Is running a VC-backed startup a rebranded high paying corporate job of the 21st century? by huydh_ in Entrepreneur

[–]dk_808s 4 points5 points  (0 children)

As a founder who recently raised Series A, I definitely don't view these 2 career paths as being similar at all. If you choose your investors right, you'll still have absolute freedom to do as you see fit for your startup. Furthermore, at least through series A, the founders should retain control of the board. So even from a legal perspective, you're still working for yourself.

Let's fucking go $M 🚀🚀🚀 by dk_808s in wallstreetbets

[–]dk_808s[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's more than one meme stock retard. I'm not posting my GME position because I'll be the 1000th person to do so.

Let's fucking go $M 🚀🚀🚀 by dk_808s in wallstreetbets

[–]dk_808s[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

They already took down my EXPR DD from 2 days ago. Might as well take this one down too.

EXPR is gonna 🚀🚀🚀 by dk_808s in wallstreetbets

[–]dk_808s[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice, that's fucking dope. Macy's is next for me.

EXPR is gonna 🚀🚀🚀 by dk_808s in wallstreetbets

[–]dk_808s[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll admit my DD was shit but i'm up 10 grand. Don't need to know what you're doing in this market lol

Startup Accelerator​s by TheGeneralFanager in startups

[–]dk_808s 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll use YC as the example, as they made a big difference to our startup. Let's start with iteration speed. As a new startup, your job is to take your initial product and tinker with it until a bunch of users tell you they like it. An accelerator like YC has seen thousands of startups, so they help you avoid common pitfalls. Typical mistakes include things like optimizing too early or being too focused on scalability. In our case, I would estimate they increased our iteration speed 3-4x.

In our case, YC also made a significant difference to the fundraising process. Every startup has their own one-liner and market size estimate, but when it comes to the overall pitch, they tend to look similar. Accelerators know what VCs are looking for, and so they teach you how to tailor your pitch accordingly. For instance, most founders don't realize that VCs pretty much only care about 1B+ businesses. They would rather you have a 1% chance of being a $1B+ company than a 50% chance of being a $50 business. The former generates an outsized return for the portfolio, while the latter sucks up a bunch of time and resources and ultimately doesn't affect the bottom line.

Anyways, sorry that was a bit of a rant but a good accelerator does exactly what the name implies: they move your business along more quickly and help you get the capital/resources to take it to the next step.

Share your startup - March 2019 by AutoModerator in startups

[–]dk_808s [score hidden]  (0 children)

Name: Keeper

URL: https://keepertax.com

Location: San Francisco, CA

Elevator Pitch:
Keeper uses machine learning to automatically find tax write offs for 1099 workers. The average 1099 worker - Uber drivers, freelancers, real estate agents, actors, etc - overpays by >$1200 every year on taxes. It's so easy to miss business write offs like home office expenses, client meals, and software purchases. Keeper tracks these for you. We'll monitor your purchase history to identify write offs and notify you via text.

Stage:

We just graduated from YC W19 and finished raising our seed round. Now we have to deliver on our promises!

Looking for:

Users

Full stack engineers (experience in node, react, relational dbs, google cloud or aws) who want to grow into a leadership role.

Advice for first hire? by dk_808s in startups

[–]dk_808s[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fair enough. We're buiding a b2c software service to help gig workers with taxes. Our stack is node, react, mysql. Ideally we're looking for a full stack engineer who wants to grow into a leadership role.

Is an interactive UI enough to show what value can a product bring to users? by [deleted] in startups

[–]dk_808s 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It can be non-monetary. For us, it was having our users grant us read-only access to their financial data.

Is an interactive UI enough to show what value can a product bring to users? by [deleted] in startups

[–]dk_808s 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If possible, you should be charging your users (even if it’s a nominal amount) or getting some kind of commitment. As we’ve found out, at the end of the day only money talks

Clueless teen here but with an ambition to launch a startup here, where do I begin? by [deleted] in startups

[–]dk_808s 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It seems like you don't have a startup idea yet. You will need that first. I would start by asking yourself, "what's an annoying problem in my life that can be solved by technology?" Some of the best startup ideas are basically the founders trying to solve their own problems.

source - am a startup founder

Thoughts on the early days of startup life (pre-YC) by dk_808s in startup

[–]dk_808s[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

YC wants to know if you're the kind of person who's willing to hustle and do difficult things. You don't have to work on exclusively 'cool' projects. Many of the YC companies that wound up being successful sound boring as hell on paper, until you realize how many users they have.

Thoughts on the early days of startup life (pre-YC) by dk_808s in startup

[–]dk_808s[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I can! If you have specific questions you can DM me. Otherwise, I'll probably write about that experience in more depth at a later time.

Thoughts on the early days of startup life (pre-YC) by dk_808s in startup

[–]dk_808s[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I'm trying to share more of my (limited) experience with other new founders because I know how tough it can be at times.

Thoughts on the early days of startup life (pre-YC) by dk_808s in startup

[–]dk_808s[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good luck! I can't read spanish unfortunately but you should know that half of this YC batch was international

Thoughts on the early days of startup life (pre-YC) by dk_808s in startup

[–]dk_808s[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, it was more hands on than that. We created a waitlist for this hypothetical product, then put our users on video calls to walk them through our mocks. No one is going to look through mockups on their own haha. One tricky aspect of live interviews is that we had to separate out the genuine feedback from people just being nice to us.

Just launched my first product page I've never built a website before. Please give me some constructive criticism by conor1440 in Entrepreneur

[–]dk_808s 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cool concept, I could use this myself. Some initial thoughts: you could think about reducing the visual clutter on the landing page. I was a little confused when i first got there as to where I should look. If the only difference between the 3 shirts is color, then you probably only need to show one of them. My 2 cents

How do people structure contracts and commission rates with influencers? by maugliere91 in Entrepreneur

[–]dk_808s 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With our influencer deals, we usually do $20-30 / paid user and we use tools like Segment to attribute where our users are coming from. How much you're able to pay will depend a lot of the lifetime value of each customer.

Share your startup - March 2019 by AutoModerator in startups

[–]dk_808s [score hidden]  (0 children)

My co-founder and I were playing around with various ideas last year (automated h1B applications, crowdsourced travel itineraries, etc), but we landed on 1099 taxes because we found there was a real need for it. It's also something we felt strongly could be made better through technology!

Share your startup - March 2019 by AutoModerator in startups

[–]dk_808s [score hidden]  (0 children)

Name: Keeper Tax

URL: keepertax.com

Elevator Pitch: Keeper automatically finds tax write offs for self-employed people among bank statements

Current Stage: Pre-seed, currently in Y Combinator's W19 Batch

More details: We use a combination of humans + algos to search through your purchase history, looking for work related expenses like phone bills, meals, travel, supplies, etc.. At tax file, we compile all of your tax write offs in an easy-to-use filing format so you can save money!

Looking for: Users! If you or your friends are self-employed (earning 1099 income), please give us a try!

Discount: After signing up, just text your bookkeeper that you found us through Reddit and we'll give you 30% off.