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Lara Littlefield

Community organizer, ceo

Bio

I sold my first startup (digital drag and drop paper dolls) at the age of 14 and have been coding with WordPress since 2003. Today I'm the CEO of http://simmerwp.com and blog at http://laralittlefield.pub.

Recent Answers

Rapid Prototyping

Need help to understand how far APIs can take it us & what the user experience will actually look like?


Lara Littlefield

Community organizer, ceo

Building generic APIs is easy with the new WP API. (WordPress). I recently wrote an article on the impacts that the introduction of so many new APIs will mean for mobile and other technologies: http://laralittlefield.pub/24-percent-internet-scale-wp-api/ Feel free to connect with me directly anytime to discuss API specifics. Cheers, Lara

Referrals

Best referral marketing plugins during checkout if using Stripe?


Lara Littlefield

Community organizer, ceo

What platform are you currently using? Right now, one of my favorite affiliate systems for WordPress is https://affiliatewp.com/. It's easy to use and setup to create an affiliate program for any website that uses WordPress (and Stripe with another e-commerce system). Cheers, Lara

Start-ups

Do co-founders decide everything together or does the CEO call the shots?


Lara Littlefield

Community organizer, ceo

How is the equity of the company currently distributed? Make sure important foundation based details like this are set and firmly understood by all parties before moving forward any further. Part of becoming a CEO involves taking lead, and being firm in deciding your direction. Share with your co-founder that you value his opinion, but that you are the lead decision maker at the end of the day. Things will go more smoothly if everyone is on the same page about this. Good luck! Feel free to message me for a call anytime.

WordPress

I want to build a expert marketplace directory listing website, which wordpress theme I should use?


Lara Littlefield

Community organizer, ceo

Checkout is a high-quality WordPress theme by Array built for marketplaces of any kind. https://arraythemes.com/themes/checkout-wordpress-theme/ Let me know if you have any questions about implementation, and I'd be happy to setup a call.

Online Marketplace

Are there any open-source marketplaces available for building websites?


Lara Littlefield

Community organizer, ceo

It sounds like you are headed in the direction of WordPress. Do you want to create an e-commerce portion, too? Check out http://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce/. Cheers! Let me know if you have any questions.

Web Design & Development

Is there a market for selling web design and development together? How to find new clients in Paris France? How can we find clients outside France?


Lara Littlefield

Community organizer, ceo

It sounds like you just have a simple sales issue, and thankfully a high quality product :) The solution is simple, and you seem to have realized it already: you need to reduce the friction in your location for getting customers into your "front door" and providing them with (what I'm assuming) is a proposal. Also, feel free to use the word "agency" to describe your combined services. It's what we do :) So, my suggestion is to try reaching out to sales professionals in your area (Paris), and more importantly, with experience in your industry. You'll need to figure out how commission or payment will work, and then let them work their networked magic. Achieving sales leads is really just about your network. So if a sales person simply isn't within your budgetary reach, the next best thing you can do is just have every employee of your agency be their own salesperson. This means reaching out to colleagues from completely different industries, friends, successful people in business that you may have known from grade school, etc.... While sales seems like a crappy process at the start (yes, you are just asking for work from people), what you're building is long term, quality relationships with these people, especially if your final deliverables really wow the end client. From there, you'll find that your happiest clients will do most of the traditional 'sales' work for you :) Hope this helps! Feel free to give me a ring any time.

Sales & Biz Dev

Fact or Fiction? You NEED side a job when creating a business because there is no way to make money for 6-12 months


Lara Littlefield

Community organizer, ceo

Fact :) But of course, this has to do with your overall profitability and a ton of other metrics. Of course, these days, if your startup is actually generating revenue right out of the gate, you're golden. But it's essential that you diversify you income as early on in your life as possible. So, yes, I'd say a side job can be somewhat of a necessity for some entrepreneurs. Hope this helps :)

Demos

Why do so many SaaS B2B firms make you go through a demo, and hide the product instead of letting you start using it right away?


Lara Littlefield

Community organizer, ceo

Because the startup costs to get a lot of their customers actually set up on their platform are too high, so free trials for say, 14 days, are out of the question. For example, take a look at http://www.curalate.com/ which uses some really amazing technology to track a customer's brand imagery across (almost) the entire web. Naturally, most of these types of services are usually $300++/month, so again, it's all just about mitigating setup costs for the provider. Hope this helps :)

Mobile applications

I need new developers to finish my app due to problems. What do I need to know from the current app developers so I can advertise for a new company?


Lara Littlefield

Community organizer, ceo

This is a process we've been through on both sides a number of times. When a client has left us, it is because we, as an agency, had chose to end the relationship due to an abusive work environment/demands, or the classic: never paying ones' bills on time (if at all). We also pick up work a lot where a previous dev has left off, which can vary in terms of time and cost very, very much depending on your needs. The first question that may solve this headache for you more immediately is: is your code base currently on GitHub or any other repository provider? This makes transferring source code exceptionally easy, and for our clients we create a new repository (always private, which you'll need a paid account for) for every new client project, whether it's an iOS app or a website. If you DON'T have access to your code (and don't forget all of your creative assets and other strategy related documents that your previous provider may have created as a part of your project scope) then things will just be a tiny bit messier (and costlier) during the transition. While it's true that many developers really need to start from scratch on certain transfer projects like these, if the previous company you were working with was any good (charging at least $90-$150/hr) then the code that they wrote likely adhered to a certain set of standards and best practices. Any responsible web agency will ensure their code can be taken over at any time by a new dev. This is helpful for everyone involved, always, in the short and long term. Anyways, if you'd like to share a few further details about your project I'd be happy to chat more :) Cheers, Lara

Resume Writing

Starting a Startup, still in concept and idea phase, How to put what progress/accomplishments on resume?


Lara Littlefield

Community organizer, ceo

This is a good route to take and the same one I took after leaving undergrad. An MBA is for the birds, anyways ;) First things first, take credit where credit is due! You're a founder now it sounds like, and you're working on your first MVP I'm guessing (hoping?) as well. At the very least, get together some sketches, etc... as well. You'll definitely want a prototype in order to feel "whole." So, more importantly, just list this startup's name as a part of your career in your resume as you would when working for any other company. When asked, be completely truthful, and let your exuberance and fascination with being a self starter shine through. These few factors alone will signal to any future employer that you would be a valuable asset to have on their team, but you may find that you enjoy working for yourself a bit too much before then ;) Have you setup a corporation or LLC yet? Or are you using a partnership (assuming this is all U.S. based)? Once you have your business' infrastructure in place, things will definitely feel more official as well. Also, be sure to incorporate NOW rather than later to avoid any major legal headaches. Feel free to message me any time if you'd like to chat further. Cheers, Lara

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Areas of Expertise

Product DesignWordPressContent MarketingUX DesignSmall BusinessProduct DevelopmentNew Business DevelopmentCreative DirectionFront End DevelopmentAPI Design