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File: AdviceForStartups !! In a category of their own ... * http://swombat.com/2011/12/21/failing-interesting-way * http://www.startupbook.net/ * http://changethis.com/manifesto/80.03.MicropreneurManifesto/pdf/80.03.MicropreneurManifesto.pdf * http://www.ideastostartups.com/assessing-ideas/the-7-questions-that-will-clarify-your-startup-idea/ * From the point of view of your potential customers, what problem are you trying to solve? * For whom do you try to solve this problem? Who will be your first customers? * What is the size of your target market? Is it growing or not? * How are your potential customers currently solving this problem? * Why is that important for your potential customers to have this problem solved? Is it compelling need? * What is your solution for this problem? * How is your solution going to be different from what currently exist? * For what reasons your customer should want to buy your solution rather than any other? * How do you plan to reach your customers? How will your customers know that you exists? !! Staying on track ********> width="40%" These are from http://blog.asmartbear.com/startup-business-plan.html where they are expanded on and put in context. I strongly recommend you go to the source - the questions alone aren't enough. ******** width="4%" ******** width="55%" * In one sentence, what does your product do and who buys it? * In one sentence, why does someone buy your product? * What one thing is most responsible for preventing sales? * What's one thing you could do to get more feedback from customers, potential customers, or sales you've lost? * If you had zero revenue from now on, on what date would you run out of money? * If someone handed you $\$$100,000 today, how would you spend it to maximize future profits? * If you were forced to hire someone today, how would you define her job such that she would contribute enough revenue to cover her expense? * Which of your business operations do you hate? * What initiatives could be done half-assed without significant impact? * If you could get one solid hour of advice from a guru you respect, what would you discuss and what would be the goal of the meeting? ********< !! Gathering advice for assessment Collecting articles with advice on start-ups. I'm intending to distill the advice here. * http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/20/from-nothing-to-something-how-to-get-there/ * http://rondam.blogspot.com/2009/10/catalog-of-wealth-creation-mechanisms.html * http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/search/label/lean startup * http://www.startuplessonslearned.com * http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/11/04/4-ways-to-get-automatically-rejected-by-an-angel-investor/ * http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/18/good-question-the-eight-best-questions-we-got-while-raising-venture-capital/ * http://artofmanliness.com/2010/02/18/how-to-start-a-business-with-limited-funds/ !! Productivity * http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=873466 * http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=876312 * http://creately.com/ * http://thymer.com/ * http://www.timmyontime.com/ * http://agile.dzone.com/articles/introduction-planning-poker * http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=943358 * http://www.box.net/ * http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~cduan/technical/git/ * http://wiki.github.com/bricoleurs/bricolage/working-with-git * http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~blynn/gitmagic/book.html * http://devgrow.com/tools-to-help-you-focus-and-increase-productivity/ * http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/designing-startup-metrics-to-drive-successful-behavior/ ********> !! Pricing * http://downloads.businessofsoftware.org/dontjustrollthedice.pdf !! Planning * http://hosteddocs.ittoolbox.com/EM032006.pdf ******** !! "Wisdom" * Most people execute linearly, step by step * They measure progress by "steps they did" * Entrepreneurs focus on the goal * They measure progress by "accomplishing their goals" ********< !! Getting users * http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=910829 * http://briancray.com/2009/11/13/signup-process-online-community-best-practices/ !! Social networks * http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/07/facebook-social-networks-evolutionary-graph-theory * http://leanstartup.pbworks.com/ * http://www.evanmiller.org/how-not-to-sort-by-average-rating.html ********> !! OpenID * http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2288395847791059857 * http://wiki.openid.net/Introduction * https://www.myopenid.com/tutorial ******** !! Tools * http://www.dyndns.com/ * http://theplanis.com/ * http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/django-crash-course * http://www.web2py.com/AlterEgo/default/show/253 ********< ----