I wish the article had "screenshots" to show what was being changed, and why. It would help people to visualize and apply the steps better to their startups. Excellent read!
That's awesome and glad to hear you're doing well. I think you have a couple of options:
1/ Keep running it by yourself.
2/ Hire an assistant to take care of time-consuming small tasks.
3/ You could always talk to a couple of larger competitors and see if they're interested in buying you out.
I used to find it hard to get ideas for new projects. Now, I see problems OR something just cool I'd like to do. I don't have the bandwidth to handle everything so I've had to put put some things on the back burner.
I've actually written about over 200 startups in the past few weeks, and one thing I really like about this - working out trends i.e. seeing overcrowded places and knowing not to even bother about going there (ex. 50 food apps - menu app, delivery app, food marketplace etc ....)
I stumbled upon this, which I think is pretty cool, www.wealthnation.com (every time you spend money on your card, it rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar and saves them for you). On the other hand, you also have Robo-advisors like "Acorns" who do the same thing, but instead of saving it - they invest it shares.
If its execs, try "sales by network." Ask your friends for introductions to people, set up a coffee / or quick chat - and, take it from there. I know 2 ex-Deloitte guys that are nailing this (everything they do is based on friends referrals to C-level execs).
You cracked me up :) I was chatting to another programmer about this - he broke it down like this...
It's like making a car 10cm longer. To change the paint we'll spray paint it and you can pick it up tomorrow. If you want to change to leather seats then it’s going to be a few days work come back at the end of the week.
But if you want the car 10cm longer then that’ll cost millions – and, likely take a year to complete.”
Pricing - offer starts at (lowest price possible) OR have an 'Inquire' button, use the service called tawk.to to do live sales chats. I was once working at a software startup, all of the cheap pricing, we almost never had people ask questions, but for the higher plans, nobody purchased without chatting to us on live chat first. The web app i mentioned is free.
What it's missing - testimonials OR working for a big brand. Need to install 'trust' into your brand. I'm a bootstrapped startup, so I don't think startups are your best target market.
What I'd suggest: running tests with pricing & the live chat service. Likewise, I'd do the same with the web copy (USP). Chart it all and analyze it.
Another way to market your service, find out something your customers really need & build that as a free service. Then, grow your brand & sales from their.
Paid advertising, I wouldn't worry about it. Just focus on trying to get engagement from social media & growing your followers.
Craigslist, you can promote your service there. You could set up a bot that automatically posts to Craigslist for you OR a bot to automatically email out prospective clients daily.
The product:
- A search engine to compete with Amazon, app based. Status - needs about 10 programmers to finish it, comes with a pitch deck. Also, made an app game to promote it's launch, the app features some medium-well known writers & reporters. The app game is done, but not launched. I never launched it as the time mechanism in the game play needs to be improved.
- I'm also looking for help with programming, only equity. Have programmers already making it; however, their is a lot to do, marketing & partners = pretty solid. Platform based, semi-social network that benefits startups.
Anyone is welcome to email about this or just say 'hi' :) at [email protected]
I really share your sentiment, I've been going through the same thing and I live in Seoul too.
I was working at a startup, got accepted to a startup accelerator and cannot afford to participate as it's overseas. Have to work remotely and move back to my country.
Sold all of our furniture as we couldn't pay the rent (wife + baby). I have applied to companies in my home country (Australia), and have interviews set up. This might be the way to go for you.
Jobs in SK are really tough if you are not fluent in Korean.
I have a remote team, but it's because I'm taking on 2 markets that have synergy - the US & Seoul. Both share strong ties. We have one team based in NY, the other team in Seoul.
Advantages: Remote teams can give you access to new markets & you have greater flexibility in hiring.
What it comes down to: strong communication, personal drive, the ability to work alone & trust - this is vital for people working remotely.
This is one possible resource for you www.codecloud.me - what it does, people can code together on projects. The focus is on learning and unfortunately no payment. They do have some machine learning projects on there which could help you to start off & it comes with mentors.