I’m thinking of joining a startup as employee #2 as a product designer & mobile developer.

The startup is offering competitive salary and 2% equity at employee level. I know this will get watered down over time as they raise further, so I’m joining mainly for the salary and experience.

I understand that founders go all in and should do whatever they can to make it work. But they also have large ownership of the company, so it really pays off for them.

But should an employee in my position be expected to go all in and work 60+ hours every week? Or is it reasonable and expected to assert fixed hours each week, like 40/50? What’s the norm here?

For start-up founders, who are in the initial stage of setting up their business, while working in a company full-time, how do you manage your time, and money, so that you can give your 100% to the start-up?

What all points should be kept in mind, to avoid any kind of legal hassle, and make it a smooth sailing journey?

This is /r/startups emotional support thread. There will be no problem-solving here, no judgement, no networking, no advice. We're here to be heard, be understood, and be told that it'll be okay, that whatever happens, we care. Still, be tactful and classy in how you vent your feelings and share your frustrations. Act in a mature manner. This is meant to be a safe place to support emotional and physical health and there is a zero tolerance policy in effect. Be kind. Please report any conduct that is in violation of that key tenet.

Howdy there. Did you have a rough week? It's certainly been a rough year. Did you get in an argument? Have a problem? Tell me about it. What's wrong?

hi all, I've an idea (b2c app in the music industry) that I would like to validate to make sure there is audience/potential customers, that the problem is valid and that people are willing to pay for it. from what I've read so far, I understand that I can prep a questionnaire and distribute through relevant channels, a fake-door website, and optionally a MVP.

I would like to pick some of the wisdom here and see if the questionnaire will be sufficient at this early stage, as building a website will take some time to design the graphics, build the content, etc.

TIA!

I recently launched my SaaS as a solo founder. I hired a lawyer to draft up a terms of service and privacy policy for my company because this is far from my area of expertise. However, what she sent me was many pages of legal jargon. She even sent me three totally separate Privacy Policy documents (Standard, GDPR, and CCPA).

As an example, here's an excerpt from my terms of service

If you access the Services through a mobile device, you agree that information about your use of the Services through your mobile device and carrier may be communicated to us, including but not limited to your mobile carrier, your mobile device, or your physical location. In addition, use of the Services through a mobile device may cause data to be displayed on and through your mobile device. By accessing the Services using a mobile device, you represent that to the extent you import any of your data to your mobile device that you have authority to share the transferred data with your mobile carrier or other access provider. In the event you change or deactivate your mobile account, you must promptly update your account information to ensure that your messages are not sent to the person that acquires your old number and failure to do so is your responsibility. You acknowledge You are responsible for all charges and necessary permissions related to accessing the Services through your mobile access provider. Therefore, you should check with your provider to find out if the Services are available and the terms for these services for your specific mobile devices. Company is not responsible for the Website or services not displaying or working correctly on mobile services. By using any downloadable application to enable your use of the Services, you are explicitly confirming your acceptance of the terms of the End User License Agreement associated with the Application provided at download or installation, or as may be updated from time to time.

My web platform doesn't even ask for people's phone numbers.

I hate this lengthy legal jargon. But who am I to go against a lawyer's advice. Should I push back or just use what she sent me and move on?

I dream of becoming my own boss.. But how?

Hey everyone,

I'm interested in starting my own business, but I don't have any specific ideas or skills to utilize. I'm hoping to get some advice on where to start and how to generate ideas.

I'm open to anything, but I'm particularly interested in businesses that are low-cost to start and can be run part-time. I'm also willing to learn new skills if necessary.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

We're going to launch the first beta product version soon. And I have a discussion with my co-founder about a list of questions for the survey built into the app.

I consider that the NPS questions should be added at once. So we would be able to track users' satisfaction while verifying ideas around features in further app iteration and work on the improvement of NPS as the main metric.

What would you recommend to us? Does it worth it from the first launch, or we should implement it later? If so, how do you define this point?

Hi all, I currently work for a big semiconductor company (been around since mid 1900's with dozens of thousands employees worldwide). I've been at this role for 2 years and it's my first real engineering job. It's very stable, steady and thus comfortable which I appreciate and I'm grateful for, but there's close to 0 upwards mobility along with other downsides of this kid of job.

I applied for a job at a startup with ~500 employees and I received a follow up email from the recruiter for a Customer Success Manager position. I'm very, very excited and nervous as this is exactly what I've been dreaming about for more than a year.

Since I'm used to working a large, old company, what are some things that I should consider while interviewing or in general?

Any feedback will be immensely appreciated.

We're currently building an MVP, but are not quite sure if we can manage to "fake-automate" the process. In short, we take text files from our customers and manipulate them (rule-based). Usually, this takes a week (rough estimate) for a professional to do so. We want to automate that. Output time will be under a minute.

We were thinking of a concierge MVP, but a Wizard of Oz MVP (software, but it really is just mechanical turk) sounds like a good idea, too. We're not able to process the file in less than a week, though, minimum 3 days.

Is there any other form of MVP, or strategy, that we can look into?

Hi, For the best part of 2022 I and my co-founder were building a product fit for VC funding. We studied a lot, and got to the point of discussing check sizes with angels and micro VCs. Then around November things started to change and we hear more and more that “you need to already have enough revenue” to come for external funding.

Listening to the Venture Deals course by Techstars, I noted that they mention “you either work on your business or you raise funds”. Taking everything into account, we decided to pivot again and work super hard to get not only traction but steady revenue.

Do you think that is the right decision? What would you do with a post-users, pre-revenue stage startup in 2023?

Ive built an MVP for a business that connects restaurants with consumers, however my co-founder and I are not quite sure what the best launch strategy is.

Do we consult restaurants first and get them on the platform (knowing that there are not the users available to warrant their subscription price) or do we build up a list of users that want to use the platform and when we have a financially viable number, then sign up the restaurants?

Any insight would be highly appreciated!

As a hobby I coded a website where visitors can leave reviews on video games and I want to take it further. I have plans for monetisation but I want to focus on getting people to use the free version of the site as it currently is first.

I have tried to gain traction and visitors on social media that i personally run, but it doesn't get results, especially whilst i am juggling my 9-5 job. I need help in gaining users and i think it is time i invested in a marketing company to jumpstart visibility.

I am stuck on how to search for a marketing agency that will help me gain visitors, that would want to leave reviews on a gaming review website. Does anyone have advice, recommendations? Better yet, stories or tips on how to improve my social presence myself?

I have an idea that I want to test out. I'm at the prototyping phase at the moment. From what research I've done, mvp is the way to go. This is a software based mvp. Is it best to just build a simple monolith, and grow it into micro services (or whatever) at a later stage? Or just get straight to the monolith and worry about the architecture later?

Would love to get insight from others who've been here before. Thanks!

In the early stages, founders often take the lead in sales to drive customer acquisition and revenue growth.But as the business scales, it becomes increasingly important for founders to delegate sales responsibilities to a dedicated team. Here are the signs that indicate it's time for founders to step away from sales and focus on other strategic areas:

​

1) The business has achieved product-market fit

This means it's time to scale sales efforts to maximize growth. At this point, founders should consider handing over the sales reins to a dedicated team that can manage the sales process, freeing up the founder to focus on other initiatives.

​

2) Sales processes are well-defined

Founders often excel at selling their vision and product, but as the company grows, it becomes essential to establish repeatable and scalable sales processes. If you've already documented and refined your sales processes, it's an indication that you're ready to delegate sales responsibilities to a sales team. This transition will allow your sales team to follow the established guidelines and strategies, while the founder can focus on refining the company's overall direction.

​

3) The founder's time is stretched thin

As a startup grows, a founders responsibilities will naturally expand. Balancing the demands of sales, product development, hiring, and fundraising can be overwhelming. If you find that sales responsibilities are detracting from other critical areas of your business, it's time to consider building a small sales team that can take over the responsibility of driving revenue growth.

​

4) When fundraising requires the founder's full attention

Fundraising is time-consuming, and without money your startup will die. It's as simple as that. If you're approaching a funding round, it may be best to step away from sales and focus on securing a round.

​

Stepping away from founder-led sales can be a challenging decision, but it's a crucial step in the growth and development of your startup. By recognizing the signs that it's time to transition, founders can ensure they're allocating their time and energy to the areas that will have the greatest impact on their company's success. Building a dedicated and capable sales team will not only drive revenue growth but also enable founders to focus on their core responsibilities, ultimately leading to a stronger, more sustainable business.

Context: Early-stage idea stage, exhausted friends and family, need more insight into remote workers (our target user)

The challenge is I can't just walk up to remote workers in person, but I need to find more to speak to.

How do I find remote workers to speak to (fairly quickly)?

I work as a software engineer from Monday-Friday. So after working 8 hours with my brain, I can't find enough energy to use my brain for my startup (which right now they are just ideas that I am working on the MVP, also I'm solo cofounder). Any advices ?

P/s: On Saturday and Sunday, I do go to coffee shop to work cause I found it's more productive there.

Edit 1 : I am passionate about my startup. But it's not that simple. Because even with only an MVP, I have to build a video chat - text chat - user authentication. So it's hard to code it. After a while, the project feels a little hopeless to build.

I'm wondering, if a project or idea is posted in feedback forums, or on a web site with a google form, etc and nobody responds... does it mean the idea is bad or just not enough people have seen the feedback request?

I tend to think that people want to spare feelings by simply not being negative on a bad idea, but I don't know if that is true or not. Maybe 100 people need to see the request before just 1 responds?

Thoughts?

I started working on my startup 8 months ago. After 8 months of full-time griding, I launched my edtech startup. Now I am going to go crazy. No one is going to sign up. Nobody doesn't care. I don't know what I am going to do. I have $0 to market my product. Please give me some direction.

Have a question about how to execute on the legal aspects of your startup? Think legal is all about magic words? Or just had a question you were afraid to ask?

Where: As an official r/Startups official event, unvarnished and neutral legal information can be found at LoveEsq's Legal Office Hours on the r/Startups Professional Discord Server (look to the sidebar or go to https://discord.gg/9qsrDuEeZS ). We include resources in the accompanying chat.

When: This event starts at 12pm (noon) Central Standard Time on at or:

• Los Angeles, USA Wednesdays at 10:00 am PST
• Chicago, USA Wednesdays at 12:00 noon CST
• New York, USA Wednesdays at 1:00 pm EST
• Boston, USA Wednesdays at 1:00 pm EST
• Santiago, Chile Wednesdays at 3:00 pm CLST
• London, United Kingdom Wednesdays, 2023 at 6:00 pm GMT
• Tel Aviv, Israel Wednesdays at 8:00 pm IST
• Moscow, Russia Wednesdays at 9:00 pm MSK
• Bengaluru, India Wednesdays at 11:30 pm IST
• Beijing, China Wednesdays at 2:00 am CST
• Shanghai, China Wednesdays at 2:00 am CST

What:

• Bring your questions! Common questions that people ask are ...
• Incorporation and business structure: Choosing the right type of business entity (e.g. sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation) and ensuring that it is properly formed and registered.
• Employment law: Hiring employees and complying with laws related to wages, benefits, and other aspects of the employment relationship.
• Intellectual property: Protecting and enforcing trademarks, copyrights, and patents.
• Raising capital: Negotiating and executing investment deals, including venture capital financing and crowdfunding.
• Commercial contracts: Drafting and negotiating contracts with customers, suppliers, and other business partners.
• Privacy and data protection: Complying with laws related to the collection, use, and storage of personal data.
• Mergers and acquisitions: Buying or selling a business, including due diligence and negotiating the terms of the deal.
• Regulatory compliance: Ensuring that the business complies with laws and regulations related to its industry (e.g. healthcare, finance, technology).
• Legal Management: How to gain a competitive advantage by using your legal department or outside counsel effectively.

Brought to you by EsqLove, an Illinois Law Firm. Note no attorney client relationship is formed by this pro bono event, and no legal advice will be given. This event generalizes the questions asked, and demonstrates some of the common approaches used, while always advising everyone to consult an attorney.

My friend and I are working on something. But both of us have different jobs at different locations. So we are just doing research and discussing it whenever possible. Its been just couple of weeks and we are finding it difficult to formulate a concrete plan. Is it good idea to resign and dive in completely? Any suggestions on how to manage all the things at this stage?

Hey everyone. I have a question. Two friends of mine and I have been hatching a business idea since last summer. It is a SaaS application. We are convinced there is value in it and believe in it very much. We had been testing our service with different profiles for the last few months. Until yesterday, we were suddenly told through a tester that this solution already exists. Of course, we immediately started researching it, and indeed the company the tester mentioned is very similar to what we want to do. The company has already raised €600 000 and has been successful for more than five years. We were tongue-tied that we had not come across this before.

This gives us mixed feelings. On the one hand, it confirms our feeling that there is demand and value in it. On the other hand, we wonder if we want to compete with a company that is clearly 5 years ahead of us. We are literally 3 guys with prototype service doing this alongside our regular jobs and we are only in the testing phase. Are there people here who have gone through the same thing? How do you decide what to do? Are there any ways to check if the market is big enough for an additional player? And if we go ahead with it we do need to be able to differentiate ourselves from them, how do you find a way to do that? Thanks in advance :-)

Hi!

I am working on an app that helps creative agencies work on video ads, scripts, and presentations.

I intend to keep it free for individual users with a cheap tier that allows for more stuff, but I aim at the corporate clients from my previous business. I want to make the Enterprise package the most feature-rich and add lots of integrations to corporate software.

What are the best practices for charging for such packages? I see a lot of "Contact us" but never a number.

Thank you

I'm looking to do an equity based compensation to get help on a foodtech startup idea that is going well so far but that needs to go faster as I'm the one doing all coding at this point. We've got some customers and there is demand for what we're doing but need to scale the tech team to go for more customers.
I want to bring on people that can help with the tech for some small parts and I'm ready to do an equity based deal for part time work (100% equity salary until we have funding and then $ X per month).

Has anyone struck this type of deal before ?

Doing customer discovery to formulate an initial idea in an enterprise space (SaaS for hospitals).

Been using LinkedIn trying to get interviews applying all the “classic” techniques, personalization, asking to learn vs selling, time boxing the call to 10-15m, trying to provide value (offering to tell about where the tech in the field is going - not my industry so can’t offer something else yet).

Been getting 1% conversion rate (2 calls a week with linkedins max 200 a week connect requests) which is super slow.

Any idea what could be done and how to get more interviews?

Hi All,

My company is going through Due Diligence for a pre/seed (does anyone actually know anymore?) round and we have two deferral agreements with large and fairly well known law firms amounting to around $80k in performed services combined (payment gets triggered after raising anything above $250k). We’re a FinTech in a very regulated space so we didn’t really have an option for the analysis/counsel we needed early on.

I was wondering if divulging this as a major liability (they want us to list liabilities above 40k) will hurt our chances?

Reached out to my contacts at each to see if we can negotiate a lesser amount some how but pretty worried nonetheless….