I've been down this road before (two custom CMS platforms built over the years), and to play devil's advocate here: do you really need to build a custom CMS? What problem are you up against that aren't being solved by existing solutions? If those problems aren't fundamental, how much time and money will be saved by creating plugins for an existing CMS? I know the temptation to start from scratch, but if this is something to be used in production, the todo list is staggering: you'll need user authentication, security on the front and back end, admin interfaces, plugin infrastructure for extensibility, theming (if this will be used for multiple clients), third party integrations — and that's all before you get into really annoying and notoriously finicky shit like media uploads and i18n. If it's for learning or a hobby, go nuts, but if you're planning to use this with clients, save yourself the heartache and late nights and use something established and open source. Join the community and help fix existing solutions' shortcomings — that's a bigger overall contribution to the world. Good luck!

If you got 5000 sites to link to your site using the same keyword you'll likely be flagged for spam and attempting to manipulate the search results. That is an old-school attempt at SEOing a site that Google and the other search engines have already developed algorithmic answers to. There are three aspects to building up your search rankings. 1) On-Site Optimization: Your site has to be coded in a way that is search and mobile friendly. You need to optimize your content for searcher's topical interest's (keywords), and give your visitors a great on-site experience by focusing on usability issues. 2) Content: You need to create and publish awesome content that fills the needs of the audience you're trying to reach. Write blog posts and create other forms of content that answer questions, provide tips, and map out solutions that truly illustrate that you are an authority on the topic. 3) Social Engagement / Links: Links are an important part of the algorithm, but getting a bunch of sites to link to you using keywords is the wrong approach. You need to be engaging on social media and (to a far lesser extent) socializing your content above. But the more you engage, the more others will socialize your content for you, which is where authority is really built.

A PR Agency will (should) price this based on value to the client. You would be wise to do the same and avoid the hourly-rate blackhole. Work with your client to determine the value of the deliverable to them, and price accordingly. Internally, you should now how much you want to earn per hour, and how many hours it will take you. This is for your information only, not the client's knowledge. If you'd like to further discuss value-pricing for your service, I'm happy to help. Drop me a line, -Shaun

The biggest question you'll have to answer at this point is whether you and the founder can get along. You've already highlighted issues with the founder but does this bother you? Are both your goals aligned and do your values agree with him/her? In a previous experience, I brought someone on whom I didn't know much about - only that his skills matched what I was looking for. However, only after a few months, he decided to leave as he didn't agree with the new direction we were taking. Yet, there was never any opposition when the idea was first brought up. The team is one of the most critical things at the beginning of every startup. You'll want to be in an environment where everyone is open, honest and can execute to the best of their ability. I don't believe that this is your only opportunity - there are plenty of opportunities all around to those who seek it.

You can find startup job / cofounder opportunities at these sites: http://jobs.startupxplore.com/ https://angel.co/jobs https://underdog.io/candidates (choose the 'remote' option) http://www.startuphire.com/ If you'd like to talk about startup culture in general, or a specific idea you have and how to move it forward, let me know. In any case, best of luck, Lee

Yes. Hopefully you already own these domain names before publishing them like this but here's my 2 cents: Crowdsage.com is pretty solid out of those options. All things being equal a .com is going to give you the edge in terms of credibility and many would argue SEO. it does give you some minor problems that as a stand alone domain it's not clear whether you mean crowds age or "crowd sage" but it's not a bad name. A brand is what you make it. A great name doesn't guarantee success by any measure but it can help you create a stickier brand and make you easier to find. I've developed a process for coming up with names that works pretty well. It's a multi-step brainstorming process and it takes time but I would be happy to share it with you or even brainstorm together over Clarity. Good luck with this. Adrian

1) Designing Your Invention (CAD Software): A) If you just want a shell of your invention, then learn to use Rhino3D, or some other 3D design software. B) If you want to have the entire mechanical internals of your invention be a part of your prototype, then use something like Solidworks which has a physics engine to be able to simulate actual mechanical functions. 2) Showing your invention (3D Rendering or 3D Print) A) After designing your invention in the CAD software you can now make very realistic looking 3D renderings of it (if done right it can be made to look like a photograph of a real thing). You could use these renderings in an indiegogo campaign or demo video or pitch deck. B) You could also print your design as a physical 'thing' that you could actually place into investors hands. To do this you could buy your own 3D printer, or use a company like Shapeways which will print it for you in your material of choice. Alternatively, you can collaborate with a freelancer do help you with those steps. If you'd like more specific advice tailored to your unique invention, or if you have other questions about the early startup process let me know, Lee

Hi, I've got a considerable amount of experience in assisting my clients with understanding what they are up against for many kinds of projects, so let me clarify the "It Depends" answer with some rough estimate $ Figures. For a Wordpress experience where you take an exiting Wordpress website template, and add a plugIn with no customizations, and you use a well experienced consultant for an hourly rate, you can reasonable expect a $5k to $10k cost. Installation is fast and easy. Most of this cost will be for content setup. Corresponding maintenance is approximately $250-$1,000/year and will be focused on keeping plugins up to date and may include keeping you content up to date. For a low scope of work effort, where features are few, functionality is easy and where custom coding is added to an existing website, and some content loading is needed, you can expect a $10k-15K cost. Most of this cost will be for coding and testing. Corresponding maintenance is approximately $1,000-$1,500/year and will be focused on adjustments to the functionality. For functionality that is deeper and more robust, you may need to custom code a greater scope of features. This kind of online marketplace can be $20k or more. The greater your functionality needed, the higher the price will go. I cannot give you an upper limit here because the possible features are many. 70% of your cost will be for coding and testing. Corresponding maintenance is 5%-10% of your build price per year and will be focused on adjustments to the functionality. A word of caution. Many websites promote low cost. This doesn't mean you will get the features you want or give your website users a friendly experience. This kind of low cost choice is a trap. If your website is intended to be your primary means of promoting your business, and generating revenue, you should pay a qualified professional to set it up in quality fashion, with the features you need and leave your users with a pleasant image of your company. That comes with a cost. Good Luck!

My assumption is that fast-food chains begin as restaurants in a single location. Then, if they're successful, they expand – with or without franchising. Honestly, I know next to nothing about running a business in the food industry. But I can help you with 1 important first step: creating your brand, choosing a name, and obtaining the matching domain. A single-location restaurant might get by with a clunky domain or a brand name that isn't unique at a national level, as long as customers can find their building. However, if your goal is to expand beyond that 1 shop, then branding and the internet will be especially important.

I've worked with over 50 B2B companies to help them generate, nurture and close your leads. I think the question you asked is premature. B2B Saas startups usually goes through 4 stages discovery, validation, efficiency, and scale. Validation from one customer is a start but is not enough validation to move to the efficiency stage. If you disagree try answering these questions which I recommend every startup have answered before move to the efficiency stage: 1) Does my B2B product solve the needs for 5 (high level) or 10 (medium level) executives? 2) Which types of executives does this product work for? (answered so granularly that if you provide a smart assistant with some knowledge of online research with the explanation she/he can come back to you with 25 targets) 3) Which types of executives does this product not work for? (answered so granularly that if you provide a smart assistant with some knowledge of online research with the explanation she/he can eliminate executives not a fit on their own) 4) Do we have a clear elevator pitch of which problem/goal my product helps executives solve that gets curiosity? TEST: When I tested it with 10 executives, 3 of them expressed curiosity? 5) Do we have strong relationships with at least 3 connectors who know the types of executives in #2? Are these connectors champions of my product such that they are willing to make at least 3 introductions each? If you don't have the answers to these questions you need to get them. Happy to help explain further over a call if you need. If you do have answers to these questions and are truly ready to move on to the efficiency stage then share them with me before our call so I can help you figure out the best path forward to developing a target list, reaching out, and closing them.

It is inevitable that you will see some rankings drop, no matter how well you check all the "migration best practice" boxes. I've never seen a migration done that resulted in no, or even positive changes right after launch. However, you can greatly reduce the time that your rankings fluctuate and stabilize again by taking all the proper steps. There are simply to many to list, but the main issues are typically around URL changes. Ideally you'l want to make sure there is a 301 redirect in place for every page that has a URL change. Also, make sure to submit a new sitemap via Google Search Console the second you launch the new site. The thing to keep in mind is that any time Google sees big changes, it will "step back" a bit from the site to reindex and reanalyze everything. Whether this is a platform migration, an extended server outage, or a domain change, it almost always results in a temporary decrease in ranking. Whether or not (and how soon) you come back stronger will depend on how well you handled the migration and how much better the new site is from an SEO perspective. Shopify is a decent platform and like any of the major systems, can be optimized to rank quite well in most industries. I'll leave you with this decent resource - https://moz.com/blog/web-site-migration-guide-tips-for-seos (I'm not affiliated with Moz in any way).

I am a corporate technology lawyer experienced in setting up venture funds and acting fur funds in their "portfolio" investments. Always happy to see new innovative approaches to investment funds. The above offering can be done. I suspect it would require more "maintenance" on the fund level and investment level but definitely do-able.

Have you taken a look at an affiliate network like Maxbounty? They publish their current rates here: http://www.maxbounty.com/showoffers.cfm If leads are delivered real-time and exclusive, prices go up. It also matters what the traffic source is: personally I have only generated leads from search engine traffic as that is some of the highest quality you can get. Finally the more information the lead submits, the more valuable it is.

Not any way that I can think of. I would trust Amazon's judgement on this one. They want to sell your book just as much as you do.

You dead on. Finding the perfect price point for products is critical, not having a clue of what your product value is, the perceived value and what clients are actually willing and able to pay can kill even the best of products and brands. In short - Yes, you can charge double or triple. Most advisors will suggest what is easiest - don't go too high or you will lose share - I say, you're doing a lot of work already, lets do a little more and make it pay back trifold. Focus on building a brand, reach out to potential users, offer help, suggestions, promote promote promote in a clear and consistent way. Also, make sure that you do it in the right channels with the right content. But always avoiding competing on price, matching prices and not being afraid to reject clients.

Depends on the startup. If you have IP that provides a clear advantage, that's more valuable and easier to make successful than say a mobile app idea. Traction has become investors favorite buzz word. It makes sense though because they aren't gamblers. They are looking to fund proof of concept. They want to help a good idea become a successful business.

I think there are two parts to your question: A) List Building B) Engagement of your list once built On the list building side, I would suggest you develop a strong content marketing strategy. With a B2B audience, there are really great affordable solutions like HubSpot that can give you the tools and tracking you need to get a solid ROI on any content you create. When thinking about content strategy, its rather basic: consider how your business and industry knowledge can be turned into white papers, trade-focused blog posts, downloadable e-Books, webinars, etc. that would offer value and utility to your potential customers. Create that. Then, use SEO, social, and native ad services like Outbrain or Taboola to drive sales lead through that funnel. Make sure the landing pages you create have a strong call to action that includes providing an email. From that point, you can shift to keeping those leads engaged, and driving them through your buyer journey funnel. Other ways to build your email list can include doing a giveaway when you're at a trade show, doing free webinars that help and ads value to your client decision makers (and require email opt-in). You can also ask related businesses in your industry (non-competing ones) to send emails to their customers (co-branded) inviting them to the resources or webinars you've created. All that to drive traffic to email opt-in windows and build your list. For the second part, once you have a list, content marketing can play a key role. I assume you know who are the key decision makers on your client's side of the business. Develop content that is valuable and useful to those sales leads, and use email to deliver that content. Again, this is where HubSpot and other tools like theirs can help you outline the strategy and the tactical plan. I would also highly recommend using services like MailChimp or aWeber to maintain consistent email creative, and to follow email marketing best practices. Their websites are also valuable resources to help you become email marketing JEDI. Whatever you do, I would highly discourage you from buying any third party lists, and would strongly encourage you to always follow opt-in best practices--even if this is a B2B email campaign. There is no long-term profit in spamming your potential customers. Hope this helps!

I would start by looking at the apps and software you like to use that was created by smaller firms (not the big companies). Many of these firms also do client work, which you can find out about on their web site. If you enjoy the apps they produce and they have the expertise you are looking for, it can be a great fit. A good example would be a company like Black Pixel.

Hi, Platform Target: High Priority - Web Medium Priority- Android Low Priority - Apple, Windows ------------------------------------------- Medical Portal is very sensitive business, for that purpose the interaction of the user and understanding of the graphical presentation need to set on single page. Website is perfection platform that will give you that kind of flexibility of perfect interaction with the user. You can keep same functionality on Android and other targeted platforms, but you have to keep some basic User interaction functionality in that app. E.g > Medical information tips > get daily basis new updates > User interaction and fulfillment info. as per demand just like feedback. > and some more interaction that keep engage the user with app. Thank you!

Agreed with Sergio: you probably want to stay away from this one. We get branded by those we hang around. And if you're hanging around financially troubled firms, you'll get branded that way. And what happens to them rubs off on you. They go bankrupt, you were somehow involved...you must be at least partially responsible, 0.0001%, right? but still involved in their failure. Perception is reality. Executive attention of a case study based on a failed company isn't good.

There are numerous possibilities. What was the original strategy outlined in your business model? Before even considering pricing you should understand that you need a value proposition. You also need to target a market segment with whom you are going to develop relationships. You also should be concerned about getting some engagements the experience your online service provides. Price is usually a product of all of the above understanding that price is relative to the value you offer. The more value that is perceived the more someone is willing to pay for your services. If your service is in the Uber type category, peer to peer, you could charge for the initial session but then you will most probably lose out if a recurring sessions are booked between the trainer and customer. To give you more options I would require a better understanding of your business and your vision. I also how and what you are offering to better understand how your target market will respond. I could be available to discuss this next.

It is a tough job, really painful sometimes however when it starts showing gains then it becomes pleasure. Real Estate is a highly paying profitable business when managed appropriately.

You have four jobs to do. 1. Attract/identify leads. 2. Qualify those leads. 3. Convert the qualified leads. and 4. Fulfill the orders. Do you have a system for each of these? 4. can lead into 1. with referrals. You want as pre-qualified a lead as you can get. Qualifying is filtering. In or Out, doesn't matter which. Do you know your numbers? How many qualified leads do you need to know you'll get a project? This is different for every person or business. For me, I need a very small number of qualified leads to make a sale. For you, it might be different. How many unqualified leads do you need to get one good qualified lead? Back out into the activities you need to be doing every day. I'll bet (no offense; so are 99.9% of other people) you're sitting there and hoping stuff will come your way. Maybe spending 30 minutes a day looking for new work. Well that is not enough. Needs to be 70% or more of your time spent prospecting! Guaranteed that your prospecting activity, like everyone else's--mine included--is too low. Fill your funnel. Unqualified leads >>> Qualified leads >>> Sales. Work back from the end result. How much money do you want to make in a month? How many sales does that mean you need to make? How many qualified leads does that mean you need? And how many unqualified leads does that require you to get? Now you can see how many conversations you need to be having...you can break this down to every week or every day. In my business, for instance, and remember my numbers will be different--perhaps VERY different--from yours, I need 1 sale a week. To get that 1 sale, I need 4 qualified leads to ensure I get that sale. Could be 1 in 2 but let's say 1 in 4 to be safe. Now the funny bit about my business: while conversion for me is easy, finding qualified leads is hard. There are many tire-kickers and broke people who want my help, but are not mentally or financially in the position to afford it. So I need MANY unqualified leads to get one good one! Again, your business could be different. So let's say I need 20 unqualified leads to get 1 qualified lead. This means my revenue plan for the month looks like: 20 x 16 = 320 unqualified leads >>> 4 x 4 = 16 qualified leads >>> 4 sales 320 unqualified leads! If I sit around, hoping passive marketing does the job, will I ever get there?! No! I need to plan out my activities based on Video marketing (Youtube) Facebook marketing Forum marketing Prospecting calls Referrals (these are great; the way I set it up, 2 referrals virtually guarantee 1 sale; so these 2 referrals take the place of 80(!) unqualified leads, which I can now subtract from my total) Talks to audiences Webinars and whatever other marketing efforts you decide to run. The point here is: do you have a plan? Until now, I doubt it. Almost nobody does. And do you have a high-enough activity level to support your money target? Most people do not. And then they wonder why they didn't succeed. They were beaten before they began, and terrifyingly they had no idea.

Academy is an initial stage venture where you join in the early phase of your startup, however accelerators should be joined when the product is ready. Accelerators can speed up your business.

It's dependent on the app's purpose. If it's social and you need to be on both platforms, I strongly encourage hybrid. A webapp is cheaper and can perform the same as an app with a dedicated backend. If you are more of a service app, an iOS version may be a slightly higher price than the webapp, but you'll have the experience of going through the Apple testflight testing and then their approval process. Once you get on apple, Google is easy. You'll also get a better idea of your target user's willingness-to-download. I've worked with both native and hybrid. I'd be happy to find a time to discuss further if you like.