I need words of wisdom
-
I actually got my degree in Management, specializing in Entrepreneurship. The CS courses at my University were a bore, and I had a riff with the department. I've started a few businesses, each unsuccessful or moderately successful. Here is my $0.02: It worries me that you have a plan to make some money and hire people. The only capital you can contribute at this time is sweat equity, your own skill and time, so use it to create something. You are avoiding some of the most important benefits of starting a software company: you are a virtual company. If you have the ability to write the code or create a marketable product on your own, you might need just one other person for admin duties to start a company. Look into the idea of bootstrapping as it relates to entrepreneurship, remember HP was started by 2 guys in a garage making an improvement on one niche product (audio oscilloscope). If you really need some outside coders, find people that would like to go in 50-50 investing their sweat equity as well for ownership rights. Some people, like myself, are willing to invest time outside of our day jobs, without pay, to get ownership at ground level. Some other financial tips: Don't plan on operating profitably for a couple of years. Even in good times, it may be a while before you can pay yourself, or any lenders off. I would avoid family and friends for seeding money, unless they can stand to lose the money, a failed business venture is not worth a ruined relationship. I'm working as hard as I can to save up the money for my next venture, and don't plan on any outside seeding. It's a good idea to start the company when you have a nice bank account or other form of cash flow. I just closed my bank account of a failed business yesterday. Am I sad? No. I didn't invest a lot of capital so my loss was just time. Also, it taught me a lot and I know things will go better next time around. I want to write a book on this now.
I really like your advice! Thank you.
-
There are a lot of types of capital. I do have capital:'skill' and 'motivation' :)
Yes, these ones are a must have. :)
There is only one Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
-
Hi, I have mad up my mind. I am starting a business. One of the problems is that i think i know what i am doing, but i might be wrong. I have been writing C, C++, python and MATLAB code for a long time now. My expertise are 'computer vision' (object recognition)and 'Data mining'. I have been teaching myself at home and am now at a point where i think i can use everything i have learned to make some money so i can start a company and hire other researchers in the field of computer vision. The other problem is that, in my bank account, i only have enough money for my bills :( I have started to design a website which will be ready in less than two weeks. I really need advises or any kind of help :)
I'm going to mention a word sure to get me permabanned from geek sites everywhere, but it is the single most crucial element in running a successful company. Marketing. There. I said it. Now everyone please put down the pitchforks and torches (er, that would be flaming wooden sticks for you UK folks). All kidding aside, if you want to make money you need to define your target audience, create a solution to a problem they have that they're willing to pay for, and then put together a plan on how to get the word out to them. My marketing company uses a process called the Knowledge Triangle Analysis, which is just fancy marketing-speak (hey, we have to market too, you know) for three fundamental principles: Know Yourself, Know Your Customer, Know Your Enemy. In other words, understand the products / services and their unique selling proposition, i.e. what makes you stand out in the marketplace. Then know your customers in intimate detail so that you know what they care about, where they hang out, and thus how you can reach them. Lastly, research your competition and learn what you can from them including what they do better than you and where you are better than them. We're in the studio right now producing a weekly video tutorial series designed to help guys like you who need to do your own marketing and can't afford to hire professional help. We'll be launching this series in January, and of course it's free, but in the meantime if you'll do some serious naval gazing on the topics I've mentioned, it will tell you a number of things. If you try to give in depth consideration to marketing but find yourself in aversion and always having a reason to do something else, then you're probably not going to do any promotion of your products & services. If that's the case, I promise you that your company will die a slow but inevitable death. So be honest with yourself. If you're not willing to do all that sales & marketing stuff, get a job working for someone else. You'll be much happier, and so will your bank account. Hope this helps, and best of luck either way.
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer
Writing apps? Developing sites? Hate marketing? We can help. -
Hi, I have mad up my mind. I am starting a business. One of the problems is that i think i know what i am doing, but i might be wrong. I have been writing C, C++, python and MATLAB code for a long time now. My expertise are 'computer vision' (object recognition)and 'Data mining'. I have been teaching myself at home and am now at a point where i think i can use everything i have learned to make some money so i can start a company and hire other researchers in the field of computer vision. The other problem is that, in my bank account, i only have enough money for my bills :( I have started to design a website which will be ready in less than two weeks. I really need advises or any kind of help :)
Two words "Business Plan" You should prepare a business plan that will show you (and any potential backers) how much it is going to cost you and where and when you will start making money, that projected income etc. Many small businesses fail because (trite as it sounds) if you fail to plan you are planning to fail. If you genuinely have a vision, then making a business plan will allow you to approach the bank or other investors, and demonstrate that you have it all worked out. You say you want to "start a company and hire other researchers" - which implies both that you don't have an existing product to sell and that you anticipate several thousand dollars a month outgoings if only on salaries; if your bank account only has enough for your bills, and assuming no other form of income, you need to do that plan, and start approaching people for funding (or start off small enough that you can afford it until you have a salable product) Depending on where you are in the world, there are often organizations specifically out there to help small businesses - don't be afraid to approach them and take their advice. Something like 50% of new businesses fail within 5 years - and many because they haven't ghot a detailed plan.
___________________________________________ .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
-
Hi, I have mad up my mind. I am starting a business. One of the problems is that i think i know what i am doing, but i might be wrong. I have been writing C, C++, python and MATLAB code for a long time now. My expertise are 'computer vision' (object recognition)and 'Data mining'. I have been teaching myself at home and am now at a point where i think i can use everything i have learned to make some money so i can start a company and hire other researchers in the field of computer vision. The other problem is that, in my bank account, i only have enough money for my bills :( I have started to design a website which will be ready in less than two weeks. I really need advises or any kind of help :)
Starting a technical business is full of pitfalls. The technical part is probably 10% of the problem. The normal business books don't cover a lot of details, either. Establishing a business entity is an expense you don't need to jump into before you have a business plan. If you don't have a business plan, don't start your business! If you don't know how to write a business plan, then get to a library (or find references online) and start studying. You need to learn all about business organizations, billing, collection, taxes, legal aspects specific to your case, employer laws, insurance, and more. You need to establish a plan with goals and contingencies, then talk to some people who are dead-set against you going into business and listen to their arguments. You better have a factual and objective answer for them, or you're not ready and your business plan is half-baked. As for funding, make sure you have enough to last 3 years without income from your business. That means working an extra job or savings, unless you want to find investors who will loan you money in exchange for control of your business. You may be lucky and have an easier time than some, but my experience is that sooner or later you'll wish you had some extra capital and if that happens in the first year or two, you're gone. Other than that, being somewhat insane is a good characteristic. I've often questioned my sanity, but truthfully I have so much fun doing my own thing, I don't care if I'm actually crazy or not! ;P
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
-
Two words "Business Plan" You should prepare a business plan that will show you (and any potential backers) how much it is going to cost you and where and when you will start making money, that projected income etc. Many small businesses fail because (trite as it sounds) if you fail to plan you are planning to fail. If you genuinely have a vision, then making a business plan will allow you to approach the bank or other investors, and demonstrate that you have it all worked out. You say you want to "start a company and hire other researchers" - which implies both that you don't have an existing product to sell and that you anticipate several thousand dollars a month outgoings if only on salaries; if your bank account only has enough for your bills, and assuming no other form of income, you need to do that plan, and start approaching people for funding (or start off small enough that you can afford it until you have a salable product) Depending on where you are in the world, there are often organizations specifically out there to help small businesses - don't be afraid to approach them and take their advice. Something like 50% of new businesses fail within 5 years - and many because they haven't ghot a detailed plan.
___________________________________________ .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
Thank you for your advice. I think the business plan is what i should start with. Most people think so too. I have a nice book on starting business and another one on marketing. I have already started reading them :)
-
Starting a technical business is full of pitfalls. The technical part is probably 10% of the problem. The normal business books don't cover a lot of details, either. Establishing a business entity is an expense you don't need to jump into before you have a business plan. If you don't have a business plan, don't start your business! If you don't know how to write a business plan, then get to a library (or find references online) and start studying. You need to learn all about business organizations, billing, collection, taxes, legal aspects specific to your case, employer laws, insurance, and more. You need to establish a plan with goals and contingencies, then talk to some people who are dead-set against you going into business and listen to their arguments. You better have a factual and objective answer for them, or you're not ready and your business plan is half-baked. As for funding, make sure you have enough to last 3 years without income from your business. That means working an extra job or savings, unless you want to find investors who will loan you money in exchange for control of your business. You may be lucky and have an easier time than some, but my experience is that sooner or later you'll wish you had some extra capital and if that happens in the first year or two, you're gone. Other than that, being somewhat insane is a good characteristic. I've often questioned my sanity, but truthfully I have so much fun doing my own thing, I don't care if I'm actually crazy or not! ;P
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
Thank you. I think the 2 challenging parts of it are getting funding and coming up with a good business plan. I think I'd better get started :)
-
I'm going to mention a word sure to get me permabanned from geek sites everywhere, but it is the single most crucial element in running a successful company. Marketing. There. I said it. Now everyone please put down the pitchforks and torches (er, that would be flaming wooden sticks for you UK folks). All kidding aside, if you want to make money you need to define your target audience, create a solution to a problem they have that they're willing to pay for, and then put together a plan on how to get the word out to them. My marketing company uses a process called the Knowledge Triangle Analysis, which is just fancy marketing-speak (hey, we have to market too, you know) for three fundamental principles: Know Yourself, Know Your Customer, Know Your Enemy. In other words, understand the products / services and their unique selling proposition, i.e. what makes you stand out in the marketplace. Then know your customers in intimate detail so that you know what they care about, where they hang out, and thus how you can reach them. Lastly, research your competition and learn what you can from them including what they do better than you and where you are better than them. We're in the studio right now producing a weekly video tutorial series designed to help guys like you who need to do your own marketing and can't afford to hire professional help. We'll be launching this series in January, and of course it's free, but in the meantime if you'll do some serious naval gazing on the topics I've mentioned, it will tell you a number of things. If you try to give in depth consideration to marketing but find yourself in aversion and always having a reason to do something else, then you're probably not going to do any promotion of your products & services. If that's the case, I promise you that your company will die a slow but inevitable death. So be honest with yourself. If you're not willing to do all that sales & marketing stuff, get a job working for someone else. You'll be much happier, and so will your bank account. Hope this helps, and best of luck either way.
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer
Writing apps? Developing sites? Hate marketing? We can help.My problem. I have a site, and I'm willing to work. Just no-one knows about me...
Don't forget to rate my post if it helped! ;) "He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." "His mother should have thrown him away, and kept the stork." "There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure." "He loves nature, in spite of what it did to him."
-
Hi, I have mad up my mind. I am starting a business. One of the problems is that i think i know what i am doing, but i might be wrong. I have been writing C, C++, python and MATLAB code for a long time now. My expertise are 'computer vision' (object recognition)and 'Data mining'. I have been teaching myself at home and am now at a point where i think i can use everything i have learned to make some money so i can start a company and hire other researchers in the field of computer vision. The other problem is that, in my bank account, i only have enough money for my bills :( I have started to design a website which will be ready in less than two weeks. I really need advises or any kind of help :)
Generally speaking, NOTHING happens until somebody sells something. Do you have something to sell right now? Is there some compelling reason that someone would choose to pay you for your expertise versus another, more established entity? Do you have any "outside" interests? Are you prepared to abandon all of your "outside" interests? I read your intention as A) Make some money. and then B) Start a company. and then C) Hire others. That's not such a bad "plan", if that really is your plan. That "plan" has been used to great success, over and over. That plan softens the impact of insufficient funding, in as much as you are going to A) Make some money and then B)Start your company, etc.... So, I advise that you come back here when you have accomplished step "A" to a significant degree. While you are DOING "A", everything else may magically fall into place. Sincere Good Luck!
-
Thank you. I think the 2 challenging parts of it are getting funding and coming up with a good business plan. I think I'd better get started :)
I funded myself, twice. I used my own savings to get started in both cases and never borrowed a single dollar. Make yourself live on a cash basis and save every penny you don't absolutely need. Once you get used to living on cash only and no credit cards/loans that can't be paid off in a single month, you will have developed a habit that will serve you well in business and in your future. Be frugal and it may be surprising what you can save. If you already live on a cash basis, congratulations!
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
-
Generally speaking, NOTHING happens until somebody sells something. Do you have something to sell right now? Is there some compelling reason that someone would choose to pay you for your expertise versus another, more established entity? Do you have any "outside" interests? Are you prepared to abandon all of your "outside" interests? I read your intention as A) Make some money. and then B) Start a company. and then C) Hire others. That's not such a bad "plan", if that really is your plan. That "plan" has been used to great success, over and over. That plan softens the impact of insufficient funding, in as much as you are going to A) Make some money and then B)Start your company, etc.... So, I advise that you come back here when you have accomplished step "A" to a significant degree. While you are DOING "A", everything else may magically fall into place. Sincere Good Luck!
Thank you for your advice. I really like what you said: "Is there some compelling reason that someone would choose to pay you for your expertise versus another, more established entity? "
-
Hi, I have mad up my mind. I am starting a business. One of the problems is that i think i know what i am doing, but i might be wrong. I have been writing C, C++, python and MATLAB code for a long time now. My expertise are 'computer vision' (object recognition)and 'Data mining'. I have been teaching myself at home and am now at a point where i think i can use everything i have learned to make some money so i can start a company and hire other researchers in the field of computer vision. The other problem is that, in my bank account, i only have enough money for my bills :( I have started to design a website which will be ready in less than two weeks. I really need advises or any kind of help :)
My apologies for this long reply, but I am assuming you are quite serious so it warrants a serious response. I also apologise for re-iterating some of the good advice you have already got. You are talking about growing a business and employing people and I view this as quite different situation from “working for yourself”, therefore you need to do some very serious thinking before you set out down this road. As said by someone else, you must develop a business plan. This should be two documents … one a seriously written text document which is exceptionally well thought out and written which discusses and identifies a heap of things such …. What exactly you are selling, what your market is and how big, what is your route to market – how do you get sales and at what cost, what is your competition, how will you compete against your competition – why will people buy from you? What is your charging strategy? What is the basis of your sales forecasts? If appropriate what will your technologies be and how will you protect the intellectual property (patents etc). What is the future landscape and opportunities for your skills, products services and what are emerging and future new technologies and needs that you can leverage and provide opportunity? How will your company be administered, who will do the accounts, HR, legals for contracts etc? How will you recruit to meet your business plan? How scalable will your business be – are you personally a major dependency and can you personally scale or do you cap the growth possibilities? Identification of business risks and risk mitigation strategies and plan weaknesses, if you do not identify risks you have not thought things through and are not being realistic. What is your disaster recovery plan and equipment needs for DR – you or an investor cannot afford failure based on a disk fail, fire, flood or equipment theft I’ve seen most of these. What is your long term goal and “exit strategy” – you and your investors will (ultimately) seek a means of getting big reward for your effort and financial input – otherwise it is simply a “lifestyle business”. This is just a sample of the list of things you must consider in this document – do some research, also find out if your government has free business advisory agencies or start up assistance … get some professional start up advice. If developing a product and not simply a service, some governments offer Tax allowances for R&D. I know the “exit strategy” point is a little early for you
-
My apologies for this long reply, but I am assuming you are quite serious so it warrants a serious response. I also apologise for re-iterating some of the good advice you have already got. You are talking about growing a business and employing people and I view this as quite different situation from “working for yourself”, therefore you need to do some very serious thinking before you set out down this road. As said by someone else, you must develop a business plan. This should be two documents … one a seriously written text document which is exceptionally well thought out and written which discusses and identifies a heap of things such …. What exactly you are selling, what your market is and how big, what is your route to market – how do you get sales and at what cost, what is your competition, how will you compete against your competition – why will people buy from you? What is your charging strategy? What is the basis of your sales forecasts? If appropriate what will your technologies be and how will you protect the intellectual property (patents etc). What is the future landscape and opportunities for your skills, products services and what are emerging and future new technologies and needs that you can leverage and provide opportunity? How will your company be administered, who will do the accounts, HR, legals for contracts etc? How will you recruit to meet your business plan? How scalable will your business be – are you personally a major dependency and can you personally scale or do you cap the growth possibilities? Identification of business risks and risk mitigation strategies and plan weaknesses, if you do not identify risks you have not thought things through and are not being realistic. What is your disaster recovery plan and equipment needs for DR – you or an investor cannot afford failure based on a disk fail, fire, flood or equipment theft I’ve seen most of these. What is your long term goal and “exit strategy” – you and your investors will (ultimately) seek a means of getting big reward for your effort and financial input – otherwise it is simply a “lifestyle business”. This is just a sample of the list of things you must consider in this document – do some research, also find out if your government has free business advisory agencies or start up assistance … get some professional start up advice. If developing a product and not simply a service, some governments offer Tax allowances for R&D. I know the “exit strategy” point is a little early for you
I think i need friends like you :) I have seen a few episodes of Dragons Den... I will take my time to write my business plan because that is what investors are interested in. Getting money from the bank is not possible. I am a refugee in South Africa and bank only gives loans to South Africans. I am not taking your advice negatively at all. All this sounds like a lot of work, but it also sounds fun :)
-
Hi, I have mad up my mind. I am starting a business. One of the problems is that i think i know what i am doing, but i might be wrong. I have been writing C, C++, python and MATLAB code for a long time now. My expertise are 'computer vision' (object recognition)and 'Data mining'. I have been teaching myself at home and am now at a point where i think i can use everything i have learned to make some money so i can start a company and hire other researchers in the field of computer vision. The other problem is that, in my bank account, i only have enough money for my bills :( I have started to design a website which will be ready in less than two weeks. I really need advises or any kind of help :)
Not sure my advice is the most traditional way of starting a business, but it has worked for me several times. Find a client/customer that will help fund your business. I've started three businesses like this, starting with $0 in the bank and just a dream. I've sold one of those businesses and continue operating the other two. Business plans, marketing plans, and all other plans are all great but I find that they are not the magic ingredient for success. I've started several successful businesses with no marketing/business plan but I had the most important thing - clients/customers for my product. After the dust settled, having a marketing/business plan is helpful for continued growth and sustainability for the company. Oh yeah besides hard work, sacrifices, and determination you will need a little luck. Good luck! Mitch
-
Not sure my advice is the most traditional way of starting a business, but it has worked for me several times. Find a client/customer that will help fund your business. I've started three businesses like this, starting with $0 in the bank and just a dream. I've sold one of those businesses and continue operating the other two. Business plans, marketing plans, and all other plans are all great but I find that they are not the magic ingredient for success. I've started several successful businesses with no marketing/business plan but I had the most important thing - clients/customers for my product. After the dust settled, having a marketing/business plan is helpful for continued growth and sustainability for the company. Oh yeah besides hard work, sacrifices, and determination you will need a little luck. Good luck! Mitch
Finding a client; That itself is a challenge. I will have to convince him/her to be my client. But, before that, i will have to find that person or company that might need my service. Nonetheless, it is worth trying. Thank you
-
This Jedi[^] wrote a series of articles on starting a business; they are a must-read. And we have a "Running a business" forum, which isn't very active. The bottom line is, technical content is but a small fraction of any business. :)
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum
Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code.
For sure, a great series of articles there. A must read. Cheers, Daniel
Daniel Vaughan Twitter | Blog | Microsoft MVP | Projects: Calcium SDK, Clog | LinkedIn
-
hervebags wrote:
$40,000 is a lot of money!!
Yes, it is! A lot of people starting businesses make the mistake of knowing they really need more money than they have, but going ahead anyway. That's a sure recipe for a failed business and a big financial loss. Cheers, Drew.
One thing that I haven't seen mentioned yet: Do you have a product to sell? You sure had better quantify that or you'll go absolutely nowhere. I'm doing the same thing right now - starting a business. However I'm doing it on my own dime and taking time. I have a full income from my primary job to support me (a job that pays well enough for me to make small investments in my equipment, software tools, etc) and I have a product I've been working on for close to a year. The product is the result of 12 years of experience in the field I've been working in. I've already involved two other people who are interested in selling & marketing the product and in doing the installation and support. If you can be patient and develop your product, sales & support strategy without requiring venture capital, you will be WAY ahead of the game. Once you start actually selling your product you'll drop most of the profit straight to the bottom line since you won't have venture cap debt to worry about. But you MUST have a product. Confine it to a clear definition. Don't try to be everything to everybody. Identify your market, make your plan and stick to it. Just having programming skills is great but unless you're just going into consulting it could be difficult to pinpoint what you can or can not do. Consultants are everywhere. I know a number of individuals who try to make it on their own as programming consultants. Usually they wind up getting one client (it's called a job). You need to develop something sell-able that a customer can see that will provide them some kind of tangible value. Otherwise you may have difficulty getting them to part with their dollars. My 2-cents. -Max
-
Hi, I have mad up my mind. I am starting a business. One of the problems is that i think i know what i am doing, but i might be wrong. I have been writing C, C++, python and MATLAB code for a long time now. My expertise are 'computer vision' (object recognition)and 'Data mining'. I have been teaching myself at home and am now at a point where i think i can use everything i have learned to make some money so i can start a company and hire other researchers in the field of computer vision. The other problem is that, in my bank account, i only have enough money for my bills :( I have started to design a website which will be ready in less than two weeks. I really need advises or any kind of help :)
I have a successful business for over a decade now starting from where you are at. I could give you a *lot* of advice but the number one piece of advice is don't borrow *any* money if you want your business to be self sustaining for the long haul. Never invest a cent in a business that doesn't come from the profits of that business. Ever. By keeping to that one rule you will save yourself a world of pain and suffering. Do not break that rule under any circumstances for any reason. It's ok to make a very minimal investment in a computer and website to get your started but that's absolutely it. Aside from that learn a *lot* about marketing, it's your most important skill, far more important than how good the ideas are or how good the code is. And do not quit your day job until your business is making enough money that you can put aside 3 months wages in reserve in the bank and prospects are good for the future. That way you have a safety buffer if and when things go badly and time enough to look for a job. Edit: a lot of people have said a business plan, we've never had one and I've just read an article recently that stated quite well why it's a waste of time but I can't seem to find it. Don't waste a lot of time on plans, they will all be for naught, I guarantee it. Just have some core values and ideas and stick with them but be flexible on everything else. Nothing is going to happen the way you plan it...nothing. Edit: Found it - http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217768[^]
There is no failure only feedback
-
Hi, I have mad up my mind. I am starting a business. One of the problems is that i think i know what i am doing, but i might be wrong. I have been writing C, C++, python and MATLAB code for a long time now. My expertise are 'computer vision' (object recognition)and 'Data mining'. I have been teaching myself at home and am now at a point where i think i can use everything i have learned to make some money so i can start a company and hire other researchers in the field of computer vision. The other problem is that, in my bank account, i only have enough money for my bills :( I have started to design a website which will be ready in less than two weeks. I really need advises or any kind of help :)
If you don't try, you fail. If you try you might fail. If you try enough you will succeed.
-
I have a successful business for over a decade now starting from where you are at. I could give you a *lot* of advice but the number one piece of advice is don't borrow *any* money if you want your business to be self sustaining for the long haul. Never invest a cent in a business that doesn't come from the profits of that business. Ever. By keeping to that one rule you will save yourself a world of pain and suffering. Do not break that rule under any circumstances for any reason. It's ok to make a very minimal investment in a computer and website to get your started but that's absolutely it. Aside from that learn a *lot* about marketing, it's your most important skill, far more important than how good the ideas are or how good the code is. And do not quit your day job until your business is making enough money that you can put aside 3 months wages in reserve in the bank and prospects are good for the future. That way you have a safety buffer if and when things go badly and time enough to look for a job. Edit: a lot of people have said a business plan, we've never had one and I've just read an article recently that stated quite well why it's a waste of time but I can't seem to find it. Don't waste a lot of time on plans, they will all be for naught, I guarantee it. Just have some core values and ideas and stick with them but be flexible on everything else. Nothing is going to happen the way you plan it...nothing. Edit: Found it - http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217768[^]
There is no failure only feedback
Thank you for your advice :)