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How should I go about finding and recruiting people with the expertise to turn my business concept into a start-up?
I have a business concept that I has received positive feedback from local business leaders, professors, and college students (my main target market). The only problem is that it is web-based and I do not have the knowledge to create the website or design it although I have a functional blueprint of the webpages. I need a web developer and a web designer to help turn my blueprints into a website.

I am well equipped to handle the business end. I have a BA in Economics, a minor in communications and plenty of college level business courses in Marketing, Entrepreneruship, Accounting etc. Moreover I have management, marketing, and research experience in the professional world.

The problem is that I have little money and I have been advised to have a team before approaching sources of funds. How do I get a team? How do I negotiate terms? What is a good initial offering of equity?

Thanks for your time.
1 advice Category: Employees, Startup operations

Ravi Arora

Dear Associate

If I ready your case right;
-- you are starting from scratch, possibly with a 'one man army';
-- you have your business plan (an website - source of delivery/revenue?) validated among the peers (personal and independent industry profess... (more)
How do I spread the word about my new start up?
This start up (livepicly.com) is located in Jakarta, Indonesia. We have only launched for 1 month and I'm trying to get more ideas on how I can spread the word out about my website. Any advice would be appreciated.
5 advice Category: Marketing, Startup operations

Chris J Gallant

Both Stephen and Kyle are right, having had several start-ups there is no magic wand that will attract viewers. The task at hand is slow, methodical and requires continuous efforts. The biggest mistakes that start-ups make, is the moment they get some view... (more)
Where can I find some good web app contract developers?

1 advice Category: Internet

David Kim

I'm assuming this is a tech/software-centric startup (or do you just want to sell an apple online)? Have you validated your product-market fit? There are many 'building' steps one can and should take prior to coding. For example, creating mock-ups or de... (more)
What's the best way to brainstorm new business name ideas?
Working on names for a new business; totally stuck.

My current business is 81fb.com, but I don't feel that the name conveys our value prop or what we do. Our value prop is simple organization development products to enable small business leaders. Our target market is creatives (designers, architects) in small growing businesses.

I've also found domain name availability constraining in the naming process.
8 advice Category: Branding

Mike Bucci

Good names distinguish your product from competitors, appeal to your target audience, imply the product’s benefit and are available for legal protection. While this combination may not always be easy to find, it certainly is achievable. As you have bee... (more)
How can I generate buzz and engage more users for our Start up?
myTaskAngel (mytaskangel.co.uk) is an online marketplace where people connect to get everyday tasks done in their local communities. An eBay for local services. We are in closed beta and due to launch to the public. We would like to engage more users, increase traffic and generate a buzz when we launch to the public. We have done a bit of work with creating a buzz: blog articles and contest, Facebook contest, forum interactions, ads on some classified sites to recruit TaskAngels. We want to increase the current results and coverage.
3 advice Category: Internet, Marketing, Startup operations

Michael ANDRE

The major factor in increasing the user base is offering a great service. I know it sounds bloody obvious but at the moment your site will loose most of the fist time visitors. So the more you bring the more you will loose forever.

There is a number of ... (more)
We worked hard to get a social commerce site to production, and we built social from the ground up. But we are having a hard time getting users. It appears that the network effects are pretty strong at existing marketplaces.
The site is www.celeritos.com. Some of the issues that have been highlighted:

1. Lack of Facebook Connect (We didn't want to use FB)
2. Inability to see beyond the front page of what the site offers
3. Lack of sellers
4. Sellers need PayPal, and a lot of the local ones only use bank transfers or internet banking
3 advice Category: Marketing, Startup operations

Kyle Hawke

Don't create a video. Show real examples of what people are buying and selling on the site. If you don't have any or enough users selling stuff on the site right now, then bug your friends... Get them to sell stuff. If you can't convince your friends, then... (more)
National companies are taking our state contracts. How can we expand into new markets?
We are small utility construction/marking company in the state of Virginia. We had a total of 10 employees and 3 subcontractors working for us. Big national companies have come into our state to bid on the biggest projects. These companies can beat everyone on price and then sub-contract only the least profitable pieces of work.

We are looking at different direction to take our company. But without the background we are having trouble breaking into other fields.
2 advice Category: Expansion

Mark Wright

I would suggest a combination of a strategic planning session with key members of your company after you have done a financial analysis of the different types of work/contracts you have done over the past year or two (focus on profitability and contributio... (more)
What's the best affordable software system to use to manage paid print magazine subscriptions?
We have published two issues of our magazine. We are ramping up with the next issue and want to start selling subscriptions. Ideally, we'd have a system where people could sign up for a subscription, pay online, and even go back in later to update their address info, if needed. The startup is being bootstrapped, so we may just have to end up cobbling together a Wufoo spreadsheet and updating the database manually, printing off our own labels, etc. Is there a better affordable option? What do professional publications use and recommend?
2 advice Category: Production

Ravi M

good number of COTS applications are available to address the same. Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS). These applications are developed by bigger companies and even some of the startups. It would be great if we can discuss further with respect to the kind ... (more)
What is the best way to promote a paid app that is on iTunes?
What is the best way to promote an app that's new to the Education section of iTunes? On a positive note, we seem to be getting a decent amount of downloads from overseas, but I would like to increase our numbers in the US and abroad. It's a paid app ($4.99) geared toward students. The app is eNotebook and the website is www.enotebookapp.com. We are doing Social Media, PR, approaching app reviewers, and possibly SEM. Any advice would be appreciated.
2 advice Category: Advertising, Marketing

Heather McDonough

Your website advertises the fact that teachers will want their students to use your app in class. You might want to look into direct marketing to a handful of schools across the spectrum of K-12 through college and graduate level. Print some business car... (more)
I want to find ways to spread the word about our startup.
Kumbuya is a social platform to meet others who share your interests, measure demand for things you want, and to create and distribute deals. beta.kumbuya.com
3 advice Category: Marketing, Startup operations

Kyle Hawke

I've spent quite a bit of time on your site today and I have put together some thoughts below based on that experience, plus my experience starting Whinot and finally my experience working with other entrepreneurs in your same situation.

I think your bi... (more)
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