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My personal experience from three startups and three big companies: The stress is very different at each. The stress at a startup is like the stress of a big game when you have to be at peak performance. It is a satisfying stress. The stress at a big company is more like the stress that animals at a zoo feel when they are under-stimulated. To be fair, ...

I don't think stressful is the right word. There are crazy times, there are insane deadlines, and way too many late nights punctuated by runs to the only fast food restaurant still open. One of my favorite jobs we were working so hard and focused on the project that we would regularly look at the clock and say, "Dang, when did it get to be midnight?" I ...

Now I feel it's my turn to step up. I don't care if I have to work 80 hours per week writing FORTRAN at a hedge fund, if my wife can stay home and raise our kids, it'll be worth the pain. So your wife had been doing the financial heavy lifting for years so you could do something that was important to you personally. And now you want to volunteer to do ...

Anyone know of studies comparing stress levels as a function of company size? I'm not aware of any such studies. I would be very interested in reading them though, so if anyone else knows such a study, please share a link. From my personal experience, some people thrive in a startup environment, while others suffer. It's a personality thing, and ...

Tell your customer that... - You appreciate the offer - You are honest and the truth, at this stage of your startup, is that you cannot give them the level of service they require because you are small, have other projects under way, have personnel rotating, etc. - HOWEVER, tell them at what minor scale you can operate, so you let the door open to still ...

Could it be a startup-idea to create a holding company, where other startups could become business units? No. Ownership is too powerful. Regardless of how strong legal protection you build in, the business unit entrepreneurs will always worry that if they get really successful you will usurp full control and take their money... Edit: The question has ...

It's a bold idea. In the UK, a related story is playing out. The UK is pretty developed for online grocery ordering. The major supermarket chains (such as Tesco) have online ordering, and most will allow you to order food and other items for delivery or for collection at the store. They also operate many formats under related brands, from large out-of-town ...

Your list would benefit startups with their team in place, but on this site seems like the needs for those looking to do a startup would need: Help in finding and qualifying potential partners. Multiple questions on this site: "How do I find a __?" Maybe two companies could share a developer, marketer or design person. Funding resources could be an option. ...

(Disclaimer, I'm not a lawyer, its best to ask one who works in your area) As I see it for all the shared functions you would "logically" have a third entity (Practically you wouldn't to start with) that provided these support services (Agency C) and A and B paid an agreed rate per hour / month for these services. As far as each employee and each ...

I've worked at startups for the past 15 years. A few months ago I bumped into someone who used to work for me at a startup that ended up going public. Very successful. He went off to Cisco and after 4 1/2 years I moved on to new startups. As we did a little catching up, I said I was somewhat jealous that he'd been at the same place, a huge company, for 10 ...

There are minority-shareholder issues which should not be underestimated. However, there are plenty of other issues as well. Let's imagine you have a board of directors with 3 members. Our pretend company is still privately held and all the board members are shareholders and all shareholders are represented on the board. Let's even make it more interesting ...

How about just saying no. What is not polite about being direct and honest, and doing it sooner than later. Trust me, they will appreciate this move much more than you quitting in the large project after it is started. If your decision is to start a business where consulting is not in the picture then just do that, if you are unsure it might be possible you ...

It's not just about control, either. Facebook in particular has a habit of making changes to their service that really annoy a whole lot of people. When they first brought out newsfeed, millions of people protested, and their HQ got mobbed for a couple days. Of course, those were still only a fraction of the total amount of users they had, but you can ...

As elssar points out, you're not competing with Amazon. Keep in mind that Amazon chose books initially because they had reasonably high margins and had a known quality. As a consumer I may buy branded packaged goods sight unseen - but I am reluctant to buy anything online where the quality (or fitness for purpose) is uncertain. If I can inspect the items ...

I guess you all would love to hear this awesome Audio, Revealing Design Treasures from The Amazon by Jared Spool:- http://chi.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail4681.html http://chi.conversationsnetwork.org/audio/download/chi.baychi-JaredSpool-2010.09.14.mp3

First of all, this wouldn't be competing with Amazon, it would be getting into a niche that Amazon doesn't currently service. Now, last year two of my friends had a very similar idea & I'll tell you what I told them - I don't think it will work. I'm coming from an Indian perspective, but I think it would largely apply to other places too. In most, ...

Money is not everything. You don't know if you are dead tomorrow. You don't know if you live the next 5, 10, 20, 50 years (I wish you all the best for a long healthy life). You simply don't know if you become sick or not. Ignoring resurrection, you live now and will die afterwards. There is no magic around it. It is a fact. Even at the time of your death, ...

You are selling into a B2B market. One of the oldest and most tested models of B2B sales is through affiliates. The advantage for your start-up is that you get to leverage the experience, connections and relationships of your affiliates to come to market. The decision to build and leverage an affiliate network to support your sales need not be an ...

If I understand your question, you appear to be focusing on access to capital. It's pretty routine in many large businesses, especially where there is capital-intensivity (infrastructure-heavy businesses, for example), to operate structures giving access to capital somewhat independently of Business Unit structures (that is, focusing on projects and ...

This sounds great, but is actually pretty confused. Let's tease out the elements of intention. We need to start measuring employee satisfaction with the canteen We're willing to spend a bit more to raise that satisfaction level We want to encourage and empower staff to act to improve their part of the organizational machine Subjective measures are ...

If she, for some reason, does not want you to speak to someone with a higher authority, there must be a reason. If you feel like there is not, it's best to speak to her again instead of wasting your time with those 5 other people. Be carefull though. Do not assume these 5 people or the women are not who you think they are. Because it can get confusing and ...

You are on the right track - you used a proper channel and made an initial contact. So far they have not rejected you officially. You still have a chance. It is possible that they still have interest, but not enough to get back to you. DO NOT send 5 pages - nobody's going to read it. I believe you can follow-up with a VERY SHORT message where you need to ...

I have seen shared services. My doctor has her private practice where she shares the receptionest with many other businesses. Also many outsource their services or even get a group of companies together as a sort of co-op and then buy services for them that at an individual level woudn't economicly work. I think the comments about not being under another ...