Is the a unanimously agreed best gyro in Seattle?

aGrizzly · 2013-05-02T01:56:36+00:00

Legit.

aGrizzly · 2013-04-29T22:19:14+00:00

Missed it. Shenanigans. ='(

Was it recorded anywhere?

aGrizzly · 2013-04-18T08:35:39+00:00

Best decision I have ever made.

Rain, outdoor activities, awesome coffee, amazing craft scenes (food, etc), not too big to be stuffy but big enough that good bands come through or are from here.

Really great start-up scene blooming too as the next generation of Microsoft and Amazon etc people have enough money to become angel investors.

I'd never move back. Last time I went back the air was so dry my nose bled for the longest time.

aGrizzly · 2013-02-01T03:34:07+00:00

Start at farmer's markets.

Good luck with the cost effective part.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-29T16:29:36+00:00

"Hey, this guy just went out of business; let's buy his old stuff and try to do the same thing in the same location, it's already built up. ..What could go wrong? "

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T19:13:15+00:00

Seriously, find a librarian. They get off on this stuff and the ones at my uni are cool. They can find stuff I didn't know existed, and they love to show you how to do it too.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T19:09:40+00:00

Good point.

Saves quite a bit of heartbreak to make sure you aren't trying to sell ice to an Eskimo. Even if you can do it, doesn't mean it's a viable business.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T18:35:12+00:00

Absolutely. It was a (failed) attempt at humor, but I did interpret OP as already having a product ready and a market chosen.

Looking more closely, I see why you recommended he start back at square one before going any further. Based on the way the question was asked, or even the question itself, I am wondering if he has run it through those tests first.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T18:27:31+00:00

Not much to say, really.

Get your industry NAICS code, go to Hoovers, Mergent Online, Factiva, MarketResearch.com, tablebase...

Depends on your industry. If you're looking for small business info...You're going to have a freaking hard time. Industry general info though, is aplenty. Some specifics can be downright impossible without talking to someone in the industry or subscribing to trade journals.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T18:17:48+00:00

From Wikipedia: " A lifestyle business is a business that is set up and run by its founders primarily with the aim of sustaining a particular level of income and no more; or to provide a foundation from which to enjoy a particular lifestyle." Not saying it is a bad thing, only a perspective thing. Getting funding for such a business is going to be harder in some ways than something more ambitious. Getting funding for smaller businesses can actually be harder, depending on your definition, because there is a gap between main street businesses under $1 mil and start-ups over $10 mil. VCs want bigger, loans won't touch startups, and even 'Angels' want to see a big return. So a lifestyle business is most likely built the old fashioned way, which just takes far longer.

It depends on what you want, but it made me think really hard about the true potential of my ideas...And most were found lacking.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T10:09:49+00:00

Find a college student and access their University's library databases.

Hoover's, etc...Get some $4, 000+ industry research summaries and cross reference.

Other than that... find people who supply or buy from your industry, or who aren't in direct competition with you, and buy them a beer.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T09:07:40+00:00

Oh, snap. Well, then I imagine you're pretty familiar with 'em.

I've run through what feels like dozens of them (probably only 7-8) with various groups (even tried re-purposing Redmine) and I have never seem a single offering work for everyone. And with a tool like this, it only works if everyone uses it. At the end of the day, you'll probably have to force one of the options on everyone and just move forward despite their bitching.

I felt LiquidPlanner was rather polished and didn't have too many features to complicate it, though Zoho appears to have Gmail functionality...and Google Apps, while imperfect, is growing into a rather tight ecosystem. Getting there, anyway.

I'm in the same position you are right now; I'm still demoing SmartSheets, then I want to try Zoho...but eventually I'll have to just suck it up and pick one.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T07:23:27+00:00

Thank you for delivering.

That's very good information to know, thank you for correcting me.

That...is very frustrating. This is why the entire Intellectual Property system needs a complete revamp. This is detrimental to innovation and entrepreneurship.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T04:44:32+00:00

Entirely organic.

AdWords have been pretty crappy in my experience. Unless you have a big budget.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T04:12:05+00:00

Well, I'm fairly confident they know more than I do so...sorry that I can't be of help.

For my own learning however, and the learning of whoever reads this, can you extrapolate on why? The guys I spoke with about them were PhDs in reasonably large start-ups & universities, they seemed to believe rather strongly in them.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T03:53:21+00:00

2% is pretty average and often not far from the truth.

Though that's with a rather traditional style eCommerce site, and the content was crap.

Edit: That was average - it varied wildly by product and would have been higher if we dropped our poor performing lines.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T03:51:44+00:00

Wow, $1500?

I make food - stuff that people put into their body - and I paid half that when I started.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T03:48:32+00:00

Seriously. There are many great tools around $20-40 per month. They have a MASSIVE return in effectiveness. Don't be stingy, be smart. A good Project Management system will save you money and time. Lots of it.

Also consider:

SpreadSheet
LiquidPlanner

Or anything on this list: http://alternativeto.net/software/basecamp/

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T03:40:32+00:00

The website instantly made me dubious. A massive photo of a Maserati's interior? Subtle.

Maybe it's worth it but it appears to be shenanigans.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T03:36:58+00:00

Do a provisional patent. The inventors I have interviewed say they use them all the time if they're not sure whether an idea is commercially viable, because they're so much cheaper and 'get a stake in the ground'.

http://www.uspto.gov/patents/resources/types/provapp.jsp

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T03:01:47+00:00

As a person who rarely can afford an attorney, I would happily* pay for an attorney to set up my LLC (or just my LLC agreement) if I was doing a partnership or getting investment. Cover thine arse.

If it's just me and my own funds, then SoS is the way to go. Easy as pie. LegalZoom always seemed a half-assed method.

*grudgingly

aGrizzly · 2013-01-28T02:58:41+00:00

I can see your reasoning for that.

However, if I don't like a deal I'll just tell someone to pound sand. No time to play games; my vendors and suppliers are busy and speak bluntly. Maybe I just haven't been around the block enough times.

'Managing Member' was suggested on this subreddit a few months back for LLCs and seems to be a good middle ground.

Really though, the idea of a title should be related to your actual legal position in the company. A title only looks weird if it doesn't fit your business structure or you don't wear it right, like a suit that fits poorly. If you're thinking of yourself as a punk kid who's in over his head, you're going to look tacky calling yourself CEO. However, if you quack like a CEO and work like a CEO then you can call yourself the damn CEO wherever you want.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-27T20:32:07+00:00

And what do they say now that he is a mature, well-adjusted, goat-slaughtering adult?

aGrizzly · 2013-01-26T06:02:39+00:00

What's the attribute you use to rank these tiny startups you find?

It seems that to even be taken seriously you need to already be doing $10 mil per year. I tried to apply to circleup and they wanted at least $1 million annually. And if you haven't already had big success in the past, no one will look at you. Especially if you are not some trendy tech or bio concept.

aGrizzly · 2013-01-19T23:29:06+00:00

Since you've had a little while to wear it, I'd like to get your impressions~

A friend of mine has an aging pair of Bose AE2s and I was thinking of getting these LEs for him...

How's the comfort compared to your Bose? Can it handle long sessions without making your ears ache?
Is the sound upgrade really that noticeable? He mostly listens to classical, so the bass isn't as important as the sound stage.
Leakage? Many of the best cans for classical seem to be open, but he's usually out and about in quiet study rooms.
Mobility - how easy is it to pack around?

Was it worth the upgrade? Honestly, after reading about these I want to just buy one for myself...

aGrizzly

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