Strategic Advisor to Founders and CEOs. Took a specialty food manufacturer from capital raise to exit sale. Turnaround CEO. Food safety expert. Built five USDA inspected food manufacturing facilities.
25 years experience as CEO and Founder of American specialty food manufacturing companies. One company ranked #192 on Inc.500 list. Topics covered range from concept to capital raise and exit sale.
Social enterprise and "most profitable" are in conflict with each other. It may be best if you focused on one or the other and once the idea works, then either make it profitable or add a social component. Trying both at the same time has a very high chance for failure.
It depends what you call "real money"? However if you mean earning a livelyhood online then it can be done by investing your time and skills. You need to educate yourself on the various online marketplaces that are out there and study them before making an account. What you need to look for are things like: business model, profile of people using them and fees.
AI is already impacting construction, specifically in the permitting segment and environmental impact regulations. I know of 2 start-ups that are creating the database and the agent for reducing permiting time and cost. I do not know if it is already impacting structural engineering yet, but I know that several startups are working on it plus autocad is pushing there also.
In addition to getting academic knowledge about accounting, marketing, etc. you need to actually work in an environment that allows you to learn about what it takes to "Make Payroll".
Until you know what it takes to keep the doors open, starting a business and assemble the plane while flying it means that your chance of failure and wasting money is almost 100%.
Go to the source - i.e. monitor government sites that list new company incorporations and then call the companies with your pitch. In the US that would be the Secretary of State website for each state.
Sign up with Alibaba as a supplier. Otherwise if you are in the US you can work with the programs offered by the Department of Commerce.
Check if your country has an export program - and then work with them.
Market fit for the product and cashflow. Having done 2 start-ups, I found in first one we had market fit but were not prepared for slow payment.
In the second - we were overpriced and picked the wrong channel of distribution.
Both required radical pivots and both ended up being successful.
Word of Mouth and Referrals.
A product that somebody wants to pay for.
You should not because everybody signing up after you will loose money. The numbers don't make sense. For more detail as to why: https://www.z-niche.com/when-mlms-go-wrong
Short term answer - yes. However your problem will be execution. A two-sided marketplace takes years to grow and millions of bucks to keep the door open until you are big enough to grow naturally.
Herb is clear, concise, and knowledgeable.
Herb has deep experience as a food manufacturer, great knowledge of the food supply chain and players. He provided very helpful advise for my business idea. A great person to talk to. Thanks again Herb!
