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My start up is for web development and I want to reach some customers in Toronto and Montreal. Any tips?
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Depends a bit on your target market. I’d certainly leverage the strong tech communities in both of those cities (DemoCamps, Sproutups, etc.) to build a network, get your story out and to try to establish connections to your prospective customers. Try to win a couple of anchor customers who are iconic in whatever market you target … i.e. ones that their peers will look at and want to mimic … and do stunning work … because great work, delivering great yields to customers is your most powerful asset … and as the story gets out, as people see what you are capable of, so will your business grow.
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What advice do you have for someone thinking about building a mobile app?
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Pretty open ended question … so let me just pick a few things … User experience is especially important for mobile apps, and is the hardest thing get right. Picking your platforms is also important … remember that people will likely want to interact with your service on whatever device makes the most sense in the moment (hence, don’t forget about tablets and the “desktop” web as well). Try to put the majority of your business logic/special sauce in the cloud, so you can simplify the downstream code base on device, provide for more downstream platform ubiquity, deliver more powerful/predictive logic etc. from the more powerful computing capabilities you’d find in the cloud than you’d typically find on the device, etc. all to deliver a richer experience … Finally, for the mobile component of the app, think about what attributes/capabilities are unique to mobile (location, identity, proximity, etc.) and figure out how to leverage them.
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How should Franchisor present himself in order to convince the people that the business is serious and profitable?
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Don’t know much about the Franchise business per se … but I’d guess that it would be somewhat like convincing people to invest … so, try to focus on why this is a great business for the franchisor … on clearly defining the opportunity – qualified by the sub-market the franchisor is looking at acquiring from you … be able to back it up with success stories to date … be able to demonstrate how well you understand the business (i.e. that you have done your homework and understand the space) … be able to demonstrate your ability to support the franchisor going forward (knowledge, data, purchasing power/supply chain, marketing support, etc.) … be able to compare the ROI (costs/benefits) to the franchisor relative to other franchise opportunities (i.e. demonstrate why yours is better) … etc. … just guesses off the top of my head so take them for what they’re worth :–)
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I want to ensure that my IP is protected but don't want to incur unneccessary legal costs... at what stage should a startup look at patenting?
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In reality, the answer is “it depends” … in general I am not a big fan of software patents … and I really hope that they will one day just go away … as a startup, they can be time consuming and expensive to maintain/file/defend …etc. That said, if you have a truly unique idea/invention at the heart of your business … one that acts as a clear and compelling differentiator, and by protecting it, you can give yourself material, sustained advantage, then yes, by all means consider patenting it. Just don’t try to patent every good idea you have … better to devote your efforts to building business velocity. That’s just my opinion … so take it for what it’s worth.
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I have an idea. A good one. How do I find the right co-founder if I'm not even sure what type of development I need? How do I protect my idea?
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Start by reaching out to your trusted community (or communities like Sprouter) … identify possible co-founders (amongst friends or friends of friends) who have the right skill sets and attributes. Then work hard to get to know them well. It’s not trivial, finding the right co-founder, it is in fact one of the hardest challenges of building a startup. Take your time …
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Should i quit my job first before i startup?
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Not as a general rule, unless you are very wealthy … and especially if you have dependents … try to do what you can to bootstrap your new startup, and get some evidence of success/momentum while still earning an income … do so in your spare time (i.e. don’t take time from your employer) … and be very careful to review your employment agreement first … sometimes IP created while you work for someone else automatically becomes their property.
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Hi. I am running two startup companies. Lending Investor business and Real Estate business (marketing and development). My question is, how can I position myself (while networking and doing PR) as both lender and real estate entrepreneur? I am wondering how can I market myself as both, since I am planning more business other than this in the near future. Can a serial and parallel entrepreneur help me about this? Thank you.
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It can be tough to do two things at once … (a) it’s hard to try to run two startups at the same time as each will probably demand 150% of your time :–) … and (b) you can confuse the market with multiple brands … if the business are complementary, consider merging them and creating potentially unique value … if they are not, consider doing one of them very well … and find someone else to run the other. Focus tends to be very important in driving successful entrepreneurship.
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I am about to exit a company that bought my business 5+ years ago. I plan on taking a year off to regroup and think about what is next. I have fallen into my other ventures, I have money to keep me going for quite a while, but I want to start working on the next big thing, but not really sure where to start. With no real industry in mind what is your suggestion for looking at a new venture / start up?
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Ideas come from inspiration … inspiration comes from people … network like crazy, especially outside the circles you normally frequent and devour all the content you can on-line … chances are, your creative juices will start to flow and you will likely discover interesting new business opportunities.
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