Posts filed under 'Uncategorized'
February 22nd, 2011
Herman J. White, Senior Vice President, Commercial & Business Banking, TECH CU has advice on selecting a bank for your start-up.
When setting up an account, it is important that the business owner has all the appropriate documents necessary to set-up the new account – Personal ID, Company Tax Identification Number, Formation Documents (Corporation, LLC, etc.), Fictitious Name Statement (if applicable).
Banks, Credit Unions and Financial Institutions all offer the same basic services – checking accounts, savings accounts, online banking, etc. If a business owner is only interested in price, they should shop for the cheapest account or a free account. However, they will get what they pay for. A small business finance relationship or strong business banking partnership can add a lot of value to a start-up and especially to bootstrapped entrepreneurs. The banker cannot take any personal extra payment, ask for kick-backs, personal stock compensation or warrants for their advice. Most bankers have also worked with dozens or hundreds of other small businesses. There is some great knowledge, recognizable patterns, and experience that bankers have developed over their career that could be helpful. Most bankers also have a strong network that can be utilized by their customer for all different aspects of their business.
The business owner should also know what they want from a banker and communicate that to their banker. Do they want a one-stop shop for all of their personal banking, business banking, wealth management, and services for their employees? Do they just want business banking services? The business owner should find out from the banker how the banker’s department/division is structured and how the reporting and decision making processes within the institution are structured. A customer should want a banker that is trusted and respected in his intuition and community, a banker that has access to the decision makers in the institution and community. Some large banks have call centers located in other states that work with small businesses. Some small businesses don’t want that. The business owner should also provide a business plan to their banker, so the banker can get to know the business, its strategy and growth plans.
February 9th, 2011
Bootstrappers may wish to reserve a domain name without actually hosting their website. Here is some information shared by our fellow bootstrappers about domain name registrars and things to keep in mind when purchasing domain names and hosting services
- It is better to use the same service to register the domain name and then to host your website as everything is in one place.
- From a bootstrappers’ perspective, while cheap is definitely good, keep in mind that
- you need to maintain control over your domain name. There have been instances where companies allow a consultant or web design shop register the domain on their behalf. You might later find that you cannot transfer that domain when you no longer use that vendor.
- In some cases, if you let the domain expire, even by a day or two, you might have trouble renewing it.
- Make sure to register the domain in the name of your company, that you have the registrar login credentials and access to the associated email account (that email account is critical if there is ever a problem).
- Some Registrars
- Weebly: : Free website hosting. Easy-to-use GUI to build a basic free website. Can upgrade to paid service to use more features.
- Site5.com as a hosting provider : Satisfied with prices and services.
- WSM Domains: price on the higher side but isn’t as spammed/annoying/low quality experience
- GoDaddy: usually priced below the competition for .com domains, easy to scale up with them as you need more and more services, they do present a lot of “add-on” options, but nothing is pre-selected by default, before checkout, click here to get promo codes which will make it even cheaper. There have been some people who were not too happy with their UI.
- DreamHost: Has been used for registering domain name as well as hosting
- PowerPipe: Cheap and easy to use.
- Google Apps: You don’t have to host it in Google, but if you want to build a simple site, the tools are there. It’s easier to hook into Google Apps services (IMAP, Calendar, etc) while having your web site hosted somewhere that offers full web services (PHP, MySQL, etc). If you sign up, however, please remember to uncheck automatic renewal.
- Hover from Tucows. Good price, reliable service. Technical support is stellar, Can talk to ‘people’ within a few minutes.
Contributors:
Raghav Gupta GeoGroups
Liz Fraley Single-Sourcing Solutions
Sasha Ovsankin CodeBistro
Christopher Price Christopher Price
Massimo Paolini MPThree Consulting
Carl Ludwig Ludewig Multimedia
Dorai Thodla iMorph
Griffin Caprio 1530 Technologies
Giacomo Vacca Kinetic River
Leonard Greenberg Assistyx
Zac Hanna The Back Pack Zac Attack
February 1st, 2011
Prepare Your Own Provisional Patent Application for Software Entrepreneurs
Workshop Feb-24-2011 in San Francisco
This workshop addresses the basics of patenting and how to prepare and file your own provisional patent application. Attendees will learn how the basics of patent law, how to use patents to protect an invention, and the minimum requirements for filing a provisional patent application.
A hands-on approach to preparing the written description and drawings will be used. Guidance on the proper way to file a provisional patent application will also be included. A syllabus is here:
The instructor, Mr. Pete Tormey, is an experienced patent attorney who has founded 7 start-up companies. He provides unique insight as both an attorney and an entrepreneur.
Date/Time: February 24, 2011 from 8:30 AM to 12 noon.
Location: 201 Spear St Suite 1100, San Francisco, CA
Cost: $149 ($124 with discount code “Bootstrapper”)
Register: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1270968501
More Info: info@YourOwnPatent.com
The topics to be covered include (from http://yourownpatent.com/yourownpatent/patent/Syllabus.aspx )
- Types of intellectual property
- Legal strategies
- Using provisional applications
- Requirement for Provisional Applications
- Written requirements
- System disclosure
- Broadening language
- Example phraseology
- Level of detail required
- Drawings
- Functional diagrams
- Flow charts
- Level of detail for drawings
- Writing the application
- Putting it together
- Filing requirements
- How to file
- Using “Patent Pending”
January 29th, 2011
We have seen a number of teams form or add co-founders as a result of discussions at or introductions from a conversation at a Bootstrappers Breakfast. The small group setting (8-16 folks around a table) doesn’t put introverts at as much of a disadvantage as having to speak to a group of 30-100 does. One facilitated conversation means that everyone gets a chance to be heard and to contribute, and the networking takes place after the event when everyone has some context from the prior discussion to be able to start a conversation.
While our primary purpose is to help entrepreneurs compare notes on common challenges related to organic growth, we have seen that these same discussions also foster a number of co-founder discussions and introductions. If you attend a breakfast in Silicon Valley we will allow you to post a brief (100-150 words) description of your startup and what you are looking for in a co-founder to our newsletter that is sent out to about 800 bootstrappers. There are a number of events in Silicon Valley that support co-founder matching in different ways: each has a different format that has its own strengths and weaknesses:
There is an even longer list of on-line only sites but I haven’t personally heard of much success from that approach. I think it’s because there is something about a face to face conversation–it communicates an order of magnitude more information that’s private and directed–that makes it hard to replicate on-line. See also last year’s “Round Up Of Co-Founding Events“
January 2nd, 2011
Hope you are enjoying your time with friends and family. Thank you for making 2010 a great year and we look forward to 2011.
Best Wishes for 2011
Sean, Theresa, Elaine, Disha & Kelly
December 26th, 2010
We have the last three Bootstrapper Breakfasts® of 2010 this week:
- Mon-Dec-27 Mountain View (Holiday) 9am register
- Wed-Dec-29 Chicago 7:30am register
- Thu-Dec-30 Sunnyvale (Holiday) 9am register
December 15th, 2010
At our last Bootstrappers Breakfast in San Francisco, we discussed having an advisory board for a startup. People had mixed opinions on how helpful it would be to have advisors.
Some felt that the advisor’s knowledge and connections helped further grow business while others felt that giving away a stake in the start-up did not outweigh benefits contributed by the advisor.
Some of our members have shared their opinion on this:
Darren Cox, Founder, M.IP.P Strategy
An excerpt from Marti Nyman’s ‘Bored of Advisors? Get a Board-of-Advisors’
One of the most underutilized assets in the world of entrepreneurship is other people’s experience. This is available in forms ranging from casual coffee interviews to customer “deep dive” discussions to formal Advisory Boards. I fear that an already overloaded work schedule all too often gets in the way of more entrepreneurs taking advantage of this valuable source of insight, guidance and ideas. It should be used a LOT more than it is today, so for would-be entrepreneurs out there, here’s a quick guide to Advisory Boards.
- Building a lasting company will invariably involve making mistakes–not lethal ones, but (hopefully) learning ones.
- Other people have made these mistakes and their willingness to share may speed your learning curve–where you can make other mistakes and learn and grow.
Read the rest here.
Lenny Greenberg, founder and Chief Technology Officer, Assistyx
I have been asked to be on advisory boards before. Unfortunately, in most cases they were form over substance. The entrepreneur was trying to show a list of experience to potential investors rather than actually take advantage of the experience.
On the flip side, I’ve seen entrepreneurs with great “kitchen cabinets;” i.e. an informal group of advisors that may or may not be investors that can be tapped when needed to fill a needed role.
Like partners, an advisory board should complement the skills of the entrepreneur and his team. An MBA and advisory board of other MBAs won’t get a product out the door. A “hands on” engineer and a board of technical advisors will likely miss markets and opportunity.
Francis Adanza, VP of Marketing & Alliances, eMobus
We have three advisory board members who we consult with individually as needed and once a quarter as a board meeting . Each advisor brings a complimentary skill set to our team. One brings fortune 50 C-Level experience, one advisor offers business, technology marketing and operational expertise to emerging technologies, and the third advisor is a recognized CTO in the cloud computing space.
They have been extremely helpful in negotiating big deals, assist with business and product planning, as well provide legal advice. Formulating an advisory board is like anything else, you need to do your due diligence in selecting individuals.
We welcome your comments as well
November 11th, 2010
Edward Tufte is the author of four beautiful and insightful books on presenting information:
He will be personally teaching a one day course three times in San Francisco and once in San Jose in December, that addresses the following topics:
- fundamental strategies of analytical design
- evaluating evidence used in presentations
- statistical data: tables, graphics, and semi-graphics
- business, scientific, research, and financial presentations
- complexity and clarity
- effective presentations: on paper and in person
- interface design
- use of PowerPoint, video, overheads, and handouts
- multi-media, internet, and websites
- credibility of presentations
- animation and scientific visualizations
- many practical examples
Fee for the one-day course is $380 per person. This fee includes all four books, Visual Explanations, Envisioning Information, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, and Beautiful Evidence.
Dates and Locations
- ?San Jose Holiday Inn December 6, 201o register
- San Francisc, Westin on Market Street
I took the course about a decade ago before he had written “Beautiful Evidence” and found it to be extremely useful. The books are great references as well.
November 2nd, 2010
At the Bootstrappers Breakfast at San Diego, Moe Arnaiz, founder of eMOBUS?, a fast growing leader in mobility management services and software shared his experiences bootstrapping his venture. Moe discussed the best ways to launch your new technology on a budget, tips on getting those early first customers and growing your business organically with cash flow. Here are notes of his remarks and the Q&A session.
1. How to launch a new technology on a budget?
- Keep in mind that people don’t buy software they buy results.
- Don’t build from scratch what you don’t have to (leverage PaaS àQuickbase)
- Canned Functionality (reporting, emails, security, export to CSV)
- Open source, ruby on rails, MySQL, hosted in Amazon’s EC2 environment
- Keep a prioritized road map, ask customers for feedback, tweak as needed. Will they pay for it?
- Build bells & whistles as your customers will pay for them
- Be creative with your deal making (PDF Scrubbing tool)
- Have people in place to fill technology gaps and drive adoption
- Keep investing
2. How to get your early customers on a budget?
- Start in the Mid Market
- Be vertical specific (eMOBUS was construction)
- Greatly support your customers/partners/etc.
- Tell your story. Get your customers to talk for you. Create press releases/case studies/whitepapers
- Partnerships – Find partners who will be able to fill a void or need. Expect them to take a long time to bring in business
- Build relationships and ask for referrals
3. How to grow a business organically via cash flow?
- Revenue then expenses. Easier to spend $, than make it.
- Pay yourself as low as bearable
- Keep Recurring Operational expenses low
- Leverage the cloud/web based apps to minimize IT support needs
- Rent
- Travel
- Track your spending, to see what your return is.
- People make your business, hire better than you, and don’t be cheap!
November 1st, 2010
Chip Conley, Founder & Executive Chairman, Joie de Vivre Hospitality spoke at the Enlightened Business Summit on “Leadership Lessons From Two Dozen Years as a CEO.” Here are some key points of his talk.
- The most neglected fact in business is we’re all humans.
- Great leaders are great humans.
- Employees have three needs from their work:
- Money
- Recognition
- Meaning
- When starting a small company, you’ll have to compete with big people.
- Go after a little niche that you can serve best.
- Make sure you measure the right things.
- There are many intangibles that can make a huge difference:
- culture,
- reputation,
- ability to motivate,
- customer loyalty,
- employee satisfaction.
- As Albert Einstein said,
“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”
- Your actions as a leader are magnified much more. What goes around comes around.
I would like to thank Matt Cameron, CEO, CorporateCatapult?, for suggesting the Enlightened Business Summit.
Next Posts
Previous Posts
