(Part 2) Best products from r/Entrepreneur

I wouldn’t worry at all about trademark names at first. Basically you should get out and interact with the market to see if there is room for you. Do it in a low risk way. Here’s an example for painting houses:

Step 1: Do a quick and dirty market study - start searching and calling competitors. Use trends.google.com to find out which company in your town is the largest (most search volume) and study them. Are they doing digital marketing? Are they putting out good content (content marketing) on their website? Call them and play a customer. Ask them 100 questions about their process and their lead time. Lead time is the most important. If they are booked out a few weeks you know they are overloaded with customers. Thats a good sign. Move on to step 2.

Step 2: Buy a web domain and hosting for $1.99 per month and build a WordPress site. Get a Google My Business location at your home. Get some reviews on here as fast as possible. I wrote down all the early tools I used here if you'd like to check it out. Google is going to power your business early on. Get a logo and some door hanging flyers put together using a freelancing site. Get your logo embroidered on a nice polo shirt.

Step 3: Write some great content focused around keywords in your town here. Use ahrefs.com to research the keywords you want to target and build some DIY guides for homeowners in your town using those keywords. Some really useful stuff that people will engage with. Thats content marketing and its the best way to get a leg up on google. More on that here.

Step 4: Consider getting a part time for a painting company that specializes in interior and/or exterior on the weekends. Get a feel for the sprayers, rollers equipment, methods and get better at painting. Speed is the key in this business. Offer to do some painting for friends for free (if they buy the paint). Get those friends to take pictures of your work and leave you a nice detailed review on your Google My Business location. Get at least 5 reviews. Have them call you and get directions to your location and click through to your website before leaving the review so Google knows it isn't fake.

Step 5: Marketing. Watch Zillow and Realtor.com and filter for homes that are recently sold in your target areas. New homeowners are exponentially more likely to want interior and exterior painting services than a random joe off the street. Put on your polo and a pair of khakis and go to the homes that recently sold and knock on the door. Smile at them and shake their hand firmly. Tell them about yourself and that you’d love to offer them a free quote to touch up or re-paint some rooms. If they don’t answer hang the flyer on the door and go to the next house.

Go to a paint store and make friends with the employees there. Give them your business cards and your flyers and ask them to spread the word. Offer them $20 cash each time they bring a customer that says they sent you.

Get some nice lawn signs made and ask customers if you can put them in the lawn. Some will let you if they like you. If they don’t offer them a discount on a future painting.

Ignore getting a social media following. Not worth your time or money. Post videos of your work on youtube with local keywords instead. Experiment with social media marketing and PPC marketing by hiring a freelancer who specializes in this sort of thing.

Get creative with your marketing. You know where your customers are and who your perfect customer is. Go find them.

When you get some interest move on to step 6.

Step 6: Purchase used equipment and a cargo van. Here is my used cargo van buying guide (i've purchased 15 or so used vans all under $7500 and they are amazing assets. Get a sprayer, rollers, brushes, a ladder etc. You're about ready to go.

Step 7: Housekeeping stuff. Register with the state as a sole proprietor and get liability insurance. Before you hire your first employee get workers compensation insurance and consider incorporating. Get accounting software like quickbooks and outsource your payroll to a service like Gusto or Paychex. Keep very detailed records of everything and read this book. Consider hiring a bookkeeper but make sure you understand most of it yourself as well. Become a licensed contractor in your state.

Step 8: Get out and paint.

A few notes:

Its competitive. A lot of companies are painting. Answer the phone every time with friendly, eager professionalism and enthusiasm and you’ll be in the top 10%. Nurture your Google Business location. Its your most important asset. Reviews with photos are worth 10 regular reviews.

Play around with the pricing you charge. Price your time at what you estimate would be $40 per hour at first but make sure to charge by the job and not by the hour. You will get better at quoting over time and you will also get much faster at painting.

When you start to get some momentum set up a CRM like Jobber. It allows you to look way more professional than you are. Do all of your billing online. Attach photos of the jobs as they are completed.

You are not going to compete on price. You are going to compete on speed, professionalism, customer service and quality. They are going to like you as a person and want to do business with you. Learn more about this concept in my episode#13 "never compete on price again".

How about a text message when you are on the way to service a customer? How about a link in that text to a picture of the smiling clean cut person who will be stepping onto their property? And a note about what you can expect from the person and how the appointment will go? How about instead of a t-shirt and dirty jeans you have a collared shirt and khakis? How about hair up in a pony tail, tattoos covered, and beard neatly trimmed? How about a giant smile, a firm handshake and an enthusiastic opening statement?

Eventually you will get some momentum. You will be able to upgrade your equipment and get a nicer sprayer. You'll need to hire some help on the weekends you work. Pay well, $15+ per hour, and get competent people. Oversee them for a while until you trust them to paint without you being there.

Avoid being a subcontractor. General contractors only care about one thing - price. You aren't competing on price. You are adding service the the equation so your business only deals with the customers one on one.

Focus on what you do best and outsource everything else.

Form a personal relationship with your customers. Know the names of everyone in the family. Show up with a teddy bear for the little guy. Send a thank you note a few weeks after the job.

Maybe partner with a few realty shops in town or watch the MLS and visit homeowners the week before an open house. A home looks a lot newer with a fresh coat of paint. Use google maps and street view to quote exterior jobs instantly over the phone with customers.

Consider learning Spanish so your customer and employee base is expanded.

Consider expanding to other services like sealcoating and deck staining. Partner with deck builders and pavers and send them business and they will return the favor by sending business your way.

Study and emulate businesses in other towns or cities that are doing an amazing job. Take bits and pieces from each business and build your business as a hybrid that takes the best practices from the best companies.

Eventually you will build a great little business. You will compete on speed and quality and not price. You will charge more than the average joes who offer painting on craigslist and people will be happy to pay it. You can chose to stay small and charge a high price or try to grow and scale the business.

“On demand” is going to be your competitive advantage so you can charge a higher price. Make sure you can offer next day service or same day service. As soon as you get too busy to do that you need to raise your prices or hire another employee. Make sure that person is presentable and clean cut.

Remember that its not about finding great people. Its about simplifying the job so your employees can thrive. Train them to do their core task really well. Don't ask them to do 20 things or they'll do them all poorly. Don’t forget workers comp.

Now spend all of your time answering the phone, dealing with clients, and quoting jobs and managing the marketing. Build a series of youtube videos targeting your city and the keywords so you show up on the second largest search engine in the world (Youtube).

When do you quit your job? That is all up to you. Lean out your life and your business so its less risky and you can get by on earning less. Stay lean as you grow and keep your expenses variable so you can change, pivot and close up shop if things go poorly.

Don’t like painting? Check out this list and take your pick.

I'm trying to be more on the SEO/IM side of things for my own personal affiliate sites so in my opinion, the best way to learn is trial and error. I put a bunch of things online and see how they do and then test and adjust. That being said, I do use a fair few other things to try and boost my knowledge.

YouTube

Steven Bartlett
24 year old owner of a successful social media marketing company in the UK, vlogs his daily life and shares a few nuggets now and then.

Valuetainment
Based on an Iranian immigrant to the USA, not 100% on his back history but the way he talks about the immigrant fire to earn money I am pretty sure he went there with little to nothing in his pocket. Judging by his house, cars and life style he has did very well. He has kind of diluted the channel recently in my opinion though by letting other people make videos for him.

Gary Vaynerchuk
Pretty much owns the entrepreneur vlogging space right now. He seems the type of guy where you either love him or hate him. Personally, I like his no BS approach of giving people reality checks on what it really takes to be an entrepreneur rather than posting photos on Instagram of a nice life.

Podcasts

How I Built This
He basically interviews a bunch of CEO/MD types of massive successful businesses. It's not really a how to type of thing but I enjoy listening to how people got their projects off the ground and I have picked up a fair few things from it.

Indie Hackers
Only recently found thing one but so far so good.

Black Hearted
I'm a bit of a fan boy when it comes to these guys to be honest, they are US military vets who now own a number of successful businesses and they get other vets on the podcast who also own their own businesses and talk about them. Its not just focused on business though but I love the military humor and get it done attitude of them.

Reading

I update this post with all of the books I have read but here are my top picks.

Zero To One
The first book that I couldn't put down until I completed it. Picked a fair few things up from it as well as a bunch of things I hope to move forward with in the future with startups.

The 33 Strategies of War
Not a business book but definitely my style if you take the examples and strategies and turn them into business. This is the second book I have not been able to put down once picking it up.

The E-Myth Revisited
Although I had a decent understanding of how to allocate duties to people depending on their job role this helped me better understand it as well as the importance of doing it.

ReWork
Another book I loved, just introduced me to a bunch of new concepts with a fair few I hope to use in the future.

Black Box Thinking
Coming from and engineering background I was already used to being ok with my failures provided I was learning from them but this book is based around how different industries treat failure and how it is important to accept it and grow from it.

The 50th Law
Currently reading it but so far i'm loving it. Never realized how much crap 50 cent had to go through and I love Robert Greene's work so I can see my classing this as a tier one book.

Some version of this question gets posted at least once a week. Heres a repost of my normal response.

Recommended reading

Here is my suggested reading list for anyone who ever wants to be a small business owner. I like audiobooks but you can get some of these in print also.

Entrepreneur Mindset

There are several books that talk about the entrepreneur mindset. “Rich Dad Poor Dad” was one of the first that I had encountered. “Four Hour Work Week” is a popular one among young adults and lazy millennials now. But I think this one below sums it up in a relatively fast and easy way. To me there is nothing wrong in this book, but in my opinion it’s a little incomplete and inaccurate and won’t work for some people. It doesn’t say how to switch lanes, or say that you can be in two lanes at the same time. Still, it should be required reading for anyone remotely interested in business. It’s at the top of my list because the correct mindset is required before anyone can think about actually doing business.

http://www.audible.com/pd/Business/The-Millionaire-Fastlane-Crack-the-Code-to-Wealth-and-Live-Rich-for-a-Lifetime-Audiobook/B0143BEDUO


Business and Marketing

These two combined are basically an MBA in a box and then some. High level practical information. They are long audiobooks that go over the lessons of an MBA program, and the first one also covers a lot of life hacking and mind hacking theories such as how to stay motivated etc. Some of this stuff is very interesting, some if it is boring to slog through. But knowing what is in here will have you well versed to communicate about business at a high level. I have listened to both several times, I keep coming back because it’s a lot and I can’t learn it all at once.

https://www.amazon.com/Personal-MBA-Master-Art-Business/dp/1591845572

http://www.audible.com/pd/Business/Critical-Business-Skills-for-Success-Audiobook/B00UY842O8


The E Myth series basically describes how many entrepreneurs fail to implement systems in their business. It has a couple other important business concepts and is geared mainly for beginning entrepreneurs or those who have not yet studied a lot about business at a high level.

http://www.audible.com/pd/Business/The-E-Myth-Revisited-Audiobook/B002V1LGZE

Mike Michalowicz, Solid principles, Some are regurgitations of Seth Godin and E-Myth, but some are original and insightful. Not very efficient in delivery of material, seems like he stretches it out. But one of the few business authors who gets into nuts and bolts and not just rah rah. I would highly recommend.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Business/The-Toilet-Paper-Entrepreneur-Audiobook/B00FKCI3I4

https://www.audible.com/pd/Business/The-Pumpkin-Plan-Audiobook/B008CHN41K

https://www.audible.com/pd/Business/Profit-First-Audiobook/B06X15WX5B

In the world of marketing, Seth Godin is well known as a forward thinker. He has a new perspective of thinking about marketing in the internet age.
Seth Godin Startup School. This is a series of 15 short podcasts, maybe 15 to 20 minutes long each. It’s a good cliff notes version of a lot of his other books.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/seth-godins-startup-school/id566985370

http://www.audible.com/pd/Business/Purple-Cow-Audiobook/B002V0QOJS

http://www.audible.com/pd/Business/All-Marketers-Are-Liars-Audiobook/B002V1NIMI

Gary Vaynerchuk is well known in online entrepreneur forums, especially with a younger audience. He is interesting to listen to and talks at a basic level mostly about social media marketing.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfA33-E9P7FC0AoARnMLvgFgESJe4_Ngs

This is a link about fashion, but it could just as easily be about any other business. As you read it, substitute the product for your product or widgets and it makes sense.

https://moz.com/ugc/how-to-build-a-great-online-fashion-brand-34-things-that-really-amazing-fashion-retailers-do

It’s probably not necessary to read this whole book, but it’s widely referenced and it’s important to understand the theory. This guy basically coined the phrase “Lean Startup” to describe businesses that start small and apply the scientific method to determine which direction to grow. Inspired by LEAN Manufacturing methodology made famous by Toyota, but follows similar principles.

https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898


There are a lot of great posts in reddit. There are a lot of crappy ones too. But worth trolling.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/

https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusiness/

https://www.reddit.com/r/restaurateur/ (yes it’s spelled wrong)

For example, this post basically has a step by step guide to start a small business.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/5lfy6n/4_years_ago_i_wrote_a_case_study_on_reddit_on_my/

Other links
21 Lessons From Jeff Bezos’ Annual Letters To Shareholders

https://www.cbinsights.com/research/bezos-amazon-shareholder-letters/#2000


E Commerce, Design, Online Marketing
This guy has a very interesting perspective on display tactics.

https://www.nickkolenda.com/

A good source for tactics. Also offers one of the better wordpress themes

https://thrivethemes.com/6-brain-hacks/

These guys offer great information and insight in their podcast.

https://ecomcrew.com/episode-1-welcome-to-the-ecom-crew-podcast/

Landing Page Optimization
Important for all businesses even offline, for example with restaurants these principles could help for menu design or digital signage, for other businesses this knowledge can help with advertising layouts etc.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-brand-strategies-uniquely-position-your-ecommerce-above-bhardwaj

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/7-landing-page-design-tips

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/landing-page-design-infographic/

https://moz.com/ugc/how-to-build-a-great-online-fashion-brand-34-things-that-really-amazing-fashion-retailers-do

https://thrivethemes.com/6-brain-hacks/

This book discusses platform or marketplace apps, especially networking apps like Uber for x or dating apps. A must read for anyone thinking about attempting any kind of similar online platform.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Business/Platform-Revolution-Audiobook/B01DDX7MJ2

Also

http://andrewchen.co/marketplace-startups-best-essays/

A good page of links

http://www.themissionmarketer.com/digital-marketing-resources/


For Restaurants

http://www.restaurantowner.com

Very valuable stuff here. Business plan templates, etc. $30 a month for a subscription but well worth it if you are starting or running a restaurant.

https://www.restaurantmastering.com

http://www.typsy.com

Not worth the paid membership yet, but it's growing. And you can get a free trial for like a week and binge watch everything.

Dealing with delivery aggregators

https://www.reddit.com/r/restaurateur/comments/76sd1i/uber_eats_what_percentage_you_paying_em_anyone/

Here are all the books with amazon links, Alphabetical order :)

---

• Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1591396190
  
• Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh et al. Link: http://amzn.com/160941280X
  
• Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown Link: http://amzn.com/0804137382
  
• Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days by Jessica Livingston Link: http://amzn.com/1590597141
  
• How Google Works by Eric Schmidt et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1455582344
  
• Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk Link: http://amzn.com/006227306X
  
• Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way by Richard Branson Link: http://amzn.com/0307720748
  
• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1400064287
  
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck Link: http://amzn.com/0345472322
  
• Never Eat Alone, Expanded and Updated: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0385346654
  
• Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim S. Grover et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1476714207
  
• Rework by Jason Fried et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0307463745
  
• Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin Link: http://amzn.com/1591842948
  
• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss Link: http://amzn.com/0307465357
  
• The Choose Yourself Guide To Wealth by James Altucher Link: http://amzn.com/150100994X
  
• The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison: *God Doesn't Think He's Larry Ellison by Mike Wilson Link: http://amzn.com/0060008768
  
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz Link: http://amzn.com/0062273205
  
• The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen Link: http://amzn.com/0062060244
  
• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries Link: http://amzn.com/0307887898
  
• The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime by MJ DeMarco Link: http://amzn.com/B004BDOUAI
  
• The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday Link: http://amzn.com/1591846358
  
• The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1885167776
  
• The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Steve Blank et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0984999302
  
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell Link: http://amzn.com/0316346624
  
• Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth by Gabriel Weinberg et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1591848369
  
• Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out by Marc Ecko Link: http://amzn.com/1451685319
  
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0804139296

You should be more specific about what you're hoping to learn. There are thousands of resources out there in regards to entrepreneurship, marketing, website development & eCommerce. You could find pretty much anything you want if you phrase it correctly.

Example Searches

• How to setup Facebook ads
  
• How to start a business under $1,000
  
• Growth hacking (tips and tricks on growing your business fast)
  
• How to build a wordpress website + top wordpress plugins
  
• How to create a landing page
  
• Best community bulletin board software
  
• How to build a Facebook group
  
• How to create YouTube videos
  
  ​
  
  You can just keep going from there.
  
  The basics of what you'll need, assuming you know nothing (which I doubt) would be this.
  
  
• How to build a website (wordpress, html, Wix, Squarespace, .etc)
  
• How to build an audience (paid + organic, FB + Google + Instagram + Pinterest + YouTube + Reddit)
  
  Everything else you just figure out along the way based on how you want to monetize your audience and quite honestly, no book is going to help you figure that out.
  
  You'll learn a lot more just hanging out on Reddit and watching YouTube videos on the subject matter that's next on your checklist. Books are almost purely inspirational at this point and I think we can agree there are plenty of Podcasts that will help you find inspiration (and skill), such as The Top (Nathan Latka) or Mixergy
  
  If you study hustlers you'll get all the information and inspiration you could ever hope for. Read or watch anything from Noah Kagan (AppSumo). No one does it better than him. Ryan Holiday (not an affiliate link) is another favorite of mine. There are also some older Tim Ferriss articles that really talk about how you approach certain businesses.
  
  Like I said, man. It's all out there. You don't need to pay $1 for information, you just have to know what to look for and if you listen to a few podcasts or read a few beginner articles you'll figure out pretty quickly the steps you need to take next.
  
  ​
  
  Some Books I Like (no affiliate links)
  
  
• The Obstacle Is The Way: Ryan Holiday
  
• Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness of Crowds: Charles Mackay
  
• Secrets Of A Master Closer: Mike Kaplan
  
• Hooked: Nir Eyal
  
• The Art Of Learning: Josh Waitzken
  
• The 4 Hour Workweek: Tim Ferriss (Maybe the best entrepreneur book of all time)
  
• Pitch Anything: Oren Klaff
  
• The Gambler: William C. Rempel
  
• and of course...How To Win Friends & Influence People: Dale Carnegie (everyone MUST read this book)

Quick tips:

1 - Read some marketing/growth hacking books

https://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Growth-Fastest-Growing-Companies-Breakout/dp/045149721X

https://www.amazon.com/Growth-Hacker-Marketing-Primer-Advertising/dp/1591847389

2 - Make your site more clear that you're selling earbuds. on the first impression, it looks like I can sponsor a Panda or similar.

3 - Work on your SEO more and create a favicon.

Great favicon generator for multiple platforms - https://realfavicongenerator.net/

4 - Since you're helping a charity contact local news, online blogs, charity outlets etc to get an article or a link...

5 - Create more site content. Really sell the reason why you're helping the Pandas and also why your earbuds are worth buying. Create a video to explain all this perhaps

///////////

1. How do you recommend marketing a new product and company?
   
   There are tons of blog posts, books on this. No one here will give you a better answer in a comment then reading a well thought out blog post or book.
   
   ​
   
   
2. What is the best way to do targeted ads?
   
   I am learning this myself better. So no comment
   
   ​
   
   
3. How much money should I expect to spend on ads before I start seeing any sales?
   
   Same as above
   
   ​
   
   At the end of the day, it's just to keep pushing and stay positive, 1% progress a day and you should be happy.
   
   ​
   
   Best of luck with your business and for the future.

You should both sign a PIIA. This ensures that all of the IP you're creating belongs to the Company. I was a solo founder to start and signed one myself, even though the idea was mine. This will protect your Company in the long run. http://www.knowingstartups.com/protecting-a-tech-companys-technology-and-other-employment-terms-proprietary-information-and-invention-assignment-agreement/

I had a similar situation and had the difficult conversation. Get your incorporation docs and then have a discussion about how much equity makes sense based on what you each bring to the table:

• the idea
  
• money invested
  
• time invested
  
• forward commitment
  
  You can read about how to have this conversation in a structured way in Founder's Dilemmas
  
  https://www.amazon.com/Founders-Dilemmas-Anticipating-Foundation-Entrepreneurship/dp/0691158304
  
  Get incorporated asap so you can set up your restricted stock agreements and then you'll each start vesting your equity. Recommend the standard 4 year vesting schedule with a 1 year cliff. Communicate each of your expectations regarding roles and responsibilities.
  
  Have your cofounder (and you) sign an offer letter or contractor agreement with your terms of work. Set written OKRs and if they're not meeting them, you can fire them.
  
  My first "cofounder" worked w me part time and I had the structured convo and she agreed to 5% for her was fair based on my rationale. She didn't make it a year but as soon as we raised money I paid her back pay as a contractor.
  
  The second woman who started working with me asked for 10% and also started as a contractor. She didn't join me as a FTE until after I'd raised money. I took 70%.
  
  So to her it was fair bc it was my idea, I had taken on all of the risk, put in my life savings, and raised money etc. but our agreement was she would work 30 hours per week and then once she signed, I started the "clock" on her vesting from her first date as a contractor.
  
  I didn't ask her to step up as a cofounder until after we had worked together for 9 months.
  
  FWIW this all happened in 2015. I am still the CEO and we are now worth $40MM. She's still my cofounder but her role will continue to change in the company as the needs of the company change (she knows this and is on board).
  
  So, while these conversations felt super hard at the time, I'm grateful I had them and that we all agreed what was fair and why from a business side. It's good practice for more difficult conversations you'll have w your cofounder in the future, like if you need to hire over them. Everything you both do must be in the best interest of the company.
  
  I hope you enjoy the book, it really helped me.
  
  Be careful about your equity bc it becomes the most valuable thing you have. Open conversations help to squash resentment. You never know, maybe your cofounder doesn't expect 50% or perhaps they only want to work part time... or start later after you raise. There's no one "right" way to do it.

The Four-Hour Workweek seems to spark up a lot of controversy when mentioned, I was even skeptical when reading it, but it honestly changed my life. It inspired me to become an entrepreneur, it's packed with case studies that inspire you to escape 9 to 5, and has plenty of great resources for someone starting their first online business, or for anyone looking to improve their work efficiency and spend less time at the office.

I'm also currently reading:

• The Tipping Point
  
  
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
  
  
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
  
  
  May seem overly mentioned or cliche, but they're cliche for a reason!

As a senior engineer living in Silicon Valley, I get pitched to all the time by people with "an amazing idea" that nobody has thought of that will change the world. Any engineer worth their weight has heard the same thing left and right.

The fundamental problem is that these "idea guys" think a good idea is all that is needed and the only thing getting in their way of a multibillion dollar valuation is some engineer that won't build this one little thing for them.

The problem is this: successful startup are not just about the idea but also the execution. You've probably heard this all the time how idea is worthless, execution is everything. But what I'm talking about is executing on the business and customer development side. Executing on technology is easy, building a successful business is more than just building the app, it's also about building the business side of the company.

If you follow any of the Lean Startup methodologies, the last step of building a startup is building the product. You don't start building anything until you have paying customers. Prior to that, it's all about Minimally Viable Product to prove a concept. A MVP does not need to be an app; there have been very successful startups that started out with paper mocks as MVP and manual processes as MVP. Even Uber's MVP is a fraction of what it ended up being.

So, I won't laugh you out of the room; I am extremely patient with every pitch that I hear. However, if you want me to take you seriously, bring something to the table. Find me 10 customers that have paid or are willing to buy this product that you are going to release. If you cannot find 10 paying customers* to validate your idea, it tells me a number of things:

1. You don't have what it takes to do customer and product development
   
2. You aren't serious about your idea and are just hoping someone does the work and you can gain
   
3. You can't sell
   
4. Your idea sucks
   
   So, my advice if you want to be taken seriously, bring something to the table:
   
   

• money (seed money to pay for the work)
  
• network (large number of people in the target market that can be leveraged to succeed)
  
• product development - the skill of knowing how to validate an idea, customer development, feature prioritization, vision
  
• leadership / experience: proven experience in building and leading a cross functional team tech, sales, product, etc
  
• sales: ability to sell anything to anyone
  
  Honestly, as an engineer, the two groups that are hard to find are good product managers and UX designers. As an engineer, I'm looking for someone to complement my skills. I am looking for someone that can hustle, do customer interviews and market analysis of the target market. Tech is easy, finding the product market fit is hard.
  
  Anyway, I recommend two books if you are serious about building your concept:
  
  
• Lean Startup - the goal of a startup is to identify customers
  
• Founders Dilemma - deep dive into decisions that you should think about in building a startup
  
  
• 10 is arbitrary number, use whatever metric you want. Find me xx users that have this problem that you're trying to solve.

ConorTurk - Thanks for the question. I think the best information that you will find on e-commerce / marketing is actually online as opposed to in actual books.

Here are a few resources that I recommend:

• Smart Passive Income Podcast - Great source for general tips / stories on building an online business
  
  
• Will It Fly Book by Patt Flynn on how to start an online business
  
  
• Smart Blogger Jon Marrow is a successful blogger and online business coach
  
  
• Growth Lab Ramit Sethi has several courses that help people start online businesses. I've taken a few of them and think they're great.
  
  Hope this gets you off on a good start!
  
  As a way of background I have newsletter where I share proven case studies of successful entrepreneurs. I outline step by step how they made money and got freedom from their day job. If you’re interested let me know and I can PM you the link to the newsletter or if you have any questions.

Your question is very important. Especially for early stage or even first-time founders, who don't have the right support network yet. There are many more resources like Facebook groups, and youtube channels that you can leverage to learn more about entrepreneurship, specific skills, and industries. Let me know if you're looking for something more specific. I'd be more than happy to give you additional pointers.

 

Here is a list of resources that I found very helpful on my journey:

 

Forums
 

Reddit: I was impressed with the quality and depth that you can get by asking meaningful and targeted questions in the right channels such as r/entrepreneur and r/startups.

 

Podcasts
 

All of the podcasts provide a great learning experience through case studies, founder interviews, and startup pitches. Believe me when I say that whatever challenge you're having someone more experience can very likely help you.

 

1. Jason Calacanis: this week in startups
    
   
   
2. Tim Ferriss: The Tim Ferriss Show
    
   
   
3. James Altucher: The James Altucher Show
   
    
   
   Newsletter
    
   
   Launch Ticker News: One of the best newsletters out there that captures the latest tech and business news sent to your inbox several times per day.
   
    
   
   Blogs
    
   
   
4. Andrew Chen
    
   
   
5. Entrepreneurship Unplugged
   
    
   
   Books
    
   
   
6. Roger Fisher: Getting to Yes
    
   
   
7. Dale Carnegie: How to Win Friends and Influence People
    
   
   
8. Dan Ariely: Predictably Irrational
   
   
9. Eric Ries: [The Lean Startup] (https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522354359&sr=8-2&keywords=the+lean+startup)
   
   
10. Noam Wasserman: The Founder's Dilemmas

I don't know if it's the link or the website, but I get a redirection...not the best for thrusting a website.

Wordpress (.org) is great just find a better theme and browse the plugins.
for example Louis vuitton is running on wordpress. There is a lot of multinationals using wordpress.
And do the updates !!! you're using wordpress 4.5.4, the last version is 4.7
You need a theme with a e-commerce integrated in it and a SSL certificate
in order to sell; I didn't get what you want to sell btw.

Also I hope you have a backup of your website!

Online Business query on youtube - Freemium is the trend you can find a lot of free tutorial to learn the basics of business on youtube.

Next I recommend some readings (not affiliate):
-The personnal MBA - Josh Kaufman
-Growth Hacker Marketing - Ryan Holiday

• This blog on growth hacking: https://www.hackisition.com/

Hey! Not necessarily a rubric out there but there are certainly best practices to follow. I would recommend the following resources:

"Lean Startup" Eric Ries

"Will it Fly" Pat Flynn

I'd be happy to offer some more details and insights but I believe those are excellent resources starting out. Good luck!

Follow @mojcamars on twitter and check out her blog on www.superspicymedia.com. She started out the same as you and she details how she got started finding clients.

Basically, she started by searching on Twitter for people who needed help with their social media accounts. She would give away completely free advice to people and the premium stuff she would charge for. She said when giving free advice she doesn't mention her website or anything like that upfront... she only does so if the conversation calls for it. Most people will find out about your website/services anyway when they visit your Twitter profile.

Check out her site. I highly recommend it.

Also look into Gary Vaynerchuk on YouTube. He goes into detail about this many times. You should be putting out free content daily, just like Mojca does. By doing so, you establish yourself as an authority in your space while at the same time gaining a following which leads to sales/clients. Read "Jab, jab, right hook" and "#AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur's Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness".

Good luck!

Happy to send a pdf of this version here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07L9LC8NS/

I need a request through this form: https://ippglobal.org/contact-ipp, so I can keep track, since quite a few have requested it. I'll send it to the email you provide in the form. Please send a quick comment that you'd like Lean Startup Marketing Workbook 1. I'll send it out straight away!

Work this workbook, and you will not only validate your developed offering, and even your ideas, you'll find target markets and users; competitors that help you define your UVPs and iterate your offering if necessary, for the greatest traction on your marketing efforts.

Read it all, in order, and do the projects, without skipping any steps, and you will have built a solid foundation for successfully marketing your new offerings, and building awareness of your business.

Hope the book, and slides, serves you! And good luck on your entrepreneurial journey!

First, I recommend buying and reading this book if you haven't. It's more geared towards raising funding, but the discussion on the term sheet and earnouts alone is worth it:

http://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalist/dp/1118443616/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369064433&sr=1-1&keywords=venture+deals

Second, it really sucks that there's almost no cash in the deal. From what I understand, the company will sell for $Z in total, $X in cash and $Y in earn out tied to staying with the company and meeting performance goals. Obviously it's in the buyers best interest to have $Y be the largest it can, and it's in the sellers best interest to have $X be as large as it can. But from what it seems there's almost no cash in the deal, which would make me wary from the start.

Personally I don't know if I would ever entertain an offer of <30% the offer price is in cash. Obviously the terms of the earn out matter, but I'm assuming this is an asset deal, not a stock deal - in which case you're still saddled with the liability of the original business in the future and the acquiring company gets tax breaks on the larger the 'earnout' portion - both reasons to argue for a larger cash portion.

Have you thought about seeing if there are any other large players interested in buying your company? From my chair the quickest way to a favorable offer would be to pit two competing companies against each other for yours.

From what ive seen there is no silver bullet. Books like slicing pie helped me learn how to value peoples contributions but a dynamic equity split wasn't the answer.

In my opinion the best book to read is Venture Deals, Be smarter than your lawyer and venture capitalist. Its going to teach you a ton about how to structure your cap table, what terms/concepts you should be aware of, and what investors are looking for.

https://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalist/dp/1118443616

Another great thing to read is the founders dilemma. It talks about the trade-off entrepreneurs make. Do you want to be rich or king because you cant be both?

https://hbr.org/2008/02/the-founders-dilemma

In the end you're going to have to make a judgement call.

I like the lean canvas and lean start up theories.

Here is lean canvas
http://leanstack.com/

It's a more streamlined model of the traditional business model canvas.

And here is an excellent book about implementing lean startup
http://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Plan-Works/dp/1449305172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410501116&sr=8-1&keywords=running+lean

The original book for this is The Lean Startup
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lean+startup&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Alean+startup&ajr=2

If you haven't done a business before, I'd recommend you check out all of these resources. In addition to helping you plan and create your business model, it also gives fantastic advice on starting out. Including how to make sure you are actually creating a product someone wants, finding your customers, getting the product out there sooner than later and other great notes.

Also keep in mind that you can spend weeks and months on a business plan and it will most likely blow up as soon as you implement it. Nothing wrong with that, but the point is to make a plan that's "good enough" and then go out there and test your theory.

Good luck!

I think you just broke my brain.

I suggested you modify your marketing strategy so that you weren't so dependent on search ranking... you basically told me you do a heap of other things but they don't help with your search ranking.

I'm not sure you got what I meant, so let me say it this way:

When you're getting 10,000 visits a day from Facebook, it doesn't matter where you show up in Google

Okay, now let's do a tear-down and see if we can help you a bit.

1) Your SEO strategy sucks

If your entire SEO strategy is based around people finding you when they Google "La La Land", then you've got problems.

First of all, this rarely works as a growth strategy. If people are google'ing you, they already know who you are. Unless you're getting traffic simply because people google "La La Land" randomly and end up finding your store. That's not a viable long-term strategy.

Secondly, you need to utilise your blog. The more content you write, the more information there is for Google to decide what your site is about, so that it can show it to people that aren't just searching for "La La Land". Write about gift ideas for people from Glascow, write about unique gifts for dog people, etc. There are billions of SEO resources out there, go read some.

2) Your social strategy sucks

Why are you posting the exact same posts to Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter? Stop using IFTT, it's not just lazy, it's ineffective.

Like, take a look at your twitter posts - the text doesn't even fit on the damn post. Your tumblr posts just link to your Instagram feed, which means to get to your website people need to click twice. You need to create content that's crafted for each platform that you're marketing on. Go read Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook for a basic overview of this idea.

General comments:

Instagram

• Your Instagram feed should have videos on it
  
• Why are you not using Instagram stories? This would be a great place to showcase some of the behind-the-scenes of creating your products.
  
• Are you just dumping photos, or are you sticking around to engage users on Instagram? How much time are you spending each day browsing Instagram and engaging with other accounts?
  
  Twitter
  
  
• 1-2 hashtags per post (currently: 0). Once you stop auto-posting you can fix this.
  
• Similarly, spend 10 minutes a day tweeting stuff that isn't photos of your products. Engage with other accounts.
  
  Facebook
  
  
• Consider re-sharing a few bits of social media content that are relevant to your consumers (ie, stuff that's gone viral that you've seen in your feed). (I don't mean download + reupload, I mean 'share')
  
• Consider creating content similar to the above. What sort of stuff do you see popping up in your personal feed that you think you can replicate within context of your store? Maybe you can do a time-lapse video of you creating some of the art you make
  
• Try not to have just an entire feed of product photos. Look at your content mix, think about other types of posts you could make that are relevant to your audience.
  
  3) You don't have an on-site content strategy
  
  There's nothing on your website that you can use to lure people to it.
  
  Go on your blog right now, and write a 500 word post ranting about <some subject relevant to your customerbase>, with a headline that is interesting enough that might get them to click the link if you post it to Twitter. Have a think about the different type of content you could produce that would appeal to your buyers. Is it an infographic, is it instructions on how to choose Christmas gifts for spoiled millenials, this sort of stuff.
  
  You want to create the sort of content that when you post it, people will click "share".
  
  
  

The TLDR of /u/GaryARefuge 's comment is my own personal mantra: "Make something someone will pay for". SOOO many would-be entrepreneurs have a 'fantastic idea' that is neat, but no one needs it, is looking for it, or wants it enough to pay for. So, #1: Build an MVP, even if it's just in powerpoint, and be very blunt and straightforward in contacting your target market and asking them if they would pay for your product. This TLDR came from [Running Lean](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1449305172/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1449305172&linkCode=as2&tag=regreddit-20&linkId=KQN6MFRDGHTBSZJH">Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works (Lean Series)</a><img src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=regreddit-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1449305172) , and is a fantastic to cheaply validate a business model. ONLY after you understand the target market, and possibly even iterate on your 'powerpoint' product version, will you know if your idea is really great enough to actually build and sell.

Now, to specifically answer your question, yes, it's common. You might seek out a technical co-founder to help you (after you validate the business model).

One of the best business books I've read about how to methodically test and validate business ideas is "The Lean Startup" by Eric Reis (https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation-ebook/dp/B004J4XGN6?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect). His advice is simple but very powerful if used appropriately. But as far as the idea block you're experiencing... don't worry about it! A truly novel and original idea is exceedingly rare. Most successful companies were not the first to think of something, they just did it better than everyone else. Google wasn't the first search engine. Facebook wasn't the first social network. So don't let the fact someone else is already doing it slow you down! Look at it as validation it's a market worth getting into and then figure out what the incumbents are doing wrong : )

Start With Why [Simon Sinek]

48 Laws of Power [Robert Greene] (33 Strategies of War, Art of Seduction)

The 50th Law [Curtis James Jackson]

Tipping Point:How Little Things Can Make a Difference and Outliers: The story of Succes [Malcolm Gladwell]

The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is the Enemy [Ryan Holiday] (stoicism)

[Tim Ferris] (actually haven't read any of his books, but seems to know a way to use social media, podcast, youtube)

Get an understanding to finance, economics, marketing, investing [Graham, Buffet], philosophy [Jordan Peterson]

I like to think us/you/business is about personal development, consciousness, observing recognizable patterns in human behavior and historical significance. It's an understanding of vast areas of subjects that connect and intertwine then returns back to the first book you’ve read (Start with Why) and learn what you've read past to present. Business is spectacular, so is golf.



To Add:

Irrationally Predictable:The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions - [Dan Ariely] (marketing)

The Hard Things About Hard Things - [Ben Horowitz] (business management)

Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It - [Charlamagne Tha God] (motivation)

The Lean Startup: Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses - [Eric Ries]

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, How to Build the Future - [Peter Theil]

Some would say I read too much, but I really enjoyed:

founders at work: Steve Wozniak (Apple), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail) tell you in their own words about their surprising and often very funny discoveries as they learned how to build a company. (This is one of my favorite books ever!)

the art of the start:Kawasaki provides readers with GIST-Great Ideas for Starting Things-including his field-tested insider's techniques for bootstrapping, branding, networking, recruiting, pitching, rainmaking, and, most important in this fickle consumer climate, building buzz.

the innovator's dilemma: Focusing on “disruptive technology,” Christensen shows why most companies miss out on new waves of innovation. Whether in electronics or retailing, a successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know when to abandon traditional business practices. Using the lessons of successes and failures from leading companies, The Innovator’s Dilemma presents a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation.



And in terms of getting your life together to the point where you are responsible enough to lead others, I would highly suggest Getting Things Done by David Allen

Listed below is a list of resources that help me get started with entrepreneurship, I recommend that you start listening to podcast first and then migrate to the books; if you can do both. Indulge!

Business Podcast-
http://www.tropicalmba.com
http://fourhourworkweek.com/blog/
http://www.entrepreneuronfire.com
https://www.stansberryradio.com/James-Altucher
http://www.smartpassiveincome.com
http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com
http://mixergy.com
http://freedomfastlane.com

Business books-
http://www.amazon.com/Think-Grow-Rich-Napoleon-Hill/dp/1453670114
http://www.amazon.com/The-50th-Law-50-Cent/dp/006177460X
http://www.amazon.com/The-4-Hour-Workweek-Anywhere-Expanded/dp/0307465357
http://www.amazon.com/The-Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0061122416
http://www.amazon.com/Choose-Yourself-James-Altucher-ebook/dp/B00CO8D3G4
http://www.amazon.com/MONEY-Master-Game-Financial-Freedom-ebook/dp/B00MZAIU4G
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Learning-Journey-Performance/dp/0743277465


Internet blogs/resources-
http://www.reddit.com
http://www.quora.com
https://growthhackers.com
http://www.tropicalmba.com


All of the sites listed above will give you an idea of how the game is played if you want to learn more in-depth I recommend https://www.udemy.com/courses/ . If you have any questions just hit me up! hope this helps or at least give you an idea.
GOOD LUCK!!!

Very interesting as I'll probably be in a similar situation in terms of dealing with equity splits very soon. A few questions, how many other founders are there? How unique is your skill set and could they easily find someone else who can build a similar product? Coming from the marketing/business side, the reality is, products don't sell themselves and the success of a company depends more on it's ability to get customers than how great the product actually is. So the question is who is going to be the biggest contributor to growing the business and if that's you - you should be getting more of the equity. If it's the other founders, then they have more leverage. A good read is The Founder's Dilemmas, might want to check it out... http://www.amazon.com/Founders-Dilemmas-Anticipating-Foundation-Entrepreneurship/dp/0691158304/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421213581&sr=8-1&keywords=founder+dilemma

I'm not going to give you advice. I will give you these links that helped me out of my "Pit of Despair" when, at one point in my entrepreneural and personal life, felt like I was in the trenches taking on grenades from every direction. It was a dark time. You're not alone. The struggle is real, but so is hope.
Hope these help:

1. The Perils of Personal Progress - I cried like a baby when I first read this (http://charliehoehn.com/2012/12/18/the-perils-of-personal-progress/)
   
   
2. Ramit Sethi + Chase Jarvis - Powerhouse talk about business, your dream job and the briefcase technique. It works. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tsJ_-yINxs)
   
   
3. Seth Godin's Startup School - Enough said. Start from podcast #2 and go forward from there. Listen to it while you clean your place or brainstorm new ideas (http://www.earwolf.com/show/startup-school/)
   
   
4. James Altucher's "10 Things You Need To Do if You Were Fired Yesterday" - Good advice. It's funny and true. I tested it and I'm still here :) (http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/03/10-things-you-need-to-do-if-you-were-fired-yesterday/)
   
   
5. Ryan Holiday's "The Obstacle is the Way" Book - Using famous figures as examples through history, it puts your plights into perspective and shows you that "every obstacle in the path BECOMES the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition". (http://www.amazon.com/Obstacle-Way-Timeless-Turning-Triumph/dp/1591846358/ref=sr_1_1_ha?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412223326&sr=1-1&keywords=the+obstacle+is+the+way)
   
   These are all the links and books I can think of right now. I hope this helps and you pull yourself up soon.
   When I told my aunt about my time in the Pit, her response was, "So you wasted time".
   Damn.
   When I thought about it, yeah, I did waste time. Self pity is a choice. Choose another path.

Commenting again to add: This guy spent a TON of time building up his audience before he even started his shop:

> Before actually launching his store, Melvin spent a good deal of time building an audience on Instagram. “Hands down, Instagram has been the greatest in terms of ROI on every dollar spent,” notes Melvin. In 3 months, he’s managed to build over 130k followers on Instagram and find ‘loopholes’ to utilize Instagram as a go-to channel for building an eCommerce business.

Having a "Field of Dreams" mindset of if you build it, they will come will doom the company (says the lady who's a marketer lol). The fact that you've been using ads is a step in the right direction, but try selling value rather than product at first, and find a way to grab their email addresses. Then, create emails that give them more value and reason to open the email. (Something in addition to discounts--that's asking for money). Then, you get them to commit to a sale. That's a long-term sales funnel, but it gives you something to work on: Ad > Landing page > Sign up > Email campaign > Purchase > Retention.

Also check out Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook--good book on how to give value before asking for a sale on social media.

Just posted this (http://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/2q8q0y/i_have_a_non_complicated_invention_how_can_i_help/) and think it relates to you, too, TurtleHustler:

Read this book! http://www.amazon.com/Invent-It-Sell-Bank-Million-Dollar/dp/0804176434

And this one: http://www.amazon.com/One-Simple-Idea-Licensing-Goldmine/dp/0071756159

If you don't want to run the business and manufacturing yourself do consider the slim chance of licensing the product. InventRight could help then. I think it ups the odds of getting a licensing deal . . . if the product is worthwhile. Too many think they have innovative products when it's, like, a disposable cat bowl.

Cover yourself with the right documents, too. NDA, non-circumvention, non-compete, you know the game.

The reality is most people will say they'll buy but how many would put their money where their mouth is come down to it? The first book mentioned does talk about that in a very enlightening, reality-inspiring way.

You could see about going the Kickstarter route if you need funding. I'd at least go patent-pending beforehand. Big companies can canvas that site often for ideas.

The Four-Hour-Workweek approach is a safe one, too, as far as market testing goes. Do read that book if you haven't. I'd test the heck out of the market before putting in the money you're certainly going to have to put in, especially if you're talking a regular patent and funding your own manufacturing.

A couple things that come to mind are:

• Believe in yourself and your ideas, but also be aggressively open to honest feedback (constantly let people around you know it's safe to give this honest feedback)
  
• Read
  
• Practive self-love
  
• Realize there will be a lot of uncertainly and discomfort when starting a business, and it's totally normal even though it sucks
  
  I read a book that I loved (The Obstacle is The Way) which mentions the idea "we gather strength as we go." This idea has been really comforting for me (especially as a solo founder) because it helps me remember that it's okay to not have all the answers at any given time.
  
  As for specific business advice, I think almost everything can be learned with the right mindset (and the points above have been my biggest challenge so far). Didn't mean to get too preachy, but this stuff has been a big help for me so I figured I'd post it!

1. Reddit is not a substitute for attorney who can prepare shareholder agreement which would cover your unique situation.
   
   
2. Having partners and shareholders is more serious then marriage. You can't take someone's equity away for non-performance. You may enter decision making paralysis because you can't reach consensus etc. LLC might not work for all cases and you might need C-corp which is more complicated, and so on. Consider whether your website has that much potential to cover for all that administrative burden.
   
   
3. If you can avoid having equity partners - do so at that stage. Structure commercial agreement for services and commission, performance based compensation. Make sure IP is always transferred to your LLC. If this is not enough for your friends - make option plan which are conditionally vested based on performance.
   
   Giving away equity is easy. Restructuring later when you understand each one true individual contribution is complicated and is a major stress.
   
   If you believe you're really on to something with your website, spend a weekend reading some book on how corporate law works and find a reasonable corporate attorney to help you structure your shareholder agreement.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalist/dp/1118443616 you may skip all chapters related to VC deals

It's a question of personality. I am all for Innovation, Innovation, Innovation.

> Which are better in your opinion?

Innovation

> What examples do you have?

• Apple,
  
• Whole Foods,
  
• Walmart (Walmart is not about Low-Prices, it's about IT and innovative processes that allow for low-prices and more)
  
• Google
  
• Facebook
  
• Instagram
  
• Compaq
  
• MCI
  
• Digital
  
• Intel
  
• Tesla
  
  
  If you want more, read this: https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Change-Business/dp/0062060244
  
  and this: https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Solution-Creating-Sustaining-Successful/dp/1422196577

Kind of unrelated, but I've been around a lot of entrepreneurs and they all swear by this book. Apparently, it's the importance important thing you can read before raising venture capital. No idea. I've never read it since I've never had to raise money. : https://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalist/dp/1118443616

​

Also, I really suggest you look at things like Wefunder or Seedinvest. They are basically like Kickstarter but instead most normal people can invest. I think this is a wonderful strategy. Imagine having the collective experiences, word of mouth, and ownership of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who are invested in your success.

As others have said, you can get a provisional patent application filed. From what I understand, these are quite cheap. With this and a working prototype, you can start pitching your ideas to companies. There's some books out there that might help: http://www.amazon.com/One-Simple-Idea-Licensing-Goldmine/dp/0071756159

If you don't want to sell your idea, you might be able to do some fundraising with sites such as Kickstarter.com

Remember to do some market research and learn how to sell ideas and marketing. People have great ideas but don't know how to sell them. Do homework before investing your own money. Most products are never commercialized and only half that are turn out to be successful. Learning to do things right could save you a lot of money.

3 great books to read, in descending order of importance:

The Mousedriver Chronicles (Couple of kids out of Wharton starting a company around a mouse shaped like a golf driver)

The Art of the Start (Guy Kawasaki- Entrepreneur's instruction manual.)

The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell- good explanation of how to select the few important things to do to make your snowball into an avalanche.)

Hit me up via pm if you have any further questions. You're where I was about 2 years ago.

It's not focused on just one single company, but "Hacking Growth" includes a number of stories about how early-stage companies figured out user acquisition...

Hacking Growth: How Today's Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success

https://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Growth-Fastest-Growing-Companies-Breakout/dp/045149721X

• The Lean Startup
  
• Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers
  
• Lean Analytics
  
• The Lean Entrepreneur: How Visionaries Create Products, Innovate with New Ventures, and Disrupt Markets
  
  If you want to get started sooner:
  
  
• The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company
  
• Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works

There is a really excellent book called The Personal MBA that could easily be read in less than a week. It would not make you "well rounded" in one week but it does summarize and give good explanations of much of what you would learn in an MBA curriculum. Definitely something to include. I am not connected with the author.

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Amazon Smile Link: this


|Country|Link|
|:-----------|:------------|
|UK|amazon.co.uk|
|Canada|amazon.ca|




To help donate money to charity, please have a look at this thread.

This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting). The thread for feature requests can be found here.

What would you say is a good quality screen replacement to buy at a good price? Would something like this be adequate?

I am not much of a book reader but the Personal MBA is a great read. I feel without a doubt that I got my money's worth of information about business in general.

https://www.amazon.com/Personal-MBA-Master-Art-Business/dp/1591845572

Hey OP, Dale Carnegie wrote "How to win friends and influence people" http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671723650

Napoleon Hill wrote "Think and Grow Rich" - among others: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Hill#Bibliography

It's always good to learn more about how our brains work, and how humans make decisions.

Here's some recommendations:

• The Boron Letters by Halbert: http://www.amazon.com/Boron-Letters-Gary-C-Halbert/dp/1484825985
  
• My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising by Hopkins: http://www.amazon.com/Life-Advertising-Scientific-Classics-Library/dp/0844231010
  
• Influence by Cialdini: http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Revised-Edition/dp/006124189X
  
• Predictably Irrational by Ariely: http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expanded-Edition/dp/0061353248
  
• Mindwise by Epley: http://www.amazon.com/Mindwise-Understand-Others-Think-Believe/dp/0307595919
  
• Brain Rules by Medina: http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Rules-Updated-Expanded-Principles/dp/098326337X
  
• Positioning: The Battle for your Mind: http://www.amazon.com/Positioning-Battle-Your-Al-Ries/dp/0071373586
  
• Brainfluence by Dooley: http://www.amazon.com/Brainfluence-Persuade-Convince-Consumers-Neuromarketing/dp/1118113365
  
• The Power of Habit by Duhigg: http://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-What-Life-Business/dp/081298160X
  
• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Eyal: http://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Products/dp/1591847788
  
• How We Decide by Lehrer: http://www.amazon.com/How-We-Decide-Jonah-Lehrer/dp/0547247990
  
• All Marketers are Liars by Godin: http://www.amazon.com/All-Marketers-Are-Liars-Works--/dp/1591845335
  
• Trust Me I'm Lying by Holiday: http://www.amazon.com/Trust-Me-Lying-Confessions-Manipulator/dp/1591846285
  
  Use these names as jumping off points for your research:
  
  
• David Ogilvy: https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=David%20Ogilvy
  
• Gary Halbert: http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com - https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Gary%20Halbert
  
• Joe Sugarman: https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Joe%20Sugarman
  
• Charlie Munger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Munger
  
• Derren Brown: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derren_Brown

No investor is going to give you money to build an app from an idea. That's just not how it works. Ideas are a dime a dozen, and the only time this happens is with serial founders who have started (and successfully exited) several companies before. If you've never built a multi-million dollar business, you aren't getting VC money without a MVP (minimum viable product), strong user growth, and a solid team of cofounders.

If you want to make your idea a reality, take some online courses in app development and design. Build it yourself. Put it out there and see if people use it. Use strategies in The Lean Startup to grow users, revenue or whatever KPI is most important to getting investors.

Also, about "partnering" with someone who knows how to build apps... as someone who previously ran a digital agency we used to get that all the time. I can't tell you how many "potential clients" came in and pitched us on their "billion dollar idea" wanting to give us 2, 3, 5% if we would spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in development up front. The answer was always no. If we really wanted to build an app startup we would have done it internally, not for a small insignificant percentage of a company where we didn't even know the founders.

I'm not trying to burst your bubble, but the answer is always "just do it." Just build it. Just try it yourself. Free and easy money (even investment capital) just doesn't exist out there. If you want it bad enough you'll figure out a way to build it.

Awesome, thanks for sharing.

I'd love to read it, but I can't seem to view this on my android phone from The Netherlands (tried your suggested link http://www.amazon.nl/gp/product/B00RW6WKAI?*Version*=1&*entries*=0).

I've installed the App and pressed 'Buy now with 1-Click', but nothing happens.

(

Stop. Building the app is one of the last things. The biggest mistake people make is that they build something no one wants.

Validate your idea. Try to get strangers interested (NOT friends and family).

To add to this, check out the book Running Lean. If you're serious, it gives you a great step by step process.

Almost zero businesses can be started with zero dollars upfront investment. That said, start cheap. Don't make 500 iPhone cases, make 1 iPhone case, take a LOT of pictures of it, and see how many people preorder it, then make that many, or cancel the preorder (and return the money!) if it doesn't look like enough orders to be worth your time.

/u/leolani recommended the lean startup method. I really, really think you should check that out. A lot of the questions you're asking here are directly addressed by the book.

https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation-ebook/dp/B004J4XGN6/

Basically though, the goal is to figure out the minimum viable way to move forward. What is the minimum it take to validate a concept? What does it take to make a minimal proof of concept after that validation? What is the minimum required to market that proof of concept to get sales? All those questions are answered in the book, and I promise you you'll learn from it.

You may also be interested in reading Running Lean. That's been the most helpful book to me so far because it has very practical steps for launching a business. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1449305172/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/192-1698409-8370512

Venture Deals Book is a fantastic guide for entrepreneurs new to structuring deals for capital raising. Deal making tends to not be vanilla or chocolate, but requires creativity by the entrepreneur to get it done.

Mucho love for Canadians! Here's the link: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00RW6WKAI

I highly recommend the book "founders dilemmas" https://www.amazon.com/Founders-Dilemmas-Anticipating-Foundation-Entrepreneurship/dp/0691158304/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484509269&sr=8-1&keywords=founders+dilemma

It has a whole chapter devoted to equity splits and founder arrangements

Apart from the four steps to the Eppiphany, this is another one: https://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Plan-Works/dp/1449305172.

Some good tactics to validate early early need.

http://versionone.vc/resources/ <-- This is awesome.

https://www.amazon.ca/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalist/dp/1118443616/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469897805&sr=8-1&keywords=venture+deals <-- you'll need this. Required reading.

It seems viable to me because it's niche and not a general clothing line, however, like /u/GoodLivinPete mentioned, you should do your research and validate your idea. Take a look at Pat Flynn's book "Will it fly?"

https://www.amazon.com/Will-Test-Business-Waste-Money/dp/0997082305

I don't have any experience in this but heard that "Ask" is a good book on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/Ask-Counterintuitive-Discover-Customers-Business/dp/1939447720/

There's a million things most people on this sub could recommend, and really the learning never stops.

Here are some good starting points:

The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz

Zero to One - Peter Thiel

The Personal MBA - Josh Kaufman

The Four Hour Work Week - Tim Ferris

Here's the UK link

Thanks so much!

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook is one I've seen referenced a lot from social media experts. I found it to be very good for foundational knowledge and general approach.

Read One Simple Idea... it will tell you everything you need to know. I have read it myself because I am considering licensing something or trying to and it was extremely helpful.

http://www.amazon.com/One-Simple-Idea-Licensing-Goldmine/dp/0071756159/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318697547&sr=8-1

This book explains it https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation-ebook/dp/B004J4XGN6/

You can find loads of summaries and blog posts on the internet. The book is very popular.

You dont need to take a class. Get the book "Personal MBA" https://www.amazon.com/Personal-MBA-Master-Art-Business/dp/1591845572 Get it right now. Go to Barns and Noble or Download a digital version. This is your course, its $15 and you will be done in 3 days and know more about business than most people.

I liked Jab Jab Right Hook.

I recommend Venture Deals by Bred Feld and Jason Mendelson. It walks through in detail the process of getting venture funding, what to watch out for, what matters and what doesn't.

You may want to check out One Simple Idea by Stephen Key. Perhaps you can create a prototype and license your idea to a large company so you don't have to build out distribution yourself.

I don't usually buy ebooks from Amazon.

I've tried the uk link (have an account there), but it says "This title is not currently available for purchase".

Do you need to have a Kindle or something?

People are also predictably irrational - a good book, by the way for Entrepreneurs - https://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expanded-Decisions/dp/0061353248/

Definitely depends on how the startup is structured and how much it has raised. Here's a typical example:

-Two founder startup (one techie, one hustler)

-Raised $1M in seed capital at a $4M post-money valuation (how much the startup is worth after the dollars are invested).

The investors get equity equal to (dollars invested) / (post-money valuation). In this case, the investors would get $1M / $4M = 25% of the company.

-A key question is whether the investors have liquidation preferences that give them their money back or a guaranteed return before the founders get anything.

A 1x liquidation preference - meaning the investors get their money back first - is common.

-If the startup raised $1M at a $4M post-money valuation with a 1x liquidation preference and then sold for $1M, the investors would get all $1M because their preference says they get their investment back first. The founders would get nothing.

If the startup sold for $2M, the investors would get their $1M back and the other $1M would be split among the founders.

(I'm ignoring the case of participating preferred, where investors get their money back AND their percentage of the company from the rest.)

A startup usually has to sell for at least its post-money valuation for the founders to see much return. If the investors have 2x or 3x liquidation preferences, founders and employees will see little return even if the company sells for 2x-3x its last valuation. Some of the billion dollar unicorns are struggling with this.

Thus, if the startup has raised any venture money and only sold for $1M, the founders are unlikely to see much of it. :(

If you're interested in learning more about how venture investments are done, I recommend Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson.

Read 'Jab Jab Jab Right Hook'. That book basically is what enabled me to start my own advertising agency.

There is a book on the topic that I am currently reading myself: One Simple Idea

I second all four of these recommendations. Especially the personal MBA for aspiring business owners. I would also add a few more: Profit First, Lean Startup, and Will it fly?

The Personal MBA

Apply the scientific method to company building - first described by Steve Blank and Eric Reis with is "Lean Startup" concept:

https://steveblank.com/2015/05/06/build-measure-learn-throw-things-against-the-wall-and-see-if-they-work/

​

https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation-ebook/dp/B004J4XGN6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1543001422&sr=8-3&keywords=the+lean+startup

Here

I'm not familiar with any textbooks but one book that's similar to a textbook is The Personal MBA (https://www.amazon.com/Personal-MBA-Master-Art-Business/dp/1591845572/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1538444048&sr=8-2&keywords=personal+MBA). I found it to be like a textbook in a negative way and never finished reading it because I'm personally more into mindset. He read hundreds of business books and compiled all that knowledge into this book. It's exhaustive from that standpoint.

http://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Plan-Works/dp/1449305172/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450372070&sr=1-1&keywords=running+lean I haven't read lean startup, but I read "running lean" from the same series... I have no idea if i should read also "lean startup", but "running" is nuts, I can't believe this book hasn't been mentioned yet...

Hey!

This is the book I recommend the most on deal structure. Some of it is overkill but it's important to understand the structuring. https://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalist/dp/1118443616 People always say "valuation! valuation! valuation!" but the reality is there are several critical terms that could leave you in terrible shape if you dont understand.

I only ever structure preferred NON-PARTICIPATING offerings. Usually as a convertible note, with a flex valuation that's set by the next round.

The critical piece in all of this is to hire EXPERIENCED counsel who have done these, and are lawyers at a sizable firm. That's important because if things go sour, you need a firm that will stand behind their work

If you want to build something that scales, something that can change the world, then the best bet is to build something online. It's difficult, but you're only 15 so you've got a lot of flearnings (failed learnings) ahead of you.

Learn to program here, here or here.

Learn about the lean startup: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_Startup

Read this and this.

Fail fast, fail often.