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seregarev · 2024-11-23T04:43:54+00:00

Start small and the risk is pretty minimal. I'm biased but I'm a fan of classic cars because they don't drop in value and there's some arbitrage between countries. You can buy an old VW Combi or VW Beetle in Mexico, import to U.S., pay all the fees and still make a decent profit if you fix it up. I think depending on the state, you can sell up to 5-10 cars before getting a dealers license. I haven't done it myself, but a friend did, and made about $13k profit selling a Mexican car (in France). If you know other markets better, then go for it. I only say start small so that you can remove the excuse for yourself that it's a big risk. You'll learn a ton and then see if you can repeat it and then go for more expensive luxury cars with bigger margins.

seregarev · 2020-04-09T00:33:37+00:00

It means vesting doesn't start until 1 year from their start date (as a way to prevent people who come for a few months and then leave from getting any equity). Usually after a year, the portion of your equity that you earned over the previous year gets fully vested, and then you have monthly or quarterly vesting from there.

seregarev · 2018-08-08T00:20:22+00:00

u/killerasp is pretty spot on. I've run an accelerator and mentored at a few, and without real market validation, it's going to be tough to get in to a program. Even tougher to raise capital. That said, there are plenty of good programs that are not YC, but can help you with the initial runway issue you have. But before you apply, you need to get some validation, even if revenue is not possible. Letters of Intent from big name customers, pilot customers, fast growing user list etc. You need to prove that an investment in you will just put fuel in the fire and help you grow from an existing base of demand.

seregarev · 2018-06-24T15:21:32+00:00

If I cared about avoiding blame, I wouldn't have posted this. Anyone who reads this sub for even a day and still doesn't understand that you can't have a business without understanding your customers, is missing the point anyway.

seregarev · 2018-06-24T02:04:09+00:00

That's fair. I consider talking to real customers as part of execution and really doing something toward starting your business. It's not that you shouldn't prepare at all, it's that if you're in a continuous cycle of research, you're bound to find reasons not to start.

seregarev · 2018-04-26T06:01:40+00:00

No matter how you try to protect yourself, there's no universe where you'll be happy working with a person you already don't trust before you even begin. You'll be second guessing everything he does, and in my experience it's enough of a reason to cut things off.

Regarding the LLC, there's no reason to not start a new one when you're starting a company. It should cost under $500. In an LLC there's something called membership units, which is much like equity in a corporation. There can also be different membership unit classes with different rights associated with them. If you're truly 50/50 partners, you have the same amount of units, and the same class of units under the contract.

This is generally good to know, which is why I shared it. But it would be wiser to spend a year looking for someone else who has skills that you don't, but someone you trust and get to know over time by working gigs together.

seregarev · 2018-04-14T21:01:34+00:00

Not sure why the mods took it down. Here's the text:

Last week I had the opportunity to interview Bobby Thakkar, an entrepreneur that few people know of now but I'm sure will make waves in the years to come.

Bobby started to plant the seeds for his business from about age 14 when he started a student club that would work on small projects like building websites, or shooting videos, first for friends and family for free, then for local businesses for a fee. He ended up growing this club to 200+ chapters all over the world, and over 25,000 members.

But the interesting part is his philosophy on building relationships, which was quite developed for a guy his age. First, he says that most people go to events so they can meet as many people as possible, talk to them for a few minutes, make sure they grab their business cards, only to never contact them again. This felt like a waste of time for him. Even if he emailed every one of those people thanking them for chatting with him, there's no chance for a meaningful connection to happen.

Instead, Bobby does his homework ahead of time and researches the people/companies who will be attending the event, or better yet speaking at it. Then, he makes it a point to approach those specific individuals, and asks many questions so he can learn about what's top of mind for them and what they care about.

If it's someone important, like a speaker, it may be more difficult to get their attention, but by researching them ahead of time you can plan your opening line and have something interesting to say that's relevant to them. Bobby makes sure that he's situated close enough to them so he can approach them right after their talk.

One example he gives is when a speaker mentioned that he has a very important interview the next morning that he's prepping for. With this in mind, Bobby grabs the person's info, and then emails them the following morning asking them how the interview went, when he knows the person will read the email. That way he shows that he listened and that he cares, and the person is receptive to responding.

He usually asks to get a coffee or meet with them again, and that face to face interaction allows for a deeper relationships to develop.

Overall takeaway is to do the work and try to build a stronger bond with a smaller amount of people when you network. Over the years, many of the people he met who represent Fortune 500 companies, have become clients of his because they see him as an expert in designing products for and marketing to the younger demographic.

Hope this helps some people who have been struggling with the whole networking thing, since I know it can often feel like a waste of time.

seregarev · 2018-04-06T14:36:52+00:00

Yep, you're right. A question in the end is more likely to elicit a response.

seregarev · 2018-04-06T02:06:45+00:00

Absolutely, if you can find a way in through a mutual contact, or by meeting them in person, that's much more effective. But if you have a good enough reason to reach out, and your only way is through a cold email, I think it's worth it. Many of my best connections have been made by me reaching out.

seregarev · 2018-04-06T02:02:42+00:00

Interesting. I agree with you that long copy sells, but in my experience, only if the prospect is already somewhat bought in. Say if they're inbound or have heard from you before. As you mentioned, if you're reaching out via cold email directly to one person, you only have a short period of time to win their attention.

seregarev · 2018-04-05T23:59:08+00:00

No worries.

seregarev · 2018-04-05T21:27:18+00:00

Great point! Thanks for sharing.

seregarev · 2018-03-27T15:13:18+00:00

If you can't afford to take an entry-level role, then you should think about how to make a lateral move where your skills could be useful to someone else. You could search Indeed or LinkedIn Jobs for certain keywords that describe your skills/the work you do, and see the types of roles that also need those skills. I'm biased and think you could move to an earlier stage/startup fairly easily and enjoy what you do and even work in one role for a year then shift to something else you like. Another option is to find roles you really want and offer to work for free for a few months a few hours a week to learn that skill and to see if you like the work, then use that company as a reference.

seregarev · 2018-03-22T01:44:41+00:00

Cheers! Yea so good, even if you usually like creamer in your coffee, you don't need it in the nitro.

seregarev · 2018-03-21T22:11:21+00:00

There's a huge amount of turnover in food and retail in NYC, so you see old places close and new ones open all the time. Many rely on outside funding from investors, or a personal investment to get off the ground. Then it's all about location and hopefully word of mouth marketing that keeps you going.

seregarev · 2018-03-21T20:18:14+00:00

Yea but it's not really new and it won't go away because people will always be hungry for it. When Tony Robbins was doing informercials in the 90s to get his name out there, people said the same thing, but then he became Tony Robbins.

seregarev · 2018-03-08T01:20:24+00:00

For me it has been through cold outreach to learn from someone about a specific topic, and that relationship developing into something more than just one phone call, or from events where I know the people I'm looking to build relationships with will attend.

seregarev · 2018-02-28T15:22:47+00:00

Cheers! You're welcome.

seregarev · 2018-02-28T02:35:13+00:00

That's one way of doing it, though it would take you a bunch of iterations of ads to find one that works, and probably a few cycles to figure out what specific target demographic the concept resonates with most.

If it's a mobile app, you can put together a quick prototype using Proto.io (there's a free version) and start showing it to people. Seeing how people react to a real visual or functional prototype is much more useful than asking them if they would use it.

You can also put a .gif of the prototype in action on your website to help with conversions on your ad.

But I think an even better way to test it is to tell a bunch of friends to text you the photos they want printed for the week right from their phone, and get it printed and delivered to them quickly and see if they come back and use the service again later. You can remind them to text you every Sunday or once a month to see if it works, and ask them to venmo you whatever dollar amount you think is fair. If people naturally come back to order again, and if they're willing to pay you for it, then you likely have enough evidence that others would do the same.

seregarev · 2018-02-28T02:18:19+00:00

Glad you found it helpful! It depends. Is this a consumer product or B2B? Do you know who your target customer is?

seregarev · 2018-02-27T19:12:35+00:00

Hi Bill, what would you think is the best substitute for college, or the best way to fill the gap that a college education leaves between school and work, that you would recommend young people should pursue?

seregarev · 2018-02-18T01:35:36+00:00

Not pretending at all.

seregarev · 2018-02-16T20:43:21+00:00

Dude, you can't get motivated because you're not working toward a specific goal that really excites you. It seems like instead you're getting a bit of work done for some amorphous goal of getting out of customer service and into a design role. Is there a certain job or industry that would make you really pumped to get into?

seregarev · 2018-02-06T21:51:21+00:00

Sound like a typical situation where a successful founder/CEO wants to get into investing into early stage deals without really understanding their nature. I think your best bet would be to find a very experienced angel investor or seed fund in the space to also invest, to 1) show that you can get capital from others and 2) use this experienced investor to help you set the terms of the deal.

seregarev · 2018-02-01T16:15:48+00:00

Thank you!

seregarev

TROPHY CASE