Starting a Business: Advice from the Trenches If you’re like thousands of other designers, programmers and other creative professionals out there, at one point in time you’ve considered starting your own business. Unlike most, you’ve gone against common sense and decided to open shop for yourself. And not just freelance full-time, mind you, but file for the company name, get some stationery, and wade through the legal mumbo-jumbo. Maybe even get a real office with a water cooler. This article offers real-world advice from the trenches of a small start-up, and is applicable to designers, web developers, copywriters, usability experts and all manner of service providers. Freelancers take heed: there are several items that are just as pertinent to your profession. Write a Business Plan#section1 The most important thing you can do to prepare for starting and operating your own business. A few years ago, new age business rhetoric said forget the business plan and just run with it. File for a Fictitious Name#section2 Funding#section3 Good:
How to pick a co-founder &045; Venture Hacks Naval · November 12th, 2009 Update: Also see our 40-minute interview on this topic. Picking a co-founder is your most important decision. It’s more important than your product, market, and investors. The ideal founding team is two individuals, with a history of working together, of similar age and financial standing, with mutual respect. The power of two Two is the right number — avoid the three-body problem. One founder companies can work, against the odds (hello, Mark Zuckerberg). Two founders works because unanimity is possible, there are no founder politics, interests can easily align, and founder stakes are high post-financing. Someone you have history with You wouldn’t marry someone you’d just met. One builds, one sells The best builders can prototype and perhaps even build the entire product, end-to-end. The seller doesn’t have to be a “salesman” or “business guy”. Aligned motives required Pay close attention — true motivations are revealed, not declared. Don’t settle Pick “nice” guys
4 Steps to Becoming a Self Starter on Shine In a perfect world, we'd all wake up early, go on a run, eat a healthy breakfast, and then head into work to tackle our next big project. As self-starters, we'd be brimming with energy and enthusiasm and wouldn't even consider procrastinating before a deadline. In the real world, however, we don't always live up to our highest ambitions. But just because we don't always do something, doesn't mean we can't ever do it. To help you along the way, we've outlined four steps to help turn you into a self-starter instead of a self-stopper. Stay Ahead of Deadlines. Do your work early, do your work often. Tackle One Piece of the Puzzle at a Time A big project is overwhelming. Don't Call it Work, Call it Banking on the Future Reframe the task at hand so you can focus on the benefits it provides instead of the annoyance it brings. If you want money for a nice place to live, nice clothes, nice things, and good food, you'll probably need to work. Don't Be Afraid of Failing In life, we get caught in ruts.
Presentation Rules In the past I’ve given some tips for handling meetings effectively, covering topics like: - How not to let your meeting go down a rat hole; - Dealing with the elephant in the room; - Dealing with skeletons in your closet; - How to make meetings discussions, not “pitches” - A tale of two pitches (I eventually invested in the first company that pitched) Today’s post is a subtle one about positioning yourself in a presentation. This might be a VC meeting but also might just be a sales or biz dev meeting. It’s any meeting where you are in a small room and are being called on to present on some form of overhead slides 1. If you look at Diagram A above you’ll see that the presenters are sitting at the opposite end of the table from where the screen is. If you look at Diagram B you’ll see that the people you’re presenting to can look you in the eyes and glance up at the screen. 2. I’ve lately been attending meetings with our shareholders (called LPs or limited partners). 3. 4. 5. 6.
10 Instant Emotional Fitness Tools By When things get out of control and you momentarily lose your emotional balance, there are any number of little things you can do to regain it. Here are ten tools to help get you started. It cools and cleans the parts of your body that you use most frequently, which is relaxing, and gives you that "fresh start" feeling. Shoes take a day or two to release any moisture they have absorbed, and this is a very easy way to put a little pep back into your step. And if it isn't framed and on the wall, frame it now. . , inside and out. t and get rid of anything that no longer fits. l. remember that you started with nothing, and know that everything you see, you created. None of these tasks has to be uncomfortable or take you much time. Dr.
Eight Questions To Ask Before You Start A Business Are you thinking of starting a web business? Starting a PPC Management agency? Setting up your own site and selling things, or building a web publishing empire? Before you start, ask yourself the following eight questions. 1 . Define what service the business provides. Try to focus. McDonalds could, no doubt, provide up-market meals, but they focus on selling quick, cheap food. That is what they do. 2. Who are your customers? Create a mental image of your typical customer. 3. What is your unique selling proposition? If your customers can buy the same services for less elsewhere, or more easily, they will. There is a tendency to model yourself on others. This is not to say doing something wildly new or different is any guarantee of success. 4. This point is so important, it really should be number one. Businesses may have great ideas. Then the bank manager calls. The overdraft has hit its limit and you can’t meet payroll this week. There is no fooling cashflow. 5. 6. 7. Set company goals. 8.
The Secret Weapon That Almost Every Business Depends On: Taste The following is an excerpt from Design Like Apple, Seven Principles for Creating Insanely Great Products, Services, and Experiences (Wiley & Sons) by John Edson. The life trajectories of two of the most influential men of the high-tech era, Steve Jobs and his longtime rival at Microsoft, Bill Gates, are uncannily similar. Both were born in 1955; both became technology wizards in high school and later were college dropouts. They each founded and built companies whose products and services have changed the way we live and work and interact with computers. Gates was a master software entrepreneur who through partnerships and licensing deals dominated the personal computer market and gobbled up market share in that domain. A remarkably funny video that went viral in 2006 brought into sharp focus Microsoft’s lack of commitment to design. Design taste is always tough to define. I was just buying some razor blades, but here I was, my disdain for this object growing in intensity.
Simple Genius Looking for more about [term]? Simple Ideas That Are Borderline Genius part 2 Simple Ideas That Are Borderline Genius part 3 Simple Ideas That Are Borderline Genius part 4 Simple Ideas That Are Borderline Genius part 5 Top Email Marketing Services by VerticalResponse | Unbelievably Simple, Incredibly Effective Top 10 Traits Of Highly Successful People Rating: 8.2/10 (185 votes cast) We have all read about people who are successful briefly. They win a gold medal, make a fortune, or star in one great movie and then disappear.…These examples do not inspire me! My focus and fascination is with people who seem to do well in many areas of life, and do it over and over through a lifetime. These are the people who inspire me! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. These traits work together in combination, giving repeatedly successful people a huge advantage. This article was originally written by Philip Humbert and can be found here
First-Time Startup Entrepreneurs: Stop Fucking Around Editor’s note: Paul Stamatiou is Co-founder of Picplum, a Y Combinator-backed photo printing service, where he obsesses over both design and development. He also co-founded Notifo (YC W10) and Skribit. Follow him on his blog, PaulStamatiou.com, and on Twitter: @Stammy. Reminisce with me for a bit. Do you remember the first time you got an Internet connection? When I first visited California for my Yahoo! Every time I drive into San Francisco and see the skyline, it’s a strong reminder that I’m fortunate to be in a time and place where I have wanted to be for so long, with such a vibrant and strong tech community. This is all started with a tweet of mine. i’m going to teach a course for first-time startup entrepreneurs called stop fucking around and get back to work.— Paul Stamatiou (@Stammy) April 23, 2012 We are in an amazing time right now — perhaps the perfect time to build companies. Your workdays are sacred Think about the opportunity cost here. I will make one exception though.
Clever Logos I know everybody and their brother does logo roundups so you’re probably sick of them, but I don’t believe I’ve ever done one and there is a particularly impressive brand of logo design that I wanted to point out. Today we’ll look at 50 logos that are the result of going beyond the typical thought process and injecting a little wit and hidden symbolism into the design process. What Makes a Logo Clever? To explain what I mean by “clever” logo design, let’s take a look at a typical logo, (i.e. one that isn’t clever). The logo above is a nice piece of work. However, my favorite type of logo design is that which takes the assignment one step further. These types of logos make you smile at the brilliance of both the idea and the execution and have several layers of meaning that can hit you in waves. I’ve broken down this collection into three categories: visual double entendres (two things in one), word and character art, and ambigrams. Visual Double Entendres Lion Bird Chad 2010 I love this one.