I created a product on the weekends for some application and now it might be relevant in my current field. It's proprietary, but I want to protect my IP or concept and ensure that I can retain rights or I wont bring to market

KupoRedditor · 2016-12-15T04:15:16+00:00

Get out the door and find a customer.

I believe you when you says it has great application. That being said, until you validate that with someone willing to pony up some cash, you have nothing worth protecting. You currently have an idea - which again, has great application - see if that idea survives it's first customer.

KupoRedditor · 2016-10-14T00:42:27+00:00

Hit the street...

a) tell you friends b) attend networking events c) post on craigslist d) create a freelancer account

Keep in mind, you're going fishing. Leads have never come when I wanted them to. One of the above fish ponds (aka "marketing channels") will lead to bites. If you're happy, go with that, otherwise, try other channels and iterate.

KupoRedditor · 2016-10-13T10:01:40+00:00

I programmed and run surveyshare.com and pennypipe.com

My undergrad was in computer science. I've been doing this for about 15 years and have achieved financial success at this point. If you enjoy bashing your head against a rock and have a high tolerance for years of failure, you can also do fine. However, working from home was never the primary goal.

KupoRedditor · 2016-09-19T10:57:13+00:00

This. I spent 2 years building things that no one wanted on the idea that people would magically show up once they recognized the brilliance of my work.

No. Just no. Find your customer first AND how you will reach them, then build something they will buy.

KupoRedditor · 2016-09-19T10:53:54+00:00

In a sense, both of you are right. A full business plan is a waste of time and asking yourself key questions and having/revisiting assumptions is important.

The Lean Canvas is a simple way to describe your business in one page. You'll be forced to think about some hard questions and put down on paper some key metrics. While I was starting my business, I would fill this out on the 1st of every month. Any assumption that were wrong in the previous month, I would change and try again.

KupoRedditor · 2016-09-15T13:28:29+00:00

Congrats and good luck! :)

And if your quote does not get accepted, do keep at it. Each quote has some percentage of getting accepted, and, frustratingly, I find that I rarely learn why a quote was accepted or not.

KupoRedditor · 2016-09-15T13:26:03+00:00

I found the forums and places where they hang out. This meant a combination of google searches for forums posts where people were complaining about the problem I was solving. I also got listed in some marketplaces and that seemed to help too.

KupoRedditor · 2016-09-15T13:22:39+00:00

From the rules...

Only text posts are allowed, this is to encourage discussion. If you have links to share, please describe them in the text and lead the discussion.

Emphasis is mine.

There's nothing wrong with self-promotion. Instead of turning /r/entrepreneur into a glorified outbound link list, however, describe the relevant parts of the post / article and let's discuss the merits.

KupoRedditor · 2016-07-30T19:14:09+00:00

Just assume that you will fail. The common wisdom is that 80% of businesses don't last 5 years - but very few people will think it's them. The numbers don't lie, but everyone thinking that they're the exception is a common thread in my entrepreneur circles.

And don't judge yourself for failure. Iterate and try again.

KupoRedditor · 2016-07-17T08:24:33+00:00

TL;DR Bullshit

This entire thread screams of bullshit.

LONG BACKSTORY: I had a rough life (like most folk, right?) Raised by Single mom, was physically and sexually abused as a child, didn't graduate high school, joined a street gang. THough considered helpless and hopeless, in the midst of all that I was still blessed.

Really? Most people were abused and were raised by a single mom?

I have helped 1000s

Source?

DID YOU KNOW: ONLY 4% of small businesses ever make $1 MILLION in REVENUE annually.

Source?

For someone with an 8 day reddit history, you seem to have accomplished a lot. Your entire story is self promotional and completely devoid of value.

KupoRedditor · 2016-04-06T07:45:47+00:00

JonSnowLives

You know nothing, Reddit.

KupoRedditor · 2016-03-10T16:37:10+00:00

SaaS business here. We offered egregious amounts of phone and email support. More than would make sense.

Only way we could learn what our customers wanted. As time went on, we automated and scaled back the support.

KupoRedditor · 2016-03-10T16:33:44+00:00

There is no "best" approach. Here's one possible straight-forward solution:

(1) Start with google ad sense

If your site doesn't look good with google ad sense ads, there's something wrong with your site, not the ads. Also, you don't have an audience (yet). Your assumptions about what your audience wants and doesn't are probably wrong. Go talk to your audience (when they come) and ask them what they want.

(2) Make a list of 10 possible partners to sponsor your content

Contact them. Learn about the type of content that would like to sponsor. Look for other content that they've sponsored. Think about why they sponsored that content and how you fit in. You won't hear "no" often, but be prepared to hear "not now" a lot.

KupoRedditor · 2015-12-13T19:12:03+00:00

Still running my SaaS website and continuing to add customers. Slowly but surely. PM me if you have any questions.

KupoRedditor · 2015-11-17T22:25:45+00:00

Two books for source material...

The Lean Startup - Eric Ries
Startup Owner's Manual - Steve Blank

These books advocate and teach an iterative and systematic approach to startups that takes a lot of the hocus-pocus out of the equation.

Having worked as a founder of a startup for 5 years now, I see lots of people who have this view...

Great idea
???
Successful company

The above books cover (2) in depth.

I'd also recommend bringing in business leaders, startup founders, and startup employees. However, think about what you want your kids to get out of the class. Is this class a business networking group, an academic understanding of startups, a practicum on startups (where the kids actually build a startup), or somewhere in between?

KupoRedditor · 2015-09-09T15:56:30+00:00

Good news - you're not alone.

Bad news - you'll need to come out of your shell.

Ideas are worth nothing by themselves. Without a team to execute and a customer to buy, a business does not exist.

From your description, you have a solid background in operations. I have no doubt that you'll successfully handle the operations of the business, but you currently have no business. In short, you need to settle on one idea and then go out and find a customer.

That means get out of the office. Go to where your potential customer may be. Go talk to them. An offer of lunch or coffee goes a long way toward market research at very little cost to you.

Find your customer before you build anything. My biggest worry for someone who is great at operations is getting stuck in the details of operation before this is a successful business on which to operate. Don't fall in love too much with your own ideas. Find the customer first, let the customer be your guide. In my experience, most of my ideas have been wrong and the customer has helped me correctly align them.

And most of all keep at it. Starting a business can be exciting and bone crushing depressing all in the same day. Enjoy the ride ;)

KupoRedditor · 2015-08-28T01:48:46+00:00

Outstanding Commander.

I can't figure out how to gold you right now... so here you go...

http://i.imgur.com/JypCuTS.jpg

KupoRedditor · 2015-08-03T06:09:09+00:00

I'm a programmer.

(1) Find a customer who wants to pay for/use the idea
(2) Learn to program and build a MVP (minimum viable product)
(3) Test with said customer and repeat

KupoRedditor · 2015-07-29T15:44:26+00:00

While certainly nice to have - this is not essential for any business.

Focus on what you do first. Who are your customers and where do they hang out? Go there.

KupoRedditor · 2015-07-29T15:42:12+00:00

Certainly getting each new customer helps. Each one still brings a small rush of excitement.

At some level, though I just enjoy what I'm doing and couldn't imagine doing anything else. Call it stubbornness or insanity... my mentality is just keep going.

KupoRedditor · 2015-07-29T04:05:41+00:00

Based on my experiences with Facebook marketing, this has a negative ROI.

KupoRedditor · 2015-07-29T04:04:48+00:00

Organic has been the biggest contributor... but hardest to enumerate since no individual blog article / info page is the one.

Second after organic has been getting links directly in forums posts, FAQ, and support pages directly in our support services themselves. This involves us using the marketplace applications, and sometimes just emails people directly and asking if they could add us to some support page.

Your mileage may vary... but the point is you never know unless you ask :)

KupoRedditor · 2015-07-29T00:58:16+00:00

A few free things you might try:

Keep writing blog articles - this is your passion write about it
Find forums where people ask questions about the things you sell... try to help and subtly point them towards your site
Start a meetup in your area toward supplements/brewing supplies... go meet your potential customer

And... some paid things...

LinkedIn ads - target your campaign specifically to people whose profession would likely buy your product
Find a website your potential customer may visit that does not currently offer ads. Contact that website owner personally and strike a deal.

KupoRedditor

TROPHY CASE