The best approach for building referrals into your sign-up process is going to depend heavily on what it is your users are signing up for. Is it something performance-based, like a fitness or language learning app, where the user can challenge a friend to compete with them for a higher score? Is it a service the user is signing up for, that he would recommend to a friend if he has a positive experience? Start by identifying the motivation a user would have for referring a friend. (They're likely not going to share it on social media just because you ask them to, without giving them any incentive.) Then figure out where within the sign-up process it makes the most sense to ask them to refer a friend. You may also find that the best time to ask might be outside of the sign-up process, further along in the user's experience. Whatever you choose, make sure you craft your message carefully to align the user's incentives (to get through the sign-up process quickly but not miss anything that might add value for them) with your ask for their referral.

Congratulations on jumping head first into the digital age! And good for you for having the passion and enthusiasm to learn about new ways to market your business ideas. There are plenty of free resources out there to help you learn from top internet marketing minds. Check out this list of the top 50 marketing blogs: http://inbound.org/top/blogs. I'd recommend picking a few of those to start reading. HubSpot also has an open library of free ebooks and other helpful resources for all levels of marketers: library.hubspot.com If you'd like advice specific to your business ideas and some guidance in getting your marketing set up, I'd be happy to schedule a call with you to discuss. Best of luck!

Where will traffic to the site come from? Do you have a target market identified? Beyond "people who need personal coaching services"? (Which is pretty non-specific to me) Do you know if they are willing to pay for your content? Just putting up a blog is not enough, for either case.

Go with Infusionsoft all the way. It can do all of those things and more. If you need a deal on the software, let me know and I'll hook you up. If you'd like a demo, add me on Skype: startdoingbusiness

It's all about building a relationship with these journalists and bloggers. You want them in your pocket long term. Ultimately, they are usually interested in the same things as you, which gives you a chance to connect on a deeper level and make an online friend. If you make a friend, then maybe they can even introduce you to their other journalist friends when the time is right. Ps: when you finally do send them your stuff, keep it short and make sure your visuals get the point off without them needing to read a description. Visual storytelling is huge. Remember: people don't like to read

Does your startup absolutely require that you be in Toronto? Why not do both? Take the opportunity of the exchange and start working on your startup on the side (and be ready to get into it in full force when the exchange is finished). I started a company when I was 18 and was traveling the world before I turned 21. I still travel now whenever I feel like, and it has not negatively impacted me in business. In fact, I think it has had a very positive effect as I've learned countless things about people and global markets. Happy to discuss more over a call if you'd like.

Would need to know a heck of a lot more about your company, product, or service before I can give you advice on this :). Can you elaborate please?

Hello Aidan. I was recently featured on a panel at General Assembly for an audience looking to make a career shift towards product management. In 2014 I moved from a marketing / user engagement role at a software startup to product management. The transition is still fresh in my mind. Based on the experience on your LinkedIn profile, it seems like you would be well-equipped to make the switch. You have a technical background, experience with generating team outcomes and strategic direction. I think the challenge you face is not whether you have the right skills and resources, but rather how you would like to apply them. Product management is broad and so is your choice of employers. It would be great to jump on a call to get a better context of your situation so I can give you specific tips on how to put your best foot forward.

I actually just came across this article from Real Estate Crowdfunding Platform Patch of Land about how tiny homes are going to be very innovative and popular: https://patchofland.com/blog/growing-communities/2015/01/28/innovation-online-residential-real-estate-investing-patch-of-land/. In terms of the funding, Patch of Land focused on the debt side of the equation and usually focuses on fix / flips. You might be better off trying to raise equity for this type of construction through real estate crowdfunding avenues. Have you looking into those avenues for your funding?

If you are really thinking about building your product you should first do the alpha and beta. There is a strong community of tech people on Hacker News, ProductHunt and Reddit that will support your idea and even pay in advance if you can show a demo first. Give you an example: Dropbox. Drew (CEO) made this short video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QmCUDHpNzE about how Dropbox was supposed to work. He send it to all the community and it becomes viral. Everyone started to sign up. He had a fremium model at start, but look at it now. So I will encourage you to do two things: Follow this order 1-Go and build your alpha/beta and create a demo that everyone can see and feel excited about 2-Share it with the community 3-If you want to "sell it" in advance you can use selz.com or payloadz.com And rethink you business model and moentization strategy so it adapts to your product and not the other way. :) If this helped let me know!

I think you should do neither. You need to crystallize your intention and brand message on several levels, and make sure that your product and business model are revolutionary enough to make a splash in the fashion pond. From there, you can launch and then immediately alternate between courting press and aligning with "women in business" (not sure who you're referring to exactly). But of the two, press and drumming up sales are the most important. Once you have some footing, you can work on aligning yourself with the right brands for strategic partnerships. Ok but back to your product. it's unclear who you are and what your product is. In your about section, resist the temptation to make it just a string of attempted taglines. You are saying a lot of words that don't, in the end, "say" anything to me. You want at most, two really, really strong taglines that explain the essence of what you do and how it's different from what others do. I am going to just dissect company's about section "Rciprocity is The Heart of Luxury." Ok, this doesn't say anything to me because there are thousands of companies with the same tagline. Kill this. "We create extraordinary handbags, so women can create an extraordinary life." This is very vague. "The first luxury brand and platform with a social mission – RCI – Recognition, Contribution, Inspiration." This statement is not true, there have been plenty of attempts in the luxury sphere with social consciousness as the peg toward purchases. Do research on Donna Karan's initiatives or the 7th on Sale Fashion Fund. Look at http://www.shopethica.com/ and others and figure out how you can do what they do, but better. "Traditional handbags do a poor job of telling the world who you are." Is this the problem that you think most women have? I would argue that most women can articulate who they are but they can't find well made bags at reasonable costs which makes me wonder where your bags are made. "Rciprocity is breaking all the the rules to bring you handbags and clutches that are socially conscious just like you." Cut this and get to the point, how are they socially conscious? Each bag helps women in need to be self-sufficient by funding education projects and small business aspirations. Ok great,. What are these education projects, are you doing them. Are they in conjunction with another business or non profit?Small business aspirations? I'm wondering how the money is put to use in something that is merely an aspiration. Maybe cut "aspirations" "Unlike other designer brands, these bags can’t be imitated. Why? Because the intrinsic value of each bag lies in what each one sold means for the global community." This makes little sense, try not to make vague, brushstroke statements like this. The bags can be replicated. "Each Rciprocity bag sold gives 10 per cent of the retail price toward our Clutch Fund. The Clutch Fund is then allocated to women in need." Ok great, this should be your opening paragraph after any tagline you put up. you need to go into what the clutch fund actually is. in concrete details (backed with numbers) what value does it bring to women? Also who are these women? Are they impoverished?Are they in the US? How old are they? How did you find one. How does one apply for funding? This is all info that you need to outline the last few paragraphs. Not to burst your bubble but 10% doesn't seem to be a lot. Ok I'll stop but the rest of your about us section doesn't say who you are, how you came to this idea, how (in concrete terms) it helps women. Where are these bags made? Who is making them? Who is designing them? You should list yourself as the Founder of Rciprocity, not as an aspiring makeup artist, this dilutes and distracts from the purpose of your project. Your bags are not bad but they do look like bags from Tory Burch, Michael Kors, etc I am only letting you know that because of this, you need to try much harder to distinguish the background of your project to get people and press to pay attention. Once you've figured out all of this, I could see it being placed in People, US Weekly, Lucky and InStyle easily. I hope all of this helps, best of luck!

Great question! I recently came across a mentoring website called http://www.micromentor.org/ which could be a great place to start. Additionally, I like this site as well: https://www.dreamseedo.org/. One final way you can approach this especially if you are looking to start a business is to do the e-learning route through a website I found called http://startitup.com. It is completely free and takes your through an interactive Lean Launch Program so you can better articulate what your vision and dreams are. One final mentor source that I have found to be most valuable, read inspiration and motivational business books. They will ultimately create within you a thirst for knowledge. Think and Grow Rich is my all time favorite and is a timeless classic. Good luck my friend!

I can help you with the exact need as I have previously worked, But prior to this, I need to understand what exactly are you looking for. Is it the market scenario, current players, contact info of key companies. I have a big list of all players along with profiles on each apart from the overall the global market condition. Contact me to know more..

It really depends on a lot of factors (i.e. type of business you are in, how much cash intensive it is ...). As a general rule though, I would advice you to BOOTSTRAP AS LONG AS IT IS POSSIBLE. Bootstrapping has a lot of advantages, nonetheless that you get in lean mode and make the best of each possible opportunity (or else you are out). Bootstrapping, while building a set of CORE METRICS around your business, will help you realize the real value and potential of what you are building. As CORE METRICS (revenue, users, ARPU, LT, LTV, churn...) improve, the cost of financing will decrease. So you will be able to get funding on better terms. Also following a path similar to this, will give you a much better understanding on WHAT YOU NEED FUNDING FOR (besides getting a nicer office). Metrics will tell you and investors will know. Can you be bootstrapping for ever?. Probably yes (if this is what you want and how do you want your business to evolve), although most probably not advisable. When the metrics are right and you have a fire burning (as clearly seen in the METRICS), I would say it is time to get some petrol and make it much bigger. Happy to chat about my experience. Pere

Walmart calls it "Pay from Scan." Also "Guaranteed Sales." Sam's Club calls it a "Road Show."

Here is ten ideas of what you can do: 1.- Get a customer. For your app. Someone that will pay to use it, get their actual money in your hand. (That will show you how good the idea is) 2.- Describe to me what your app does in ONE SENTENCE. One that a 3 year old can understand 3.- Tell me what comes after "because" meaning... I must use your app because.... "......... .........." 4.- Speck it out in all details - Google how people have done it before. Do not miss on any of the steps 5.- Outsource the first page and get it done - Do not spend more than 100 dollars on this 6.- Document each step of the way in a blog 7.- Do a video of "what you thought would happen" and "what is actually happening" - every day 8.- Think of 10 other apps 9.- Repeat all previous steps for the 10 other apps 10.- Teach me how to answer the question you just asked from idea to full execution.... and charge for the course

I would recommend that you check out http://wistia.com/ - I use them for all my videos. Public and privately.

If it's just two of you then you need not worry about creating a shareholding agreement. The partnership deed is sufficient enough to cover it in a simplistic way i.e. 50:50 or whatever ratio you two chose. However, if there're going to be numerous co-founders with split of roles and responsibilities then having a shareholding agreement could be helpful down the line. Is there any specific information you're looking at? Feel free to reach out.

There's a fine line between persistence and simply being an annoyance, however I've seen some great examples of people balancing these properly. Usually this comes with the ability to be very human and personal. One way I've seen this done is with old school hand written letters. On a few occasions over the past few years I've had a vendor reach out to me with a hand written letter. You just don't see them anymore, so they really stand out. Within the context of the letter I'd consider making the ask for "feedback", not for the work itself. I would explain your situation very personally around how and why you are seeking feedback, and also make it very clear that you respect their time and understand that no answer is OK too. There isn't a 100% solution that always works. But making it short and personal could be a nice touch.

What about it isn't working right now? Are you getting a substantially bad response?

Facebook ads are not effective and actually far too costly for independent businesses. Unless you have a huge advertising budget, I don't advise it. To break into the hipster market You need 3 things. Great (concise) story, Great branding, and social engagement. Luckily, you have "provenance"----the place of origin or earliest known history of something. Provenance is an important quality to convey in your brand's story especially when targeting the hipster demographic who are preoccupied by the origin of all things----they're generally well educated and like to know where everything that they consume comes from. Great branding: Branding is a combination of visual consistency that positions you as different from competitors. I would consider coming up with a different name. Warmth of Russia, to me, seems long and vague. Maybe going back to the idea of provenance, is there a Russian word that's easy to pronounce and unique? Maybe the particular city where the scarves are made of. Maybe some Russian lore that can be woven into your product's story. I would make a list of 50 different names and then narrow it down to something that you think clicks. I would redesign your site and visuals as well with consideration to photographic styles, font type, colors etc to something a little edgier and different. To me, the colors, font type seem a bit retiring, snoozy. Happy to discuss more because this is a bit more nuanced. As for your site, Squarespace is a great option for making a great, professional looking e-commerce site, and they make it hard to design anything bad. Related to this, excellent SEO practice will bring more traffic to your site. I'm sure there are plenty here on Clarity who can advise you on best practices there. Next, Social Engagement. You need to demonstrate people using your scarves, the making of the scarves, where the scarves come from, the yarn used for the scarves, etc. You can take pictures of all of these things and tell the story visually all on instagram. If you haven't already made an Instagram account, I would do so immediately. It will take time, but you can build a loyal following of people who believe in your brand story if you do a good job of visually telling it, and engaging with followers. Obviously there's more to it than just this but happy to discuss more specifically once you've thought more about what this brand is. Hope all of this helps, best of luck!~

You'll find that looking at top line revenue alone won't provide much value to you if you are asking the question "Is my advertising spend worth it?" Typically, in advertising I want to know the Lifetime Value of the customer or the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Then, it boils down to : If I spend $100 to acquire this new customer and he spends $150 over the lifetime of his paid relationship with me then, yes--- my ad spend is worth it. On the other hand: I could spend 10K this month in ads. I could sign up 20K in users/customers/top line revenue. But my data will tell me I spent MORE per customer/user than they are actually worth over the average lifetime. So that's what usually answers the "Is it worth it" question in any advertising scenario. 1. How much to acquire the user? 2. How much does the user spend over the avg lifetime? If it doesn't make sense, it's not worth it, regardless of what your top line revenue tells you. You might find this blog post on cohort analysts valuable as it goes into more detail. (I have no affiliation.) https://apsalar.com/blog/2012/01/how-to-use-cohort-analysis-to-improve-revenue/

Those two things are not mutually exclusive (you can do both). Can you give more information?

In my experience, yes. Dropbox did this with great success.