you should approach this question from the result you are seeking to achieve. Funds should be raised in quantum units which achieve the goal of raising the equity valuation of the company to set up the next funding target or to achieve break-even/profitability goals. This is not a one size fits all question...

I would recommend http://erickson.edu/

As someone who has hired and fired quite a few people, the #1 skill that I find most attractive is self-motivation. Those are the people that you are not having to constantly look over their shoulder to make sure work is being done. It's not necessary that you always get it right, but that you work at it hard with creativity. That's incredibly valuable. As for an enjoyable job - if you don't like being indoors all day, don't get a desk job. I know it sounds obvious, but there are countless people that do this on a day in, day out basis. Don't necessarily look for a job that you want. Search for what you like to do that the job will provide. If you like to problem solve, maybe look at the software field where you can build software to creatively solve problems. If you like cultivating relationships with people, look to find a job where that need will be met, even if the job "title" or duties aren't glamorous. You've explained it well already - align your work with your values, and you can find joy in whatever you do.

Offer to provide a course or training for the audience of a prospective JV partner. In my own business I have joined with real estate investors to teach internet marketing concepts to their students and then sold my products and services. I have also created a free course for a friend who is a motivational speaker to give to his audience. In exchange I did a live interview with him as an introduction to the audience. Schedule a call if you would like to delve into these ideas further.

It depends on the size of your round but the honest truth is that none of them are effective by themselves. They can be helpful in constructing the total round, but would almost never be able to raise 100% of the round, assuming you're talking about a true seed round of at least $750k. If you feel you're ready to raise a seed round, there are a handful of seed stage funds that like to lead deals. I have just answered another Clarity question where I list them: https://clarity.fm/a/6503 There are then a number of great funds who will follow in smaller check sizes (average $250k-$500k) behind those lead orders. These services you mention are best to "fill" a round, when you're looking for extra money, but can't be relied upon to "form" a round. Hope this helps!

If you feel you're ready to raise a seed round, there are a handful of seed stage funds that like to lead deals. Here they are in no particular order: Harrison Metal Homebrew Floodgate Felicis Freestyle SoftTech Baseline MHS Fuel Capital First Round Boldstart True Ventures CRV You want to figure out how to get meetings with Partners at as many of these funds in the most concentrated period of time possible. The concentration of time matters significantly. The worst thing you can do in a seed raise is have time drag on, as it's a negative signal and decreases your leverage. In terms of how to get access to partners, the best way is through someone they know and trust, probably the easiest way is through companies they have already invested in. But here's the mistake I see time and again: Entrepreneurs often don't fully research each investors' portfolio looking for potential conflicts or similar companies that have failed. Look closely and only approach the investors where you know there's no conflict or "dead bodies." From a process perspective, if you don't get a follow-up from them within 2 weeks, you should consider them a pass, unless they set expectations of a longer time-frame and the next step should be a partner meeting or meeting at least one other partner in the next meeting, Hope this helps.

"Angel Investing: The Gust Guide to Making Money and Having Fun Investing in Startups" by David S. Rose is a good place to start. It's written from the perspective of being an investor, but it's very helpful for those wishing to raise funds as well. http://www.amazon.com/Angel-Investing-Making-Having-Startups/dp/1118858255

Start with creating your USP (aka Message). This message will be the statement that sums up the reasons for doing business with you from THEIR perspective based on what THEY want (versus why YOU think they should do business with you). It may feature a unique ability your company can provide - some feature or benefit or experience that they either can't get anywhere else or that you do better than anyone else - and I'd strongly suggest it NOT be based on your low pricing. To do this - get very clear about what pain (or problem) your business gets rid of (or solves) and what promise you make to your market. For example: When you say "excellent quality" and "affordable"... what exactly does that mean and why should your market care? -How will they KNOW it's "excellent" (according to them)? And do they want excellent? Maybe they want fast... -What does "quality" mean and how will they know? If you fix my cellphone and it works... How is that qualitatively different from anyone else fixing my phone? Isn't fixed the same as fixed? -What is "affordable"? And affordable for whom? Lastly - When you say "specialize" - and then say cellphone and tablet repair... Does that mean you specialize in ALL cellphones and tablets? Because when you say "cellphones and tablets" it sounds more like you generalize in a type of handheld electronic product. A specialist is an expert in a small area of products or services. Think deep and narrow. For example - You can specialize in repairing a certain brand - Such as "we specialize exclusively in the repair of Samsung cellphones and tablets"... Or you can specialize in the repair of devices running on the Android platform.... (you get the idea) Once you find your USP - use it in all of your inbound and outbound marketing platforms. I wish you the best of luck in your marketing efforts! -David

Place your program on JVZoo or another affiliate marketing platform and pay an affiliate fee to the marketers for promoting your program. Give away a lot of free but valuable content to your online sphere of influence through twitter, linkedin, G+, FB, etc. If you would like to schedule a free call, I'd be happy to spend a few minutes to help you out. See my profile for a promo code. Regards, Kevin McCarthy kevinmccarthy.com

Almost every angel investor is going to want to meet you in-person to make a decision, so it depends on the amount of capital and time you are willing to spend in meeting investors outside of NYC. I would personally go to any length to meet an investor who has expressed interest in meeting with me who I think would add value in the early stages. Really, that should be your definition of an angel. But if you're traveling, I'd look to qualify that interest as much as possible so as not to waste time and money. Hope that helps!

There are many options. You can apply for federal aid by filing a FAFSA application, you can apply for financial aid from the state in which y

This is what professional networking is about. Even if neither of your receive instant gratification on the objectives you're trying to push right now, the relationship could end up being profitable to both of you down the road. https://medium.com/@tipeveryday/the-disconnected-professional-2957568274d8

The easiest method is employee groups on Facebook (and sometimes LinkedIn). You'll be able to comment on company pages, for example here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/starbucks - but you'll have a bigger response on Facebook, for example here: https://www.facebook.com/starbuckspartners If you are required to do it on location, go to the business during their least crowded times and have a casual conversation with the employees. Make it feel friendly, and don't just start with questions - consider a compliment and small talk first. Ask your questions (So, I'm curious...) and record your answers afterwards. If you need lots of answers, or need them to fill out extensive surveys, ask the manager at these locations for permission - and tell them why it matters (for example: "I'm creating a startup that will do this really amazing thing, and I'm trying to figure out whether employees of Starbucks would use it"). Unless you are donating to the tip jar or charity, don't expect everyone to jump at the chance. If they express any irritation, simply thank them, apologize, leave, and go to the next location. In terms of survey platforms, SurveyMonkey, AYTM, or Google Consumer Surveys are ideal. The specific platform depends on what you are asking. If you'd like to deep dive and create a plan to make this work right, pick a few times that work well for you: www.clarity.fm/ryandraving

It always starts with the list. You mention 'non opt-in' lists, which is certainly more troublesome than any domain name. Your best course of action is to get a new domain, re-confirm the lists you have (requiring the subscriber to click through in order to stay on), and only accept confirmed opt-in lists moving forward. It will decimate your mailing list in the short term, but long-term eliminate your deliverability concerns and improve ROI.

You'll never get indexed by Google right away, it's going to take at least a few days or weeks, but there are a few things you can do to speed up the process as much as possible. 1. Create at least one simple landing page while your site is being developed and include a few paragraphs of text explaining what lead machine is. 2. Ensure your content can be crawled and indexed by Google. http://www.metatags.info/meta_name_robots - put the keyword in your title tag and meta description. 3. Create a Google Plus account for the business and Post a link to the website on the business account. Also submit a post on other social media accounts, like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. 4. Not required, but running a small Adwords campaign for the keywords you're targeting will help. The fact that you have the domain name means you likely will be ranking for "leadmachine" fairly quickly, but the steps above will expedite the process. If you want more help, book a call. Cheers.

There shouldn't be any tax consequences for the founders if you've made 83b elections--the election meant you paid tax already on the full value of the stock at the time of the election (presumably zero) even though it was subject to future forfeiture. If you sell newly-issued stock there should be no tax impact. If you sell your own common stock, you'd pay tax on the gain, but I doubt that is what you mean here. Of course, you should not take the free advice dispensed on Clarity and consult your own tax preparer--this is not tax advice.

In my companies I define a team as my in house leadership (I refer to them in all group communications as the LT or Leadership Team). My Personal Network is the collection of contacts and connections that I use to develop my business (Either through mentorship, advice or social/business connections) Our Company Network is our collective group of contacts and connections shared by the Leadership Team.

More details would help...is this an employee? A client? A prospect? Overall I'd say leave them alone to stew in their own juice, if they're tied up with a negative mentality. You cannot change people. When they're ready to change, they'll find you again. If it's really important, and you're willing to risk the relationship (however thin it may be), sit down with them in person if possible. If not, live by phone. Not by email. And confront them about it. Sounds like: "John, I really want to help you here. I hear you saying you want help. Do you really want help to get out of your situation?" (wait for answer) If positive: "Okay. Can I be kind of blunt with you?" (wait for answer) If positive: "All right. Promise you won't get mad?" (wait for answer) If positive: *sigh* "I've noticed something. You're free to agree or disagree of course...here it is. Every time I've tried to talk with you about this and get a solution in the works, you've blocked the conversation with super-high negativity. It's stopped me cold. I get the feeling you're really not interested in fixing this: that what you really want is someone to complain to. What do you think?" And pause. You're going to get a response here, one way or the other. Either the person is going to erupt defensively, or they'll sheepishly agree with you. In either case you now know for certain what you're dealing with. If positive: "I really do want to help you. Do you believe I can help, if we talk through this, come up with a plan of action, and you go carry it out? Do you believe you can change the situation?" Speak in a nurturing tone throughout. Never argue. What you're doing is uncovering the true motivation here. Either the person wants to change or they don't. You cannot make them change, or want to change. Just discover their real motive. If negative anywhere along the line, it's probably time to leave the conversation. You can do a takeaway, "All right, I guess this just isn't for you" and get up to leave, but it will probably remain that way. With prospects, it is best to "fight" up front rather than later on after money has changed hands. You want to know exactly who you're dealing with before you take them on. If this is a friend, you may want to go the "Leave it alone for now" route. Keep in mind at all times that you cannot change people; they can only change themselves. You can't want it badly enough for them that they'll make the change.

Of course calls for information interviews are not illegal. Information interviews are an important part of a successful person's job hunt or any target market research. You will find far more people will be open to this than you think now. Some just want to be helpful. Others want to show off how much they know. Either way, they'll be gratified you called. Here's a blog post I wrote about information interviews: http://www.salestactics.org/information-interviews/ If someone says No, they're just too busy or they don't have the kind of personality you'd want to be around anyway. But far more people will say Yes. This is all about them--not you. Remember that.

First make sure you are vetting your advisor as much as he/she is vetting you. I would have a personal conversation with other teams that the advisor has worked with in the past. Get to a level of granularity on what worked and what did not. You don't disclose terms here which I appreciate but the percentages are important so I just want to make sure you aren't giving away too much. By "alot of weight in the industry" do you mean that this person will make introductions for you to key customers, suppliers? Or are they well known and you think adding them as an advisor makes you look credible. If you are adding an advisor make it count. You need to identify three to four areas where you are not confident in your teams skills/knowledge about your business model and make sure that advisors added are addressing those very specific needs. If this person is really good then you would want to spent a couple of hours with them every month. If you don't then you should ask yourself why you are taking on an advisor? If you need a more detailed discussion let me know.

We've done something similar, but by delivering pizzas. You can get them talking about you before you come in if you have it delivered, wrapped in gift paper, with a mysterious, clever, anonymous note complementing their pipes. Then drop in and ask if they liked the poster. It will probably go something like, "What poster... oh, the wrapped one? We loved it! Was that from you? Hey Bob, here's the mystery poster guy." Tell them you love their pipes, and that the one on the poster was one of your favorites. Then figure out if they are able to produce pipes faster than they can sell them (if they want to generate more demand). If so, ask what they've been doing so far that's worked, and why. Then you are starting to get at the pain point that you may be able to address, and as you continue asking more of the right kinds of questions, they will eventually want to know more about you, how you can help them, what it costs, if similar clients work with you, etc. I'd need to learn more about you and your goals and customize a detailed flow chart we build for clients at Referable.com. It's a sales flow chart for these types of conversations, leading from establishing rapport to getting to closing a sale on the (typically) second meeting. If you'd like the extra help, schedule a call with me at www.clarity.fm/ryandraving

I would use pay-as-you-go model which lets me scale as and when required and pay accordingly. The traditional problem with Home grown software is you can't accurately predict the growth when you open the floodgates. So choosing a pay-as-you-go model works perfectly here. The other constraint I see with Open source software is most of the them expect a experienced user and clearly lack an established support system which you can get in a paid software. I would be more helpful if I understand the details in depth and happy to discuss that over a call.

Ask them! If you don't have any similar interviews yet, get some done in a niche close to this one. Credibility is important, and if you show you've done some and they listen to just part of one interview, that can be what pushes them over the edge. Everyone likes to talk about themselves. So don't be afraid to make the connection. I work with a local pro soccer team and it was easy to connect with a senior management team member. From there, the players are all accessible. They're just regular guys, running around and wanting to have a good time. You could find the marketing director and ask who's the best talker of the bunch. Be sure to let them know they get to use the content as well. The teams are looking for reasons to be in the news. You're giving them one. Something they can share on their Facebook page, or in an email to their fans, that helps their followers feel closer to the team, is valuable. Don't get stuck thinking you're trying to "get" something from them. You're giving something, too.

Question ... If the lower end of the retail price range for your jewelry is $100, why would you be giving away $50 in cash? Presumably, the margin on a $100 piece of jewelry is such that its wholesale cost is roughly comparable to that $50 in cash. So if the choice is between giving away $50 in cash versus giving away $50 indirectly in the form of products worth more than $50, why would you pass over the opportunity to place your products with your customers? There are dozens of ways to spend $50 on marketing. But the best way -- surely -- is to put your branded jewelry around the necks or on the hands and wrists of people who will go out in public wearing / promoting you! I'm sure you could structure this in various ways to make it just as cost effective as giving away cash. At worst, the cash probably ought to be in-store credit. Yet you might also want to consider incentivizing a person to refer 2 people or 3 people or 5 people as a minimum in order to redeem free merchandise of various price points. Anyone who sees that they are 1 more referral away from a $500 piece of jewelry will be much more eager to bring in another friend than someone who has already been paid $50 apiece for each referral thus far.

I can't get you there, since lead gen isn't a service I myself offer; but I can point you in the right direction. Much of my work involves looking at online search traffic patterns and putting myself in the shoes of various kinds of corporate clients / customer demographics. Brainstorming should be productive.