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Would you like to talk about startups and entrepreneurship? I would! This is really just an interest check. Here are some ideas for things we could discuss, and could become part of the foundations for an OP: -How to validate ideas -Getting seed money / raising money -Incubators -Uniquely goony ways to help out (e.g. SA-Mart) -Connecting people and services: outsourcing, recruiting, networking, and other fun
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Sep 20, 2011 22:36
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I would be interested in this and willing to contribute. I have experience in software startups, though I have never founded one myself (yet).
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Sep 21, 2011 15:45
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A year or so ago I was examining a startup called "Doband", which I thought would fail. However, the guy really took it seriously and moved to Silicon Valley to try and get funding. A couple days ago the name popped back into my head for some reason, and my googles found this link: http://workstream.doband.org/ (password 'action') It's a frequently updated workstream of their last few months, and you can see both the rapidly shifting product as various VC's give their input, and his frustration in struggling to secure funding. I applaud him for his effort and tenacity, but the idea is pretty weak (maximum 30 potential customers, "action oriented brands" like Nike) and the name is horrible. Reminds me of doobie and doodie.
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Sep 22, 2011 01:45
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_areaman posted:A year or so ago I was examining a startup called "Doband", which I thought would fail. However, the guy really took it seriously and moved to Silicon Valley to try and get funding. A couple days ago the name popped back into my head for some reason, and my googles found this link: That just seems like a 'to do' list app, with advertising connected to a person's interests and a "social networking" angle thrown in. Like some sort of facebook-meets-groupon-meets-kickstarter(sans the donation angle)-meets-StumbleUpon. The idea doesn't actually seem so bad but the name is horrible. Definitely seems a bit superfluous, though, but I suppose it'd have a niche if he decided to look beyond "action oriented brands." I actually kind of like it.
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Sep 22, 2011 17:01
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I'd be interested in contributing. I've been working for a startup lately and I don't think it'll take off, so it would be interesting to get people's opinions on it. Also learning points, as plenty of us may be interested in starting a company ourselves one day.
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Sep 22, 2011 18:41
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_areaman posted:Doband I can see the upside here. One person dreams of traveling to Europe and it turns into a group of 5 people planning a trip next summer. Monetizes super-easily with travel companies, language schools/software, or the aforementioned 'action lifestyle' brands for stuff like ski trips. This could be a pretty lightweight Facebook app, but maybe that's not aiming high enough for these guys. *shrug*
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Sep 22, 2011 21:37
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Cool idea for a thread. I've worked at a bunch of startups over the years, I'm a big believer in self funding and don't buy into the cofounder meme. I love the essays of Paul Graham and for some practical advice this is a great little book http://www.startupbook.net/
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Sep 22, 2011 23:52
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snagger posted:I can see the upside here. One person dreams of traveling to Europe and it turns into a group of 5 people planning a trip next summer. Monetizes super-easily with travel companies, language schools/software, or the aforementioned 'action lifestyle' brands for stuff like ski trips. I think his vision was more like, Nike starts a campaign of working out more, and people join up, and receive discounts from Nike for accomplishing goals and taking pictures of their Air Jordans and whatnot. Then he has this alternate vision, where people start "dreams" and get benefits for accomplishing them. Essentially it's a glorified to-do list app that kind of has a Groupon discount thing going. In order to be accomplished as he sees it, it really needs to be all-out and funded so giant corporations take them seriously. My gut just tells me it won't succeed, but it isn't a terrible idea.
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Sep 23, 2011 00:03
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_areaman posted:I think his vision was more like, Nike starts a campaign of working out more, and people join up, and receive discounts from Nike for accomplishing goals and taking pictures of their Air Jordans and whatnot. Then he has this alternate vision, where people start "dreams" and get benefits for accomplishing them. Yeah, that seems less feasible. But an "I want to read/learn more=Barnes & Noble coupon" or "I want to cook a dinner/climb a mountain/make my own beer=coupons from companies related to those goals" engine with a strong social aspect would actually seem pretty cool now that I think about it. ......Goon business, anyone?
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Sep 23, 2011 00:42
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I started my own start up thread a week ago, this is just what I am looking for even more "entrepreneurs" to talk with. If there are any questions about food startups I can help.
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Sep 23, 2011 01:09
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I've got dreams to be dashed I'm in. When you say food industry, resturant or grocery? One of my ideas I'm bouncing around right now is on the grocery side.
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Sep 23, 2011 04:48
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himurak posted:I've got dreams to be dashed I'm in. When you say food industry, resturant or grocery? One of my ideas I'm bouncing around right now is on the grocery side. Follow his journey!
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Sep 23, 2011 06:14
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jabro posted:Follow his journey! Nice find thanks. I'm looking more for a brick and mortar grocery chain thing so this should give me some good perspective from the people who will (hopefully) be trying to get onto my shelves.
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Sep 23, 2011 21:29
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Where do startups usually get funding in the early stages? Is it usually just friends and family? I have a friend who is trying to do an engineering startup which needs almost a million dollars in the first year to get it off the ground. Where would he even get access to this kind of money so early in the game (I guess designing computer hardware is expensive?)? He has a bunch of patents filed so is IP is protected, but I can't dream of any investors that would put so much money in so early. Where would he go: hedge funds? wall street? And in today's environment is it likely he would get that type of funding? Edit: This guy's company isn't a pipe dream or fly by night. He's done a bunch of prototypes and has numerous patents filed, and has a proper CEO that isn't some buddy of the street. I'm just wondering where all this capital would even come from.
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Sep 23, 2011 23:09
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How much money do he and the CEO have invested?
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Sep 23, 2011 23:31
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I'm only familiar with the software side, but $1mm is a medium-large seed round. Typically those are done by a mix of individual angel investors throwing in somewhere in the $25k-100k range and VCs or angel consortiums throwing in somewhere in the $150-350k range. Where are you all located?
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Sep 23, 2011 23:52
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Vladimir Putin posted:Where do startups usually get funding in the early stages? Is it usually just friends and family? I have a friend who is trying to do an engineering startup which needs almost a million dollars in the first year to get it off the ground. Where would he even get access to this kind of money so early in the game (I guess designing computer hardware is expensive?)? He has a bunch of patents filed so is IP is protected, but I can't dream of any investors that would put so much money in so early. Go to SF and start sucking cocks. There is a boom on right now driving by walls of money looking for a home thanks to zero interest rates. There's a bunch of VC events or just try and set up meetings with whoever will listen. One mil isn't really that much, if anything you want to aim high, a guy with 100 mil would probably rather give 10 mil to 10 people than 1 mil to 100 people.
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Sep 24, 2011 00:05
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unixbeard posted:Go to SF and start sucking cocks. There is a boom on right now driving by walls of money looking for a home thanks to zero interest rates. There's a bunch of VC events or just try and set up meetings with whoever will listen. One mil isn't really that much, if anything you want to aim high, a guy with 100 mil would probably rather give 10 mil to 10 people than 1 mil to 100 people. So basically he's got to get a powerpoint deck together and pitch to whoever will listen? I'm sure his CEO is trying to ring people up and set up meetings right now for them, if he's a decent CEO. I'm just curious as to the funding environment because he seems to be nervous about the availability due to the ongoing economic crisis.
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Sep 24, 2011 02:46
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himurak posted:Nice find thanks. I'm looking more for a brick and mortar grocery chain thing so this should give me some good perspective from the people who will (hopefully) be trying to get onto my shelves. PM me dude or ask away in my thread. I'm by no means no an expert but I am well versed in the shoe string budget launches.
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Sep 24, 2011 07:39
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I'm currently in the process of starting up a business in the UK, creating websites for a specific market. I'm happy to talk about what I'm doing specifically, and my progress, assuming it's actually a good idea to talk about a business idea before it's up and running. There are other firms doing the same thing so it's not a new idea that someone could steal. I also work as an accountant in practice so have quite a lot of exposure to other small firms getting started and growing so can hopefully offer some advice, although it will be based on UK businesses and might not apply.
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Sep 24, 2011 12:12
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Vladimir Putin posted:So basically he's got to get a powerpoint deck together and pitch to whoever will listen? I'm sure his CEO is trying to ring people up and set up meetings right now for them, if he's a decent CEO. I'm just curious as to the funding environment because he seems to be nervous about the availability due to the ongoing economic crisis. He should definitely have all that stuff but also look on meetup there's a bunch of entrepreneur meets always happening and they're a good place to meet people/trade notes etc. Yeah theres an economic crisis tech has been largely insulated from it. I couldn't really say on this specific case but in general if its a good idea and they know what they are doing there is definitely the money out there, they just gotta find the right people.
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Sep 24, 2011 15:16
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Why wont this startup idea work? Or better yet, why hasnt it been done? Finding a car online is really tough because there are countless number of sites. I wish there was a kayak.com but for new/used cars. Search all the major car sites (autotrader, cars.com, etc) and display it in an easy to read display that shows you what is available. Thoughts?
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Sep 24, 2011 22:18
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http://www.autotempest.com/ It exists, but the reason you don't see many startups doing this kind of thing is because sites offering auto/hotel/flight classifieds typically don't have APIs and screenscraping is a pain in the rear end as well as a legal liability. Add to that the decreasing value of ad revenue and you get an unappealing business model for a startup.
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Sep 24, 2011 22:49
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Hey dudes! So, discussion seems to be somewhat happening. How about we turn this into a serious thread? Aside from possibilities I mentioned in my OP, here are some more things that seem to have come up: -Life in a startup -Follow the progress of (optionally, goon) startups -Hey, is my idea any good? FAQ These are a lot of points. Should I remake a thread with placeholders?
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Oct 4, 2011 23:42
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I came up with a start up that had a pretty good idea and met with a couple of VCs that were interested only to have my hopes dashed when a established company came out with a similar service. Ive been trying to motivate myself to write out a new business plan on a modified service of the original plan, but I just can't find the motivation. 
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Oct 5, 2011 00:17
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That's the funny thing about Startups. Most ideas "have been taken", "someone just got funded", "you'll never get traction". You must get past this to be successful. My start up in is in the Education/Tutoring space. We are about to launch in the Raleigh/Durham, NC area in the coming weeks. There are a few competitors we are dealing with (most notably Tutorspree and Skillshare). Fortunately, I have a hypothesis that they are doing something that isn't going to be sustainable and they don't have the correct long-term goal. They have gotten initial funding, yes. But their philosophy can be outdone by our's. We've been shut down by some of the local start-up initiatives because we just have an idea, but luckily our website is almost ready, and revenue and hard data is always a good thing. And even if this idea is a market that can't be approached, just being in the mindset of creating ideas is just enough. But make a product. Not a business plan.
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Oct 5, 2011 00:48
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OG KUSH BLUNTS posted:I came up with a start up that had a pretty good idea and met with a couple of VCs that were interested only to have my hopes dashed when a established company came out with a similar service. Ive been trying to motivate myself to write out a new business plan on a modified service of the original plan, but I just can't find the motivation. Hey, just be thankful that happened early enough to where no actual damage was done to you.
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Oct 5, 2011 01:02
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Nybble posted:And even if this idea is a market that can't be approached, just being in the mindset of creating ideas is just enough. But make a product. Not a business plan. Yes, but you still need a plan in place to give you guidance to create the product. Also the established company is a international juggernaut so it wasnt realistic to continue to develop it.
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Oct 5, 2011 02:32
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OG KUSH BLUNTS posted:Also the established company is a international juggernaut so it wasnt realistic to continue to develop it. Google Video was launched a month before YouTube was founded. It's possible to compete with big companies, especially in a new field.
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Oct 5, 2011 07:49
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Three months ago I started a small leather goods company making bags, wallets, and other accessories. We got really lucky through networking and are getting domestic orders and Japanese orders already. Making a product that is amazing and heavy, heavy networking are the keys as far as I can tell. I recently read "Rework" by the 37signals founders. Pretty great advice and helps keep you grounded/motivated. http://37signals.com/rework/
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Oct 5, 2011 14:34
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Here is my free idea: 1. A craigslist buying service where you pay an inspector to deal with crazy people and robbers to go secure you the goods you are looking for without the risk of death. It would work like the ebay stores but in reverse. You would make money by charging a fee and also by negotiating the purchase prices lower and keeping the difference.
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Oct 5, 2011 15:56
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Elephanthead posted:Here is my free idea: Maybe something with a quoting system? Like you post, "I want 300 pounds of junk taken away from my garage," and people bid down on the service. They have to handle the whole thing, but the website vets the 'contractors' and people review them. Isn't this sort of like Angie's list? snagger posted:Hey dudes! I think an FAQ would be good to store links and bits of advice, but why can't you just edit the first post to include this?
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Oct 6, 2011 03:28
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I like this thread idea and I'd be happy to contribute what I can. For what it's worth, I'm a Y-combinator alumni (someone in here mentioned PG), and recently sold my company to Motorola Mobility. I'd be happy to talk about the experience or give my advice, whatever that may be worth. As for the guy lamenting that a big company came out with his idea right before he did, I can understand the fear of competing with the large companies, but if anything that's actually a GOOD thing for you. First off, right off the bat you have market validation - if a big company wants to do it, then it probably has value. This should strengthen the value of your idea when presented to VCs. Second, big companies are usually slowed by bureaucracy and have large clients they have to deal with and keep pleased. This gives you an advantage since you can listen more closely to your initial customers, and experiment with ideas a lot more quickly. Finally, there is almost always room in a market for multiple competitors. I'd have to hear the specific idea, but I'd be surprised if the fact that a large company is doing it first would completely ruin any chance of you competing.
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Oct 6, 2011 21:24
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Keevon posted:I like this thread idea and I'd be happy to contribute what I can. For what it's worth, I'm a Y-combinator alumni (someone in here mentioned PG), and recently sold my company to Motorola Mobility. I'd be happy to talk about the experience or give my advice, whatever that may be worth. I would love to know how you got into Y-Combinator, as I may be pursuing some of the startup incubators.
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Oct 6, 2011 22:21
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Nybble posted:I would love to know how you got into Y-Combinator, as I may be pursuing some of the startup incubators. Sure thing, although I don't know exactly why we were picked so it's mostly speculation  I think the two main things that really helped for us were that my co-founder and I had already completed a large portion of our web app to demo, and that we had both quit our jobs to work on this full time. I believe it helped to show we were committed to completing what we started, and that we were actually capable of getting things done. PG always talks about how he looks more at the founders than the idea itself, so I would focus on selling yourself, your accomplishments, and your passion. Not to say the idea isn't important, but don't focus completely on that. Definitely talk about what differentiates your idea from the competition, and what makes you an expert on that. I saw an article recently by Sam Altman which highlights some of this (http://samaltman.com/how-to-get-into-y-combinator) and PG has written about his selection process in his essays somewhere I believe. If you have any specific questions about the process, I'll do my best to answer!
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Oct 6, 2011 23:39
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Is there any chance of getting into an incubator without programming knowledge?
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Oct 7, 2011 02:11
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whalesneedlove posted:Is there any chance of getting into an incubator without programming knowledge? I can't speak for all incubators, but for YC it's pretty drat difficult. There were a few companies that had a "business guy" but there weren't many, and they all had at least one superstar tech guy. Specifically I think Reddit was sort of like this, with Steve doing most of the coding work and Alexis working his rear end off promoting the company. You would almost certainly need someone to handle the coding side, and even then I think you are working at a disadvantage.
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Oct 7, 2011 04:42
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My startup was founded by a business guy, but he had 10 years as a VP at Apple and had experience as a product manager, so he might be an aberration. It would be difficult to justify the salary of a non-programmer at a tech startup with only a few people. Business guys with tons of time on their hands tend to muck with the product because they have nothing else to do.
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Oct 7, 2011 14:39
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I'm in the middle of starting a business right now. I'd love to get in on this, and here some stories/shoot the poo poo with veterans and newbies.
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Oct 10, 2011 06:12
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I'm working on a start-up now with a buddy (an ex-investment banker that's done enough bizdev and has enough reliable connections to make me comfortable) and we've dumped in about $10k of our money for a formal focus group to help us with branding and product direction. Our target market is basically unexplored at this point and technologically the space has been more or less unexciting... but I've got a set of technologies written out and implemented that's patentable. So, pretty loving high risk, but what's life without risk, right? Greatest hurdles for us so far have been just getting the loving site up and running because most of us have primary jobs making a good bit of money and have other obligations keeping us from focusing on this 100%. It's tough to find people that are willing to put in time for a start-up that isn't theirs in their free time. This isn't the first start-up I've been one of the initial members though, and last time that failed because I got sick during a critical stage and 100% burned out from a year of working two jobs and barely sleeping. I've learned my lessons from last time thankfully, but I can't help but feel that I should just take a vacation week or something and crank out a bunch of crap without giving a drat about how it looks. We really can't get VC funding at this point given that there's nothing that's properly branded or presentable (I've built a site that's got programmer design waiting to be skinned basically) so I'm just focusing on building something on the backend in the absence of our frontend guys delivering. I've been a part of only successful start-ups that weren't mine though is the funny thing, so maybe I've learned enough from them to make it work this time on my own though.
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Oct 10, 2011 18:21
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