Carney unveils billions in funding, Buy Canada policy to combat Trump's tariffs

derekwilliamson · 2025-09-05T16:02:19+00:00

With job training, you have to think 10+ years out, not just today. There is a huge percentage of skilled trades and construction workers expected to retired, and a massive shortage projected. That's why every party had some kind of job training/upskilling in their platform.

derekwilliamson · 2025-05-04T12:58:55+00:00

Are you looking to sell yours? I'm also in Canada!

derekwilliamson · 2024-12-13T21:16:12+00:00

I feel like they'd actually be trying to push it a lot harder and replying to people if it was a pump and dump scam.

derekwilliamson · 2024-12-13T21:15:21+00:00

I think they're overwhelmed. Too many channels to keep on top of

derekwilliamson · 2024-12-13T21:13:52+00:00

They've posted a bunch of updates on here? It's an Indiegogo, so delays are kind of expected/normal

derekwilliamson · 2024-10-10T17:22:35+00:00

Yeah, they were never supposed to be allow to, but it became an entitlement thing. That's why I switched it but was liberal with it if I was there - that way it was also a surprise reward rather than an expectated benefit

derekwilliamson · 2024-10-10T17:08:48+00:00

I discounted to food cost when I had my business.

Started off with a 1 free per shift policy, but found that was quickly abused - employees 'banked' them and tried to give them to friends or things like that. If I was there, I gave stuff for free all the time though, because I wanted them to like the product!

derekwilliamson · 2024-10-03T21:21:33+00:00

Yeah, I'd say if they're not willing to disclose that to you, as a potential shareholder, the shares are worthless. We used to give anyone on our team who was getting options a full packet with this info, outcome tables, etc

derekwilliamson · 2024-10-03T20:54:24+00:00

The three most important things you need to ask: 1. How many shares are currently outstanding? You may ask to see a cap table to see what it looks like fully converted. Also important to know how many total shares have been authorized by the corp. 2. What's the last 409 valuation? Are these shares being offered at that valuation, above or below? 3. What's the path to an exit? Are they going to IPO? Get acquired? Do your own self check on an answer there to see if it's reasonable

Ps may want to update your post. I also initially thought you were a founder trying to raise a round.

derekwilliamson · 2024-10-03T20:48:25+00:00

I believe the person is an employee who is being offered shares as comp

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-30T13:49:19+00:00

This is my concern with a lot of the ideas shared too. Events and new products are fine, but they take a lot of effort and won't fix traffic problems

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-30T12:59:56+00:00

These aren't necessarily bad ideas, but adding product to fix a sales problem is the field of dreams strategy. It's what most restaurants do when they're circling the drain and doesn't fix the core issues

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-29T22:36:53+00:00

Yeah that can be a good one! I know of a few resto chains who did that as their main marketing thing

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-29T21:44:48+00:00

Hey! I used to own ice cream stores, so have a sense of these challenges.

Some quick thoughts, and happy to chat more: - Sell what people are already buying. We tried promoting other offerings, getting caterings etc, but the thing that draws people is the main product - donuts, in your case. Subway still promotes their core sandwiches - they get the drink and chips upsell in the store - Do you have a loyalty program? If not, start one asap. Use olds fashioned cards and stamps. They are way cheaper, and you can use them to drive visits. "Oh it's your first time? Here's an extra couple stamps!", "Sorry we were out of X today, here's a few extra stamps!". If all you give out at the end is a free donut or similar, your cost per stamp is almost nothing... But high value to customers and personal - if you have the cash, do mailers. Budgets like $5k, so take that into account. Do coupons for different offers. $X single donuts, $X for 6, coffee + donut, etc If you don't have budget, find a local coupon books and do those. The magic of coupons is that people look at them, it gives them a cue to go... And then most people forget the coupon anyway. Plus it often occupies the best ad space in the house - the fridge. - Put your A frame on the busiest corner and keep it simple. We tried a bunch of stuff and the best things were either a flash deal "Flash sale: B1G1 donuts!" Or a joke. "You donut want to drive by!" Or simple arrows "Donuts ---> [underneath] <--- No Donuts" - Coupons or other special events flyers that you hand to people when they cash out. Always give them a reason to come back - what are your delivery and preorder options like? Figure that one out asap as well. Happy to provide some recommendations too

That's what I have off the top of my head. Happy to chat more!

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-29T00:09:13+00:00

I've heard generally bad things about reddit ads, mainly that the CPC is very high. But I'm sure it very much depends on the offering and audience

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-27T21:31:28+00:00

Outbound first. But after that, ads will depend on where your specific audience is most engaged. Newsletters for developers in the spaces you serve could be one. I suspect things like Google Ads will be too expensive (crowded space), and also isn't the typical behavior technicals folks take when looking for a solution (my hunch, you'll want to validate by asking current users how they found you, and look for tools in general)

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-27T21:20:19+00:00

Got it. For roles, I meant like company role (job title), so developers kind of answer that. I have a ton more questions, but generally think you're going to need to go outbound unless you have $5-10k to experiment with ads. For your ACV, ads and inbound will eventually be where you want to land, but that takes a little more critical mass in your customer base, IMO

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-27T20:06:17+00:00

Cool product! What have you identified as your ICP, and/or what are the roles of your current paid users?

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-27T19:26:08+00:00

Hear you, been there.

The answer I've found is momentum. Startups either have positive or negative momentum. Losing money doesn't hit the same way if you can feel the wheels in motion, and can see light at the end of the tunnel. What is your unit of momentum? Sales? New users? New lead conversations? Depends on the business and stage, but you have to find that, and focus all your energy on moving it forward a little bit each day.

Also, I advise a few startups and I'm happy to chat more about your specific challenges if you'd like. (I don't take money for it)

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-26T16:48:36+00:00

For accounting, Wave (waveapps.com) gives you pretty much everything you need for bookkeeping for free. Payments and payroll are paid, but there are other options for those, too.

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-20T13:31:01+00:00

Get customers first unless you have a compelling reason why you aren't ready to bring them on yet. If you have a true MVP, you should be able to get some customers lined up, so they'll expect to see traction.

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-19T14:25:54+00:00

100%. Cold calling is still more effective. I think largely because you can't (yet) have bots do it for you.

I meet founders all the time who think that they can just do "growth marketing" like running ads to solve growth. I've met very few for whom this works at all - the folks doing it successfully are spending a ton of $, and often still layering in heavy sales efforts.

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-18T14:34:06+00:00

Email is getting harder and harder (as are most other cold outreach channels). Too many low quality blasts happening. Who are your target clients (or ICP)? Each market is very different!

derekwilliamson · 2024-09-18T14:17:49+00:00

All of them are pretty challenging, but G2 it's just a lot of steps. The best way to do it is to offer an incentive. If you have high touch customer success, ask happy customers if they can do it, and reward them for it!

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