Startups How do I get out? |
- How do I get out?
- How to take an idea in academia to form a company?
- Any tips for getting over the "nerves" of deploying your first ever product as a solo founder?
- At a crossroads with B2C Fintech SaaS
- [HELP] Alternative method to credit card
- A sip of encouragement to start building new stuff
- How to find and track competitor pricing in the service robot market?
- What to do when co-founder goes MIA?
- Books & resources on scaling and scale-ups, esp. industry?
- How much equity is common for a lead developer at an already-profitable bootstrapped startup?
- Funding with poor personal credit
| Posted: 03 Jan 2022 02:35 PM PST I've been building my start up for 3 years. It's been a successful but harrowing journey and I am absolutely burnt out. We've finally been offered investment of $1M for 20% equity. I hate every single day and am sick of firefighting. I hate my customers and honestly hate what the business has become, despite how successful it now is. How do I get out? I want to maximise my personal financial gain because I've sacrificed my health and my life for years so I'm owed. But I want to get out as soon as possible. Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of the following scenarios: - taking the investment and hiring for my replacement. In 12 months what happens if I resign? I own 80% of the business. - taking the investment and feigning (to be honest not even feigning) but making it clear my mental health is preventing me from continuing with my role. Can I be ousted? What happens if I'm ousted, to my shares etc? I am at the point where if a significant pay out is more than 18 months away I'd rather walk away with nothing now. I feel trapped and like I'm going insane. Has anyone got any exit stories they can share that are similar? Edit - You guys have been amazing with all the advice. Really amazing. I've learned a great deal and learned that this is a fairly common situation for many founders to find themselves in which has been a huge comfort. It's really easy to lose perspective and feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders and there's no way out when you're the 'captain of the ship' - whether the ship is sailing smoothly or not. Really appreciate it 😘 To any other founders in a similar situation with no one to talk to - feel free to DM me. For anyone else with hilarious stories about the unbelievable shit they're staff do as soon as their backs are turned, let's write a book? I think it could be a best seller. [link] [comments] |
| How to take an idea in academia to form a company? Posted: 03 Jan 2022 11:51 PM PST I'm a physician-scientist (MD/PhD) in training currently completing my PhD in computer science. As part of my research, I develop genomic algorithms. A tool I invented appears to have significant diagnostic power, and though I am still a trainee, I have enough clinical domain knowledge to know this diagnostic tool is state-of-the-art. I've filed a provisional patent application through my university. I guess my question is, now what? I'm completely doe-eyed when it comes to everything associated with starting a company. I came to r/startups mainly because I truly believe in the diagnostic value of the tool I've developed, and I think forming a company would pave way for widespread adoption of this method. I might be mistaken about this path, please do let me know if there are other channels of adoption I should be aware of! What's unclear to me is the sequence of things I should be paying attention to - there's no shortage of articles online on how to start companies but there seems to be so many things that are "important" it's hard to know what is most important to me at this stage. Should I be looking to license my algorithm to an existing company? Should I be forming an LLC? How and where can I find a mentor to guide me through this? If anyone has experience taking an idea formed in academia to a marketable product, I'd love to hear your advice! [link] [comments] |
| Any tips for getting over the "nerves" of deploying your first ever product as a solo founder? Posted: 03 Jan 2022 04:12 PM PST I have an MVP ready. I've put a lot of work into it, but I notice I'm stalling a lot on just getting it out there. I seem to be in some sort of infinite perfectionist loop, which I am aware is no good. I know what I make will change, but I can't seem to just feel okay with deploying. How do you deal with this? I mean, just the idea that people will be using what I've made feels so massive to me. That people out there will be taking time out of their day to check what I made out if it seems good. Just feels like I have a huge responsibility to provide something great and worthy and it makes me stall a lot even though I know whatever I make won't be perfect. I've noticed this to be a common issue. How do you guys deal with this? I'm just a newbie passing by, I would appreciate some words of wisdom from some of you more experienced people. [link] [comments] |
| At a crossroads with B2C Fintech SaaS Posted: 04 Jan 2022 03:58 AM PST I'm looking for support or advice. I've built a piece of software in the B2C Fintech niche. I'm solving a problem and it seems like I'm doing it well. Customers who stay more than a month tend to stay for 1 year plus. The problem is that it seems like there are not enough people who have the problem. I've spent quite a lot of energy and money on marketing and it's out of pocket since I'm not earning any significant money on the small customer pool that I have. For different reasons I can't do the marketing myself and I can't pay for it anymore. I'm considering a few options: My closest competitor is doing well with over 600k users in a different part of the world I am not addressing so I believe there is a market for me as well which is just very hard (for me, at least) to reach. Any advice or suggestions? [link] [comments] |
| [HELP] Alternative method to credit card Posted: 04 Jan 2022 03:43 AM PST Hi guys, I'll give you a little background. I have a family business that provides service to trucking companies, when they have a problem anywhere in Europe we recharge some cards that we have previously sent them and they can pay things like fines or technical problems. Recently we have had a problem with the bank and therefore with the cards and even if we solve it I need an alternative to not depend on them. What method would you use to make these payments that we currently make by recharging these cards? I have thought of methods such as recharging virtual cards and paying with a phone via NFC, but the problem is that many of these truckers either do not have internet connection outside their home country or have rudimentary mobiles, so we would have to provide them with one ourselves and that would raise the cost too much. Any suggestions? Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| A sip of encouragement to start building new stuff Posted: 04 Jan 2022 02:58 AM PST Hey! Hope you are doing well in the place and the time you are reading this piece of text. I'm a guy who likes to build things first, if it fails then I read the instructions. I went through hundreds of failures in my jobs and projects. (There were big ones as explained here.) I know it's not the ideal way, but when I wait to be ready to start building something. (watching tutorials, reading books, etc.) I don't know what to focus on and what to ignore in that hell of knowledge. I get lost and quit. When I try and fail, I feel a strong hunger for knowledge. That hunger makes me put extraordinary attention to reading instructions. I know where the failure comes from so my brain becomes selective on what to focus on. I can go behind what is written and match with the challenges in the process. I get the best from that book or course. When I go back to the building, I can address problems easily and find solutions like never before. Hence, instead of worrying, hesitating about if you're ready or not, start building. Failure will convert your ignorance and fears to a hunger for knowledge. It sets down your excitement but makes you a wiser guy. Just knowing how it should be done is not enough. You need to know also how it shouldn't be done. Thanks for reading. I started writing on Twitter as well. Let's get in touch here if you find my writings interesting. [link] [comments] |
| How to find and track competitor pricing in the service robot market? Posted: 03 Jan 2022 06:05 AM PST We are a small startup based in San Francisco. We design service robots that can be used in hospitals and grocery stores. We are planning to reach out to potential customers across the U.S. However, one challenge that we are facing is that we haven't been able to find the pricing of our competitors. How can we find and track the price being charged by the existing players in the service robot market so that we can provide attractive pricing to our customers? Would appreciate any insight on this. Thank You. [link] [comments] |
| What to do when co-founder goes MIA? Posted: 02 Jan 2022 03:52 PM PST A good friend who works in the film industry approached me a little while ago to build an web app for the industry. At a general level, it was used to display schedule and worked hours for film contractors. It was designed to make the job easier for managers in departments as well as the accountants who would need to pay the contractors. Anyway, I built this application, according to his specifications. It took me about every weekend between January and June of this year. So after I built it, my friend goes through a mental health emergency (breakup, depression, etc.) and needs some time off. His job was to sell and market to people in his industry, so I had nothing to do but wait and sit on it, and touch up a few things. I reach out to my friend and he says he still wants to do it but just needs more 'time'. Fast forward to now, he emails me and tells me he can't do this right now, he's going to the canary islands on a trip, and just feels like he isn't interested anymore. So now I've built this app, that I've spent a few hundred hours developing, and don't know what to do with it. I don't have any contacts in the film industry, so I don't know how to go about marketing/selling this myself. Could anyone here provide some advise? [link] [comments] |
| Books & resources on scaling and scale-ups, esp. industry? Posted: 03 Jan 2022 12:49 AM PST Looking for the above. I am familiar with the "classics" like the Lean Startup, Good to Great and Hidden Champions (for the more traditional businesses). Not all startup literature is applicable to industry and manufacturing, however, - in fact, precious little that's not primarily digital, - and it would be very helpful to have good examples to backup one's approaches to strategy and planning. Obviously you find a ton of books on Amazon, but no idea which are actually good. Any tips? [link] [comments] |
| How much equity is common for a lead developer at an already-profitable bootstrapped startup? Posted: 02 Jan 2022 01:36 PM PST The company I've worked at for a year now has granted me share options and I'm trying to learn more and figure out if I should try and negotiate for more. The business is a few years old, bootstrapped without taking VC, profitable, and growing. I'm their first in-house dev (prevoiusly work was outsourced) and leading a team of two other devs. We are planning to expand this to about 10 devs. I'm responsible for everything technical with our product/platform, uptime, the engineering team, and regularly make long-term critical tech decisions. The site is our product and we've fully custom rebuilt it this year as a foundation for our future. I'm wearing multiple tech hats and I expect my responsibility and value will scale as we grow. As this company is not taking VC and is already profitable I've had trouble finding examples of what is standard equity for my role. If there is ever an exit event the equity could have great value so it seems advantageous to negotiate more if the offer seems low for this stage of the company and my role. Any advice or thoughts? [link] [comments] |
| Funding with poor personal credit Posted: 03 Jan 2022 06:42 AM PST I am 13 months into my company with an alpha version of the product completed (SaaS B2B with a B2C mobile app for demo) My credit score is ~630 High credit utilization + new account inquiries I have poor personal credit from high revolving credit. I have never missed a payment, but my credit utilization had been relatively high prior to this endeavor & now it's almost consistently maxed. I am currently paying for this project out of pocket via my biweekly paychecks. I've been able to get by slowly, but need to find an alternative source of funding so I can accelerate the completion & deployment of this product. Does anyone have any advice or places to turn? I keep attempting an SBA match and am denied consistently. Any advice is greatly appreciated! [link] [comments] |
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