Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
Konstantin
Jun 20, 2005
And the Lord said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
My guess is that the company is gunning for you more than your app. If you're not interested in working for the company you need to make this absolutely clear. Be sure to add that you will also not accept any arrangement where you're a 'consultant' or have any obligation whatsoever after the sale is completed. My guess is that they will walk away after that, but if they're still interested there are ways to close the deal. You could give them a perpetual exclusive license to the software and source code, or you could start a wholly owned subsidiary, give it the IP, then sell that, or do it in several other ways depending on what they prefer and how much they want to spend on lawyers.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

SixPabst
Oct 24, 2006

Konstantin posted:

My guess is that the company is gunning for you more than your app. If you're not interested in working for the company you need to make this absolutely clear. Be sure to add that you will also not accept any arrangement where you're a 'consultant' or have any obligation whatsoever after the sale is completed. My guess is that they will walk away after that, but if they're still interested there are ways to close the deal. You could give them a perpetual exclusive license to the software and source code, or you could start a wholly owned subsidiary, give it the IP, then sell that, or do it in several other ways depending on what they prefer and how much they want to spend on lawyers.

Thanks, and I was just going to post an update. You're absolutely correct, they wanted to buy "me" and the app along with it. I said no, they asked if I would then be their dev person for this piece, said no and haven't heard back.

necrobobsledder
Mar 21, 2005
Lay down your soul to the gods rock 'n roll
Nap Ghost
Wow, some of you guys got seriously screwed by your start-ups' execs. Being bulllied into selling back your shares to get a severance when the founders are making serious bank off selling the company (although it's possible the VCs kept 98% of the proceeds anyway) isn't an unfamiliar story but I didn't know it happened often enough to mention as more than a horror story. I suppose part of why my cofounders didn't screw us was because they wanted to keep hiring the technical guys again and again and again for their next start-ups.

mintskoal posted:

However, I have a feeling that they're more interested in buying my company outright and then having me wedge my app into their new product, which I wouldn't want to do.
Yeah... I'd rather focus upon making more apps than doing software system integration. I say this basically as a professional software glue architect - it sucks pretty freakin' hard with high stakes for honestly not any better pay (probably less!) than if you were any decent of an application developer.

I would sell the company and its IP and offer a consulting rate that's somewhat comparable to your salary now where they pay for lots of stuff basically.

A lot of companies are desperate to hire the people as well because they can't hold onto decent developers. Don't ever let yourself be hired into such a company without some sort of fallback network.

Scaramouche
Mar 26, 2001

SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

I'm curious, how are you guys defining 'startup'? Is it merely a new venture, or does it have to be a radical world-changing angry birds twitter pinterest that attracts enormous IPO dollars?

shrughes
Oct 11, 2008

(call/cc call/cc)
It's a question of the brogrammer ratio. Also no real startups exist outside of California, they're just lifestyle companies.

Analytic Engine
May 18, 2009

not the analytical engine
I've read reports from many sources (random Google hits, YCombinator, TechCrunch) that Berlin is aiming to be the Silicon Valley of Europe, but that few companies have had successful exits or received large VC funding.

It seems like a more risky location to work than California or the East Coast (especially for an American), but I've also heard that the cost of housing/office space/actually enjoying the city is ridiculously low compared to everywhere else.

shrughes
Oct 11, 2008

(call/cc call/cc)

Analytic Engine posted:

It seems like a more risky location to work than California or the East Coast (especially for an American)

That may depend on whether you include health care in that risk assessment.

sink
Sep 10, 2005

gerby gerb gerb in my mouf
Have any folks found any worthwhile NYC meetups, technical or business or otherwise, they try to make? Knowing about fun drinkups or even more social oriented tech startup crowd meetups would be cool, too.

I'm trying to make it out of the office a bit more and these gatherings seem like an excellent reason to do.

flyingfoggy
Jun 3, 2006

My fellow Obamas...

sink posted:

Have any folks found any worthwhile NYC meetups, technical or business or otherwise, they try to make? Knowing about fun drinkups or even more social oriented tech startup crowd meetups would be cool, too.

I'm trying to make it out of the office a bit more and these gatherings seem like an excellent reason to do.

I've only been once, but Digital Dumbo definitely fit the bill.

piato
May 23, 2012
You know how everyone says it's really important to co-found? They are so right. gently caress.

Juanito
Jan 20, 2004

I wasn't paying attention
to what you just said.

Can you repeat yourself
in a more interesting way?
Hell Gem

piato posted:

You know how everyone says it's really important to co-found? They are so right. gently caress.
I'd be interested in hearing more details.

Drive By
Feb 26, 2004

Dinosaur Gum
I'm starting the process of single-founding a startup, so I'm interested too.

piato
May 23, 2012
Sorry for the delay on answering. Not unrelated!

Essentially, as a sole founder, you're going to be the sole technical member of your team for a little while*. Ok fine cool, but you'll code for 9 hours a day, you could get so much done! But the problem is that after a while there's this whole massive category of 'founder-stuff' which you can't outsource and no-one else can do for you - recruiting, talking to potential partners, managing people, raising money, networking, etc etc - and all of it takes priority over coding new stuff. Also users keep suggesting really positive changes to the existing codebase! So development of New Stuff ends up taking unbelievably long, like way longer than it'd take if you were just working on it on the side while you had a job. I have really really good non-technical employees and they deal with a ton of this stuff for me but there's still enough of it that *has* to be me that it's totally disruptive to work.

Anyway the bit that prompted the "gently caress" was - I've been thinking this, and realising that I need to get a high-equity tech person on board as a sort of retroactive cofounder - except I totally totally don't have time to hunt and vet such a person! So now it's a trap.

Here is a much shorter version: if 50% of the fully evolved company would still be gently caress-you money, cofound, it doesn't matter and it'll massively boost yr chances of success in all kinds of ways, If 50% of the fully evolved company wouldn't be gently caress-you money, it is a silly company anyway, don't bother.

*: None of this may apply if you live in SV, where "I have a CS degree" gets you 100k in angel funding - I'm basing this on ecosystems where you need like a product before people will lend you money.

FSMC
Apr 27, 2003
I love to live this lie
Most if not all startup stuff seems to be based on "software/web" startups. Does anyone recommend any books or blogs that concentrate more on hardware startups.

Drive By
Feb 26, 2004

Dinosaur Gum

FSMC posted:

Most if not all startup stuff seems to be based on "software/web" startups. Does anyone recommend any books or blogs that concentrate more on hardware startups.

I wish, it's all pretty sparse. Still, the best advice I've picked up from books so far has been from Eric Ries and Steven Blank, their books are pretty much universal.

Can you give a bit more detail on what you're working on, what stage you're in and where you're located?

FSMC
Apr 27, 2003
I love to live this lie

Drive By posted:

I wish, it's all pretty sparse. Still, the best advice I've picked up from books so far has been from Eric Ries and Steven Blank, their books are pretty much universal.

Can you give a bit more detail on what you're working on, what stage you're in and where you're located?

Electronic sports device. I've made a proof of concept, which works. I'm working on the prototype. I'm based in London...

FSMC fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Jun 25, 2012

Drive By
Feb 26, 2004

Dinosaur Gum

FSMC posted:

Electronic sports device. I've made a proof of concept, which works. I'm working on the prototype. I'm based in London...

Hmm, I'm not sure I can give you any field-specific information then. Two things I've found really help is to

a) Find mentors who have been through the grinder

b) Look in-depth into startups that have built successful physical products.

Other than that, I think you just have to find a process you trust and put your head down. Have you read The Startup Owner's Manual and the Lean Startup? Have you validated your problem hypothesis? Are you working solo?

I think I'm a bit further ahead than you are in the process, if you want to chat about this poo poo pm or email/fbook me at zemvpferreira@gmail.com .

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.
This seems like it is mostly based around tech/product ideas. I was talking to an entrepreneurial friend who is trying to break into the medical info field, and it was really making me think that there was probably nothing I could ever do that would lead to me starting my own company (political science guy with a Mideast background). But then I was like wait - I know literally dozens of incredibly well-qualified, experienced Middle East people. I could easily assemble a crazy network of analysts. Has anybody worked in the field of consulting startups? Am I dumb? How does one figure out if there are clients for this sort of thing?

Vomik
Jul 29, 2003

This post is dedicated to the brave Mujahideen fighters of Afghanistan

kaishek posted:

This seems like it is mostly based around tech/product ideas. I was talking to an entrepreneurial friend who is trying to break into the medical info field, and it was really making me think that there was probably nothing I could ever do that would lead to me starting my own company (political science guy with a Mideast background). But then I was like wait - I know literally dozens of incredibly well-qualified, experienced Middle East people. I could easily assemble a crazy network of analysts. Has anybody worked in the field of consulting startups? Am I dumb? How does one figure out if there are clients for this sort of thing?

Well, what would you consult on? Just having a team of middle-eastern people isn't going to do anything for you

necrobobsledder
Mar 21, 2005
Lay down your soul to the gods rock 'n roll
Nap Ghost
Almost every early stage consulting-oriented startup (that's taken off) in my second hand experience has been by former consultants that have a working relationship with a good, long list of clients from the past. If you don't have these relationships, you'll need to look at getting into something like government contracting which can force people in charge of megabux to afford consultant rates to put your company into consideration regardless of your size and/or pre-existing business network. There's a good reason why all the business guys are constantly out meeting people instead of sitting at home writing papers and proposals (the introvert version of a business guy I guess).

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

Vomik posted:

Well, what would you consult on? Just having a team of middle-eastern people isn't going to do anything for you

Two good points. My area of focus is politics, and so political risks (expropriation, regulatory, protest, etc) would be the major areas. But it is almost certainly correct that without an existing network of clients I'd be SOL. I'm working on getting into the field now anyways, so I just need to put in my years first.

Fate Accomplice
Nov 30, 2006




FSMC posted:

Electronic sports device. I've made a proof of concept, which works. I'm working on the prototype. I'm based in London...

These days the path for consumer hardware begins and ends with kickstarter.

Nano wristbands, e-paper watches, steel ipod docks, etc.

If it's hardware, make a prototype, the flashiest and most professional video introduction you can think of, some really great marketing copy, and kickstart the hell out of it.

Drive By
Feb 26, 2004

Dinosaur Gum

Malloreon posted:

These days the path for consumer hardware begins and ends with kickstarter.

Nano wristbands, e-paper watches, steel ipod docks, etc.

If it's hardware, make a prototype, the flashiest and most professional video introduction you can think of, some really great marketing copy, and kickstart the hell out of it.

That's patently untrue. Kickstarting might be all the rage right now but there's still plenty of available resources to take the more conventional approaches.

sry4partying
May 17, 2010
Hey everyone,

I posted late last year about my startup (http://www.namella.com) and received mixed feedback from most of you. The site was largely successful (so gently caress you!), but we noticed that our customers overwhelmingly wanted custom domains.

We pivoted.

Yesterday we relaunched Namella as sort of a brand consultancy, we will provide custom domains for $199.

So check us out and let me know what you guys think of the new strategy.

a cat
Aug 8, 2003

meow.

Hey congrats on the success. This is somewhat minor but when I checked out your site I impulsively just clicked on the "Let's get started" button. I was expecting maybe something like a brief client-interview type form or something other than an offsite shopping cart checkout page. Even though I wasn't really a serious prospective customer of yours I just instinctively ctrl-w'ed out of the page.

I feel that it would be hugely beneficial to have some sort of intermediate page with a few questions, even if they are just contrived or simple as "what is your email address/phone number" or "enter a very brief description of your business", or whatever. Anything besides "pay us first and THEN we'll take care of the rest".

I know it does say google checkout in a big image right below that button, and below that clearly explains that you will receive a call promptly after paying, and also that Google checkout will give you all the relevant contact info. But I don't know, I just don't like how it expected me to pay right away after clicking that, my intuition says it will be much more pleasant if you add another step before sending them to google checkout, even if that step is just collecting redundant info.

sry4partying
May 17, 2010

jjttjj posted:

stuff

Thanks for the feedback! This is exactly what we wanted, an intermediate page that asks simple questions about the biz. I gotta say that we're working on it, but shopping cart apps are tricky for creative people, to say the least.

Edit: Implemented! Thanks!

sry4partying fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Jul 3, 2012

snagger
Aug 14, 2004

jjttjj posted:

I feel that it would be hugely beneficial to have some sort of intermediate page with a few questions, even if they are just contrived or simple as "what is your email address/phone number" or "enter a very brief description of your business", or whatever. Anything besides "pay us first and THEN we'll take care of the rest".

Are forms even the right way to go with this? Assuming this is as conversation-intensive as I think it is, it feels to me more like you should just stick up a 1-800 number and go straight to a sales team.

musclecoder
Oct 23, 2006

I'm all about meeting girls. I'm all about meeting guys.

Get something in that <title> tag stat!

sim
Sep 24, 2003

Do you think there is any potential for selling curated links for a specific topic? For example, a "guide book" for learning to blog. Users would pay $5 for a step by step list of everything you need to do: 1. pick a topic, 2. setup Wordpress, 3. edit your articles for SEO, etc. Users would tell the app what step of the process they are on and it would recommend (hand-picked/up-voted) links to tutorials, tips, podcasts, tools, etc. for that exact step.

This would solve a pain point that I personally have and would pay a nominal fee for. I read and bookmark great content all the time, but it rarely applies to the project I am currently working on. By the time I can apply it, I'll have forgotten about the article.

All of the content will be free or a separate fee, so I wouldn't be charging for content, but I would be saving people time doing the research themselves. Considering the success of similar eBooks and online courses, I think there is a market for this.

OmNom
Dec 31, 2003

I make a damn tasty cookie. https://bit.ly/rgjqfw
This time last year I posted a Financial Fitness log for myself and my company; then got busy and forgot about it. Well I am still around. Food start-ups are definitely not tech, but the hard work we put in is paying off. Our company pays for itself, my partner and I get a tiny draw, and big names are starting to finally look at us.

We've already done 18k in gross sales this YTD, two major distributors want to bring us on board, I am launching a new cookie line and people are now calling me to get our product.

It is crazy to think that this time last year I launched a company from my couch, sporting a severely broken ankle, relying on my business partner and I cold calling to get poo poo done. Ankle is healed, company is taking off, and we started turning a profit in 5 months.

What an an amazing year.

Scaramouche
Mar 26, 2001

SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

Good to hear it, I remember reading your initial stuff when it happened.

As an aside you've got a mixed content warning on your checkout page; means that some things are SSL encrypted and some not. Usually it's when someone hardcodes something like "http://name.com/something.gif" instead of hardcoding https or using relative references. Most browsers will warn about it (mine did) and could affect conversion rate.

You should also look at your CMS/cart; each page on average has >2800 lines, but it's all white space, there's maybe 150 lines of actual code in there. There's some suggestions here:
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights#url=http_3A_2F_2Fshop.smartplanetkitchen.com_2F&mobile=false

This applies to all your shop pages, not the home page.

Konstantin
Jun 20, 2005
And the Lord said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

Drive By posted:

That's patently untrue. Kickstarting might be all the rage right now but there's still plenty of available resources to take the more conventional approaches.

Plus, for a lot of things, the upfront cost for mass production and logistics would be way more than you can expect to make on Kickstarter. Unless your hardware device can be made very cheaply using common industrial processes I doubt you'd get close to the amount you need to get past the prototype stage.

OmNom
Dec 31, 2003

I make a damn tasty cookie. https://bit.ly/rgjqfw

Scaramouche posted:

Good to hear it, I remember reading your initial stuff when it happened.

As an aside you've got a mixed content warning on your checkout page; means that some things are SSL encrypted and some not. Usually it's when someone hardcodes something like "http://name.com/something.gif" instead of hardcoding https or using relative references. Most browsers will warn about it (mine did) and could affect conversion rate.

You should also look at your CMS/cart; each page on average has >2800 lines, but it's all white space, there's maybe 150 lines of actual code in there. There's some suggestions here:
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights#url=http_3A_2F_2Fshop.smartplanetkitchen.com_2F&mobile=false

This applies to all your shop pages, not the home page.

Thanks for the info, I'll hold onto that. I am in the process of raising money via Indiegogo, private investors and a really col free loan program I found. Part of the money I raise is going to overhaul everything Internet. I got a bit shafted on the original page, and skinning of the store; but I am hamstrung until I get some more cash to expand on that side of the business.

I would gladly revive the old thread if there is interest in the process I've gone through to get here, as well as the pitfalls and successes inherent to being your own everything.

Hufflepuff or bust!
Jan 28, 2005

I should have known better.

sry4partying posted:

Hey everyone,

I posted late last year about my startup (http://www.namella.com) and received mixed feedback from most of you. The site was largely successful (so gently caress you!), but we noticed that our customers overwhelmingly wanted custom domains.

We pivoted.

Yesterday we relaunched Namella as sort of a brand consultancy, we will provide custom domains for $199.

So check us out and let me know what you guys think of the new strategy.

Typo alert: "Let us pour over the data and pick the perfect name and domain for your business" should be "pore"

fake edit: that will be :10bux:

Scaramouche
Mar 26, 2001

SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

OmNom posted:

Thanks for the info, I'll hold onto that. I am in the process of raising money via Indiegogo, private investors and a really col free loan program I found. Part of the money I raise is going to overhaul everything Internet. I got a bit shafted on the original page, and skinning of the store; but I am hamstrung until I get some more cash to expand on that side of the business.

I would gladly revive the old thread if there is interest in the process I've gone through to get here, as well as the pitfalls and successes inherent to being your own everything.

I don't know if you're set up for regional/long term stocking but I live in Vancouver and they are crazy about health-everything here. Have you tried to get tie-ups with organic retailers? They're kind of big box but some of the ones here are Urban Fair, Whole Foods, Choices, Greens, etc. Basically anyone on this page:
http://www.yelp.ca/search?find_desc=organic+grocery+stores&find_loc=Vancouver%2C+BC

There's also delivery services like spud.ca and organicsathome.com but they're more about '20km diet' than they are necessarily organic and the like.

OmNom
Dec 31, 2003

I make a damn tasty cookie. https://bit.ly/rgjqfw

Scaramouche posted:

I don't know if you're set up for regional/long term stocking but I live in Vancouver and they are crazy about health-everything here. Have you tried to get tie-ups with organic retailers? They're kind of big box but some of the ones here are Urban Fair, Whole Foods, Choices, Greens, etc. Basically anyone on this page:
http://www.yelp.ca/search?find_desc=organic+grocery+stores&find_loc=Vancouver%2C+BC

There's also delivery services like spud.ca and organicsathome.com but they're more about '20km diet' than they are necessarily organic and the like.

I am set up for it, but would have to reinvest in Canadian Bilingual labels, that is an expensive outlay right now. Eventually I would want to grow to most of North America. My stuff is available in 55 locations, I'm revisiting various Whole Foods regional buyers for back to school, and have to get a submission packet together for H.E.B. (a regional Texas chain). Things are looking good right now.

putin is a cunt
Apr 5, 2007

BOY DO I SURE ENJOY TRASH. THERE'S NOTHING MORE I LOVE THAN TO SIT DOWN IN FRONT OF THE BIG SCREEN AND EAT A BIIIIG STEAMY BOWL OF SHIT. WARNER BROS CAN COME OVER TO MY HOUSE AND ASSFUCK MY MOM WHILE I WATCH AND I WOULD CERTIFY IT FRESH, NO QUESTION
Working on a fairly basic startup project myself, so I was pretty pleased to find this thread.

I'm completely confused about how people actually go about getting funding for this kind of thing. I live in Australia and the initial costs for setting up my project won't be super high but just high enough that it will be tricky funding it entirely by myself. My project is sport related (AFL) so I was hoping that I might be able to approach some of the local sports stores for 'sponsorship', but I have no idea how to actually go about doing that - what I would need to provide to them, how I could convince them I'm worth it etc.

I feel like I really need a business minded person (I'm a coder) on board but without funding to compensate them for their time I'm a little lost on where to start!

unixbeard
Dec 29, 2004

Gnack posted:

Working on a fairly basic startup project myself, so I was pretty pleased to find this thread.

I'm completely confused about how people actually go about getting funding for this kind of thing. I live in Australia and the initial costs for setting up my project won't be super high but just high enough that it will be tricky funding it entirely by myself. My project is sport related (AFL) so I was hoping that I might be able to approach some of the local sports stores for 'sponsorship', but I have no idea how to actually go about doing that - what I would need to provide to them, how I could convince them I'm worth it etc.

I feel like I really need a business minded person (I'm a coder) on board but without funding to compensate them for their time I'm a little lost on where to start!

You could have a read of this http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&book=9781741756906 see if a library has it.

To get funding you tell anyone who listens about the insane amounts of money they will make if they give you some.

From what I have seen VC is not really a "thing" in Australia, by the time your business gets to a state where they will give you money, you no longer really need funding from them ...

Drive By
Feb 26, 2004

Dinosaur Gum

Gnack posted:

Working on a fairly basic startup project myself, so I was pretty pleased to find this thread.

I'm completely confused about how people actually go about getting funding for this kind of thing. I live in Australia and the initial costs for setting up my project won't be super high but just high enough that it will be tricky funding it entirely by myself. My project is sport related (AFL) so I was hoping that I might be able to approach some of the local sports stores for 'sponsorship', but I have no idea how to actually go about doing that - what I would need to provide to them, how I could convince them I'm worth it etc.

I feel like I really need a business minded person (I'm a coder) on board but without funding to compensate them for their time I'm a little lost on where to start!

Can you give us more detail on your project?

I'm not the most experienced founder, but it seems to me like getting funded really depends on your local investment scene. Take the advice you read in Silicon Valley oriented books and articles very lightly, and look for someone local to you who's already done it before.

If anything, really look into your hypothesis: do you actually need funding? read the books by 37signals and other bootstrappers, identify your MVP; build and release it as soon as possible and see what kind of traction you can get without spending money.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Huragok
Sep 14, 2011
So the other day I hacked up a quick tech demo for a library I wanted to try and learn more about. I frequent SH/SC and the Cavern of Cobol a bit, and I thought "hey, there are two threads about finding jobs!" so I based my demo around that. The result was a day and a half's work called GoonJobs. It's got a simplistic visual bent and focuses just on the hirer/hiree relationship which I find differentiates itself to other jobs sites.

The more I think about it, the more it seems like I might be able to make a bit of supplementary dough on the side (I'm a self-employed software developer). Now the question is, is targeting "jobs for goons" a decent enough market? Should I widen the scope of the project to make it more accessible to outsiders?

My initial thoughts have been trying to gain a bit of exposure by buying a few banner ads and perhaps giving away some trial codes in those threads. All I'm afraid (?) of is that I'll get laughed at for trying to do it. I've already released one product since I've gone solo and it didn't really take off at all. My ideas about monetization are what I've implemented: you pay a few bucks to gain the ability to reply to job listings or contact people listed as for hire. For those that are interested, here are a few activation codes which'll give you a free account for GoonJobs:

82371accd1 , 2c501d0e0e , 0b8ccebf8f , 07b973f72a , d09b089ace , 7f0ac4e4ec , 5dba137d55 , 7f3b6e4364

Scathing feedback would be great!

  • Locked thread