Your Questions Answered by Industry Experts

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Answers from Industry Experts

Web Developers Partnerships Educational Technology

How can I source a technical co-founder?

Richard Sink answered: There are many discussions these days about how small business owners struggle to get connected and stay connected with their communities of interest. Whether the priorities are personal or professional, the concerns are the same; where do I go to find and share amongst my peers, relevant and consistent exchanges of ideas, values, interests and market intelligence? Building and maintaining an online community centered on your agenda is the single best way to find what you’re looking for. My thoughts continue at http://mvb.me/s/35d923

3 answers • about 11 years

Mobile Marketing mobile

What frustrates you most about mobile marketing?

Bruce Chamoff answered: For me, and being a developer of mobile apps and websites, it is that most self-proclaimed mobile marketing platforms do not take the mobile target market into account at all and instead, show a regular internet marketing platform but with a "mobile" label. For example, if I am trying to connect to a brand using social media, the mobile version of that website or the equivalent mobile app should make it easy for me to find Facebook with my mobile device, especially for smart phones where the screen real estate is small. In other words, mobile marketing strategies should not just take a regular marketing strategy and scale it down to a mobile device the "Mobile" label thrown on it. Marketers should realize that business people and consumers who travel with their mobile devices are an actual market. What we do for mobile marketing of our clients is create either an app or a responsive web page that detects the mobile device and serves a faster web page that won't kill an iPhone or iPad battery. Also, since the mobile concept is becoming a lifestyle all of its own, marketers should embrace this as a target market, what the marketing industry calls "psychographic" and cater to that target market, but most mobile apps and websites fail to do that. Bruce

4 answers • about 11 years

Educational Technology Big Data E-Learning

What is the viability of big data in education? Is learning analytics a potentially viable market considering current restraints on public education?

Tom Williams answered: Qualifications on the answer: Created the first website to be ever commercially licensed by a ministry of education for in-school use (Brainium 1996). Was a VC associate at a 500,000,000 firm called Knowledge Universe focused on all things education-related that intersected with technology. Short Answer: Yes and no. Longer Answer: Learning analytics is one of those "lightening in a bottle" kind of industries. Everyone knows it's going to happen, whomever makes it happen at scale first, will have a huge advantage, and even more niche plays in this space will still create massive value for shareholders and significant transformation of education as we know it. That's the good news. The problem is that funding startups in the education space that are dependent on "permission" being granted by existing institutions and their employees is very much hit or miss. It's getting easier to raise a $500-800k seed round for a good idea with a good team, but the problem is that getting the next bigger round is very challenging in that the models of most of these seed-funded companies are not growing fast enough to prove to institutional investors that a growth model of the idea being very big in a relatively short time-period is credible. So if you're intent on pursuing this, I'd be sure to focus entirely on how you can get growth and adoption with requiring little to no institutional buy-in which sounds almost impossible on the surface of the area you're exploring but I believe isn't actually impossible. I'm very passionate about this space and want something like what you're describing to succeed so would be happy to do a quick call to hear where you're at and see if I can provide you some actionable ideas on how to reduce the friction / improve adoption of your analytics product.

6 answers • about 11 years

Growth Hacking Raising capital Lean Startups

How do I grow from a one man startup when I don't have the money to hire & don't have skills or time for investors?

Dan Martell answered: Stop thinking you don't have the skills to do something. You can learn anything if you decide to, but assuming up front that you can't (forever) is dangerous. my2cents

16 answers • about 11 years

Trading Strategies Trading

What's a good trading platform for beginners?

Theodore Kekstadt answered: It depends on the markets you are trading. One well rounded platform is MultiCharts. It is capable of being used in multiple markets, and it is useful to all levels of trading experience. Here is a link with more information - http://www.forex-trading-unlocked.com/MultiCharts.html

4 answers • about 11 years

Self Management Motivation Strategy

So you got that great idea and are about to start making it reality. How do you know you're on the right path?

Adii Pienaar answered: I believe that personal passion is the only sustainable way to pursue any idea and / or startup in the medium and longer term. In the short term, there's loads of other things that keep you going: momentum, money, press, great feedback, investor interest, new customers etc. What these things however do is it kickstarts your natural adrenaline making it easy to make progress. Once that adrenaline runs out though and when you reach a low point (of the rollercoaster), you're only left with the things you naturally have. So your own ambition, drive and passion are the things that will help get you out of that low point and kickstart the adrenaline again. And of those things, passion is the greatest motivator to do anything. If you are truly passionate about the idea or startup you are pursuing, I believe that you will do whatever it takes to succeed.

6 answers • about 11 years

Startup Law Contract Negotiation Fundraising

What is the best way of structuring an offer for our first technical hire- full time Joomla web developer?

Nima Gardideh answered: It looks like you're not looking for someone who can scale and become a full fledged CTO (or you might not even need one), so try to look at it as a founding engineer hire instead. With early founding engineers, you can sell them on things like: - opportunity for learning - understanding business practices and models - opportunity for leadership down the road And the equity structure should be something around 1-5% of the business vested over a few years. You'll have to sit down and explain it to them as some people either aren't educated or they want to be assured of exactly what they're being given. I did this a few times last year and if done well, you can get some solid work out of them :) Feel free to call me up and chat about it more.

4 answers • about 11 years

Business Coaching Professional Mentoring

What is the difference between a mentor and a business coach?

Sandi Amorim answered: Some key differences to consider: - Coaching is based most often on a monthly retainer. Mentoring can be as well, but is usually offered without a fee, often based on a personal request or referral. - Coaches rarely give advice, coming from the perspective that the client has the answers within. Empowering yes, but there are times when you just want someone to give you a straight answer or share their experience. Mentors (and consultants) provide this more naturally. I've worked with entrepreneurs who've had both, and I've done so myself. If you're looking for personal development within your business, I'd lean towards coaching. If you're more after advice and experience, I'd look for a mentor. Both are helpful and can make the world of difference in the right circumstances.

7 answers • about 11 years

Business Valuation Small Business Coaching Venture Capital

How do you calculate the value of stock for a start up consulting company for the purpose of stock options?

Kamal Hassan answered: There are three questions here: - the strike price of the options - the market value of the company - how much those options are actually worth to the recipient 1. The strike price is the price people pay to exchange their options for shares. You can set any strike price you like: it's just a negotiable contract term. However, if the strike price is less than the market value of the shares, the options are taxable (which people tend to avoid), so you typically set the strike price at or above the market value. 2. The market value of the company is how much the company is worth. The celebrity of the founder is clearly a big part of it. If the company were sold, the acquirer would want the founder to lock in as part of the acquisition. So figure out the value a couple of ways: (1) off standard profitability metrics: X times yearly profit and/or revenue vs. comparable companies (2) off the acquisition price: with and without the founder and add the percentage chance the founder would go with it (3) off recent transactions in the stock (what people pay for the stock is a great indicator of value) These will give three different answers: pick some sort of average number, so you can justify your strike price. 3. What the options are worth to the recipient: remember they are only worth something if the recipient can exercise them for stock, and then sell the stock (or receive dividends) for more than the option's strike price. So figure out the probability of the company being sold above the strike price in the next X years, and what an weighted average expected sale price is for the company in the next few years (noting the founder's importance), and that's what the options are worth. I hope that helps.

3 answers • about 11 years

Startups Corporate Finance

If a startup is bootstrapping, and it's already profitable after one year, how much stock should a founder offer a key hire?

Kamal Hassan answered: A typical rule of thumb would be that an established company sets aside around 15% of the outstanding shares at any point in time for employee options. Those get split up among employees based on their contributions. Depending how key these VPs are relative to other employees you have (remember to give them something also) or expect to hire, you might give them 2-5% each. This assumes that you are an established company. If one of the VPs is going to quintuple the size of the business, they might push for being more of a 'partner'.

5 answers • about 11 years

Personal Development Work Life Balance

Lots of entrepreneurs work 60 to 80 hours a week. This isn't what I consider a good work/life balance. How would you improve it?

Marissa Levin answered: Say "NO." It's a complete sentence.

14 answers • about 11 years

Mobile applications Mobile Marketing iPhone apps

What is the best and most cost efficient way to get exposure and downloads for my iphone app?

Rob Woodbridge answered: If I had to pick a single efficient and affordable way of getting in front of a targeted audience I would have to recommend Facebook in-stream ads. You control the budget, the target group and the message and they are, right now, offering the highest conversion rates for mobile apps. Keep in mind that your app needs to be amazing - that's the most effective strategy of all...

10 answers • about 11 years

Ebay Sales eBay

How do you source eBay resellers?

Bruce Chamoff answered: I was an eBay trading assistant and they still have them. What you can do is access the eBay trading assistant program on eBay.com. The page lets you search for eBay resellers in your local geographic area, but better, you don't have to pay them 50/50. The eBay trading assistants usually make between 25 and 37%, so don't feel like you need to pay them 50%. I hope this helps. I would be glad to take you through the program if you are interested. Bruce

4 answers • about 11 years

Online Marketing Email Marketing Email List Building

How do I build my email list?

Bruce Chamoff answered: I am not 100%sure what you mean by by no platform, but I will answer as best I can. If you have a website (again I am not sure if this is what you mean by no platform), you could have an email signup list. What I see a lot of professionals do is give away something as an incentive like an ebook. If you have something that you can give away, people would need to enter their email address so it gets emailed to them and voila, you start building your list. I also use social media and as I make connections, my mailing list builds fast. I would be glad to schedule a call with you so I can share with you all of my strategies for building a list. I have 3 main strategies that I use to build my mailing list and can share them with you on a call. Bruce

5 answers • about 11 years

Marketing Strategy Digital Marketing Email Marketing

We are launching a white label platform on Goodsie targeting small/medium size design/devs firms. Any ideas on where to start our marketing efforts?

Martin Zhel answered: The 1st thing you should do it to identify 100 potential customers from your group to approach them and to offer them to use the platform to test it out. These people will not only give you feedback on how to improve it but also will give you testimonials for your website. The next thing to do (when you have the testimonials) is build some landing pages and to run some Google AdWords. Do some A/B testing and test different value propositions. I recommend adding some retargeting to your site so you don't lose visitors forever. When you have tested out which keywords work best, you cans tart investing more in SEO. It will take time to rank well but it's worth to start doing it early. Focus on content marketing that is related to your product and at the same time attracts and educates your target audience. Use ebook and webinars to generate leads and engage your audience. Don't forget to focus on blogging. That is really important in your type of business. Share your content on social media during the day. Use followerwonk to know when to share on Twitter and run some tests to figure out the best time for Facebook and Google+. Find influencers in your industry and connect with them online. These people will make the difference in your business. I believe in the first months you should focus on: 1. Getting feedback about your product 2. Generating leads through PPC, SEO, content marketing and social media. 3. Using your first users feedback to generate some publicity If you're looking for a more in-depth strategy for your business, don't hesitate to schedule a call for me. I'd love to learn more about what you're doing and to help you out craft the strategy that will help you achieve your goals. This is my VIP link for a free consultation https://clarity.fm/martinzhel/inbound

4 answers • about 11 years

angel investing Angel Investor

What is the ROI threshold that angel investors typically consider a success?

John Richards answered: 10X in 3 to 7 years is home run. 3X is a single. All of it is subject to 35% IRR - anything less is not worth risk.

3 answers • about 11 years

WordPress Development User Interface Design

Can I use Restrict Content Pro and User Profiles Made Easy together on the same site and will they coordinate (both from Code Canyon)?

Kelly Fallis answered: Yeah they should...user meta and groups also an option

3 answers • about 11 years

Scala MySQL Amazon Web Services

How do I deploy a Play Framework Scala app on AWS?

Andrew Watson answered: Here is an article about setting up AWS EC2 to run Play and Mongo: http://stevenwilliamalexander.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/amazon-ec2-mongo-play-scala-instance-setup-gu/ and there are also guides for binding to Amazon Simple DB and Dynamo in Scala as well that might be much easier setup than using MySQL. I've used a lot of AWS services for building composite services and I'm available for a call if you get stuck or need any advice on best practices.

4 answers • about 11 years

Entrepreneurship Business Strategy Financing

Are we in a tech bubble?

Bruce Chamoff answered: I think we are only in trouble is we do not ride the tech bubble for what it is worth and presents. The tech bubble success comes and goes. It blows up and then grows again. I believe there is no other cause than true internet marketing and social media. If people engage others in their social media, the tech bubble will never burst. Obviously, that did not happen in the early 2000s. Bruce

4 answers • about 11 years

Blogging Newsletters Blog Marketing

First newsletter email approach

Bruce Chamoff answered: Definitely send them the poll. If you send an introductory newsletter, most people may never read it. People are lazy and do not like reading much. If you send them a poll, you engage them to take action and they actually get into the fun. Also, I suggest giving your audience a powerful incentive if they answer the poll, like putting them into a drawing to mention their website or Facebook page. People only get engaged these days if there is something in it for them and just answering a poll is not engaging enough. Like, on my blog and on some of the blogs on www.LatestBlogPosts.com, some bloggers will blog their clients to their Twitter followers and that is what I do to my 40,000 Twitter followers. It works wonders. I also have other ideas that I would be willing to share with you on the phone. I have implemented several ideas that work to engage my audience. Bruce

4 answers • about 11 years

Entrepreneur Social Media

Wondering how to find a mentor that's correct for me?

Bruce Chamoff answered: That's fine. How can I review your web app? Is there a web address where I can download it or should we do it on a call? I have developed over 50 web and mobile apps, so I can provide the guidance you need. I would be happy to schedule a call with you to review your web app. Bruce

4 answers • about 11 years

Twitter twitter marketing Twitter for Business

What are the best ways to increase Twitter followers?

Dan Martell answered: I've heard people buying Twitter accounts with large followings and then migrating their username over. That's one way - although I don't get that at all. Other people have done it with Follower farms .. were they join a follower farm site, and essentially everyone just agrees to follow each other. Both of these are in violation of the terms of service and may get your account suspended/banned. The best way to grow your audience is to share things worth sharing. Either quotes, pictures, interesting / funny insights, etc. I'd rather have 1000 true fans than 200,000 bot followers.

4 answers • about 11 years

Web Design Website Development Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

In your opinion, why is it that most websites do not make money for their owners and how can they be designed to turn a profit?

Kelly Fallis answered: You have to have something worth selling....and position it properly which means clear calls to action. Most sites are informative and miss the calls to action...people are lazy, they won't look hard. Personally I leave if not interested

5 answers • about 11 years

Debugging iPhone apps Test Automation

What is the best way to cost effectively get rid of bugs before launching an app?

Sean Everett answered: NASA is famous for writing the most bug-free code in the history of programming. They do it by being fanatics about test-driven development. They write tests for tests. If you want to have a rock solid app, you have to put everything else aside and focus only on quality. Every time a new build goes out, every single member of the team has to test every tiny nook and cranny and write tests to mimic how they're testing it in real life. The goal is to start small with a solid core and get it functioning error-free before building other features. If you hold yourselves accountable to make feature incredible before you begin building others then you'll never have to go back and clean up something later. In short, try to do it "write" the first time :)

3 answers • about 11 years

Mobile applications Mobile Technology Programming Languages

What is the best technology for developing a new mobile app from scratch?

Mihai Pocorschi answered: There are two sides to that question. One is the mobile app itself and the other is the backend. If I misunderstood in any way and you didn't mean "native" app I apologize in advance. On the backend, there is no clear cut answer to which is the "best". It depends solely on the developers you are able to get. We for example use Node.js , mongoDB, redis, elasticsearch and a couple of proprietary tools in the backend. But you have your pick of the litter now both on the backend api and the datastore with the myriad of options available and touted as the "best" currently on the market. Now on the app side again it solely depends on what you need your mobile app to do. Experiencing first-hand "develop once, run anywhere" I can say it's more like "develop once, debug everywhere" to quote a Java saying. We have tried Phonegap and Titanium Appcelerator and we have switched to native (ObjC and Java) after a couple of months of trying to go the hybrid route. The reasons behind the choice are as follows: - anything that breaks the pattern of how those frameworks NEED to operate is just a huge technical debt that keeps accruing a huge interest. - anything that uses css3 accelerated animations on Android is buggy at best and slow as hell at worst on any lower (< 4.1 I think) versions of Android I hope this gives you some insight. If you need/want to ask me anything feel free to contact me. Mihai

13 answers • about 11 years

Human Resources Team Leadership Business Coaching

If you could ask each of your employees a question each day, what would you ask?

Dan Martell answered: "What was the best part of you day?" Ideally you could ask in the afternoon .. but it sets a positive intention. I ask this to all my friends + wife everyday when I see them.

16 answers • about 11 years

Human Resources

For HR, if you could ask every employee at your organization a question or two each week, what would it be?

Bob Beth answered: "What recent work activities have been most fulfilling for you, what has gotten you excited or "lit up"? This question leads into the territory of Culture and Mission. It'll underpin the dialogue to evolve an explicit Mission from the bottom up, and will also serve as a filter for employees to notice whether what they are passionate about fits with the group mission or passion.

4 answers • about 11 years

Customer Development Lean Startups User Experience

What's your advice for drilling down on use-case for our real time communications iPad app for co-viewing docs together?

Bob Beth answered: Hmmm? This is a tough one because your product is so wonderfully horizontal, meaning it applies to a very broad set of cases. I'd slice and dice in two directions. First, I'd think about the general process of collaboration on a document, for example: a) drafting - are two people actually writing the words together? I personally don't like this. b) first read through together staying on the same sentence or page, c) editing together, etc. Second, I'd think about industries or verticals or contexts, such as in a Legal setting, in a Tech Documentation setting, in a coding or XP dual programming setting, in a social media post drafting setting, and so forth. Check out: https://medium.com/look-what-i-made/fd48c3b412bc Seems to be evocative of what you're doing, but targeted to one specific use case of "pair programming".

3 answers • about 11 years

Marketing Early-stage Startups Product launch

For those startups within an incubator/accelerator, at what point should they begin to market themselves? Why?

Marty Greenberg answered: I've gotten accepted into two different accelerator programs in the US. Both were ranked in the top tiers (Gold and Platinum Plus). For startups in an accelerator with limited resources, there are a handful of ways to get cheap traffic. Depending on the product, they may find that certain growth hacks like SEO, LinkedIn, Craigslist or Reddit can all be great channels. Its important that the product being marketed is relevant otherwise it will feel like spam. Another method for cheap traffic is to pitch a PR story and try to get coverage from a media outlet. There are many different avenues to get traction and customers without immediately using paid ad channels. If you have more questions on finding good cheap marketing channels feel free to call me.

5 answers • almost 5 years

Startups Marketing

After identifying target market for a startup. What are some sure-fire ways of targeting the potential users? How to get the first customer?

Chris Ronzio answered: It depends on the product or service that you're offering. The best way to prove a concept is to take orders. Trycelery.com is a great tool for taking pre-orders online without charging customers until the product is ready. Otherwise, go where your customers are, talk to them, and identify the need that would make them hand over money on the spot.

8 answers • about 11 years

Business Strategy Entrepreneurship Fundraising

Would you bring a co-founder on board, whom you not really need, just to please investor/accelerator and take their money/resources?

Dan Martell answered: You should never bring anyone on the team unless you feel they are awesome and will add value. I believe the first 12 team members will dictate the success of the company. That being said, you can bring in team members and give them equity that vest over 4 years, so that there is no risk to your company if they don't workout. So if you feel you need the accelerator to be successful, do what you go to do to make it work, without loosing control of the product, direction or major equity (as you'll need it for future rounds of funding). So if you can negotiate the terms to be entrepreneurial friendly from the incubator, and get their money - then do what you need to to to be successful ... even if they aren't happy - you're the entrepreneur, not them - which concerns me a bit that they are mandating you get people on your team that you don't want/feel you need. Hope that helps.

3 answers • about 11 years

Partnerships Legal Advice Startups

How do I deal with a partner/investor that hasn't delivered on his end of things and now wants his money back?

Peter Simoons answered: This sounds as a deja vu to me. I have been in a similar situation back in 2000, we could only solve the issue thanks to a good mediator. However every situation is different and hence your route to a solution might be different. It also depends where you are in the world that defines how an email and/or verbal agreement might be a sufficient ground for legal actions. I am not a lawyer and can not judge that.

6 answers • about 11 years

Entrepreneurship Marketing Strategy Startup Consulting

What is the one thing I should focus the majority of my time in my startup?

Dan Martell answered: Revenue solves all problems. If you want me to be more technical, cash-flow.

9 answers • about 11 years

Mobile applications Web Applications

How should I go about finding and hiring affordable software engineers to build my web/mobile application idea?

Tom Williams answered: I hope this answer will help you in two ways: It should help avoid unnecessary expense being incurred and it should also help you recruit software engineers to build your project. Before you spend a single dime on building, I'd encourage you to validate the idea itself with potential customers. Identify the kind of person you are thinking of solving a problem for, and just explain the high-level concept. Make sure that a sufficient percentage of them are saying "yes, I need this." Then, really distill the idea further into a single piece of functionality that this customer base says they want. There are tools that allow for "drag & drop prototyping" like fluid.io that you can use to create a clickable walkthrough of the user flow you're looking to create. The more that you can do to validate the idea and focus it, the more you can define your "Minimum Viable Product." If you can't find enough of your potential customers to get excited about the idea, I would advise against hiring anyone to implement anything. That said, it's also a lot easier to recruit talent when you can say "I spoke to 100 potential customers and 40 of them said they would use this" or better yet, pay for it. Convincing anyone to work on your idea will be considerably easier if you can show some existing proof or interest around the idea. From there, your best source (assuming you don't have a network of people to draw from) might be local colleges & universities. I would advise against hiring online or working virtually with someone when you are new to building product. I'd be happy to talk to you about your project, how to validate the concept and how - if you decide to pursue it - to hire good talent. Best of luck!

5 answers • about 11 years

Customer Development Customer Acquisition Customer Engagement

When will I be able to use Clarity to call potential customers? Because what they think matters most

Dan Martell answered: You can call anyone for advice / feedback on Clarity, you're just not allowed to pitch. So technically we support it today and many people already do this. It's call Customer Development.

3 answers • about 11 years

WordPress Development Consulting Sales

What should my consulting rates be as a freelance developer who can also do SEO, social media optimization and other marketing services?

Sam Lawrence answered: Pricing for different tasks that require the same amount of time from you tells the Customer (and your subconscious) that you're working at a 5 on task x, but working at a 9 on task y simply because it costs/earns more. That seems to be a disconnect. Your time is your most precious asset, and I would charge for it whatever you're doing. If you build a site, and they are happy with your dev fee, but feel like you should charge less for SEO, simply let them find another SEO guy. That's their choice, but YOU are worth $xx.xx, no matter what you're doing. Also, in general, take whatever you're charging and add 10% to it. If you're still busy, add another 10%. Let the demand level determine how much work you do, and at what cost.

12 answers • about 11 years

Start-ups Team Building

Need some advice on how to build a team, and determining what kind of talent I need?

Dan Martell answered: A great team looks like this - 2 full stack engineers. They can manage servers, security, build features and code front end JS/interactions. - 1 visual designer focused on product, information architecture, UX and flows. - 1 front end developer who can take designs and built out killer interactions and can wireup any back end code to the UI The CEO can manage product + customer development and everyone on the team does support. That's 5 people and can accomplish a lot!

11 answers • about 11 years

Advertising Marketing Strategy Organizational Design

Have you ever seen an in-house advertising or marketing function turned into a profit center? And if so, did it succeed or fail?

Dan Martell answered: No. The only way this could work is by outsourcing the people to other companies. But this would change the business you're in and you might as well just outsource the department to a company who does this already. If recommend reading a book called "The Goal" - it explains things better than me.

3 answers • about 11 years

Valuation Private Equity Fundraising

Term sheet is to be signed. In order to determine equity for my investors, what step-by-step approach for valuating the company would you recommend?

Peter Kemball answered: The first question cannot be answered as asked. The starting point is agreement on how the investors are to get their money back. Neither you nor your attorney should attempt to value the business. Who you turn to depends on the business itself. There are norms available even for pre-revenue firms but usually not term sheets for specific transactions.

3 answers • about 11 years

Traffic Building Digital Strategy Business Strategy

What strategies could I use to gather user-generated reviews for a website about aged care services, like home care or nursing home care?

Matt Brown answered: Hi there 1) Define your story I'm not sure who your audience is, but getting users to write reviews means that they need to resonate with your story. In order to do that, you need to convey what you've built, why it's important, why it's likely to work, etc. In other words, you across all your channels, you need to be telling the story about the value you are creating in such a way that it resonates with your target audience so that they take a desired action e.g. writing a review. 2) Attention and trust The problem you have is that you don't have attention. Now it's not about being worthy or not, its about how you architect your communications so that your audience understands the worthiness and value of what you are doing - get this part right and everything will take care of itself. The other consideration is does your target audience know who you are? If not, then it's going to be a tough job and if they do know who you are, do they trust you and your story enough to engage with you? At the heart of every transaction is trust - if you don't have it, you need to get it 3) Ask I think it goes without saying that you need to ask first - if you don't ask they just won't do it. 4) Incentivise it Typically, users won't do anything unless there is something in it for them. Think about what incentives you can offer in exchange for reviews but remember that people are rarely motivated by money 5) Create an event around it People love events and they're a great medium to convey your story and to build a community around your platform. Happy to have a call with you to discuss further... Matt

4 answers • about 11 years

B2B Marketing B2B Marketing Strategy B2B eCommerce

How can I grow a database of B2B buyers for a concept like liquidation.com in an underdeveloped market?

Russ Perry answered: Without a dedicated advertising budget, you're going to have to put in a lot of man hours with guerrilla marketing at first. I would create a quick 5-10 slide PDF highlighting the benefits of the service and the real value to your clients. This can be at the ready as a followup to actual conversations you have with prospects. Your biggest challenge will be teaching people about this new way to buy and so develop your sales conversations around combating that challenge. Is it easier? Faster? Cheaper? Safer? Think about what the normal process is and then position your product as a much better alternative. A good printed sales sheet could go a long way too!

1 answer • about 11 years

Management Consulting Business Development Mentoring

Mentoring in helping a company go from $20 to $50 mill annual revenues.

Matt Brown answered: Hi there Sounds like a great challenge - would love to bounce some ideas around with you. I've been building businesses for over 12 years now and have consulted with numerous global brands on business strategy, marketing programs, business model design, and digital marketing. Let me know? Best, Matt

5 answers • about 11 years

Business Growth Business Strategy Lean Startups

I am looking for a principal partner (like a cofounder) to an existing startup. Any suggestions on a strategy for this ?

Thomas Knoll answered: Well, lets work backwards: Structure is pretty simple: 4 year vest, 1 year cliff, for a percentage of the company that will match their commitment and unique contribution to the success of the venture. Running it by them is pretty simple: Tell everyone you can about the problem, the assumptions you have about a solution, the vision for how your company can make some real money by solving a real problem. For each person you talk to, many will say, "That's nice, congratulations." And maybe one or two will say, "OMG, I want to be a part of that." Pick one of those. So now, it's just down to Locating People: http://founderdating.com; http://meetup.com; http://startup-digest.com; Local University; snapchat. Finally remember, 100% of $0 = $0. Clearly it can get much more nuanced than this, and I'm happy to share some more strategies in each of these channels. But, end of the day, you just need as many at bats as you can find, and don't rush it.

3 answers • about 11 years

CEO Public Speaking Startups

How to become a better introvert CEO?

Dan Martell answered: Talk to strangers everyday... anytime your in a lineup, buying something, coffee shop, etc... learn to ask great questions and tell great (short) stories. There's books on this, like Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferazzi + many others.

7 answers • about 11 years

Blog Marketing Social Media Marketing Online Marketing

Is it worth paying to promote your personal blog?

Jacob sapochnick answered: If your goal is to build a community around the blog, I would focus on creating a strategy on spreading the word. Start by visiting other blogs that are similar and participate and comment in conversations. Offer to write guest blogs and receive link back and credits. Start a podcast that you can use with the Blog, this is something I would spend some money on and set up. Itunes is a great search engine and will help market the Blog very effectively.

4 answers • about 11 years

Patents Invention CPG Industry

I have an idea for a simple household kitchen product (under $5). Where can I get good advice on the process of bringing it to market?

Kevin Mako answered: Hi! The quick answer is that simple invention ideas are great as they are the fastest and least expensive to develop, yet can still be highly profitable. I run a consumer product firm which has developed hundreds of inventions for home-based inventors or small product firms - Essentially we take it from Idea to Store Shelves. The best advice I can give is to ONLY do what is absolutely required to sell product... There are lots of great services out there that are beneficial; however, if you're on a limited budget, stick to only what is necessary to make a sale, which is: 1. Industrial Design / Engineering, 2. A manufactured sample and a manufacturer who can produce product, and 3. A provisional patent. Essentially what you need is a real, physical, and fully functioning unit of your product, the prices to manufacture that product and a manufacturer who is ready to produce units, and intellectual property protection so that your idea is not stolen. Once you have these 3 items, you can start to present your product to wholesalers, retails, distributors, etc. If someone likes it and the price is reasonable, they can place an order, and your business and dream product starts to grow. From there, there is a whole world of possibilities, but the most important thing for now is to develop your product from 'idea' into 'real'. Whatever you do, do not get caught up in the idea of 'licencing' your idea. An idea is almost impossible to licence unless it is CURRENTLY being manufactured AND being SOLD through stores. If someone or a company says that they will help licence your product idea for royalties, etc., then they should be willing to do that for FREE, no charge, no fees. Many people attempt to charge fees to licence a product idea; however, if you aren't currently selling in stores, it will almost be impossible to get any form of monetary payment, so they usually are just trying to get your fees for their 'marketing' services, which are almost useless for an undeveloped product, and they know this. If you would like more information on some of the details of product development, we have a free Invention Guide on our website, check it out here: http://www.makoinvent.com/free-invention-kit/ Cheers, Kevin Mako President, Mako Invent www.makoinvent.com www.facebook.com/makoinvent www.twitter.com/makoinvent

7 answers • about 11 years

Start-ups

Is it possible to start a business with competitors that are mainly outsourced overseas?

Greg Meyer answered: You can always compete by offering something your competitor does not provide (either different products, different services, different prices, or different target market). Start by finding out what your customer needs - then build a version of your product. Iterate, iterate, and iterate.

5 answers • about 11 years

Business Growth

My business has grown steadily since starting 3 yrs ago w/ revenues climbing every quarter, but we seem to still be squeaking by financially. Advice?

Dan Johnson answered: A few options: increase your prices, lower your costs and/or increase your volume. Sounds like you've got a low-margin growing business, but as you can see, it's not what you make, it's what you keep. A staff of six on a $300,000/annual budget doesn't leave much room for profit. You might want to lower your head count. If not, then drop your lowest-margin services altogether. And raise your prices on your mid-margin services to make them high-margin. If you lose the customers, then that frees you up to focus on your high-margin services. Happy to go over any of this in more detail on a call.

4 answers • about 11 years

Fundraising Venture Capital

What roles should the CEO and CTO have in a VC meeting?

Tom Williams answered: The more important first impressions to leave a VC with are: 1) That you both are credible and inspire confidence that you can execute the plan you're fundraising on. 2) That there is good chemistry and a great relationship between the two of you; 3) That you can adequately address the concerns/objections/questions the VC raises. The CEO is expected to do most of the talking because the CEO should be the best person in the company at articulating the vision and value of the product and company you're building. If your CTO is comfortable presenting part of the pitch, it would be ideal for the CTO to speak to the product slides. The most important thing is for the CTO not to be a "bump on the log" meaning that you don't want them sitting there for most of the presentation with nothing to say. If you feel that's the case, you really shouldn't bring your CTO. Most VC meetings will not get technical and under the hood. Each question answered should be answered by the person best qualified to speak to that question. You should make eye-contact with your partner and use subtle body language to find a way to cue the other person to speak to that question or simply offer "CTO, would you like to answer that?" Bottom line, make sure that the CTO can speak confidently enough about the product and vision, otherwise -unless specifically asked by the VC - come alone. Fundraising is a big distraction to building and a good VC will always respect that in a first meeting, the CTO can be excused from attending in priority of building product. Happy to talk to you both on a call about helping get you feeling a bit more confident and prepared before your meeting. I was formerly a VC associate for a $500m fund and have raised money from VCs as a serial entrepreneur.

8 answers • about 11 years

Pricing

As an expert, how do I change my price?

Reuben Swartz answered: This is a pretty vague question, but in general, if you are pricing "correctly" as an expert, it's really easy to change your pricing, because you're pricing based on value. Changing prices can have a huge impact on profit (and quality of life). Take a few minutes and read through these blog posts (there are 4, starting with this one: http://www.mimiran.com/proposals/i-sell-services-what-the-do-i-sell/).

3 answers • about 11 years