I'm a female founder and I applied to YC, not technical though. I did find a tech cofounder, and if need be, I can add another third tech cofounder as well. One of my strengths is keeping the programmers motivated and focused. Wish me luck. :-)
1. Depends on what the problems are and if they are fixable. If there are solutions, if others have done it before, or if you know you can persevere and win in the end than obviously stick to it.
2. How passionate are you about the idea/product/industry? If you know deeply inside your heart that's what you want to do then you either persevere or pivot by changing something small or trying a different angle. If it's a throwaway idea and you're in it for the money and quick bucks then it doesn't matter if you do another idea or project...then fail fast.
3. How much time/money have you already invested into it? Can you salvage it or is there something valuable you can save out of it? If you spent a few hours on a landing page and it doesn't convert, toss that. Or if the project was started in a weekend and you don't really have much to lose if you start another project because you don't think it'll work after a sample testing.
4. But if you spent a year or two years on your company and all your life's savings on it, then ask yourself why you did that and if those reasons are still valid today.
1. Startup Weekend (They might have one in your city.)
2. Internet Marketing Summit
3. Founders Institute
4. Toastmasters/Rotary or other business clubs in your city
5. Tech Conferences
6. Online Forums/discussion boards (marketing/biz/tech ones)
Since I'm on my computer all day and at home a lot, I have to go to events to meet people which I'm getting better at.
That's an interesting question. The other things I'd like to know is, "Why did those startups fail? Was there anything the founders/employees could have done to save it? What did they learn from their experiences."
If it's a marketplace, marketing, or product problem then ok. But if the team fell apart, if there were internal conflicts, or if someone didn't pull their weight...then those might not be good candidates to bring on board to other startups no matter how smart they are. What bothers me about some teams are, there are people that you can tell have no initiative, they do the minimum of what's required, and they don't double check to make sure that everything works and invariably something minor comes up to trip up the project that could have been prevented. I hope I never get those people on my team, if I do they need to go.
Another thing I'd also like to know is, "How many of those people from failed YC startups founded another startup or did they just go back to a job or to being an employee at another startup?"
That's an awesome quote. I'm going to write it down.
He touched so many people by being such an inspiration, I'm going to miss him. I'm writing a book, a life manual or something like that, and I wanted to ask him a question or to give a unique quote for the book but I guess I waited too long to ask. I was thinking about that last month when he resigned. This just goes to remind me that I better hurry up and get that book written or my project finished...just in case.
"The problem with the Internet Startup craze isn't that too many people are starting companies; it's that too many people aren't sticking with it. That's somewhat understandable, because there are many moments that are filled with despair and agony, when you have to fire people and cancel things and deal with very difficult situations. That's when you find out who you are and what your values are." --Steve Jobs
When things get tough, I read that and remind myself to keep going.
India is way too crowded. Plus there's the language issue, standard of living, and whether the salary/pay would be the same as the salary in US and other challenges.
I'd definitely make a pro/con list depending on the opportunity and country and make up my mind then.
I wouldn't mind New Zealand, Switzerland, Sweden, or a nice European country or maybe even Costa Rica. I'm open minded.
I think you should do something you enjoy and love. Life is too short, but then again, I'm not one to ask regarding traditional "jobs" and job longevity. Ha!
I would want to know what's going on if I were the CEO. And regardless of how many applicants, I believe in common courtesy and being upfront with people. I'm probably going to be very involved in the hiring process until the company gets so big that we'd need a HR department.
I really can't stand all the problems/complaints about the whole tedious job search process right now and that's why I'm going to build my startup to fix some of these problems. It's nice to know that my startup is in the job search industry and how much flaws and complaints there are, so I know I'm on the right track to doing something good for a lot of people.
When my friends and mentors asked me why I picked my cofounder and what made me decide to, my answer was that I'd enjoy working with him.
I said that if I was going to be busting my butt for the next few months or years, I'd want someone that I would really enjoy working with and can get along with and that's mellow/laid back/low key/no drama. His talents and skills were lower on the priority list than that #1 must -have.
I hope you have better luck finding someone that's no only skilled but that you can get along with and is compatible with you work-wise/personality wise.
Have you tried joint ventures? Implemented any affiliate marketing programs?
Created content that you can optimize keywords for and good doorway pages? There are many free resources out there online, and I think you just need to read up on the subject that you're stuck on and go from there. Try a few things and test it and see what your results are and improve from there.
If it's a problem with talking to people and communication then one way to start would be to read some sales/communications books.
--How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie
--How I raised myself from failure to success in selling by Frank Bettger
The more you talk to people the easier it gets. There's no magic pill. There are plenty of strategies and advice but the main thing is just to practice, and get out there and talk to people. It's a numbers game. It doesn't matter if you mess up or freeze up once or twice, in the long run it won't be that big a deal. I hope this helps.
You've got some good advice already. After you do your due diligence and varify all the stats and make sure they're accurate, there's different revenue models you can add to your site.
You need to make sure the visitors stay around longer though, so more interaction. Membership, newsletter, capture email, quizes and surveys, and improve your content on the website. Without really seeing the website, the advice here will be a bit general.
So if it were me, and since I don't think I know everything and I believe that there are smarter people out there and experts, if I bought the site, I'd find a really successful internet marketer and pay him a fee to review the website and offer advice/consultation. That would pay for itself quickly once the ideas and strategies are implemented. Or you can pay a percentage of the extra profits generated from their advice and help that you wouldn't have gotten otherwise.
Read up more on online marketing. Join a few online marketing forums. Split tests and tweak things. Good luck.
Since I'm working on my startup too and Asian, I understand your frustration and what you're going through. Since you're a programmer, my advice would be to secure a business/marketing person ASAP because generally technical people aren't that great at pitches and meeting people. Also, when you have a team it helps you stay on track and you get great feedback, encouragement, support, and everyone helps out. I got a great team currently and I didn't have them a few weeks ago. It's a matter of winning them over slowly, building trust, good/honest communication, getting them to know you and your project/idea and making them believe that you really care about your project and that you're passionate about it.
That's how I won over my 2 mentors/advisors, the best corporate attorney in the state, and my programmer co-founder.
2nd thing I'd do in your situation is what I call back against the wall, what can I do to make some quick cash and that I can do with small short term projects? Since I'm the marketing type, my list of ideas will generately be ebay, sell stuff, affiliate marketing, promote something, do a workshop locally, or whatever I can come up with. Brainstorm a list that works for you. But avoid getting a job until it's the absolute last resort.
3rd thing I do is go to networking events to meet more people and possibly find your team. I met mine at a Startup Weekend and business functions. You just need to get out there, seriously, just do it.
To stay motivated, I remind myself why I'm doing this. I think about what my vision is and how many millions of people I can help and the impact it will have. I also think about what I hate about the whole industry and why I'm trying to change/revamp it, that drives me. You have to find out what motivates you internally. If it's just money and fame, that's too easy because you can do that with other things so why your particular project? So for me, it's become a cause and a mission that I really believe in so it's been easy convincing people to help me and getting them to see the cause/mission and how it will help others.
I wish you luck in your project and don't give up. Take care!