Loading...
Answers
MenuWhat type of business can we start with our skill sets?
We are three women have different skill sets. One person is a web developer, i’m a database analyst, the other person is a designer( color, graph). We are all well educated and had many years experience on our expertise. We want to start our own business. What type of business should we do?
Answers
I have 35+ startups in my background in multiple industries and multiple roles.
There is good advice from others on finding a real problem you inherently know and build a service you and others would find valuable to use. If you do not have this idea (not one suggested by us), it could be the fish and a bicycle cliche, a solution seeking a problem to solve.
What you have not made clear is why you all want to start a business *together*. If it is only that you are three females in a tech-bro world where you all have frustrations where you all (individually or collectively) work, that is not a strong platform for success. Is it that you deeply like each other? Is it that you deeply trust each other? Do you share a common bond or interest in a specific subject (not what you do professionally, but something human)? Do you have other bonds than skills (hint, you all have the insufficient/wrong skills - as all of us did, so you will need more) and gender?
In the 3 Ts - Team, Technology, and Traction, the reason you all want to work together is crucial since it is why you will not fall apart.
Having skills is one thing, and you sure have some useful ones… You need an idea… What hobbies do you have… often you can use your skills to take hobbies to a different level… Here is a cool exercise… go through a day, and make notes of daily challenges… and i mean the smallest every day hassels… after doing that for a day… brainstorm solutions for these everyday issues…. Do you know what is cool about every day issues… everybody has them, so any solution is probably scalable…. So dont reinvent the wheel… find a simple solution for simple everyday issues
There are many businesses you could start. Some with relatively low funds to get started. When it comes to starting a business you need to set monetary objectives on what you want to spend to get started. I would love to chat more with you. Message me and I would love to set up a time to chat.
Good for you 3 to take the initiative.
Creating something based on a personal skill is a huge advantage and helps through the grinds. Every business I have created has been based on using our personal skills and it has paid off.
You may look at a digital consulting firm or one that manages everything website relate for clients.
The other option is a online business with some more technical knowledge required. I have started (and sold) several businesses that solved a personal problem that you feel.
The data Antalyst is important in building the systems for the business and making sure everything runs smooth. Example is removing repetitive manual processes which can be handled my software.
Two extra tips
1. When I started a business I looked at personal needs and wants, problem I can solve, my skills and business pontential to grow. Be clear on all requirements and evaluate a business based on that.
2. You 3 are experienced and successful. To get to the pay you have now will take time. I see this all the time, where someone earning a good salary expects that return from biz on day 1. It does not work like that. Speaking from my experience before I left my job in 2007, I had a solid side business with good income, but did take a short pay cut and worked up.
Cheers,
Mukul
If I can help, call me
This is a tricky one to answer as there are three of you in the mix. I would suggest you get together to look at your common values and what your intended outcome for the business is to make sure that is aligned first. For example, are you building a business that will sustain your lifestyles versus one that has the potential to be come a listed entity or one that you are building to sell. Starting with the end in mind can help you see things more clearly. If you would like to go into detail on this topic, feel free to set up a call with me.
One way you could figure out what you want to do is to recap what you each did first and then figure out if there were any gaps in the offerings. So, "I was a developer, but my clients always wanted X." or "I was a designer, but I wish I had X." What tools did you each lack? What did clients want in addition to the service provided? If you find a common ground here then you're creating a business that is really needed in the market instead of replicating what's out there already.
First find out what problem you can solve using your existing skills. Next, create customer profile who face these problems, and define your target market. Build operation, marketing and sales plan to get started
Feel free to setup a call if you need help in creating your business road-map
Together, the three of you have the skills to offer internet marketing/branding services. I would then decide on a target market/industry that all three of you are passionate/interested about. Then, offer your services to companies in this area. For example, it could be dentists, veterinarians, women's shelters, jewelry boutiques, etc.
A good start would be, for you to share with us what each of you ladies has experience in (industry applications, markets ... ) And your target market (expected country of operations....) And what would be the expected funding allocated for your project and operations. Any previous experience in working together as a team? What challenges have you faced?...
I am a management consultant with more than 10 years of experience across many industries (both online and offline) and providing consulting both on a national and international level and at all levels of projects' timeline from idea stage to maturity.
And only with enough information would we be able to schedule an effective and satisfactory call.
Well... First item that comes to mind is to create a Web Design agency.
Also, you can expand into traffic + conversion management + maybe hosting + high deliverability email management... for your continuity income.
Tip: Always, always, always design your ad-hoc hourly work so this drives to continuity.
Tip: Just scan through Clarity + find Q&A threads which look like the person responding can be helpful. Then book calls with each of them to do a quick call with all 3x of you to help you rough out a design for your business.
Tip: Partner with other agencies for referral business.
Example: I focus on hosting high speed, high traffic, WordPress hosting + high deliverability, custom, email systems for clients with large lists.
I partner with many Agencies, who do traffic buys, ad buys, site design.
You might find partnering with other Agencies to be a good model for you also.
Tip: Scan Clarity for posts I've made about abusing... er, I mean hyper-using https://Meetup.com for lead generation, so once you work out your organizational details (should take no longer than a shared dinner for this), then use my Meetup lead generation techniques (mentioned in many previous answers) + you'll have more work/money than you might have imagined.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Agency work!
a super advise suppress millions ...
1. find a collective passion
2. identify the niche market
3. how a wonderful solution can serve the market's needs
4. Are 3 of you skillful to do it?
5. what to do next?
Instead of checking what can you do, proactively checking what the market needs and can you do it? If you can't do it, will you decided to drop the idea? ,,,
hope the above helps
You are perfect candidates to work through the book Disciplined Entrepreneurship. It is an MIT-based workflow that helps you explore why you want to start a business, what your assets and strengths are, how to validate your ideas, and much more. It would have saved me countless headaches and tons of money if I had used it when I started my business in 2010.
There are plenty of great pieces of advice here but Disciplined Entrepreneurship is literally a step by step guide to solving your question. I highly suggest getting it and working through the book as a team.
Please feel free to touch base if you'd like to chat about the book or anything else.
Related Questions
-
How can I smoothly transition from full time worker to self-employment?
The ways I've done this in the past are 1) Find some customers that are willing to hire you (or your product) but know that you'll only be free nights & weekends to support/work with them. 2) Find a "partner" (co-founder or other) that's got a flexible schedule that can help build the business while you're at work. 3) Block out nights, mornings and weekends to build the business till you have enough orders to cover 50% of your salary. This might mean 7pm-11pm most nights, and 4 hours each day Sat & Sun. Make progress (sales $$$) and momentum. All that being said, it's risk reward. Sounds like you want to avoid taken the risk, and I get that .. but the upside is always smaller. Unless you put yourself in a position to have to succeed (ex: quitting your job) then you may never make the scary decisions that are required to build a company (like cold calling, going in debt, making a presentation, etc). I'm on company #5 with many other side projects started nights & weekends .. so I get it - but don't be afraid to bet on yourself and go all in.DM
-
My startup just failed. What could I start to "immediately" generate $1,000/mo?
The quickest path to cash is almost always consulting. Be very specific about what it is you can offer. Don't just offer "business consulting". Find a niche and serve it. Reach out to your network, including friends and family and ask if they need or know of anyone who might want to hear about what your consulting has to offer. That will be way faster than trying to go at it from scratch or cold calling. If you call 100 people in your network this week, you will have a consulting gig within 3 weeks. Good luck, and let me know if you'd like advice on entering a digital marketing/lead generation consulting niche. I've grown from zero to $8,000 of monthly recurring payments in the last 40 days! DaveDR
-
I have this social media idea,but no coding skills. How do I get someone to do the coding (cant afford to pay them) and not give away half of my idea?
Dilip was very kind in his response. My answer might be a bit on the "tough love" side. But that's for you to decide. My intention, just for the record, is to help you (and those like you) on your path to success. And that starts with having a viable philosophy about entrepreneurial-ism and business. And I'm going to answer this because I get asked some form / version of this question very frequently from newcomers to entrepreneurial-ism. The scenario goes something like this: "I have a great idea. It's amazing, I love it, and I just KNOW it's gonna make me a ton of money. But I have no money right now so I can't afford to (fill in the blank with things like "to build it / create it / market it / etc" or "to hire the required staff needed to work in my business to sell it / develop it / etc"). And I don't want to tell anyone about my great idea because I'm worried someone will steal it and make MY million / billion dollars. But I can't afford to legally protect it either... So how do I launch without the skills to personally create the product AND no money to hire anyone else to do that either??" The answer is ... You don't. Look - let's be honest. All you have is an idea. Big deal. Really. I'm not saying it's not a good idea. I'm not saying that if properly executed it couldn't make you a million / billion dollars... But an idea is NOT a business. Nor is it an asset. Until you do some (very important) initial work - like creating a business model, doing customer development, creating a MVP, etc - all you really have is a dream. Right now your choices are: 1. Find someone with the skills or the money to develop your idea and sell them on WHY they should invest in you. And yes, this will mean giving up either a portion of the "ownership" or of future income or equity. And the more risk they have to take - the more equity they will want (and quite frankly be entitled to). 2. Learn how to code and build it yourself. MANY entrepreneurs without financial resources are still resourceful. They develop the skills needed to create what they don't have the money to pay someone else to do. 3. Get some cash so you can pay someone to do the coding. You'll probably have to have some knowledge of coding to direct the architecture of your idea. So you will likely still have to become knowledgeable even if its not you personally doing the coding. (This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of options... And I'm sure some of the other experts here on Clarity have others to add - and I hope they do) To wrap up - Here's my final tip to you that I hope you "get"... It's FAR more valuable to have an idea that a very specific hungry crowd is clamoring for right now - One that THEY would love and pay you for right now - Maybe even one they'd pre-order because they just have to have it - Versus YOU being in love with your own idea. [Notice I didn't say "an idea that some as-of-yet-undetermined market would probably love"] I wish you the best of luck moving forward.DB
-
How has Uber grown so fast?
Obviously, they do the fundamentals well. Good brand. Good experience. Good word of mouth. Good PR. Etc. Etc. But after my interview with Ryan Graves, the head of Global Operations at Uber (https://www.growthhacker.tv/ryan-graves), it became clear that they are operationally advanced and this is a huge part of their success. I'll explain. Uber isn't just a single startup, it's essentially dozens of startups rolled into one because every time they enter a new city they have to establish themselves from essentially nothing (except whatever brand equity has reached the city ahead of them). This means finding/training drivers, marketing to consumers, and building out local staff to manage operations for that city. This is where Ryan Graves comes in. He has a protocol of everything that must be done, and in what order, and by who, to ensure the best chance of success in a new city. So how has Uber grown so fast? Essentially, they figured out how to grow in one locale and were relentless about refining their launch process to recreate that initial success over and over in new cities. No plan works for every city, and they've had to adapt in many situations, but it is still a driving factor for their success.BT
-
How much equity should I ask as a CMO in a startup?
Greater risk = greater equity. How likely is this to fail or just break even? If you aren't receiving salary yet are among 4-6 non-founders with equivalent sweat investment, all of whom are lower on the totem pole than the two founders, figure out: 1) Taking into account all likely outcomes, what is the most likely outcome in terms of exit? (ex: $10MM.) Keep in mind that 90%+ of all tech startups fail (Allmand Law study), and of those that succeed 88% of M&A deals are under $100MM. Startups that exit at $1B+ are so rare they are called "unicorns"... so don't count on that, no matter how exciting it feels right now. 2) Figure out what 1% equity would give you in terms of payout for the most likely exit. For example, a $10MM exit would give you $100k for every 1% you own. 3) Decide what the chance is that the startup will fail / go bankrupt / get stuck at a $1MM business with no exit in sight. (According to Allman Law's study, 10% stay in business - and far fewer than that actually exit). 4) Multiply the % chance of success by the likely outcome if successful. Now each 1% of equity is worth $10k. You could get lucky and have it be worth millions, or it could be worth nothing. (With the hypothetical numbers I'm giving here, including the odds, you are working for $10k per 1% equity received if the most likely exit is $10MM and the % chance of failure is 90%.) 5) Come up with a vesting path. Commit to one year, get X equity at the end. If you were salaried, the path would be more like 4 years, but since it's free you deserve instant equity as long as you follow through for a reasonable period of time. 6) Assuming you get agreement in writing from the founders, what amount of $ would you take in exchange for 12 months of free work? Now multiply that by 2 to factor in the fact that the payout would be far down the road, and that there is risk. 7) What percentage share of equity would you need in order to equal that payout on exit? 8) Multiply that number by 2-3x to account for likely dilution over time. 9) If the founders aren't willing to give you that much equity in writing, then it's time to move on! If they are, then decide whether you're willing to take the risk in exchange for potentially big rewards (and of course, potentially empty pockets). It's a fascinating topic with a lot of speculation involved, so if you want to discuss in depth, set up a call with me on Clarity. Hope that helps!RD
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.