short. I could tell that they were very busy, and even when I asked him what their biggest challenge they're currently facing or expecting to face is, he answered that the biggest thing they're focused on now is "getting more hands." Apart from that it would be developing the future generations of the system. He told me that the next step would be the technical interview, and assured me it wouldn't be anything too challenging or anything. The operations lead reached out to me within a half hour trying to schedule the technical interview, and she even used the phrase "as soon as possible" in bold letters, so I felt very good. Technical interview was scheduled 2 days thereafter, and I believed it to have gone well. The man wasn't actually a part of their company, but rather one of their investors that has extensive experience in the industry. There was only one question where I wasn't very confident, but he even gave me good verbal feedback after the question saying I knew a decent amount for no experience with the particular system, and then went on to explain all of the other possibilities. Long story short, I felt very confident leaving both interviews, however I haven't heard from them since. My last interview was the morning on January 28th, and I sent a follow up email to the operations lead the following day, but haven't heard back. The ad is still up and has even been updated since, so I was just wondering if I should send a separate follow up? Possibly to the CTO? I think I'm more worried because it is such a small team right now and I know they are busy, I don't want to be a nuisance. TL;DR Interviewed twice for a company that was very communicative initially and have gone silent since. I felt extremely confident but haven't heard from them in nearly 2 weeks now. Should I send a separate follow up? Possibly to the actual CTO that I interviewed with and not just the woman who is clearly handling the hiring process. Any advice would be great! [link] [comments]  |
| Do most startups want to be acquired? Posted: 10 Feb 2021 10:13 AM PST I just had a random question, I'm not too well-versed in the whole startup scene. Do the majority of startups aim to be acquired by a bigger company or is their aim more to grow independently and attempt to become bigger companies by themselves. It seems that most startups prefer to be acquired and if this is true, why do most prefer the acquisition route over their own independent route. [link] [comments]  |
| Using a design studio for Brand Identity, Packaging, Print, Typeface Posted: 10 Feb 2021 01:00 PM PST What are the costs, benefits & alternatives to using a design studio for: Brand Identity, Packaging, Print, & Typeface.
[link] [comments]  |
| I need to find the right tech partner. What should I be looking for? Posted: 10 Feb 2021 07:09 AM PST So a little background. I ended up partnering with a skilled developer on a recent project that didn't go anywhere as they ended up getting really busy on other projects so the project has stalled. I'm considering shutting this project down and finding the right tech partner that has the skills to build a product and a business with me. My background is in business development, product management, and sales/marketing. I plan on handling the business side of the partnership and I'm looking for a tech partner that can build a product and business that I have in mind. The product that I want to build will start as an app with a database, then down the road well need to create a website for the business where the customers will be able to use either the app or website for our product. What type of skills should I be looking for in a tech partner and how can I make sure they are committed to the project. As of right now I have the entire business plan laid out. I just need to find the right person to go on this journey with me. But I'm having trouble finding that right person. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 10 Feb 2021 06:49 AM PST I'm aware this may be a red flag for investors as we are not 100% committed to either business. The products are fantastic and have taken 2+ years to develop. I'm not sure if it's convenient or not that they are ready at the same time. We want to raise 50-100k for each, then raise a larger seed round in late 2021. Any advice at all with this would be appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| AirBnB for group fitness classes Posted: 10 Feb 2021 08:47 AM PST Lets say i wanted to start a peer-to-peer marketplace for group fitness classes. Dance class, yoga, cardio kickboxing, etc....all the fitness classes where you don't need expensive equipment, and where having an instructor and a peer group significantly improves the experience. the host will teach the classes at their location (at home, in a public park, wherever) guests can find and book these fitness classes thru the app Anybody can watch a free youtube video and do yoga or cardio kickboxing in their living room.....but doing yoga or cardio kickboxing with a group of people and an instructor is a much more enjoyable experience. Its not so much the professional gym atmosphere...but the group of people all working on the same thing together that makes group fitness more enjoyable. You don't need a gym for that, but you do need to organize people to all do the activity together at the same time. Lots of people could teach these classes...but don't because its a pain to become an employee of a gym and become beholden to the gym's schedule. So, lets say that this is my business idea. I need to build the marketplace website, and also the mobile apps on iOS and Android. The marketplace facilitates discovery, scheduling, booking and payments...provides insurance and customer support, and user ratings to improve quality control. How would you go about building this business? about me: i was a desktop/database software developer at investment banks for 6 years....then worked on the business side at investment banks for about 6 years...and now i'm unemployed. [link] [comments]  |
| Developing a marketing strategy for an online C2C marketplace Posted: 10 Feb 2021 10:25 AM PST We are currently building a startup in the Edtech sector and would like to gather insights and feedback from this helpful community to improve our marketing campaign. Apologies in advance if this is a long post, but we wanted to be thorough :) Background: Our platform is an online marketplace for conversations. We connect one user with another with the aim to improve their speaking skills. As a typical marketplace, there are two sides, namely the demand, which we call language learners and the supply aka language helpers. Language leaners benefit from the platform by practicing speaking a language with the most suitable individual that could help them out the most, while language helpers earn some side income while improving the skills of others. We have a matching algorithm that continuously learns from the users' behaviour on the platform. Without going into lots of details (but we are happy to share more details, when asked), all the services on the platform are online. All sessions (Audio and/or Video) take place on the platform. There are various systems in place, such as wallet, session booking, messaging, rating and reporting systems. Building a marketplace aka how to solve the chicken and egg problem?: As this is a marketplace, it won't work if the language learners (demand) do not find language helpers (supply) on the platform as well as vice versa. Based on our research, it was recommended that we build up the supply side of the marketplace then open it up for the demand as well. That being said, the first step is to identify the relevant market segments.
Marketing strategy: We have opted to pursue various marketing channels with the aim to identify which method is the most suitable for our market segments.
Conclusion We know it is difficult to find the silver marketing bullet, and we understand that once critical mass is achieved, organic growth could be easier (referrals, competitions, ..etc). Given that we do not have investment so far, and that all the investors whom we have contacted have indicated that they would like to see a proof of traction before discussing further, we are looking forward to your feedback and comments. Thanks in advance :) [link] [comments]  |
| What happens to your shares if you're kicked out of your company? Posted: 10 Feb 2021 04:22 AM PST As the title suggests. I'm a co-founder of a company and I own 20% of the stock. My other 2 co-founders own 36.25% each, and a VC owns 7.5%. Each of my co-founders now wants to go at it by themselves because they're both full time and I'm only part-time, and because of that they're kicking me out. They can since they combined own more than 50% of the stock. What I want to know is, what happens to my stock? Surely I still own my stock? What ends up happening? Does anyone have any experience or advice? It's a bit stressful for me so anything would be appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Help with first call with a VC firm Posted: 10 Feb 2021 02:18 AM PST Hi all, I am a sr. software engineer and I have been working in the industry for 12 years now. I build web apps as side projects in my free time. I now maintain 2 apps, the first one has been around for 1 and a half years and has about 700 user registrations (cleaned out of spam and disposable emails). Just 6 months ago I received an email from a VC firm requesting us to schedule a call. I didn't know what to expect, as I am one-man's-army here and do all the work as it's my side project. They seemed to have serious interest around my app and asked me a couple of questions, most of them around "tell as about your project". I didn't know where to focus, I didn't know what to say or not to say and the most important, I didn't know what to expect. Do they offer capital to build up the app as a "loan" and wait for money in return? Finally, it seemed to me that the call went well but they didn't reply afterwards. I am not sure what did I do wrong. So now, I got another request for a call next week with another VC firm. They just want to talk about the project. I don't know what to expect and how to prepare. Do they expect me to have a business plan? Do they expect us to be a full blown team of developers, accountants and marketeers? If you have any knowledge on similar meetings, can you please offer any hints? Thanks in advance [link] [comments]  |
| How do I deal with this mini-crisis? Posted: 10 Feb 2021 03:44 AM PST TL;DR OK, I'll admit, it's not going to be the biggest crisis you've ever heard of, but it has the potential to become big. My co-founder has hit the panic button, and I need to make some decisions on how I handle this. Also - this is a throwaway account because I wanted to keep things anonymous. I'm sorry. A little bit of background My co-founder and I met about 2 months ago; I had already a baked, validated idea and an investor I was in contact with; He was interested in exploring the venture. I took the time to get to know him first, pushing back on discussing the idea itself and instead focusing on personality fit, character, values, and passions - which he agreed was the right approach for us, and only after a few weeks of chatting, we spoke about the problem space, which both of us wanted to get into, and the solution. Seeing that we get along pretty well, passionate about the same problem, that our values match and our skills complement, we decided to work together. But, about a week ago, we had our first (of probably many, let's admit it) bad moments. The investor I was talking to, flip-flopped, giving us mixed signals. When I say investor; it's a very young and inexperienced VC (6 months in the role) who has no expertise in the industry we are in, and did not display a desire in getting into deep enough conversations to understand the market and how we are trying to affect it. That's where my co-founder hit the button; he disappeared for half a week, barely responding to my messages and I assume, didn't work. That's OK though - I'm pretty relaxed normally and wanted to give him the time to reflect, so other than hey how are you, I didn't message much. Hitting the panic button On the 4th day, we spoke after I reached out to ask if he was OK; his immediate reaction was to quit, saying that the main reason was the VC's opinion; in other words, since the VC hasn't invested (at least yet) the idea is not good enough; I took the weekend to reflect, too, documenting my thoughts and assumptions, evidence to support or contradict them, pros, and cons, however, I wasn't going to try convincing him to change his mind. That's because I know that building a start-up isn't going to be a smooth sail, that part of the journey is people saying no to you, and that you can't just jump ship every time it happens, and instead, you should consider the feedback and make decisions based on evidence But to do so - you've got to be wholeheartedly into solving the problem, and it's not going to work if I forced him to change his mind. What's next He did ask me to tell him what I thought, and so, I did; I was ready to say 'goodbye' when he said that wanted another day to process what I said. which means he might change his mind. I have some questions So, first; what do you think about anything I said? And more specifically:
[link] [comments]  |
| Why I often prefer juniors to “superstars”: confessions of a startup CEO Posted: 10 Feb 2021 03:20 AM PST Hello everyone! It's Alex again. For those not familiar with me, I'm a founder of a company that produces mobile apps for life and health. Yesterday I read an interesting article about interviews and hiring, and I want to share my findings and experience with you. Let's go! I find typical interviews a waste of time. Those typical boring questions about the algorithms or binary trees won't show the real skills of a candidate, except the fact that the person has found the answers on the Internet and remembered them. And a job talk where an interviewer forces you to write code on paper or a blackboard is generally crap. When the book about Microsoft interviews was published, all the HRs started to ask about round hatches and golf balls. Thank God they've stopped doing that already. On the other hand, some startups do not care how many sortings you know. It is highly important that you do business and fit into the team. For them, a beer interview in the park is an effective process in weeding out the wrong candidates. Having conducted a bunch of interviews, and tried different strategies, I realized that the perfect candidate (for me) has three qualities. 1. Wisdom Don't mix it up with knowledge, erudition, or IQ level. Candidate's olympiad diplomas won't save you from poor quality code. Synthetic tests or questions about algorithms are a complete bullsh*t. They show that the interviewer has no idea about how to do the job. Wisdom is the ability to ask questions, analyze arguments without making hasty conclusions, see the pros and cons of decisions, processes, frameworks. You can replace it with professional experience, but it is not always possible. The experience is more of an observation, and to turn it into knowledge, you need to make some more steps. 2. Ability to get sh*t done The newer and fresher the project, the more it is in want of people who know how to create a startup in the garage. Otherwise, the old and stable projects value candidates that figure out features and think more about logic. You need to keep the balance. It is easy to determine the ability to get sh*t done - by clear and direct replies to your questions and the so-called "fiery eyes". 3. Team compatibility IT is a team game, loners are not competitive here. Usually, the incompatibility of a person with colleagues is one of the main reasons for layoffs. I always look at whether the candidate is "similar" to the others and can make a good team. Hiring even the smartest nerd in a community of highly effective drunks is a shitty idea. "Ninja Superstar" will literally rot in a team, where every step should be coordinated with the team lead. And both of them, once in the right place, can become efficiency geniuses. Therefore, wise team leaders know how to refuse good candidates who, unfortunately, will not get along with the team. OK, we've decided that we like the person and we are ready to work together. But how to test technical knowledge? For me, the best test is to sit down and together solve a problem that my team has recently solved in the product. Such an interview shows the way a person thinks, builds logical chains, sees problems, gives reasons for decisions, etc. After that, I allow asking questions about us to understand whether the candidate is interested in working for our company. After that, we shake hands and prepare an offer or a letter of gratitude for the time spent. Do you have any hiring rules? What is your perfect candidate? And if you are an employee, what was the most weird question on interviews? [link] [comments]  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Startups - Rapid Growth and Innovation is in Our Very Nature!. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment