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Tell HN: My startup is making money and I don't know what to do

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Re: Tell HN: My startup is making money and I don't know what to do

#121

Post by sthielen »

josephjrobison wrote: post #50

What school do you guys go to? I went to USD, and was surprised to see it listed as one of the 3 schools. Definitely think this is a great alternative to Craigslist, and the fact that the properties are pre-selected to accept college students saves a ton of time. And it's beautiful - good work. I don't have much advice on the raising money side, but as a user I love it.

Glad you like the site! We are all Chapman students. The whole reason we started the site was actually because we all had horrible experiences renting properties when we transferred here last fall, and found out there weren't really any resources to help college students.

Re: Tell HN: My startup is making money and I don't know what to do

#122

Post by swalkergibson »

sthielen wrote: post #114
swalkergibson wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And a lot of people are critiquing our business plan/strategies--which I am grateful for and do actually appreciate--but I didn't really intend for this to be an elaboration of our business and I didn't really write my OP in order to explain how everything works and what all our financials/projections are, rather I wanted advice about moving forward from here. In order to properly provide advice about the next step…

Yeah, I understand what you mean and I tried carefully to phrase that in a way that avoided sounding dismissive of what has been good and insightful critique--we've all been reading everything posting on here and following up with a lot of commenters off-site, which has been really cool and helpful.

Glad to hear it! Congratulations on the success so far. It is exciting when someone pays you money for your product, definitely a great buzz!

Re: Tell HN: My startup is making money and I don't know what to do

#123

Post by sthielen »

dsugarman wrote: post #61

1.4 1.4 1.4*1.4 != 2 not really close and super suspicious. know if you actually need to raise money and why and if you do, know your numbers. also don't just look to raise money and hire whoever you can get your hands on to 'manage a business' know who you need and why, plan a top line growth strategy, and a more humble strategy with less capital

I'm going to be honest and admit that I'm still not entirely comfortable with calculating this metric. I've just been going into Google Analytics and dividing our weekly "Users" graph by the previous week, and then averaging all those percentages together. Same for monthly growth. I'm assuming, from people pointing out errors, that this is not the correct way of calculating growth?

Regardless, we've seen significant and consistent increases in traffic, but I'd definitely like to not sound like an idiot (or worse, have my errors be decried as misrepresentation), in the future.

Re: Tell HN: My startup is making money and I don't know what to do

#124

Post by mbesto »

whence wrote: post #106
patio11 wrote: post #67

Choose your own adventure: 1) You currently have approximately $500 to $2k in revenue. That's great, because it is $500 to $2k in revenue more than the vast majority of people will ever achieve. You need to work the numbers on whether the founding team can solo-close $100k in revenue in the next twelve months. If that appears achievable, you tighten your belts, perhaps run up larger balances on your credit cards than…

> perhaps run up larger balances on your credit cards than usual Strongly, strongly, strongly disagree with this. The only balance you should ever run on your credit card is $0. Treat it as cash.

Debt is an instrument. Instruments can hurt or help. Instruments utility is based solely on how you personally utilize them. So, the answer, as always is, "it depends".

Re: Tell HN: My startup is making money and I don't know what to do

#125

Post by corkill »

swalkergibson wrote: post #110
ghiculescu wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why on earth would you say that? They're just about the cheapest form of loan you can get, and are perfect for OP's needs.

> They're just about the cheapest form of loan you can get In what sense? Unsecured credit has the absolute highest interest rates, especially for college students. They are no doubt the most convenient, but cheapest is a bit of a stretch.

They are the cheapest in terms of founder time.

You don't need to apply or be approved by anyone you already have access to the funding.

Re: Tell HN: My startup is making money and I don't know what to do

#128

Post by Im_Talking »

Jeez, everyone is talking incubators, YC, angels, etc. People don't realise that this type of money is the most expensive you will EVER get. And trying to get this funding will consume your business for the better part of a year, at least, with everything else on-hold to the point where you have neglected the actual business long enough that you will need the funding, and die without it.

Bootstrap for as long as you can. Be smart. Be imaginative. Seek out partnerships with customers as they can be a great source of money/advise/contacts if they feel it can benefit them. Sounds like customers love the concept, so get them to pony-up some money or contacts. Then, the cheapest money is the money you don't need.

Equity should be treated as gold. And a lot of founders who create successful businesses kick themselves for the mindless throwing-around of equity in the early stages.

I would suggest setting-up an advisory board. I'm sure you and your co-founders will know several smart people, or ask customers who they recommend.

Re: Tell HN: My startup is making money and I don't know what to do

#129

Post by Im_Talking »

late2part wrote: post #103
ixmatus wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The advice to just get an LLC going first then convert to a C corp is fine for their stage, I won't argue against it. However, what you're saying in opposition to forming a C corp early doesn't feel very rigorous. From my limited experience as a founder, forming a C corp early has made some things easier. The time we had to convert a California C corp to a Delaware C corp became messy and I imagine converting a {what…

Worry about the lawyers and corp and tax stuff later, when you have some success behind you. Put together a clear written agreement among founders, but don't throw money at the lawyers until you have the money to throw.

Very poor advice. The business is always the product.

Re: Tell HN: My startup is making money and I don't know what to do

#130

Post by raverbashing »

ghiculescu wrote: post #111
swalkergibson wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They're just about the cheapest form of loan you can get In what sense? Unsecured credit has the absolute highest interest rates, especially for college students. They are no doubt the most convenient, but cheapest is a bit of a stretch.

Compared to paths 2 and 3 (incubator or seed round). I'd say that at this stage of the game, paying some interest is probably much cheaper than giving up a stake of the business. Not least because paying interest is really annoying and will teach you to make better decisions for cash flow, which will better equip you as the business grows and you do consider paths 2 or 3. Disclaimer: I'm im Australia, it does seem li…

Really, you are dangerously wrong.

Credit card is one of the most expensive credits available. Economics 101. If you need a loan go to the manager and talk to them, this is cheaper.

"I'd say that at this stage of the game, paying some interest is probably much cheaper than giving up a stake of the business"

Any percentage of zero is zero. If the company goes down, it doesn't matter if you kept 80% or 50% or less, it is worth zero. 100% or zero is zero in the same way. Yes, people have to take care when selling equity, but investors are not only there for the money but also connections and advice.

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