Meet people. Entrepreneurs, marketers, investors. Meet enough of them and you become their matchmaker as well as promoter. And if you pay attention to what's going on, then you might end up their advisor too. Hello.

The trial period is your courtship period, and the best opportunity to convert the user into a paying customer. Areas of focus - on boarding communication that includes welcome email, on boarding education of the platform, links to additional material on product/service - timely communication throughout trial period staying engaged with user, reaching out to ask for feedback or answer any questions - still better if the platform is able to track Usage statistics and contextually do a reach out - opportunity to A/B test with different communication to see if conversion varies across the different methods It is key to stay engaged with the user optimally without overloading them with communication. I have had success with these methods and would be happy to discuss over a call, once I understand your unique situation

This is a common problem with "Doer" business owners. It won't be easy to find someone to work on commission. Truly able commission-based salespeople know they are a) in demand, and b) capable of setting their own price. So why should they work for you? They're going to go to where making sales is like shooting fish in a barrel. Not where they have to struggle to survive. If you can't afford a salary, and I'm talking 9-12 months' salary while your first inside salesperson "figures it out", you're not ready to have someone in that role. Hire inside first, where you can keep an eye on them, and have them transition to outside and higher pay later. Most business owners get this completely bass-ackwards and it never turns out well that way. But in my experience & opinion, you should not be looking for a salesperson at this time. What you need is an automated funnel that brings you opportunities. And for that you will need focused, paid traffic. The idea that a magic salesperson will, like the genie, serve you up wins, is compelling. But it is not reality. Build yourself the solid foundation of a lead generating and qualifying funnel, so you only talk to a steady stream of people who are ready to buy. That's how to use your time and resources effectively at this stage in your company's development.

Someone else creates the design and physical products, correct? In that case, your main challenges are (A) identifying customers (B) convincing them to give you a chance (C) keeping them happy with good customer service When it comes to (A), you should probably be knocking on a lot of doors. You'll experience plenty of rejection, but some people will say Yes. Do a good job, and they may remain ongoing customers or refer you to others. This doesn't require any formal study of marketing. It just takes practice and long hours. There's another way to handle (A). And you should probably be doing both in tandem. This involves studying the behavior of people you want as customers. Many people are searching online every day to find companies who provide exactly those products and services you offer. You can ensure they see you by running a pay-per-click advertising campaign in Google and other search engines. SEM professionals can help manage your expenses and ad placements. You'll also want to evaluate the written content on your website and think about SEO. The better your websites perform online "organically", the higher they rank for all the relevant online searches, the less you'll need to pay to advertise. I can't help you with customer service (C). But maybe I can help you think about (A) – finding customers online. And I can certainly help with (B) convincing the people you approach (or who find you on their own) that they ought to hire you. Practicing your sales pitch is important, since you'll be delivering it to a lot of different people. But much of your sales pitch is embedded within your website and brand name. So you ought to pay very close attention to the visual and verbal quality of all your promotional material, ranging from on-site text to graphic design, verbiage in brochures and ads, and (perhaps most crucially) the domain name you've chosen to be known by. That name / domain is everyone's first impression of you. Even before they click, they've judged you. When they arrive on the website, they see the visual layout and the written content. So even before they've tried your actual services, they've judged you again. Clearly, it's worthwhile to perfect these early stages in your sales funnel so that prospects make it all the way to the finish line – i.e. asking questions and hiring you. If you'd like help with naming, domain procurement, branded copy writing, or SEM strategy, perhaps I can assist.

I would recommend invoicing for the full year up front. If anyone asks, tell them that this is industry standard. Salesforce, HubSpot and many others do it this way. If that answer isn't sufficient, here are some others reasons that are beneficial for the customer: - It simplifies the accounting for the customers - one invoice instead of 6-12 - If you were to buy packaged software, you would pay a huge up front fee and then annual maintenance - we are just asking for the first year - If you pay monthly, there is no commitment, so there is less incentive to get buy-in from the team and users

Why on earth do you need a CTO for that job description? If the product is done, funds aren't likely an issue and you don't need a team to pitch @ pitch competitions if you functional and presumably decent product. Sounds like you need a product guy which you could easily hire who could network with you and avoid title and paying s/he more as well as save your equity. Just a thought - no need to give away the house!

I use LegalShield for all my legal questions. This is a great example of its use. They charge a small monthly fee. A member can call the firm as often as they want with any question to get an answer from an attorney specializing in the particular area of the law. Www.pcatalano.info will give you more details. You can call me at 512-450-8890 if you wish.

Re-visit your marketing strategy. Which is to say - re-visit your business model (which should very directly point you in the direction of your highest probability marketing strategy). And (get ready to not like me for saying this...) stop focusing on those numbers. The number of visitors per month and the number of downloads are only relevant as they directly relate to conversions and sales. And those things are only relevant as they directly relate to bottom line revenue and margins. It's easy to get caught up in "vanity numbers"... those numbers that "feel good" and provide you with a sense of validation. But until and unless they translate into bottom line income for the business they are just numbers that make you feel good (versus wisely chosen key metrics that indicate the health and viability of your business). If this was helpful to you please let me know how else I can be of assistance.

There's a lot that can go wrong. Often times issues are due to either trust or ego. If you are savvy enough in your topic trust issues and even ego issues on behalf of the mentee can be 'rectified'.

The standard procedure is to sign a mutual non-disclosure agreement with whoever you are disclosing your idea to, before you hire the firm. Once your product is built or is in the process, you have the option to patent or copyright it. Here's my article that gives the complete details on both: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/05/07/does-your-mobile-app-need-a-patent/

Using their logo implies that they are truly partners / customers of yours. Is this the case? It not, it is grossly misleading. Otherwise, I would check with them, out of courtesy. They may not want their competitors knowing what software services they use. I don't believe you are legally obligated to do this, but it would certainly help to maintain a relationship with them by asking first.

So much depends on the internet that any up-and-coming entrepreneur would be wise to study some programming and web / app design. Even if that's not your intended major and not what you'll be doing professionally one day, knowing how to code – if only in a very sketchy way – opens up a lot of doors. The basic principles are the same whether you're writing in Matlab, MySQL, HTML, jQuery, or whatever we're using when I wake up next. You'll communicate better with the software engineers and designers you'd be hiring or working alongside. (Virtually inescapable nowadays.) And you'd be better able to keep up with changing terminology and techniques if you're grounded in something similar. It can be quite useful to know how to publish content on your own self-created platform, troubleshoot IT problems, and invent new functionality. Programming is an act of incessant invention. Many of us find it a creative outlet and a lot of fun. You might or might not. Apart from the practical benefits of learning to program, you'll simply end up knowing a little bit more why human civilization is what it is in the year 2015 onward.

So do it. As consultants, it is incredibly easy to work remotely with modern technology. What do you see holding you back? To attract new prospects, you can have a website and publish authoritative content targeting your ideal customer base. For lead generation, you can host webinars or online courses, or have downloadable whitepapers. For ongoing consulting, you can use teleconferencing or the phone. For document management, you can use Dropbox or Google Drive. For project management, you can use Podio or the like. For invoicing, you can use Freshbooks. Those are all services that are location-independent. Your client would never know where you were physically, but that doesn't matter when you are selling your expertise as a service provided. I've bene operating a consultancy for over 16 years; very little has been hindered by working remotely. Heck, I was on a cruise ship a few weeks ago working. No one knew any differently. I'm happy to talk more, book a call and we can address any specific concern you have or I can share more about how I've done it. To your success, -Shaun

There is a risk. At some point, you have to trust that the people you surround yourself with will not take your IP to a competitor. I doubt you will blindly add folks to your team without establishing a relationship with them first. This relationship is the basis upon which the trust is built. Further, you can explain a concept and your idea without giving away the "secret sauce". I've seen this exact scenario play out over and over (and over and over) -- the fear of taking the leap ultimately keeps founders from ever taking action. Years later, they are still afraid their idea will be stolen. Meanwhile, the market has shifted, someone else has come up with the idea, and that fear has stalled them. Unless you have developed the magic potion for creating world peace, you have a limited amount of time before someone else conjures the same idea (or at least close enough). Get out there and make your idea worth something -- until you do, your idea has zero value.

I built and sold an enterprise company to IBM. While the fundraising climate was very different then, here are the things you should look out for: As a general rule, if you're going to raise money, then you want to raise enough money that you can get the company to the next stage at which you'll be able to raise another round. Were I in your position, I would raise enough that I could confidently establish our LTV, churn, CAC. Once your LTV is at least 3x your CAC, you've built a business that many investors would readily fund. A few tips: 1) You will _always_ need more money than you estimate. It is better to raise 30-50% more than your initial calculations of what you "need" - if you raise more than you need, you took a bit more dilution than necessary. If you raise less, the company will likely fail. 2) The CEO will likely be the best salesperson at this stage and for a time to come. Don't hire more than 2 additional salespeople until you are certain you have a scalable, repeatable playbook. 3) If you haven't read the sales learning curve - it's a quick intro to scaling a sales org. Running sales is very different than running eng. Very. https://hbr.org/2006/07/the-sales-learning-curve Happy to share more about my experience if you'd like to do a call. Good luck!

We answer this question quite often at www.LawTrades.com as Delaware does offer C-corps the greatest flexibility in terms of structuring boards of directors, stock issuance and preference, and voting rights. It also provides the broadest privacy protections. For instance, it doesn’t require director or officer names to be revealed on formation documents. For these reasons, many investors prefer companies that have been incorporated in Delaware as C-corps. On the other hand, you’ll be required to file periodic reports in Delaware, in addition to the state where you do business. Moreover, Delaware requires that you regularly submit franchise taxes, even if you’re paying those taxes to the state/s in which you are already doing business. Many companies don’t require C-corp status; in fact, incorporating as a C-corp for some companies could be detrimental to their overall financial interests. Filing as an LLC with subchapter S selection or some other type of entity that’s not a C-corp - especially when there’s no expectation of going public - is often best done in the state where the company is conducting business. Frankly, where you’re incorporated isn’t going to affect the decisions of most people, with the exception of perhaps investment bankers and investors who are considering a fast growth C-corp that is planning on a future IPO - high tech or otherwise. If you’re a high tech startup with no reason or plans to go public, you should seek legal advice from a home state attorney to explore your in-state options. Again, these are generalities and aren’t intended to provide specific legal advice or delve into the differences between the corporate laws of different states. I would, however, again emphasize that very often the state in which the business is located is often the best state in which to incorporate. In you need further assistance incorporating your startup and evaluating in which state would be the best fit, please feel free to check out www.lawtrades.com. You can also message me directly and I’d be happy to answer any further questions you have regarding your company’s formation.

Not exactly sure what you mean. Typically you get an exit either because the company in which you invested is acquired or it goes public (there are other options, but those are the normal ones). Angel investors usually consider the acquisition potential when making an investment. If there are a lot of potential acquirers, that is better than if there are very few options. What is your specific situation and what do you want to know?

If you're an accredited investor then I would suggest signing up for Angel List www.angel.co and invest in 10+ syndicates at $1K per deal so you can get a portfolio created. This will give you diversity + doing it via syndicates you know other smart people are supporting the entrepreneur vs. just a bunch of "dumb" money in a deal.

Hello, I can help out with advice on the technical aspects. Not sure what low-mid budget means for you, but I can tell right off the bat that something like SAP or Salesforce will be overkill. At the base of your tech stack will be the eCommerce platform - i.e. the website - and your back-office - OMS/fulfilment app. For the former, I would opt for a lead developer that can choose the platforms and make sure they can work together. I think getting a small team of 2-3 devs to work closely with merch/sales and content/marketing would save you money and lay a solid groundwork. I can recommend Magento as a solid platform. There's plenty of features to use it standalone, and there are a lot of very good small agencies and a few solid hosting providers. You can even get away with using the free Magento if you get a good team behind it. Need more details from you to get a better understanding of your needs but that should be a good start.

Hi there, I have been a social strategist and media director for 5+ years. Behind the scenes, a lot of the strongest white hat SEO tricks/tactics are going to apply. It simply requires time and some research. There are keywords for search/ads and there are video keywords, as well. That's why when you search for a popular song, the video usually populates first. 'How To' videos also dominant first page results. Make sure your video is the appropriate filename and title! It sounds silly but if it's not clear, you won't get the traffic or the results. You should also make sure the video you're trying to make draws enough traffic on its own to warrant a first page result. You want traffic from Google AND YouTube. Make sure you're looking at the competitor videos, especially if they're older. You may be able to add quality info that is lacking to a conversation in progress. Also, you want/need quality backlinks from other influencers and websites, and/or the ability to drive quality traffic to the video. If you can build up some excitement around a subject before you launch a video, that is going to drive engagement as well. I hope some of this was helpful. Good luck! Happy to hop on a call if you have further questions. Cheers, Kristina

Hi! This question is somewhat similar to another one I just answered. I think it will give you good idea/insight so check it out here https://clarity.fm/questions/2565/how-can-we-easily-rank-our-youtube-videos-on-google Also, if you have Instagram (people there are visual and there to be entertained) Facebook now a days? Not so much. There post screenshots of videos and always include something like "link to video in profile" on each post. Don't say "videos" . @officialunthink

Hello, I'm sure everyone has their own approach but in my opinion, not taking orders when there is an obvious demand is ludicrous - BUT there is a way to do it properly to maximize the "hype". Gaining followers on social media is not as powerful as gaining actual potential buyers. What I would recommend is for you to create a "launch" campaign for the product. You can run all sorts of ads on social media (Fb, Twitter, etc) to bring people into your own landing page where you tell them about the product (and launch date) and capture their contact information. Once you add all these people to your mailing list, you can set up an autoresponder sequence specific to the launch which will send them a few e-mails from now until then "preparing them" for the actual date. If done properly, by the time the launch comes, your customers will be salivating, ready to pull out their credit cards and order the moment the product goes live. This is a great approach because you keep your potential customers interested without overflowing your business with orders you can't fulfill yet. Cheers! P.S. Search for "product launch sequences" so you have a better idea of what I mean.

2 different solutions: #1: Ad Proxy They serve ads throughout the web and these websites act as referrals in order to gather statistics about the Ads. #2: Fake Referrals The websites use bots in order to fake referrals and appear on analytics tools like Google Analytics or Mixpanel. Either way, if you want to generate traffic, you'll have to rely on more high-level channels like SEO, PPC or Social.

We have an overlapping but non-competing interest in this area. What I'd recommend is ... skip the books or guides on Google AdWords or the Bing equivalent. You've already read enough, and your question is framed with enough specific detail that you're obviously no slouch and probably past the beginner stage, I'd say. Reading guides would provide steadily diminishing returns. DIY time! Brainstorm keyword ideas. Research the search stats. Once you feel you've covered all the relevant search queries and prioritized them, then it's time to run experiments. That's why I say skip the books. At a certain stage, you have to leave biology textbooks behind and go dissect some frogs or observe the live frogs (your customers?) in nature. Nothing is more empirical than running an efficient SEM campaign. You know this. Rules are starting points to b left behind in this space. Books and guides might provide some preliminary tips (at best) or be authoritarian (at worst). Just arrange your spending alternatives as hypotheses. Measure which strategy performs better using some carefully planned A/B testing over a statistically significant period of time / impressions / clicks. Set aside the generalizations. No author will give you what you need because you're already thinking of your problem at a granular level of detail. Brainstorm. Plan tests. Measure. Rinse & repeat. If you want to put 2 heads together, I might be able to throw out some extra ideas. But you don't necessarily need another person.

It's not a pipe dream. Startups convince investors to give them money for all sorts of reasons and with all sorts of potential ROI. Advertisers at this early stage could be regarded as investors of a kind. If they believe in your project and your game plan, then they might want (A) to support you (B) to lock down cheap long-term rates for their own advertising By supporting you, they help build the audience that gives them exposure. And if they're able to guarantee a lower advertising rate now versus later, then they may see the payoff as worth the risk. Very similar to pitching a startup to investors. It's only a pipe dream if your rates are too high, you can't identify the right prospects, or you can't present the case effectively. But if your early-bird special is a bargain and if you can find the right people to talk to ... and convince them, then go for it. Perhaps you could sell them X months but start the clock only after monthly traffic reaches Y. That way, they'd get the preceding months for free, and they'd see that you're properly incentivized to build traffic early.