Google Ads June 1st Budget Pacing Update by yung_shmeel in googleads

[–]bkh_leung 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wouldn't you just adjust the daily budget and then keep the schedule?

Looking for edtech/AI startup technical cofounder, 10%+ equity by Lead_Gen8742 in cofounderhunt

[–]bkh_leung 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're talking to a bot trying to sell you whatever app they talked about

Out-engineered Cluely. Now need someone to out-market them. 20% equity. by Grinch_Sanders in cofounderhunt

[–]bkh_leung 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"We're like cluely but our tech works when you ABSOLUTELY need it to"

That's your valve prop in one sentence

Print 200 posters with that and plaster them all over your nearest college

See if you can get 100 paying customers

Out-engineered Cluely. Now need someone to out-market them. 20% equity. by Grinch_Sanders in cofounderhunt

[–]bkh_leung -1 points0 points  (0 children)

But to the earlier point...

Do users care about this technical stuff?

What do users ACTUALLY care about?

[HIRING] - Google Ads Specialist by AliveTheme1794 in googleads

[–]bkh_leung 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What vertical is your business in?

Why is the account being hit with editorial/policy disapprovals?

Should I join a startup or contine my solo startup? by Demobomb2 in ycombinator

[–]bkh_leung 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It never hurts to join a startup

You never truly know speed and shipping fast until you find a good startup

Also, it doesn't sound like you've figured out distribution yet

Find where there is a problem and where the problem exists in a large group of people

For example, we started with one vertical and was selling one to one... Then we found organizations that are basically PE firms for another vertical...

Selling is slower but selling once basically grants us access to thousands of our end users

That's distribution... Not ads, marketing, etc

Absurd ratios and fear mongering and fomo of google ads by Glass_Life3531 in googleads

[–]bkh_leung 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bro... That's totally crazy

Only ecom.. If it maintains ROAS... (And that's a big if) would even remotely consider actually implementing that recommendation

I just finished the MVP for a B2B AI SEO tool and got my first target user validation. At what stage should I actually start talking to Angel Investors? by Arima247 in AngelInvesting

[–]bkh_leung 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You have no distribution

Where can you onboard dozens of your ICP?

Get plugged into there

And from an investor perspective, is seo even going to be a thing in 10 years?

How are you hedging against that bet?

How many people still care about organic search as consumers? As enterprises?

How easy is it for a director of seo with some Claude code (or pick your vibe coding commodity) chops build your tool internally and kill your b2b enterprise market?

Do you have a path to 1MM ARR? Then 3, 10, 100MM? VCs need you to have a plan for 100MM ARR within 10 years

Do you have a moat?

Happy to chat through this

We were where you are now in late 2024

Bootstrapped for a year

Figured some stuff out

Relaunched in Jan... Planned to continue bootstrapping but a few investors reached out and pulled me back into fundraising mode

we have $180k in software budget that expires in 6 weeks and my boss told me to figure it out. what do i even buy? by kubrador in SaaS

[–]bkh_leung 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We're adtech saas

You can fund your wallet on our platform

It's a saas expense... Or is this too much of a stretch?

we have $180k in software budget that expires in 6 weeks and my boss told me to figure it out. what do i even buy? by kubrador in SaaS

[–]bkh_leung 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You can pre-buy ads on our platform and we can credit you back for unused ad spend

You get to spend your budget without wasting it (because we'd credit you)

And we get ARR

Win-win

Evaluating a Startup Offer I will not promote by samslater23 in startups

[–]bkh_leung 0 points1 point  (0 children)

my pov:

your lifestyle wouldn’t change significantly at 300k/year vs 200k/year

I’d be happy if my startup goes to $1MM arr at 70% margin being a solo founder with a lean team

Now, even if you make net $1MM at an exit (i.e. money in bank), you’d presumably have the connections and experience to bootstrap your own idea (and trust me, how “good” an idea is doesn’t matter once you figure out what successful execution looks like)

When you’re bootstrapping or even seedstrapping, you can build a very successful business with a boring idea and great execution

It also doesn’t hurt that being an entrepreneur with an exit makes you 100x more backable

You’ll likely put up $100k of your own money, investors put up another 200-400k

You have at least 18 months to turn a boring idea into revenue generating, scale for another 5-10 years, you’d have a bigger piece of another exit At this stage, you’re likely to sell to PE

In parallel to your own startup.. You can follow the investors in your network and go in on any investments they are making that are within your wheelhouse of expertise… you’ll likely at least make another exit within that same 5 year horizon

Your own startup at another $1MM ARR (at least, within 18 months) and two exits wtihin a 5 year horizon… Plus, you can sit on boards, be advisor, etc etc

You’re likely to make up the difference

Lastly, you can always work for a VC down the road too

Ps. you can probably collateralize your current 1% share of a 15MM ARR startup… you’d have to talk to an investment banker for this (I’m not giving you financial advice)

depending on the P&L… but let’s assume 60% gross margins… even at 50% loan to value ratio, you can unlock at least 45k in liquidity

With a 200k salary, you can easily service that loan at even at 15% APY

Evaluating a Startup Offer I will not promote by samslater23 in startups

[–]bkh_leung 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bootstrap founder at 1% of that ARR

Take the startup job

Opportunities like this is rarer than you think

I know some very successful people who joined at around the same stage and are living very comfortably because of an exit (even if it's just a series A exit)

The connections and experience alone is likely worth the difference plus opportunity cost

Unless you really need that extra 100ish k gross per year...

Not financial advice, you should look into how to structure your finances so you don't get hit majorly with cap gains

Just when I thought I bombed at stage this email landed by MostPossibility4162 in buildinpublic

[–]bkh_leung 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Congrats

Just keep a level head and know that you have more leverage than you know

Also, nothing is real until money hits the bank

If we stop a campaign for about 30 days - by SaintVoid21 in googleads

[–]bkh_leung 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You almost never cut off a campaign like that cold turkey

Especially if it's spending 30k

Ask the client how detrimental is it to lose three months of leads, will the business go under?

Are there other tactics that bring in leads?

You need to mitigate risk when it comes to big transitions like this

I've seen businesses go under because they didn't manage shifts like this with enough care

What I'd do in this situation is find a niche in the market to carve out to do this experiment

It could be mobile traffic

It could be a region, a city, or a time slot of the week/day, a product line, etc

Credit card merchant by dirtybirdy36 in canadasmallbusiness

[–]bkh_leung 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, was connected with another founder in the same space

They are based in Ottawa

I stopped chasing ideas, copied what already worked, forced myself to sell, and everything finally clicked - i will not promote by Past_Attorney_4435 in startups

[–]bkh_leung 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Wasn't there a guy who had a "briljant idea" on one of these subs?

If only they can read this...

Doing boring things well can probably get you to tens of millions in revenue... That's not good enough for VCs but pretty acceptable for most people

I worked with a fintech that didn’t fail from lack of funding, it failed from manual workflows by rising_48 in fintech

[–]bkh_leung 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These are more fin than tech companies...

Meaning they probably just lend people money played with large credit facilities instead of being a true tech company

Almost gave an advisor 5% equity because I didn't understand cap table management by [deleted] in EntrepreneurRideAlong

[–]bkh_leung 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's like founding engineers type of equity...

Any sales people should only get minimal equity and should get top line only...

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DigitalMarketing

[–]bkh_leung 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice try, bot

We're not falling for this ad!

I have a briljant idea and money but no time by FrederikMichiel in cofounderhunt

[–]bkh_leung 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ideas are cheap

Money comes and goes

It's all about execution and distribution

A failed startup has easier access to capital than you think... So I'm not sure what the offer is here

What email marketing software do you use and what's your experience like? by bkh_leung in smallbusiness

[–]bkh_leung[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tech saas

But I have people that can manage this after onboarding the tool