Hi there - great question(s). You "can" validate and fund projects at the same time. In fact, at some point the critical part of true validation is showing that quantitatively someone will pay something for your product/services. Now, whether you should fund while validating is the more important question. A lot of entrepreneurs look at the payment component as as round 2 or 3 validation point, and instead start with a tacit validation exercise, focusing less on business model (how much will someone pay for this and how will they pay?) and more on showing a consumer need/ability to target that market with your proposed solution. In the example you use, if you do commence with taking pre-orders but ultimately the project falls through, you would and should be most inclined to fully refund their money (and stating that on the landing page could do wonders for your adoption of people pre-registering.) the reality is, unless you are showing a sample product or touting something that people can easily comprehend, the chances of you getting a volume of people (outside of your own network) to pre-order something from a brand new company might be on the slim side. But let's say you do get people to sign up - the challenge is that you are using their cash to fund ongoing operations. So if the project falters or goes belly-up, the chances of you having all or even some of everyone's money might be slim. So this would be a reason to advocate potentially against using pre-orders (and collecting payments for them) to fund ongoing operations. A savvy buyer will note this too and may seek to avoid that risk altogether. I could think of several ways you could fund ongoing operation with your product/early beta, but it really depends on 1) the product you're launching, 2) what your target buyers are, 3) your operational costs and 4) your goal of the beta/validation stages. It requires a bit of guidance and dialogue, but there are several options you should be able to choose from for funding, and if one of those is using pre-orders or the validation phase to generate funds, there are things you should strongly consider to protect yourself and your consumers. Happy to hop on a call and discuss your idea and options further. Just follow the link and request a call! https://clarity.fm/jcgarrett

There are several questions/pieces of information you would want to consider to know which avenue to go down (a few highlighted below): - which platform are you going to be on-boarding and connecting students/tutors thoughts? web, mobile, hybrid or brick & mortar (includes actual phone calls etc) - how often are disbursements of funds going to happen with a typical transaction period (say 1 month)? - what is your service fee/cut for the work completed? are you working on a %/commission basis or are you generating funds from clients in another way? - which party shoulders the service fee your charge? Is it just one party or both? - is the transaction always intending to be a 1 to 1 relationship (i.e. would a group of students be able to hire a tutor for an exam review session and split the costs etc?) those are just a few things that should be top of mind as you consider which ways and means you intend to collect/process payments for your service. I'd be happy to jump on a call and walk through these and other questions to help get you on the payment model/processor right for you. Just click below and request a call to get started. https://clarity.fm/jcgarrett

There are two parts to your question. I will answer the second one first. Remote hiring isn't as remote as it once was. After rule in age of telephones, Skype, and FaceTime, you can spend a lot of time with someone evaluating them even though they may be in another city. As for best practices, the most important practice to be established is determining what it is you really need to hire to be satisfied with your new employee. Remember, every criteria you add to the mix reduces your pool of potential solutions to your problems. Once you have a clear idea of what you really need, you need to figure out how you will assess for that experience. If you were going to ask other people to interview a candidate, you need to get them clear on what they are to interview about, and what they need to assess for. Too often, colleagues take job hunters down rabbit holes that they don't deserve to be taken down. Everyone in your organization has to be clear about what they are part of the assessment process his head what they are to interview for otherwise you will turn off way too many people.

Delaware's laws are friendly to the company and shareholders and predictable and familiar to investors. Costs are low. For these reasons, this is the most common state of incorporation. Unless you have a compelling other reason, this would be the most logical choice. Absent regulatory reasons, relating to your industry, there is no reason to incorporate in the state where you are located.

I am not an attorney nor an accountant. This is not "professional advice". An S-Corp is like a pipe you run water (revenue) through for tax benefits. An LLC is a more rounded entity. If you're planning to raise money, issue stock, or sell the firm, the LLC is the better choice. My accountant recommended an S-Corp which has served me well for the past few years. But there will come a time when my revenue exceeds a certain level, and it will make sense to make the jump to an LLC. These are two good articles on the topic: http://www.feinberghanson.com/LLCvsSCorp.html (very good on exit strategy discussion) http://www.bizfilings.com/learn/s-corporation-advantages-and-disadvantages.aspx (in-depth S-Corp discussion). The S-Corp suits me well right now as a primarily service/consulting business where I usually work alone.

Start from the user: resident homeowner. * Are you looking for people who are in a specific context, doing a specific action? For instance if they install a new alarm system, are they are more likely to use your app * What do they read in general? * Where do they go for articles when they are in their 'my home' context? * What do they look at or read after they installed the alarm system? The answers to these and further questions will help you identify the right segment.

Look--there's risk EVERYWHERE. You've already pointed out the hazards of developing a marketing strategy dependent on a single platform. You've also noticed that you need to set your price to buffer against rising short and medium term costs. Startups should test and scale with whatever promotional media is resulting in increasing sales. Do more of what is working. No one can give you a magic ticket or golden path to success. There are no guarantees. Anyone who tells you that is lying...even if they aren't consciously aware of it. Nobody can guarantee YOUR product or service will take off on a platform they have experience with. Nobody can guarantee YOUR ads will ever be approved and see the light of day on a platform they have experience with. Nobody can guarantee copy that worked with their niche on the platform they're familiar with will work for you. Test, and find out. Business is made up of choices and risk. You do your analysis, pick your best likelihood of success, and set your course. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. What matters more is how you handle that feedback. Get started.

There's a lot of options, but a form that's getting popularity recently is the SAFE (similar to a convertible note) which was popularized by its use in Y-Combinator deals. It allows you to set a valuation cap on the round for those early investors and set a discount for their early participation on whatever the valuation of your round ends up being. It's a great way to postpone the valuation and terms to a later date, especially if you still need to prove out your business model.

Assuming that you have a product in market and have some traction 1. What is your growth plan? 2. What is your 3, 10, 20, 30, 60 day retention numbers? 3. If you have UGC, what is the % of DAU who are creating content? 4. What is the ratio of DAU to MAU to install base? 5. What is the viral coefficient, what is the viral cycle time? If you don't have traction 1. What evidence do you have that this product will work? 2. How will it stand out from competition? 3. What is the market size? 4. How balanced is your team? 5. Why is your team likely to crack this product/market? If there's more context, I can probably help better over a call.

I have experience working at Target where we had thousands of different SKUs for the shoes and clothing department, and also handled online orders. In my experience the best platform for integrating physical retail inventory into an e-commerce platform is using Stitch Labs. Once you set up your initial account, Stitch brings all of your inventory together by integrating with your shopping carts, marketplaces, POS, payment processors and accounting solutions. This means that when you sell an item of clothing in a physical retail shop or any online platform including Amazon, Amazon FBA, Etsy, eBay, Shopify, etc. your master list of inventory is adjusted accordingly. They also integrate with Xero to push orders through and make accounting a breeze. If you would like to discuss inventory control or multi-channel e-commerce further, please reach out. Thanks, Reed

When it comes to ecommerce, Facebook dominates as the source for social traffic and sales. In a study done by Shopify, Facebook drives nearly two-thirds of all social media visits to Shopify. An average of 85% of all orders from social media were from Facebook. Specifically for the jewelry and watch category, 92% of all orders from social media came from Facebook. Facebook also had the highest conversion rate at 1.85%. Information gathered from http://www.shopify.com/blog/12731545-which-social-media-platforms-drive-the-most-sales-infographic If you need help setting up Facebook ads for an ecommerce store, please reach out. Thanks, Reed

I've worked with several companies marketing products ranging from $10 ebooks to $1,000+ products, and they've all had success using a relatively simple formula: 1. MAKE PEOPLE'S LIVES BETTER. Everyone gets too much email, so if you're going to put another message in someone's inbox, it had better be for a good reason. Create content that will improve their current existence. What kind of person will buy your product? What challenges are they facing that your product will solve? Can you give them starter steps right now that will get them on the path to improving their lives? Do that. 2. GIVE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT People who engage with your emails should receive follow-ups relevant to their interests. Did they open your emails about Subject A, but ignore the emails about Subjects B and C? Then only send them Subject A emails — that will give them the (totally true) impression that you're tailoring the emails to their interests. (This can be automated. It's not as complex as it might sound.) 3. DON'T PESTER If someone doesn't open your first email, send a follow-up. If they don't open the follow-up, you can try a reactivation campaign. If they still don't open anything, stop worrying about them. You can send the product announcement (it never hurts to try), but if they're ignoring your marketing emails, sending more will just piss them off and contribute to a lower open/clickthrough rate. Focus on the customers who want to be engaged; don't let those who aren't interested distract you. 4. TREAT EVERYONE'S INBOX LIKE YOUR OWN Before you send an email, think about whether you'd send it to people in your contact list that know you personally. Is it genuinely helpful and useful? --- Using this strategy, we were able to create high engagement that carried through into the product launches. We were able to sell out on the biggest launch (a list of over 500k) and put up pretty respectable numbers for clients with smaller lists. If you'd like to discuss the finer points of an email strategy like the ones I've helped put together, or if you'd like to discuss the specifics of a strategy for your specific product, I'm happy to help out on a quick call. Just let me know. Good luck!

All you had to do was ask! I love talking about how our technology can be extended to solve other major problems. Message me and we can take it from there. Ryan @startupsco @getmoreclarity

Yes, I'd contact them one by one. The best time to raise money is when you don't need it. And most investor relationships take awhile to ripen, so to speak, so if you start nurturing those relationships now, then you'll be in a good place with the investors when fundraising becomes a priority. It can't hurt to reach out along these lines: "Thanks so much for your interest! Were you just checking everything out? What do you think? Let's schedule a time for me to walk you through the current iteration of the product. How about next Tuesday at 9am EST?" I guess what I'm saying is that why these investors signed up really doesn't matter. You need to build your investor pipeline regardless. And they're making it easy for you! Hope this helps, Austin

I don't think there's a right—meaning, sane—answer here. How much capital do you think you'll need over the next 4-5 years? Series A? Series B? So on? Some, but not all, institutional investors will take a look at a cap table made longer by crowdfunding the way kids look at a pool that's been peed in. They might politely decline to hop it. I don't say that to scare you, but just so that you'll be aware. Totally agree with Owen's point: it might make sense to raise LESS money with a MORE strategic investor. One dollar with Investor B might have more long-term value, in the form of introductions or domain expertise, than the same dollar from Investor A. Regardless, ask yourself this question: what is the absolute minimum we need to raise right now? Now multiply that times 1.5. Then, figure out a Plan A, B, C, and D for getting there. Plan A might be a big influx of cash. Plan B might be a mix of cash and some business development from a new advisor. Plan C might include minimal cash, a new channel partner, and a few big contracts. Plan D might be a pivot or hopping into bed with a manufacturer to cut your costs. Happy to discuss more if you'd like. Get in touch! Cheers, Austin

Depending on what you need, you'll probably want to look at actual agencies. A single freelancer is unlikely to have the complete spectrum of skills you'll need, and unless you're looking to hire someone full-time, you'll probably have trouble retaining a single freelancer for a long period of time without conflicts. A mid-sized agency like the one I started (and later sold) specializes in designing and building sites. Their specialty is marketing and client acquisition, so they wouldn't be much help for the custom stuff later down the road — but that may not be an issue now. Another option may be to use a high-end development talent agency like http://www.10xmanagement.com/ — this company hires out very good developers, but you'll pay a premium. Like anything, you'll get what you pay for. Sometimes you'll get lucky on Elance, but you take on a lot of risk for the lower price. A mid-range agency has lower risk, but may lack full-stack capabilities. A high-range agency can solve all your problems, but you'll pay top dollar for it. I have a lot of experience screening and recruiting talent for projects in the mid-to-high range, so if you'd like to discuss strategies, let me know. Good luck!

I've worked with VA's hired directly through Elance/Upwork, a Zirtual assistant for about a year, TaskRabbits on occasion, as well as FancyHands. FancyHands has become my go-to VA service, having delegated over 1000 tasks to them to-date. The most important question in my mind is why would I use your new, unproven service when there are already established options to choose from in the market? The existing options cover a wide range of service models and price points. Here's how I currently see the market - eLance/Upwork - Very hit or miss. You'll spend a lot of time finding and testing VA's until you find the right one. Once you do, you'll be hoping he/she sticks around, so you don't have to go through the selection process again. The benefit here is that eLance/Upwork assumes a lot of the risk from you when it comes to paying for work completed. This transfer of risk is the benefit I see from platforms like eLance. Zirtual - Great for semi-dedicated and consistent assistance, especially important if your tasks require some historical knowledge. For example, I worked with my Zirtual VA to invoice clients on a regular basis and keep track of payments. Premium price point and premium service. FancyHands - Fantastic one-off task completion, can assign multiple tasks at once, to get them done simultaneously. While you don't work with the same VA all the time, FancyHands has done a nice job ensuring that the quality of results is consistent across their team of VA's. Various price points and a high level of service. To me the highest value/cost ratio out of all the options in the market. TaskRabbit - For things that need to be done in person. Their recent pricing model updates have made me begin to question the value provided vs. price paid. At least for me, as the service has gotten more expensive, I've begun to use fewer TaskRabbits. Happy to discuss further on a call, if you'd like some assistance differentiating your service or identifying gaps in the current market landscape.

It depends on what your startup does but if content is key to its success its better to start with your own content to get traction and build a following then use guest bloggers to expand your reach

Two key concerns are 1. Customer confusion with the 2 offerings: Imagine being in an art gallery that sells photography training and fine art or a book store that tries to sell you fine art. Even if it's the same group of people, they may be in very different mind-sets and hence may not associate both together. 2. SEO challenges with mixed messages you're sending. Which keywords would you optimize for which part of the site? Advantage would be if the customer base is the same group of people, hence offering cross-sell opportunities. For instance, if your MAIN source of leads for the training site is the art site, then this would be more important. In general, I would suggest one site for one customer group. If there is likely to be a very high overlap, then same site, with multiple sub-sites might work. In matter of fact, it'll probably be EASIER to do two sites for this than one site. Your designer will thank you :) Then tastefully add cross-links in the places where someone is likely to use them. For instance the art gallery could have a post 'How I make art' and links to your other business there. And the photog training site would have your art pics with subtle on-image links to your art biz. While I'm not a branding expert, I do find that my engineering lead approach to challenges in Marketing/Sales usually works, and provides clarity and direction.

Are we doing homework for you? I suspect the "best" business model at the moment is the one where the users create or provide the content, and the company is an organizer and platform. We've all seen this quote recently: "Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. "Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. "Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. "And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate." Without the costs of inventory or fixed assets beyond the platform, the company can concentrate fully on the profitable organization of *information*. Is it the "best" model, though? Depends. What are your priorities? The "most profitable companies" in the world in 2014 are banks & investment, IT, oil, and telecom firms. Also a retail electronics manufacturer. One of the top 5 is a state-owned company, though, and I would cross that off the list. The rest look fairly traditional in structure. Not necessarily like the "fastest growing" companies. So is your priority fast growth or profit? Or is it something else? Like an ego-driven "I want to employ the most people so I have the 'biggest' company"? What is "best" is relative.

From my experience it's better to setup the IP company as a completely separate entity. There can then be a contractual relationship between the OP company and the IP company. This will assist in protecting the IP in the case of any legal action against the OP company. For instance, if the OP company is sued due to "bad advice" then the IP is not part of the law suit. The challenge then is to ensure that the directors of the both companies are different.....as any law suits of this nature often end up throwing the directors in as well! This structure gives you the greatest amount of flexibility in your business in the event of a sale. Quite often a purchaser wants the IP but not any of the potential liabilities (or skeletons) of the OP company. You can sell the IP company off as a clean entity and gracefully close down the OP company. I wish you all the best in the venture!

I've helped build many affiliate networks, the best and easiest solution to building any network is using the following website. https://www.getambassador.com/ Let me know if you have anymore questions.

One option is to create drip campaigns that can run automatically after creation. That way you've got content being fed to your audience on a schedule (X days from sign-up), and your overhead is much lower in terms of generating new content. When you have something meaningful to say, you can send it out to the list ad hoc, but you're not on the hook to regularly generate new broadcasts. I have a lot of experience setting up email marketing automation, as well as a strong technical background (I recently sold my marketing agency to take a full-time contract building custom web and native apps). On top of that, I'm also an experienced technical and non-technical writer (3 books and hundreds of articles under my belt). If you're interested, I'd be happy to discuss some of your options for creating newsletter content that will continue working for you, rather than spending lots of time each week for single-purpose content. Drop me a line and we'll chat. Good luck!