Startups How to achieve product-market fit with a lean team (Mistakes I learnt from) |
- How to achieve product-market fit with a lean team (Mistakes I learnt from)
- Our CEO raised a round without telling us. Now he is saying our board isn't allowing me to retain my C-level title.
- How to maximize time in an "incubator"?
- Alternative, less pretentious titles for CEO, COO, CTO, CIO in small startup?
- Company Start Up Ideas
- I want to increase public media appearances to help with marketing. Need tips
- Nativeforms No-Code Form Builder on Lifetime deal
- Anyone work for a non-alcoholic distributor?
- I need a good shipping courier to ship from China to UK
- Equity, Pay, & Bonus paid after Series A
- The emotional journey of founding a start-up.
- Worked for a start-up for 4 months, quit because of sketchy processes and boss cutting corners, boss not paying the amount I invoiced for... help.
- Canadian Entrepreneur -- Structuring North American Business (US vs Canada Incorporation) - Looking for guidance on where to incorporate a Canadian startup manufacturing and doing business in the US.
- Scrap it or turn it into a passive blog
- Growing social media in order to grow website
- Consultant? Hired Employee? Or don't do it?
- When do you move on?
- How do leave my business?
- Help me understand pricing (sales tax, shipping, etc)
- Self 409A Valuation?
| How to achieve product-market fit with a lean team (Mistakes I learnt from) Posted: 04 May 2021 12:53 AM PDT There are a lot of things that can go wrong in the early stages of a product-based startup. And here are a few things we learnt on the way:
If these pointers make sense, here's a detailed recording of our entire learning. Hope this helps: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6UUTSf0XT6on8ppcCGMpqI [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 May 2021 05:50 PM PDT Our CEO raised a round without telling us. Now he is saying our board isn't allowing me to retain my C-level title. General Startup Discussion <<<is there a better flair? can you add 2 flairs? As you may have gathered there are multiple red flags around this. tl/dr: current Csuite. have analytics to prove i earned it in no uncertain terms. new board is reorganizing & ill get a lesser title. questions below! BACKGROUND -Joined the company 3 yrs ago when it was a 3rd party app with no path to revenue -Pivoted us into Healthcare, we now are a key contender in a niche & growing submarket -I was demonstrably essential (ran EVERY non-engineering aspect of this pivot; secured massive distro with largest global player; near tailend of a 7 fig. deal with customer; plugged every nook and cranny; I've even learned to code and made some simple features for large customers) -Lastly, I was told how great a job I was doing and would receive more equity and a pay raise (verbal, unwritten). TIL that my CEO has at some point raised a Seed round and we now "have a board" and I am being asked to change my original title from C-suite to VP of whatever. This is a public demotion (my involvement in inking this pivotal deal made headlines). I have no increase in my compensation for the foreseeable future. Our CEO is young, younger than me and has no experience in leadership or management. I have highlighted to him, what is going on from my POV. He said he will speak with the board and get back to me next week.... QUESTIONS What i'm wondering from those who've dealt with unpleasant surprises like this before is:
[link] [comments]  |
| How to maximize time in an "incubator"? Posted: 03 May 2021 10:43 AM PDT Hi all, Some context: I'm a high school student running a pet-tech startup with a team of teens. We've crowdfunded $10k+ and are just beginning our actual B2C journey. Last week, we were accepted into the inaugural cohort for a brand new incubator. Since it's the first session, a lot of it isn't strict and planned, most of it is pairing up with a mentor and working with them to achieve goals (laissez-faire) I'm already working with mentors on sales and marketing strategies + long term plans, but are there any super big things that a young startup (especially teen-led) should learn / benefit from in an "incubator"? I really want to get the most out of this month-long program. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Alternative, less pretentious titles for CEO, COO, CTO, CIO in small startup? Posted: 03 May 2021 11:18 PM PDT I founded a startup less than a year ago, and we have grown to a team of 4 who all own similar % shares. We are nearing MVP launch. The teams has suggested the following titles :
My concern is that the C-suite titles are a bit pretentious for a 4-person company launching an MVP. I also don't want super fluffy pretentious tech bro titles like "Lead problem solver" or anything like that. Any suggestions? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 May 2021 01:40 AM PDT Business Ideas... How Can I Turn A Product Like A Anti Gravity Flying machine Into A Useful Product I mean how it can solve societies problems if you have no idea what i am talking about this is a picture to the product i am describing The Product Image keep in mined it might be a smaller version of the picture... thanks [link] [comments]  |
| I want to increase public media appearances to help with marketing. Need tips Posted: 03 May 2021 03:51 AM PDT I hope this is the right place to post this. I run a start-up providing business support services including accountancy, ERPNext, and web app development. We've had some good traction the past year since opening but things have really slowed this year so we're ramping up marketing in 3 ways
I need tips on this cause
On the bright side - we've spent the past year refining our products so I'm more confident in our abilities - look good and speak good English Any tips and resources you think can help on this will be appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Nativeforms No-Code Form Builder on Lifetime deal Posted: 04 May 2021 12:14 AM PDT Nativeforms which is arguably the best form builder joining with SaaS Mantra for the special webinar today at 10 am EST You can join this webinar to learn how to do build a no-code hassle free form on your website. You can register here, https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-kzg_umcQDW8ny8okzM4VQ [link] [comments]  |
| Anyone work for a non-alcoholic distributor? Posted: 03 May 2021 12:47 PM PDT I created a sports drink, we sold out of our first batch, we redid some of the flavor profiles as well as the bottle design. We are looking to make a second trial batch. Is it possible to get a distributor lined up with no product? would they even consider taking on a product that has a small scale limited supply?? i.e. 4000 bottles of each flavor. [link] [comments]  |
| I need a good shipping courier to ship from China to UK Posted: 03 May 2021 04:01 PM PDT Hello guys, I'm desperately needing a shipping courier to ship all my products to the UK. I'm only 18 so don't have a lot of experience in this. I started my own business for fun but it's turned into my life now. I'm getting lots of orders a day so I need a reliable courier to pick my items up from my Chinese manufacturer then ship across the UK to customers. PLEASE SOMEONE GIVE ME ADVICE. thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Equity, Pay, & Bonus paid after Series A Posted: 03 May 2021 12:45 PM PDT Background:I was recently asked to step in as CEO for a company that's done the engineering work for a product, but they have no experience bringing a product to market. I've been in this industry for 20 years, and have validated that they have a great product. They have no money. The current game plan is for me to fundraise $4-7M as their CEO, then bring that product to market (this amount of fundraising is normal for our industry pre-revenue). Valuation would be in the $25-40M range. During the fundraising process, I wouldn't be paid. Once I raise the money, I would immediately vest into a large portion of my shares, and would eventually vest into 10% of the company post-money. I would also start taking an appropriate salary for a funded startup. Question:The question I have is how to compensate the value of bringing in the funding while working unpaid for months? Paying me deferred salary breaks a bunch of labor laws, so we're likely looking at a fixed amount. We could structure the amount to match how long we expect this to take, but fundraising could take several weeks to much of a year. Brokers demand 2-7% for raising this much. Do I ask for that kind of bonus? Do I consider my 10% equity as payment for this? Or is that part of the standard employee pool of equity for CEOs? Or do I go with their proposal of guessing how long fundraising will take, and giving a lump sum of that many months of salary as a bonus while avoiding any mention of "deferred salary"? I appreciate your insights! [link] [comments]  |
| The emotional journey of founding a start-up. Posted: 03 May 2021 03:40 AM PDT It'll be a year, at the end of this month, since I started the company. There many days I don't want to get out of bed. Days I'd rather pack up and just walk away from it all. Get a job in some sunny beautiful country I've always wanted to visit and work there for a while. Life will be much easier… a lot much more manageable — I think to myself. As a software engineer, I'll make a lot of money. We're in the midst of beta testing the app and the anxiety of getting customers to try out the product eats me up. The fear that I'm doing something wrong, that I'm going nowhere, that why would I think people would pay for my ideas… it's just unbearable sometimes. My family and friends are supportive, which helps. It helps that I'm my own harshest critic because I'm not sure how I'd feel if other immediate external voices were louder in their criticism. I remind myself why I began this journey in the first place… Although the cause is far greater than me, I sometimes wonder if I must bear the cross alone. It's times like these where I feel like I need someone to help me get to the next level. I don't always have the ability to carry myself. I'm concerned about whether I have all of the necessary technical knowledge to build something worthwhile. Since I'm stressed, it's hard for me to hear rational solutions to these problems because I still don't have the energy to work on them. I'm exhausted mentally. So I should take a break, right? But for how long? How long can you ignore work that won't get done unless you work on it? So I try to continue working… My biggest fear is not failing. It's the thought that even if I failed, I'd never know enough to bounce back and make it work no matter how hard I tried. It's the vague fear that what if I'm not good enough to do this thing… these days are extremely hard and just miserable… But there's one thing I can't do: simply quit. I'd never be satisfied with myself if I gave up halfway through just because I was scared. However, I'm really scared right now, so scared that I'm writing about being scared hoping it will ease my nerves… then hopefully I can keep going. Anyone with advise to help me get through, I'd greatly appreciate it 🙏🏾 [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 May 2021 03:39 AM PDT Hi everyone, I was in planning a move to another county and I could only dedicate myself to the startup for only a couple of hours a week. I made that very clear with the owner who was hiring me. I am a CA (certified accountant), I was hired to maintain the accounting and bookkeeping and also to improve processes the company has. The owner said that what he wants for me right now would only take a couple of hours a week as he only spends minimal time on the finance part of things. He made it sound like his company already have a system in place and all I had to do was to maintain it. When I joined, to my surprise there was: - no accounting system in place (so I am not sure what he was doing?) - no formal PO process, no ERP system, all communication done through email (sales staff was running around like a headless chicken getting logistics and everything in order) - no vendor maintenance - not all invoices were saved on the drive - the bank information did not state which invoice was paid ETC Basically, nothing was done. He wanted me to write a business plan for him and to plan budgets/forecasts. It was mildly discouraging but I put in the work to have all the files sorted. I created files for him and the sales team so they can keep track of their ongoing projects. I set the company up with an accounting system and prepared his 2020 financial statements. Invoice matched all the transactions and saved them on the drive for audit trail. He requested me to talk to the tax accountants about transfer pricing because he requested that I write a memo for him regarding that. I did a ton of research and read different tax articles on the company structure but he never got back to me about the pricing. So all my time was for nothing. ANYWHO, tons of dysfunctional running around and putting out fires wherever they come from. I was pretty sick of the lack of communication and it didn't seem like the owner was telling me the whole story behind his business, so I decided to quit. He has never commented on my performance before until I told him I quit on the phone, he sassed me and told me that I had an attitude problem. I have not been paid for the work I have done for the past 4 months, so I invoiced a lump sum of ~$2k which I deem more than fair and a pretty good deal for the owner (signed a contractor agreement). One week after I sent the invoice, he came back and said that the amount I invoiced was surprising and he had the impression that I was not working for the company since xxx (some date he made up). This is complete bullshit because he has been giving me tasks during the time he thought I was "not working", I was also supporting the sales team full time and I was the only one that had access to the bank to pay vendors.....I am not sure who he thought was paying vendors and keeping up with the bookkeeping... I am not sure what to do at this point.. I would love and appreciate your advice. TLTR: I worked for a start-up for 4 months, shit got sketchy and I put in my notice. I got sassed at and was told that I had an attitude problem and now he doesn't want to pay me ~$2,000 for my work from Dec 2020 - April 2021. Not sure what to do. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 May 2021 09:09 AM PDT Hey there, I'm in the early-mid stages of planning out a startup. I've run the napkin math and began the product development process. However, before going too far, I seem to be at a crossroads with regards to where I should be incorporating my company... The short of it:
Would love to hear from other Canadians doing business in the US. Some thought-starters:
The ideal structure should offer the most favourable corporate taxation scenario, and also consider taxes involved with paying myself. Additionally, there are some great grants and other support that the Canadian government provides businesses -- ideally, I'd like to take advantage of these, which would require Canadian incorporation... But I'm also open to considering any applicable U.S small business grants. I'm posting just to get an idea of what to expect, and am hoping to be pointed in the right direction. I completely understand that I will need to consult a CPA, and probably, a tax attorney. I'm happy to consider moving to the US on a permanent basis if the company grows successful, but AFAIK, the need for me to be physically present isn't significant at the moment. I'm happy to lead the organization remotely, and visit the US on an as-needed basis... There's more detail below -- in case they provide material info that would help inform the decisions. Long story:
I'm currently in conversation with Health Canada to find a path forward within their current regulatory framework, but the regulations are simply in direct conflict with the business model (think of how Uber's business model was in conflict with incumbent regulations). I need to manufacture and sell products in the US. Thank you!! I know this is a long post... An incorporation strategy has been at the back of my mind ever since I learned that manufacturing and selling in Canada is not feasible. Obviously, I'd like to avoid double-taxation scenarios... For anyone stumbling across this post in the future, and considering incorporating in the US, here is an informative resource for getting started that I came across while doing some research on this (hopefully the rest of the discussion in this post is also valuable): - BDO.ca: Tax Consequences for Canadians Doing Business in the U.S. [link] [comments]  |
| Scrap it or turn it into a passive blog Posted: 03 May 2021 03:22 AM PDT Right before the pandemic, I started a platform for making it easier for uni students to find and create student related events. Soon after, the campuses I targeted closed. Out of ideas, I decided to pivot it into a content sharing & social media thing but I hated it because I don't think very high of social media so I wasn't really passionate about it and half-assed working on it. Since then it's pretty much dead but I have a website and a published app. I accept that things don't always pan out in our favour and I should move on from a failure. However, I am in a position to allocate $100-200 a month just keep it alive with a hope it will turn into a passive income blog. My plan is to pay students to write articles for the site and let it grow that way. I wouldn't be very involved time wise. Should I do that or I am missing something in this new model? I still believe there is a problem to be solved with my original idea but it is just a bad timing to offer an event based service when the world is closed. [link] [comments]  |
| Growing social media in order to grow website Posted: 03 May 2021 06:45 AM PDT I recently launched my new website and couldn't be happier! I was talking with a friend and he suggested I focus on organic social media growth before spending a ton of money on ads. He runs a large Instagram theme page and got a bunch of activity on his website when he shared it. This had me thinking, if you have the best product or service with no traffic it doesn't matter. However, if you have even a mediocre product or service with existing traffic you will likely still do well. I've been working on my account and have about 150 followers already. My site still has no users yet but I'm hopeful as my page grows they will come. What are your thoughts, and do you have any advice? Have you done something similar? Thanks! :) [link] [comments]  |
| Consultant? Hired Employee? Or don't do it? Posted: 02 May 2021 08:37 PM PDT Dear Reddit, I have been asked to "join" a new startup/a "team" with 3 founders who all invested money into the idea already. I didn't invest a dime. They have offered me equity and a salary pay but now after doing research, equity could mean crap. And the salary could be not that much right now. I personally think these 3 founders are just too cheap to pay someone who truly can accomplish their tasks needed. They are still in the business licensing stage and finding a warehouse to rent for the business. My name is not in any of the licenses as far as I am aware of. They also want me to sign documents.. NDAs/other contracts if I "join" their "team". So the following are what they have asked me to accomplish/do: 1) Start/Find third parties to finish all IT projects (apps, websites, etc. currently IT is non-existent) and then manage all these IT projects in the future. 2) Start/Manage all of the marketing projects needed. 3) Possibly fly to nearby cities. 4) Could be anything else they need me to do in the future. 5) etc. Originally they wanted me to code their projects. But I am not a coder. Sounds like I'm just a project manager? They also originally just wanted to hire me as a full time employee with no benefits such as vision, health, and dental. But I negotiated for some equity. And I'm sure they won't be paying me enough yearly. And equity wise I'm sure it's going to be only 1-5%. Keep in mind I do have some successful marketing/IT projects in the past but I am no expert at these fields. And currently I am also running a business with my current co-founder. But this business isn't taking too much of my time but it can build up in the future and will demand more time from me. And it's doing good so far but I have yet to be paid from it yet. So the only reason why I'm interested in joining this new startup is because the potential for me to be the CMO/CIO/CTO in the future might be high. I have a feeling it will do well, the 3 founders have money and have owned businesses in the same industry and other industries. But I believe this new startup they are trying to start is going to cost a lot. I have yet to see if they will bring on investors in the future too. I also spoke and met with one of the other founders recently and she mentioned that she went to other "people/companies" who could do what she wants but the other co-founder wants to bring me on to "join" the team. They are also saying they want someone young with new ideas and is energetic. I think this is a bunch of crap because they are just being cheap to pay a top firm to do these marketing/IT projects for them. Or it could be an good opportunity for me. If I were to be a consultant I was thinking of just charging them a one time fee once the projects are up and running. I'm unsure how much but a few thousand to 10-20k would be ideal for me. I was also thinking if they liked my work after all projects are up and running that I would ask if they could hire me full on and pay me a high salary and be their CTO. As working for anything less than my demands will be a waste of my time. This potential 10-20k$ would be nice to have right now for me after being laid off from work too. Would taking on this project/joining this "team" be ideal or just dumb and a waste of time? I just don't want to miss being part of a huge startup or being a high level executive at a well known startup and being paid more than my current business in a few years. And also owning a small amount of equity as a huge startup. Or just be a consultant? TLDR: Running a good business, no money yet but good sales. Got asked to join a startup with high prospects for myself making a high salary. My goal in life is to be my own boss and/or also to be part of a growing business (with ownership though). So join the "team" while running my business with my current co-founder. Or be a consultant, make a few bucks, and just focus on my main business? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 May 2021 08:24 PM PDT Hi guys I just joined this sub.. amazing inspirational posts! I'm currently working on an apparel start up. I have a nice niche and compared to other competitors I think my designs are better (the market will have the final tell tho ). I have spent a lot of hours researching the market and I finally feel ready to start. However when do you consider a start up idea a failure? Should I give it 3 months? 6 months? A year ? Do you guys have a rule of thumbs? The reason is linked to my social media calendar. It takes a lot of energy to prepare and I was going to create the first 4 months in a row and then see how sells and engagement are going. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 May 2021 08:06 PM PDT I have no idea if this would be right place to ask... but I'm looking to leave an S Corp that a friend and I started. A year ago I decided to take a break from our startup. My friend was fine with that. We recently had a falling out and I've decided to longer be his friend, so I'm looking to officially leave our business too. He is majority shareholder ... I wanna say it was like 60/40. I have made $0 from the business and just want a clean break. How do I do that? [link] [comments]  |
| Help me understand pricing (sales tax, shipping, etc) Posted: 02 May 2021 03:15 PM PDT Hello all! I'm working on launching a workout apparel brand centered around a social media influencer that I'm friends with. We're working through things right now and I have a ton of questions, but I'll keep this thread specific to pricing. We're getting our clothing manufactured in China (probably) and then shipped straight to a 3PL. - In regards to sales tax (and other taxes), is it best practice to pass some/all of that along to the customer? - We pay a per-item fee with the 3PL, part of which is the shipping cost. Let's say that cost is $10/order. What's the best way to parse which part of that is shipping costs, and then charge that amount of shipping for purchases? We plan to have a free shipping break at a certain overall purchase threshold, but we don't necessarily want to provide free shipping on all orders. - Is there any sense in trying to bake these costs in to the overall item cost and then hide those fees from the end user on the site? I'm probably going to pop up semi-frequently here and on the discord server once my finals wrap up in the next week or so. I appreciate your help! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 May 2021 11:12 AM PDT We are looking to hire our first employee and it seems we need to do our first 409A valuation so we can give the employee shares (common vesting shares, not options) at the FMV. We have been working on the startup for 1+ year without any funding, just on the side while in grad school. We are now going full-time and just received our first funding, a government grant for ~$250K. My question is, could we just do the 409A valuation ourselves? I would think our case is a easy, so I'd like to avoid the $3K cost. A little about the company, we are a 3 person B2B software startup in Bay Area. [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