I would suggest Ireland. The workforce is educated and hard-working. They speak English, which is critical for international work. Very favorable tax structure.

This is a hugely important question. Thanks for asking it. You have to first understand the goal of your book. Book sales are a terrible return on investment for 99.99% of authors. The real value is in growing your business and creating new opportunities for more substantial returns. You can often put the same amount of energy into selling a book (and gaining a few bucks) as you would into creating a new client (depending on your business that can be substantial revenue). So know your goals. If your goal is to use your book as a lead generator for your business, then sure, you want to make it available for sale wherever people buy books (at least online), but you want to get that book into the hands of as many potential clients as possible. So plan on giving away lots of them for free. To do that, you're going to need a printing partner who knows how to get you fantastic bulk discount rates so you're spending no more than a few bucks a book. What you also have to consider is that if your book is going to be your calling card, it has to be exceptional. Not good. Not alright. But exceptional. It has to capture the essence of you. Your voice has to resound through the writing. And it has to be a page turner. So hire the right expert or team to help to ensure you are showing off your brand in a way that excites the kind of people you want to attract. Feel free to get in touch with me for more thoughts in this direction. This is the world I live in. Big Love, Corey

If you're talking about building your own communication device, then you'll need someone who has experience building hardware and the software required to control it. But anyone you're going to talk to is going to need convincing that you can provide the capital necessary to get this off the ground. You need to either convince them that you are a very able online marketer and that you'll be able to successfully crowdfund the initial devices or that you're able to fundraise pre-product, otherwise, it's highly unlikely you will find someone willing to invest the necessary time and energy to build even a prototype. Happy to talk to you in a call to provide more details.

I remember that Adobe Media Encoder used to have options for water marking. Check that and possibly, but unlikely Apple Compressor out. Hope that helps!

This is always a question of who wants whom more. I've seen deals where the percentage was in single digits. The thing is, I've seen both deals where a LICENSEE ended up with a single digit percentage and deals where a LICENSOR ended up with a single digit percentage. It all comes down to your ability to convince the other side that you are bringing in so much to the table that the other side should get a smaller piece of the pie. Essentially, this depends on these factors: - whether you are well-known in the industry; - whether the other side is well-known in the industry; - the level of uniqueness of your product (if you've developed another minor variation of a product that already exists on the market, chances are the distributor will want a larger piece of the pie); - your level of desperation (it's one thing when you partner up with someone else who will commercialize your product simply because you can make more money by investing your time building new stuff; it's another thing when you have no realistic way to commercialize the product yourself, and if you don't find someone who can do it for you quickly, you'll starve...) MOST IMPORTANTLY, no matter what number you agree to, make sure you read the contract extremely carefully. Contracts can create rights and contracts can destroy rights. Contracts are more powerful than any rights vested in you by IP laws. So, the bottom line is: - Know EXACTLY what you are trying to get out of your contract; - Get your contract reviewed by an experienced lawyer, but make sure you tell the lawyer what it is you're trying to get out of the contract. Lawyers are not going to create "the right deal" for you. We're not going to tell you whether you should be getting 9% or 90% of the revenue. We're going to make sure that you understand whether the contract you are about to sign reflects what you think the terms of the contract are. You're welcome to schedule a call if you would like to discuss this in more detail. Cheers, Andrei

First, this is a tough spot you’re in. By making it this long you’ve already accomplished something most people never do. My own company was bootstrapped and we’re in our 16th year now. We’re still employee-owned and have no outside investors. Looking back, there have been trade-offs to doing things the way we have but a major benefit is the very high degree of flexibility in how we do things. As I’ve been thinking about your problem, the biggest question for me is what changed between 2012 when you were doing well and now? It sounds like you’ve dealt with the patent troll, so what else changed? Do you have new expenses you didn’t have before? Did your product become stale while you were distracted? Did a market shift disrupt your business model? Are you different yourself? To reboot the business and keep it running, you may have to rethink your whole product and cut out parts that feel critical to you today. You said you have some well-funded competitors so you need to focus all of your energy on whatever your company can do that is better than everybody else, and make it the best it can be. Focus on whatever generates the most cash for you (vs revenue). If there is part of your business that’s bringing in revenue but not cash flow, kill it or raise prices. Cash flow is everything when you’re bootstrapped. If you are only having a short-term cash crunch but are otherwise cash flow positive, then a business loan or debt of some sort could be an option. Giving up equity isn’t the only way to bring more working capital into a business. It’s much easier to get someone to give you money when you don’t need it, though. In general you don’t have to go the bankruptcy route unless you owe people money you will not be able to pay back. If you just can’t afford to keep your own lights on but don’t owe anyone else money, there’s nothing to do but just shut the lights off. With more details, I might have more specific ideas.

I check Clarity answers every day looking for good questions to answer. I find that many people don't write questions that allow me to truly help them because their questions lack detail and lack context of their particular situation so I can only provide generalizable advice or answers. My advice to everyone is provide as much detail as you can and write a question that solicits a very specific answer. I will answer those questions every single time.

The best technology is whatever gets you up and running the quickest. You'll throw away the first iteration (and possibly the second and third...) anyway. What you need most in the beginning is to test your idea and get feedback, and you need it fast.

The best way would be to hire an expert on oDesk, etc. which is fairly cheap and also reliable. But It sounds like you want to go even cheaper than that. Try posting on StackExchange, which is free. Another cheap option is to check local Meetup.com tech gatherings in your area and ask some experts directly for free advice. Good luck!

Without more information it's not easy to answer your question, but I'll give it a fighting try :) The health insurance industry is a commodity industry, they sell the same things at around the same prices and every little competitive edge is something they hang on to dearly. It's not surprising or even unusual for them to wish for exclusive access to your product (whatever it might be) during the pilot period which I assume would then roll into exclusivity if they roll out into a full implementation too. That said, for your business this is a huge risk, it's the proverbial basket in which you put all your eggs and that's a significant risk to a young business, because if that pilot fails, you're 6 months behind in your goals and that's a big set back for a small company. You can do a few things to try to minimize the risk, or maximize the reward from agreeing to their terms (because if they are a major health insurer, you'll eventually capitulate either way). 1. Limit the scope of the exclusivity - If they are concerned about exclusivity in your state, be very clear that it is limited to your state and in other states you're allowed to pursue other clients. 2. Ask them to pay for the privilege - It's not unusual for a company to offer exclusivity in exchange for recompense. You basically tell them, listen that's fine but you're asking me to limit the profitability of my company, I'm happy to give you exclusive rights to the product but the pricing model for that is different. 3. Use exclusivity as a negotiating tool - You can add a condition to the exclusivity that states that if after 3 months they haven't declared their intent to proceed to a full implementation the exclusivity is revoked. 4. Get something in exchange - You may be able to give them exclusivity on the condition that they become a referral customer and give you a case study. They'll be happy to say nice things about you whenever anyone asks if that's all it costs for them to get exclusivity, and for you having someone important at a major health insurer say your product is great might be just what you need to get 2 or 3 more pilots in different states or industries If you're a start up and this is your first big enterprise client, they are going to try to bully you and push you around in the negotiation, they're the big kid in the school yard and you're the runt of the litter and they know it. So look for the way that you can give them what they want, but leverage it to make them more sympathetic to your situation and to invest them in your goals. Most importantly though, make sure that you don't give up your company's ability to grow in the future by signing away something that sounds so innocent. If giving this client exclusivity is going to lock you into a position where you have to pass on other opportunities as a result, maybe they're just not worth it.

I'd love to hear more. I'm a travel professional with 9 yrs in the industry.

This sounds incredibly convoluted and problematic for you. Generally, any financing structure that is this unique is a turn-off to new investors, especially institutional investors. That they've recently raised funding for their business but are contemplating building a new business with you (as a subsidiary) is a concern unless this was part of the plan they articulated to their investors and investors are aware and supportive of this initiative. Finally, it seems as though you are being asked to invest a lot of energy in something that is entirely dependent on future funding validating the business, which is always a significant risk. Obviously, I'm missing a lot of details and so happy to talk in a call but I would say based purely on how you have defined this situation, that it seems more trouble than it's worth to you.

Hello, if you can only afford 1 lens the best pro level, "multi-talented" lens for Canon is the 24-105 L series zoom. It is the best value lens in the Canon pro L series, yet still about $900 depending on what country you are in. If you feel that the price is prohibitive, OR that you can afford an even better lens I can give you more detailed answers over the phone. Feel free to schedule a chat anytime. Here is my portfolio: www.hemmingshouse.com

Hi there, I'm gonna tell you the truth: there's not any "proven well converting sales funnel" at all! Don't waste time on that question, is the wrong question you're asking yourself. As the founder of a Conversion Rate Optimization company, having worked on hundreds of different websites and e-commerce and having brought hundreds of millions of additional revenue optimizing checkout processes and conversion funnel .. Here's the delusion: what works on a website doesn't work on another website. Why? Because it's a different story and it should be treated accordingly. If you have the brand awareness of Amazon there are stuff and strategy that works there, that are not the same stuff and strategies that will work on your website. So the question you should ask yourself is: what would build so much-value for my customer and so much so that they will take the next step towards the funnel until they reach the macro-conversion I want them to take? Here a few hint to understand your customer mind and then translate those finding into actual concrete ideas that will lead your website to an increased conversion rate: 1. Use tools such as "qualaroo" to survey your customer on the funnel, especially the visitors that shows an exit intent; 2. Run an usability testing trough usertesting or similar to understand their thought and feeling while surfing your website; 3. Configure a funnel in google analytics and check which step of the funnel are loosing the most customer, then run a survey on that page and run ab test accordingly to your findings. A couple of advice for your website: 1. There's not a clear unique value proposition: why should I buy from you rather then the competition? 2. I can't see any reference to shipping cost and delivery estimates on the checkout, this is something your users want to now "upfront"; 3. Add a guest checkout feature, forcing a sign-up might prevent your customers to buy (check on analytics as well). Those ideas are the first one that came to my mind in 5 minutes ;) Good luck! Luca

I've used outsourced services several times successfully. I don't think using geographic location is necessary a good indicator for outsourcing value. In my experience it depends on the type of service you are seeking. For example, I've used crowdsourcing services for logo and web designs and discovered creativity has no geographic boundaries. Neither is the skill level necessarily the only indicator for the best creative. Some designs have been submissions from design student or freelancers with no formal training. As for technical work, I seek service based on the following criteria: - technical competency and skills - communication skills - Process skills (to manage overall risk of project) - references from existing clients. Country is secondary to the above list.

Some great suggestions Brandon! And it sounds like you're already using a lot of great insight tools. I'm not totally sure what you are looking for data wise, but what I've found to work in a lot of situations is simply using the Chrome Inspect tool. Essentially; 1. I right click over the object I'm interested in, and then click Inspect. 2. Dig around through the layers and look for anything insightful such as a domain name etc that tips me off to what's powering it (eg Infusionsoft, Mailchimp, plugin etc). The other thing that might help is Firefox's inspect tool since it has 3D which helps you "see" into the code and find things more simply. Hope that's helpful!

I don't know if you have tried this yet, but sometimes having a lookalike custom audience that is 99% similar doesn't always preform better than the lookalike audience that is 97% similar. If I were you I would go through AB test each of the different lookalike audiences, so try 99% vs 98% vs 97% vs 96% vs 95% and see if the less similar audiences will still give you good results, because they should also have a larger audience group for you to market towards. Also have you AB tested interest groups? I'm not sure what your exact niche is but i've worked on campaigns where certain interest groups preformed better than the lookalike audiences. If you're spending a decent amount of money on Facebook ads, having a professional go through and AB test your ads can be a very good idea. It's the difference between having a good ad & knowing you have a perfect ad.

Hi there, I totally understand your nervousness. Your App Store credentials probably feel like the keys to the kingdom. The question you have to answer is whether or not you trust your offshore development team. If the answer is no, you could use a "remote control" app like TeamViewer (http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx) to log the developers into iTunes Connect. If the answer is yes, you could add one or more of the team members as Users/Testers in iTunes Connect. I, for one, usually hand over my credentials. After 3 years of iOS development, a couple dozen apps, and probably 10 different programmers, there's been no funny business. Here's one last thing to remember: people selling development services in the form of contract work usually aren't interested in becoming app entrepreneurs. They run small lifestyle businesses, not startups, and they actually stand to lose more than they gain by ripping off a client. Even if they do rip you off, I think you stand to gain a lot more by giving your programmers the benefit of the doubt rather than disrupting their workflow to protect yourself. It all comes back to trust. If you don't trust them, fire them. (Also, be sure they're making daily commits to a code repository on Bitbucket or Github so that you always have the latest version of the code.) Hope this helps, Austin

Freemium revenue for mobile apps was up 211 percent last year (2013), according to a report from mobile analytics company App Annie and IDC. 83 percent of the top thousand apps on each of the iOS app store and Google Play — monetize via freemium, an even bigger proportion of revenue generated by those top 2,000 apps arrives via freemium: 92 percent. Naturally, the key to success as an app developer who uses the freemium model is getting as large a percentage of your free users buying something as possible. That’s a significant challenge. You have to do what makes the most sense for your app and the users on it. You must create value for the user and make it compelling for them to spend money on whatever you plan on offering. In terms of viable it is tough to say because I don't know what your medical app does. 1. Look at the data from your app 2. Talk to your users about what they want 3. Look at what your competition is doing or others in a similar vertical

I started on Clarity just by answering questions last summer. I used to love Quora but really disagreed with a number of changes they made and so when Clarity launched answers, I started answering questions. I'm incredibly busy but let's face it: we all have extra time. We spend it looking at our phones, on Facebook, socializing with friends, whatever way each person does it, we all spend time on non mission critical stuff. Because I genuinely enjoy helping others, I treated Quora as a way of relaxing the same way others would read news sites or blogs. And so I switched all that time to Clarity by answering questions. I don't recall the exact specifics but by providing real answers (not just, "call me, I can help you), I had my first call request within about a month of my first answer. And I got a nice review. And some more questions answered, and a couple more calls, and a couple more reviews. And from that point, the call volume increased. Simultaneously, I started referring all "can I pick your brain" requests on LinkedIn and email to my Clarity account. And so some calls initiated that way. More reviews. Now, a year later, I have done over 200 calls, with the majority of it inbound from Clarity. Take it from me, if you make the time, and provide genuine help to people, you will get rewarded for it. But like anything in life, if you're not willing to invest the time and resources, you're unlikely to see any return.

The best way to build an MVP for any SaaS product is to create a landing page that looks like a real product. Here's an example of one I built. http://www.happiily.com In this case, it advertises the primary features of the product and invites people to sign-up. When they do, they are asked for information which qualifies the person and then sends me an email. I built this quickly and very inexpensively and started getting inbound leads from it shortly thereafter. I got on the phone with each person who signed-up and explained the features I wanted to build and was able to do a lot of customer learning based on that. Happy to talk to you in a call if you'd like to talk more about customer development with SaaS products.

I love this question. If you have to work on the side while building your business, I recommend doing something you absolutely hate. That keeps you hungry to succeed on your own. You'll also typically save your energy for the evenings and weekends where you'll want it for your business. Don't expect to make much money at your "other job" but you can work it to pay the bills while you build your business. This approach also forces you to build incrementally, and it keeps you frugal. This is not necessarily ideal. Having a bunch of money set aside sounds nice and luxurious, but not having the resources puts you in a position where you have to figure it out to survive. I love that. I started my business eight years ago on $150 and today we do a million a year. Don't wait until you have the resources to start safely. Dive in however you can. And avoid shortcuts. Don't waste your time scheming to make bigger money on the side. Do something honest to live on and create a business that drives value.

You may find this article helpful: http://www.smarthustle.com/article/how-5-smart-hustlers-found-money-for-their-startups/ In short, one entrepreneur, who was looking to borrow money, founded TrustLeaf as he was encountering exactly this question and found no good solution. His new company now helps others gracefully, legally and safely borrow money from friends and family.

I think my question would be have you looked back into the strategy of physical rewards for health motivation? Rather than recommend services offering gym discounts, health supplement discounts etc. I'd rather go back into the reasons why you want to offer rewards in the first place. From most industry best practice and studies into motivation, if you make the process transactional (do good thing, get spa discount), you'll actually lower motivation in the long run and damage any possibility of turning the healthy activity into a habit. Example 1: Studies where patients were paid money for adherence have repeatedly shown poor results, as patients begin to cheat the system and created something transactional. Example 2: CrossFit started from day 1 with an idea of standardised measurement (i.e. quantified self) and competitive leaderboards (i.e. feedback loops). Even though there are no mechanisms to stop an athlete from lying about their own time, the organisation has created an entire culture and international business off of the idea of people competing with themselves and baselining against strangers around the world. Standardisation, feedback loops, and gradual difficulty progression are all key ingredients to how CrossFit achieve this. Instead, I'd focus on how your rewards program can be intrinsically rewarding. I wont say "gamification" for the sake of dropping a b-word but if you pick up a book called 'Drive' you'll get a good primer into the underlying psychology of how/why game/reward systems can improve a positive behaviour. I've passively been around the health tech industry for the last few years so happy to follow up on a call, I also have a few contacts who might be helpful.

That is a really ambiguous question - if someone gave you money, it really doesn't matter what you did with it. The money they gave you needs to follow tax laws related to gifting. If you invested that money and made a profit, you need to pay capital gains on your profits unless you have done something to off-set or delay paying those taxes.