Joe Stump

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• Hey Joe, what is the best resource to learning coding and web development?

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    Haha, Google, honestly. I spend a lot of time perusing mailing lists, documentation, blogs, Twitter, IRC, and news website to learn and keep up. Starting from scratch though? I’ve heard good things about Treehouse and Code Academy.

• Im looking for the best technical guidelines to start an online store for high tech physical goods that can scale-up quickly: payement options, shoping carts to be used, hosting solution, design tool..etc

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    I don’t know of any places for those, but I’m sure a place like Etsy or StoreEnvy would be able to guide you through the basics to the point where you could test your thesis.

• I was told by a serial entrepreneur that startups dont need product organization that the founders are who drive the vision of the product. Hearing this as a product manager trying to get into the startup scene, I was crushed. Do you agree?

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    It’s a good sign that a startup is failing, or will fail, when the founder of the company hands product vision over to someone else. Can someone else run the day-to-day of gathering requirements, talking to customers, etc.? Sure, but nobody else should be driving vision.

    Personally, I wouldn’t hire a product manager until the product suite had grown to a point where I couldn’t handle most of those duties myself. Usually after a Series A and usually 2-3 years into a company’s lifespan.

• Hi Joe, they say every successful app/site is built on failures. In your history as an entrepreneur how many of your websites/apps that you launched (with the idea of being monetize) didn't work out?...A simple % will do... thanks

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    I really wish people would quit saying that. The failures I’ve partaken in have been less about me launching a product and it failing, though I certainly have a few of those, and more about how NOT to do something REALLY important (e.g. hiring, firing, raising money, etc.).

• In a start-up do you have to work every day? no vacation.

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    Downtime is critical to avoid burnout. We work long hours, but everyone I know takes time to step away. At Digg and SimpleGeo, every employee got 20 days of vacation a year (2x the national average here in the US).

• What the biggest challenge you have faced when creating your virtual work environment? Ours has been to keep the communications lines open and current.

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    Removing distractions from my environment. I also miss pairing up with coders and the impromptu conversations that happen in office environments.

• Importance of branding to startups?

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    Huge. Massive. Do not ignore.

• Should I financially compensate my mentor/advisor? How (equity/cash/etc)?

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    Yes. This is usually in the form of equity. Depending on the advisor’s participation I’d say 0.25% to 0.5% on a two year vesting schedule is perfectly appropriate.

• So is Matt a tech guy too? So the key to focusing on what you really want to do in the company, is to get enough funding to hire people. How hard would it be for a non-tech co-founder?

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    Matt is technical, but not a coder. He’s an expert at CSS, HTML, design, Photoshop, etc. His skills perfectly compliment mine on that side of things.

    I think it’s always harder for completely non-technical founders. Matt had valid, tangible skills, that we leveraged early on. Sometimes it takes a while for non-technical peoples' skills to become relevant to startups.

    This doesn’t mean non-technical founders should be discouraged. It just means you’ll likely have to bring on a technical founder (either designer or coder) and/or outsource the production of your product. Taking a different path isn’t always wrong.

• I have heard that startups can take away from family. Should I really avoid creating a startup if I have a family of four?

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    I think a family of four is hard work, no matter what your day job is. Startups require a lot of time and effort, which will naturally conflict with your familial duties. Startups are hugely risky, usually lack serious healthcare, no vacations, etc. These are all rather antithesis to family dynamics.

    Does this mean you shouldn’t? Of course not, but you should be realistic and ensure your partner and family are on board with such an endeavor.