What liability falls on us if we create an app for people to modify copyrighted images & violate the terms of the copyright?

Kudos to you for seeing the value in great copy. I love that you mentioned 37signals, which is an organization that's made copywriting part of almost everyone's jobs (or so they've shared on their blog). MailChimp and Zendesk are two others that people often point to re: great copy that builds a brand and differentiates; Groupon is another awesome example of really, really tonal copy that people actually read (which is more than half the battle). MailChimp has in-house copywriters, including Kate Kiefer (https://twitter.com/katekiefer), and so does Groupon. I'm not sure who writes for Dropbox or Zendesk, though searching companies on LinkedIn can often reveal little-known in-house geniuses. The startups you mention have a certain style and tone that I have to say is different from what you'll normally get with a "direct response" copywriter, though by all means check out the link David Berman submitted to you because you never know. I recommend that, to achieve the slightly funky, funny-ish copy you're looking for, you seek out a conversion-focused copywriter with a creative and UX background. You need someone who's totally at ease adopting a new voice / tone and using it appropriately across your site and in your emails; less experienced copywriters might be heavy-handed with the tone, which often gets in the way of the user experience (e.g., button copy that's tonal can lead to confusion). Be careful, of course, not to push your writer to be exceptionally creative -- because a little touch of tone goes a loooong way for busy, scanning eyes. Here are some great freelance copywriters you could consider: http://copyhackers.com/freelance-copywriters-for-hire/ The link to Neville's Kopywriting peeps is also great. Before hiring, ask to see a portfolio or get a) links to websites they've written and b) a zip of emails they've written; if a writer is accepting clients, they'll usually showcase their work on their website. Check out their blog and tweets to see if their voice comes through in their own writing. Don't hire bloggers or content creators for a job a copywriter should do. Don't hire print copywriters for web work unless they do both. And when you find a great copywriter, trust them... and don't let them go - because 10 bucks says, they're in demand or about to be.

You can hire app development freelancers from www.odesk.com and www.elance.com. I am an app developer myself, and I got profiles on both of these networks, a link is given below: https://www.odesk.com/users/~012d73aa92fad47188 Please feel free to get in touch to discuss ideas and clarify any confusions, I will be glad to help.

This is a little hard to answer because it is so vague. It depends on the area, the market and the strength of innovation. I know that The App Guy has a terrific podcast at http://www.theappguy.co/ and is also trying to organize a community for App developers to sell their ideas. Let me know if I can be of further assistance to discuss patentability in terms of its value to getting a sale or license. What ever you do, don't spend money filing a full patent, just a provisional. Good luck.

First of all, there is no "one size fits all" attitude in angel investing. I will tell you that the *best* angels will make a snap decision by playing with the product and assessing founder/market fit. At the right valuation, the kinds of angels you really want backing you will invest purely based on a killer early product experience and conviction of founder/market fit. But if you have made your app available in the US app store already, you have made a critical tactical error if your app isn't already trending towards 100,000 installs within the first 30 days of availability. Apps should first launch in a non US, english-speaking store to do early product/market fit work. Your "day one" event in the US app store matters to seed investors and many angel investors. While there are exceptions (most often in SaaS or enterprise mobile models), there are only 4 times to raise funding from seed funds for a mobile start-up stage company: Pre-product: A deck, a market opportunity and a team. Pre-launch: Product fully built but holding launch for funding. This will usually involve a private beta of at least 1000 users or a soft launch in an international store. 30 - 90 days after US launch: Must be at or trending towards 100,000 installs with very strong month-over-month growth. If you miss those windows, the next time to raise is after you pass over 1,000,000 with strong retention and engagement that correlates to your business model and user personas. As a mobile-first entrepreneur and angel investor, I'm happy to talk to you about this in more detail

Writing skills are best learned through practice, critique, and revision. Curriculum is a waste, in my opinion – that is, listening to generalizations about how to write something other than the task at hand. Only the actual words on the page are worth discussing. Not rules. Maybe courses would be worthwhile if they entail a lot of hands-on interaction with a brutally honest, pragmatic instructor. What your team would really learn from, I suspect, is watching someone perform surgery on their copy, pausing to explain why the guts are being ripped out here, why the sutures are stitched up in such and such a manner there, etc. Consider hiring someone to workshop in person with your team. No prearranged abstract curriculum. Just critique.