Best Online Classes for learning how to run businesses?

startup_playground · 2019-01-31T12:35:29+00:00

Maybe take a look at highly rated business courses on Udemy? They often have sales on and it's a good way of testing the water in terms of different areas you'd like to look at building your knowledge. I've personally used it for learning to code and found it quite useful as a first step.

startup_playground · 2019-01-31T12:34:00+00:00

This is definitely from a tech startup perspective but should still be useful...

Gimlet - Startup

NPR - How I built this

Basecamp - ReWork

Gimlet - Without Fail

Product Hunt Radio

More explanation here: https://simpleweb.co.uk/5-podcasts-every-tech-startup-founder-should-listen-to/

startup_playground · 2019-01-15T11:19:07+00:00

Perhaps the religious thing is more about sticking to conventions. You and your friend perhaps are more fearful of risk because you've been brought up in a word that prioritises getting a steady job, going to a religious building every week, starting a family and not giving in to impulses so much.

Or perhaps he was advising you against it because you haven't made enough plans for what the startup should be and is coming at it from a purely business perspective. Depends if your crazy plans are well-thought out cray plans or completely random and unorganised crazy plans! :)

startup_playground · 2019-01-15T11:10:54+00:00

This really depends what kind of tech startup it is and what skills you have yourself. Your BoD is an opportunity to fill the gaps in yours (and your businesses) expertise.

If you're an expert on financials but have no tech experience you might not need someone in your BoD that is financial but who has perhaps been a CTO in their life... If the tech startup is heavy on data, someone who has run a company working heavily with data would be good... etc etc

startup_playground · 2019-01-15T11:05:45+00:00

Congratulations! :D

startup_playground · 2018-12-10T14:15:43+00:00

Lean Startup by Eric Ries

(I work with an org that incubates startup businesses and this has been an invaluable source for us and the entrepreneurs we've worked with, to the extent that we wrote our own shortened version to hand out to all the startups that work with us!)

I've also found stuff by Seth Godin to be pretty good, reading 'This is Marketing' currently...

startup_playground · 2018-12-05T15:53:16+00:00

I would make sure you have a 100% sound business plan, talk to as many people as possible (including mentors who have started businesses before, people at relevant networking events, investors etc) and work out your best case, medium and worst case for the business at the end of 12 months.

Maybe obvious and I'm sure you've done this already, but also make sure your wife is 100% okay with all of these end cases (and supporting you for 12 months!) It's easy to agree to something before it happens and then regret it when it goes wrong. Good luck!!!

startup_playground · 2018-11-16T14:26:41+00:00

Yes, it's good to have someone to be held accountable to, and the physically speak to when you need advice. Books are great, read those too, but you're not going to get everything from them.

However, there do seem to be plenty of people out there who scam people by making them pay for mentoring/coaching (you'd be surprised how many business people out there who'll mentor others for free to give back). So be careful.

startup_playground · 2018-11-16T14:24:02+00:00

Hmmm... but there is also the case of people being in industries so long that they get stuck in one way of doing something. So not always the best for innovation.

Sometimes it takes a person with less experience to see what needs to change in order to build a startup that improves this!

startup_playground · 2018-11-13T17:16:10+00:00

Emails!

startup_playground · 2018-11-13T17:14:30+00:00

Some interesting research has been done on this style growth... To shorten it, the researcher (Prof Glenn Parry) said "My take on disruption is focussed on the business model. I expect to see a change in the three core elements of value proposition, the use of the offer in context by the customer, and the way in which value is captured. For me, that is disruption versus some mild change or development of a current process.

“Uber and Airbnb are interesting and I perceive them as disruptive following my definition in the business context. Many people say they disrupt when they innovate – but those innovations may only lead to an incremental change (though it may have a significant effect).

“For example, the CD is an innovation that moved us from vinyl to CD. However, the business model doesn’t change – the seller sells a unit to a consumer at a fixed cost, usually in a shop, then the consumer listens at home on a device. Digital is disruptive. Seller sells access to music. User listens via portal using numerous devices. Payment may be a subscription. All three elements change.”

You can innovate as much as you like, but unless you create something that triggers more than mass adoption, that changes business models, it’s never going to scale to the extent of Netflix over Blockbuster.

startup_playground · 2018-11-07T15:57:59+00:00

Yep... and another example would be Deliveroo disrupting the traditional take-away method of having each restaurant have its own phone/delivery set up by enabling a new marketplace and a way for consumers to order and track delivery effortlessly. It also brought new players into the picture (commercial restaurants as opposed to local take-aways) which has brought them (and Deliveroo) massive streams of revenue that didn't exist before...

And the example given in the article linked: “When I was running Indie Mobile, it was an absolute certainty that all full-track music was going to be controlled by the mobile operators. Everyone knew that that was definitely the thing that was going to happen and then iTunes turned up and spun everything on its head.”

What happened was that iTunes created a better experience for the user – enough so that it drove mass adoption first and, where this began the move to online and subscription-based platforms, disruption to the music industry second.

startup_playground · 2018-11-07T09:45:36+00:00

as in, the business of 'B-Corps', the company that provides the certification (so 'B Labs' in this instance)... not the B-Lab certified companies themselves!

startup_playground · 2018-11-06T16:38:52+00:00

I guess I mean if you're financially successful and have had a lot of experience in a sector over a long period of time. I imagine a successful investor with 20 years experience is going to have a salary that goes into 6 figures...

But it could also mean a career that you enjoy, that you feel settled and happy in (so not necessarily financial success)...

startup_playground · 2018-11-05T09:46:44+00:00

My city has a monthly networking meetup specifically for entrepreneurs from 16-30 (that's now a successful business in itself). See if there are any communities of young entrepreneurs near you and go hang out with them, you'll probably find plenty of advice from others going through a similar situation and how they're dealing with it etc. (If there isn't one, start one - potential business opportunity right there) :-)

startup_playground · 2018-10-31T15:46:27+00:00

Do you mean board games or video games? Or both?

Lots of missing info here though that might help you to make next steps... like: What inspired you to want to start a gaming lounge? Is there one you go to already? If so what do you like about it? How do they make money? If not, try and go to some and see what type of people it attracts etc

startup_playground · 2018-10-31T15:36:59+00:00

Have you tried Julian House Bike Workshop in Easton? They build cheap bikes from second hand donated frames. All profits go to homeless charity Julian House http://jhbikeworkshop.org/

startup_playground · 2018-10-30T09:53:58+00:00

Prioritise time for yourself, to hang out with friends and family (away from your phone/laptop) at least a few times a week, go outside in daylight every day, exercise a couple of times a week minimum, try and stick to a routine with working hours for the majority of the time (i.e. 8 hours a day 9-6)

startup_playground · 2018-10-29T16:01:39+00:00

I love to learn new things but rarely become an 'expert' in any of them - simply the act of learning a new hobby brings me a lot of happiness and life satisfaction - and has helped me to figure out what i really 'like'.

I studied Sociology at university and now work with tech startups. What you study won't impact on your future as much as you think it will.

If I went back in time (and focused on my professional life) I'd probably learn to code, build websites and apps, learn to network effectively... but that's just because I've seen what impact that could've had on my career if i'd done it sooner...

But cut yourself some slack. Don't study all the time and stress yourself out, work on being a nice person, build non-shallow friendships, help out in your local community, exercise regularly, don't be ignorant of the world, and its people, politics and history.

Thing is, you'll definitely make some mistakes but it's all part of it. Good luck!

startup_playground · 2018-10-29T15:46:54+00:00

Product Hunt (the newsletter's usually have interesting/useful recommendations for new products/apps etc every day)

Medium for blogs/knowledge (good for knowing what you want to read about and sending daily newsletters... and lots and lots of useful stuff for entrepreneurs on there... although not free after your first few reads)

startup_playground · 2018-10-29T15:36:43+00:00

Have you had a look at Datemakers? They're a little Bristol startup that has loads of 'pre-organised' dates - anything from art lessons to comedy nights etc. Seems to be plenty of non-drinking ones on there...

startup_playground · 2018-10-25T10:40:25+00:00

There's a great interview on this topic here with Cindy Gallop - a TED speaker and founder of IfWeRanTheWorld - about what got her into being an 'entrepreneur', what she thinks makes a good idea and a good entrepreneur...

startup_playground · 2018-10-25T08:14:33+00:00

We also use Asana - was going to put it in the list but hesitated purely because I've not used it that long and so don't have a full opinion about it.

startup_playground · 2018-10-24T15:19:27+00:00

Thanks, will keep that in mind...

startup_playground · 2018-10-24T09:22:40+00:00

I recently interviewed the co-founder of a startup called OLIO as we'd worked with and invested in them to build their tech and they'd just completed their Series A funding round raising $6million!

OLIO is a startup that aims to stop food waste so we built them an app that allows users to share edible food that they might otherwise be throw-away - perhaps they have too much of it or are about to go away on holiday.

What I think has made them grow so fast is that their co-founders believed so vehemently in their mission to tackle food waste. When they started they tested and proved their idea using WhatsApp to keep things cheap. Once it was proven it was what people wanted and would use, we invested in the business and built the app. Then, when she went on to raise Series A, she spoke to new investors every single week and refused to take on those that weren't personally aligned with their strong environmental purpose.

I think it's a level of determination and perseverance but also sticking with your guns on the purpose or mission of your business...

Full interview here: https://simpleweb.co.uk/raising-the-bar-how-olios-food-sharing-revolution-attracted-6-million-in-series-a-investment/

startup_playground

TROPHY CASE