11–20 of 21 posts
If not, how do you think you would approach the process should you seek some?
I keep hearing over and over again that investors love teams of founders. I think YC's organizers also think the same?
Good luck!
Into any major investing yet? How is that going? If not, how do you think you would approach the process should you seek some? I keep hearing over and over again that investors love teams of founders. I think YC's organizers also think the same? Good luck!
About a months ago I had been contacted by a company called PurePhoto (www.purephoto.com) which I had never heard of before. They talked to me about doing some sort of collaboration and joining forces with them. I talked with their VP and also the CEO and had mentioned my experience above and they had similar experiences. The pretty much told me that big VCs don't really look into investing in projects like mine, which is centered around art photography.
I also talked to another acquaintance who seems to work somehow closely with angel investors and he mentioned that sometimes you can find the right angel investor who is specifically interested in the photography/art space.
So really this is unexplored territory for me. I'd be willing to take advice here or simply have a discussion.
All teams (even "solo" ones) need good tools for time and project management, CRM, and solid infrastructure, so that you're not constantly putting out fires where there shouldn't be fires. I've tried adding "more people" to the mix without good tools in place, and just found out that I had two more people to manage rather than helpful human resources.
BTW, you have a wife -- so you're not flying solo. She can be one of the best members of your team. She's probably the most trustworthy, reliable, honest, biggest supporters you have. You should leverage her for her opinions and advice, whether or not she is technically inclined.
I've been doing net startups since 1994, and one of the best pieces of advice I can give is to think about marketing before you build anything. Hopefully, you can build on top of a platform for which marketing directly to the platform consumers is intrinsic. For instance, building apps/tools that can be offered directly to consumers in a venue or manner that they're expecting it, thus, increasing their trust in your product/service and meeting their needs/interests immediately. So, it's no longer "if you build it, they will come".. it's more like "if you build it, position it in the right place, they will already be there waiting."
Best of luck. Fotoblur looks great, BTW.
Into any major investing yet? How is that going? If not, how do you think you would approach the process should you seek some? I keep hearing over and over again that investors love teams of founders. I think YC's organizers also think the same? Good luck!
When I moved here to California I met someone who knows Ronny Conway from the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz who introduced us via email. I talked with him on the phone about 2 months ago and told him about my project and got a pretty mixed message. To be honest I really didn't know much about him or what to expect and possibly was over my head during my phone conversation with him. For one he mentioned that he only dea…
Into any major investing yet? How is that going? If not, how do you think you would approach the process should you seek some? I keep hearing over and over again that investors love teams of founders. I think YC's organizers also think the same? Good luck!
When I moved here to California I met someone who knows Ronny Conway from the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz who introduced us via email. I talked with him on the phone about 2 months ago and told him about my project and got a pretty mixed message. To be honest I really didn't know much about him or what to expect and possibly was over my head during my phone conversation with him. For one he mentioned that he only dea…
I am a "single" founder myself who is still in the early stages of my web publishing platform but this sounds already like what I am (and will be) doing. I am a developer and a designer at heart so maybe, just maybe, I might have a bit easier road than you =P I don't have founder related questions but I do want to ask you about the MagCloud platform ( http://www.magcloud.com/ ) your are using for publishing your maga…
Yes good questions. So MagCloud was introduced to me by the founder of JPGMag (Derek Powazek) and I've been with them since they were beta. They've grown and have become a much better service for the 1.5 years I've been with them. They now have perfect binding and international shipping which they didn't have for quite a while. I used to ship the copies international myself and act as sort of a middle man. There qual…
And what are your thoughts on the general international market for your magazine?
Great submission, thank you! May I ask, how did you hire the support team? Did you outsource your helpdesk or did you hire the support team yourself? How do you handle accounting? Finally, what resources helped you the most with SEO?
You're talking to the support team. I may have 5-10 support issues per day. Much of it is automated at this point. I wouldn't think that outsourcing that is worth loosing the chance to connect with members personally. Many of these support issues led to ideas and features that helped build a better service. I'd suggest in early stages or even further to keep your support system in-house, its your lifeline to your cus…
It gives a good picture of some of the challenges I may be facing in the future. I guess I should get cracking on some planning for these issues.
Checked out fotoblur: many of the black and whites are plain dead gorgeous - I am partial to black and whites :).
Its a great site, giving exposure to talented artists from around the world. I hope you will keep taking it higher and higher.
The conclusion that I've come to, is that this is a business model problem. If you are a single founder and want to stay that way, then starting a consumer business whose success depends on getting a lot of customers doesn't seem like the way to go. When I do take the plunge and start something of my own, it's going to be something that caters to very few customers, who in turn sell something to a lot of customers (e.g., a publishing platform for authors where you make a cut of every book sold) or who I can charge a lot. Even better if the billing is recurring.
P.S. The single founders I've spoken to consistently also mention that something that got to them more than any of this, was a feeling of loneliness. Guess HN sorta solves that problem for some.