Hot answers tagged entrepreneurs
35
Where to start. Here's everything I've learnt from six months of my first startup.
Firstly:
Any advice you're given, take with a pinch of salt. You learning on your feet is the only really valuable way to learn.
Give a shit. About everything. Your product, your reputation, your fellow founders, your customers. Give a shit some more: if you fail you ...
15
Not only is it possible, it's really inexpensive to achieve, too. Here's how to do it:
Work as little as you'd like (50.. 40... 5 hours) all while enjoying all the fine things life has to offer
Buy a mega-lotto lottery ticket on a weekly basis
Granted, it has an infinitesimally small chance of working, but nothing is guaranteed, right?
My point with ...
14
did having a business partner contribute sufficiently to your business or do you regret you had one?
Great partner > single > lousy partner.
It's the same thing as relationship. It's better to be single, if you can't find great one.
Yes, having a great partner contribute A LOT. You need someone to bounce the idea. It's easier to find your blind spots by bouncing the idea around.
The only time i regret was when i knew some people weren't the right ...
12
I found college very valuable. Not just for the education, but for the experience and the people I have met there. I started my current business with a friend I made in college and have started minor side projects with other college friends.
I would strongly suggest you stil read books on entrepreneurship, business, marketing, sales, economics and personal ...
11
The three best pearls of wisdom I received for my startup:
Have flexible optimism for when you need to Zig and Zag. Things change, so be ready to adapt as needed.
Be emphatic to the struggle of other people, especially your staff and customers.
Lead by example. Put yourself out there and take pride (and responsibility) for the good (and bad).
10
First - I'd suggest you take a big vacation! Not a "blackberry vacation" but a real one. Three years is a LONG time to be buried in all the details of a business and a long time to do the same thing day after day.
When you come back, figure out a way to hire someone to do the things you don't enjoy and focus your time on the things you DO enjoy. If that's ...
10
No, of course it's not a crime, but it doesn't exactly win you points with people in the "corporate rat race" either. Especially not if you actually think of it as "rat race", and show this in your body language or attitude.
First off, if the last time you applied for 'corporate' jobs was before the financial crisis, then expect some expectation ...
9
There are a number of screencasting utilities out there. Some are free, but for these I'd say there are better options to be had for ~$20 and the added features and quality are worth the minimal cost.
A few options:
Screen Mimic (Mac OS X)
iShowU (Mac OS X)
EasyScreenCapture (Win)
CamStudio (Win)
More expensive ("Professional") but very powerful:
...
9
Camtasia Studio (for years for PCs, now also for the Mac) is the leader for depth and sophistication. There's a sizable community built up around Camtasia. But having the right tool doesn't mean you'll get the results you want. Screencasting is a learned skill.
One new resource you should check out is Ian Ozsvald - Ian's "day job" is creating screencasts ...
9
Confirm someone will give you money for the product. Many will say "yes" but make them put their money where their mouth is and get them to give you some money up-front. Be frank. "I'm building a new company. I don't have a product ready yet, but would you pre-order?" Offer money-back guarantees if needed.
Just build it. Perfection is the enemy of a startup ...
9
Its all a numbers game. Be personalable, that is key. I talk to people everywhere, at the gym, grocery store, or out walking the dog.
Be friendly, never argumentative,
and always be selling yourself as a
likeable person.
Be social, hanging out at the same place every Friday will get you near the same crowds.
Join organizations such as your local
...
9
Before you built you high quality monster killer - did you find out if anybody needed it? If so - go to them and tell them that you're ready to go. If not - you might be in trouble.
The reason why people go to monster is because there are a lot of jobs. The reason why there are a lot of jobs because businesses see that people come there so they actually ...
9
To me, it's not about money at all. Although making money is a part of it, I don't come up with new application ideas because I want to make money, but because I can't help but come up with a million ideas on a daily basis and I love developing new things.
I'm the sort of person that is always thinking, what kind of awesome application can I build that ...
9
Depends how you define "entrepreneur". if you are talking about funded startups then sure there's a great deal of males out there proving themselves in that arena. Women prefer to collaborate rather than compete and so some of the startup culture falls into that area.
But if you are talking small business then you should check out this inforgraphic about ...
8
Maybe Derek Sivers?
He sold CD Baby for $22 million. From this discussion in HackerNews, it seems, the business ran by itself since 2002. Of course, i have no idea if he satisfied all those criteria.
I left the day-to-day operations in 2002, and had been living in California and London (while the business is in Portland Oregon). So it had been running ...
8
Vision
Perseverance
Expression
Vision: if you can't see what you're building you will change direction with every minor wind that blows in your sails, and end up with a kludgy lump of something that will be fragile, fulfill few needs, and turn into a maintenance nightmare.
Perseverance is required. If you cannot push through every obstacle, including ...
8
I started my current company (HubSpot) in shared space. We had a private area that had an automatic lock on it.
The acoustics were such that it was not difficult for groups on either side of us to hear conversations, but we just didn't worry about that very much. Though it can be uncomfortable in theory, in practice, it's highly unlikely that some other ...
7
I think its pretty rare. Why?
Because mostly if you are balanced enough to know that work isn't life and you just do business because you enjoy it as a hobby (as it should be done)... then your goal isn't to make $20 million.
I make really, really awesome money doing applications that run themselves. But, well below $1 million a year. Its not worth it. ...
7
I'd say, you should talk to somebody in person about the problem -- not to some guys on the Internet.
You see, the first problem you need to figure out is to find out what you were truly passionate about. You say it's running the business. But that doesn't mean it was really your passion. Maybe it was just the challenge. Maybe it was building something. ...
7
My humble advice,
Forget about critical mass!
If you need critical mass to success and if you are not hostshot blogger or buddy with some well known press guys you'll almost never reach a critical mass.
Don't follow every single rabbit you see
A Russian proverb:
"If you chase two rabbits, you will
not catch either one."
Find something and stick ...
7
If you are just interested in making extra money on the side, a service based business could work for you. Think about areas such as the following:
Custom modifications for existing platforms - e.g. Wordpress
Custom development - e.g. Via freelance sites or word of mouth
Niche hosting or administration of specific applications
Content creation - e.g. ...
7
You are probably facing the same problem the wast majority of us do.
Having ideas is easy. Making them come true is hard.
What you really need to do is simple (well, not really...)
Focus on ONE project (this means you have to actually make a commitment and prioritize ONE project over all others - probably including projects related to other areas of ...
7
Founder is usually used to describe a business where a single person launched the entire business. This could be as programmer/marketing/sales guy, or as an "idea" guy/CEO who hired others to implement his idea (be it for cash, equity, or nothing).
Co-Founder is usually used when 2 or more people come together to launch a business. Typically they have ...
7
Alright, let me start with the negative.
From a tech's point of view - we get lots of offers of great ideas to get involved with, and they almost universally suck. Maybe they require an insane amount of time, or breaking of one or more laws of physics, or they have no chance of making any money, or it's in a field I know absolutely nothing about. ...
6
The book Predictably Irrational has a great section that highlights just how powerful the word "free" can be.
Example 1: Amazon.com decided to introduce free shipping in all locations except France, where the shipping would cost about $0.20 per order. You might think 20 cents shouldn't make a difference, but it did. Sales shot up in all locations except ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
