Hi, Good luck with you venture! You basically have two options. Funded vs. bootstrapped mode. Assuming you are not going to look for investment for this particular project, your other option is to bootstrap. Bootstrapping is becoming more and more popular nowadays, since it lets you gauge the r...
Before I get to your question, let me give you a tip: always aim settle questions of payment before the work happens. It is ten times easier to agree on a price beforehand, and having done that doesn't stop you from changing it by mutual agreement later. The problem with paying cash is pretty ob...
Would need to know a heck of a lot more about your company, product, or service before I can give you advice on this :). Can you elaborate please?
If you need funding for your business one way or another then I don't see anything being wrong with having your client on board as an investor. Not only do they already know about your business, therefore saving you a fair bit of time and effort that you'd otherwise put into pitching your busine...
The most powerful element of your brand in the early-stage of your startup is your reputation. Every interaction you have can positively build (or negatively impact) your brand. This can't be bought, but can be easily lost. Common ways I've seen start-ups lose their reputation early: 1) Not l...
Here is my list of seven recommended books: (1) The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company - Steve Blank and Bob Dorf (2) Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup by Bill Aulet (3) The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding t...
As a startup freak myself, I am always looking for new ways to make the company better and communications between the teams easier. I like Slack as a communications tool as well as Asana. HipChat is pretty slick for instant messaging and integration with inbound customer service live chatting for...
Bear in mind that the approach Amazon took was during a time in which e-commerce was still just taking hold and was far from commonplace. Of course, starting with your own products and building an audience of shoppers gives you some leverage in attracting sellers when you change to a marketpla...
Hi, what a great question. Ever since my best-selling book, Invest Local, came out in 2014, I've been getting lots of Clarity calls about raising capital for small business. You haven't specified if you are looking for debt or equity financing. Let's discuss both. Equity: The investors you've ...
Generally bootstrapped startups should avoid salespeople, for a few reasons: a. they typically can't afford the base and overall comp required to attract sales people who can actually sell / or afford to support them with marketing, management, etc b. it will be very difficult to find the rare pe...