No. There is no way to build a billion dollar business without a management team. The founding team of a startup is a very significant part of the evaluation of any early-stage investor. Furthermore, regardless of the business of the app, there are critical business decisions and actions required of any business. It doesn't mean that engineers can't fulfill the business roles and responsibilities (although at some point, this is likely the case), but it means that as a business grows, management responsibilities are required to run the company.

ASK THEM TO SHARE THEIR PROBLEMS... Don't overthink it. When you find people who ask questions on Quora or Clarity or LinkedIn (or a zillion other social media platforms) respond to those people that "if you want someone to start working on solving that problem, tell us what you want...". Then point them to ASTU. Cool?

I don't know about 100, but my very first three clients came through thought leadership articles. I believe that referrals and SEO kicked in after that for a good mix of sources.

When a credit card is used to make a purchase/payment the cardholder has the ability to chargeback that transaction for up to 180 days with the issuing bank. If they have not received the product and/or service as promised they will contact the issuing bank.

YES! You certainly can sell a services business; and, if it is positioned and prepared properly, for pretty great returns too. There are a number of different exit strategies available to you, not ALL of them acquisition. For instance; we have helped service business owners transition (exit) from their business without selling the business, but instead by retaining a minority interest and receiving large (7 figure) royalty checks for years after their departure. That said, IF acquisition is what you want each of the dozens of strategies available to you really begin with identifying prospective buyers, understanding their motivation for acquisition and pivoting your company into alignment with those motivations. I explain the process in more detail here: http://www.zerolimitsventures.com/cadredc Hope this helps! Good luck. Steve

I can refer you to several third party platforms that provide this service: www.referralsasquatch.com allows you to create an incentive based sharing system, www.sweettoothrewards.com is similar but more tailored to a full 360 loyalty program. Additionally, www.referralcandy.com has a different form of pricing that may suit your needs because it allows you to pay as you go; with no setup fees. Hopefully these few recommendations will be enough to get you atleast considering different options. Feel free to call me with any questions or implementation advice.

I thought questions was for ... questions...sure I'll send an email when I have time.

Focus on the more difficult side of the marketplace. For instance, if you think it'll be easier to get suppliers, then focus first on getting buyers - always be working on your toughest problem (aka your biggest risk). You'll find some great blogging on Marketplace and Platform topics here http://platformed.info (read the ebook too!)

Yes. Who I would recommend would depend on what you'd like to see happen. Are you building only for iOS, or only for Android, or both? Will you have a bunch of content/stuff in your app or just a little? Are you thinking game or non-game app? Do you already have a big fanbase or would you be trying to build one while building the app? It's easy to save a bunch of money on mobile development if you know how, and even easier to overspend. Making an app can be a ton of fun or a major headache. I'd recommend the fun. So if you want an outside perspective, give me a ring.

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A typical and ubiquitous problem faced by any small, medium business is breaking the status-quo. The problem often fails to get resolved due to the sales/number focused approach envisioned by the organization. As a matter of fact, deciding around future enhancement (s) requires a lucid understanding of existing challenges/limitations around internal-external process, people, strategic road map, market trend and insights. Why accounting is not giving you a real projections is because, may be, you aren't evaluating your existing functional process and people around changing dynamics and contemporary niche modus-operandi. May be you should focus on enablers than end numbers. Hope this will help. Please feel free to reach out to me for support that you may need. Thank You.

Recently, I've hit a "tipping point" where I have enough content (blog posts, podcasts, interviews, etc...) that companies now regularly seek me out for advice. "To be known, you must teach" - Nathan Barry After I wrote "This is a web page" (http://justinjackson.ca/words.html) I was contacted by VPs at Coca-Cola and Google. They weren't offering me work: they just wanted to say they enjoyed my writing. Writing, and amplifying your content, is one way to get your foot in the door.

Kudos to you for seeing the value in great copy. I love that you mentioned 37signals, which is an organization that's made copywriting part of almost everyone's jobs (or so they've shared on their blog). MailChimp and Zendesk are two others that people often point to re: great copy that builds a brand and differentiates; Groupon is another awesome example of really, really tonal copy that people actually read (which is more than half the battle). MailChimp has in-house copywriters, including Kate Kiefer (https://twitter.com/katekiefer), and so does Groupon. I'm not sure who writes for Dropbox or Zendesk, though searching companies on LinkedIn can often reveal little-known in-house geniuses. The startups you mention have a certain style and tone that I have to say is different from what you'll normally get with a "direct response" copywriter, though by all means check out the link David Berman submitted to you because you never know. I recommend that, to achieve the slightly funky, funny-ish copy you're looking for, you seek out a conversion-focused copywriter with a creative and UX background. You need someone who's totally at ease adopting a new voice / tone and using it appropriately across your site and in your emails; less experienced copywriters might be heavy-handed with the tone, which often gets in the way of the user experience (e.g., button copy that's tonal can lead to confusion). Be careful, of course, not to push your writer to be exceptionally creative -- because a little touch of tone goes a loooong way for busy, scanning eyes. Here are some great freelance copywriters you could consider: http://copyhackers.com/freelance-copywriters-for-hire/ The link to Neville's Kopywriting peeps is also great. Before hiring, ask to see a portfolio or get a) links to websites they've written and b) a zip of emails they've written; if a writer is accepting clients, they'll usually showcase their work on their website. Check out their blog and tweets to see if their voice comes through in their own writing. Don't hire bloggers or content creators for a job a copywriter should do. Don't hire print copywriters for web work unless they do both. And when you find a great copywriter, trust them... and don't let them go - because 10 bucks says, they're in demand or about to be.

I'm going to be making some assumptions with the hope that my answer will be helpful to you (if the assumptions are correct) and others. 1. Make sure YOU are "running" all marketing. By this I mean that those you hire should be following your strategy - not creating it. They should be communicating the message you crafted - promoting the offer(s) you created - managing the brand you cultivated. In other words - don't abdicate marketing strategy to anyone you hire. 2. Depending on where you are in the start-up continuum - pick one in-bound and one out-bound marketing venue. Those will ideally be the lowest investment / highest potential ROI venues based on your market (this presumes you know your CAC and margins). If you are choosing content marketing as one of those venues then run your campaign(s) and keep track of the metrics. 3. Hiring, in all cases, starts best when you know what that position has to do for and in the business to help create value and to increase profits. I like to create a Position Contract that outlines what's required of the position so everyone involved knows what's expected. With those things in mind - my answer to your question is to hire experts in the specific areas you've identified as the venues you are going to invest in. Get specific and avoid the generalist - at least until you've identified one successful (read "profitable") in-bound and out-bound venue. Best of luck!

Pingomatic?

The way we usually do it it: Objective A,B,C. Action A, Result A, Action B, Result B. You want to make sure you're clear about your objectives and the client knows what success will look like weeks/months from now. Simple Headers and bullet-points are enough. This is a good example of really simple and useful document - http://webmeup.com/downloads/seo-checklist.pdf Also, don't forget about some conclusions, where you basically just wrap up everything, in case the client isn't patient enough to read the whole document. Good luck!

It can be pretty common. It's different for different networks, some will over-report and some under-report. Google for example generally under-reports conversions, so we adjust for that on our end. Social buys generally over-report due to bots etc. It's definitely annoying but once you get your baseline metrics down you can better estimate your true costs and revenue.

I would pick up the phone. I think actually speaking with the decision-maker will illuminate how to reach them at scale, objections, and other things you need to know.

I think good life partners for entrepreneurs need patience and empathy. Being an entrepreneur is demanding and has its ups and downs, so you need to find someone who is understanding and supportive. Someone with flexible expectations is better able to cope with the lifestyle of an entrepreneur in terms of work life balance. For some people, it's nice to be with other entrepreneurs and startup founders when you can, but this can also be a recipe for disaster if you're both running on high energy all the time. My boyfriend and I are both entrepreneurs (he founded a YC company and I am a consultant for startups). We both value: 1) The ability to brainstorm with each other 2) Having someone who provides useful and genuine feedback about our ideas/products/strategies (even when it has sharp criticisms). 3) Having someone who drives you forward when your motivation is running low. 4) Balance. We both have a lot in common, but we aren't twins. He likes to procrastinate and I finish things early. I'm extroverted and he's introverted. While these are challenges for some, the differences in our personalities and life experiences are what enhances our relationship. About Me: I specialize in copywriting and sales/marketing consulting. I take the approach of an economist and apply that to my work to understand how to create persuasive messaging for target audiences. Check out www.salesfolk.com for more information.

If you're a service business and haven't been able to make profit, then I highly doubt investors are going to get involved. The beauty of selling your time is you can get people to buy right away, and if they pay anything above $25/hour - then you should make profit assuming you can live off of $50K/year salary. All that being said, here's what I did when I almost went bankrupt building my company Spheric Technologies (at the time I had 3 employees). 1) I got on the phone and started calling old friends loosely tied to the industry and asked for advice. Doing so introduced me to new opportunities, ideas and connections. I spend every night - after working 8 hours with a client - emailing and calling 15+ people. Some I knew, some I didn't, many I hadn't talked to in years. 2) Focused on sales & getting paid faster. Many times - especially a service based business - will die due to cashflow issues... they can't afford to pay their employees bi-weekly, and wait on the sidelines while their customers pay them net 30, 45 or worse 60+. So I hustled to get my existing customers to pay me Net 0, and going forward, got a deposit (20% up front) and kept the invoice every 2 weeks, Net 0, paid via wire transfer or credit card. 3) Refined the business to focus only on 1 customer type that was profitable. In the early days you take on anything that will "make you money" but you quickly learn that not every customer is the same. If you know this, stop working with customers where you can't make 30% net profits off a project, and use that as your filter for new opportunities. Also, raise your prices if you aren't making profit. Someone in your industry is... so can you. Unfortunately, there's no short cut or silver bullet - but the pattern to follow is listed above. I eventually grew that business to 30 employees in 4 years (bootstrapped 100%) and was acquire in May 2008 before the crash. It was the easily the most intense time of my life, but I learned A LOT of lessons that I continue to use today. Call if I can help, but assuming I maybe priced outside of your range ... that being said, there's thousands of other folks who can help for as little as $30, so get on a call today.

We work with one of the big cruise sites in the UK and it's all about making the site deserve to rank higher by continually improving the site via design & content. Google wants to rank popular sites so you need to (as Simon points out) figure out ways of getting influential sites to talk about you and link to you. PR is the only real way to build links these days.

I would talk to the team at http://efabless.com Really helpful guys and they can get you an IC prototype for $100 - $10,000 They've built a lot of the smartphone IC's you see in mobile products today. If you're dealing with FCC part 15, give me a shout and I can help you navigate a bit.

A pre-launch raise is really hard but not impossible. I raised a seed round for a mobile app that hasn't launched but it was quite honestly incredibly difficult and I wouldn't recommend others trying it! I answered a question about when is best to raise under what circumstances here: https://clarity.fm/a/3484 I have helped many Clarity members with early-stage fundraising advice and would be happy to talk to you about what makes most sense for you and your company.

Start by interviewing people who do have experience in the field and determining to what extent they feel the pain for the problem you're solving. Your biggest risk with an idea where you don't have domain expertise in is that you're solving a problem that doesn't need solving. If after speaking with a number of people in that field, there is a strong sense of validation, then you might consider moving forward on attempting to execute the idea but before doing so, I'd recommend you talk to me or another well-reviewed Clarity advisor to ensure you are well equipped to move forward on the idea.

There's usually a few downsides to developing with any kind of cross-platform solution. 1. You won't be writing apps in their native languages (ie. objective-c for iOS and java for Android). Instead, with Corona, you'll be writing your apps in Lua, which is a scripting language. 2. A lot of times not writing apps natively can negatively impact the performance of an app. I can't speak for the Corona SDK directly, but using 1st-party tools and languages properly should always yield the best app fluidity, responsiveness, and performance. 3. You will be directly limited by the Corona SDK. What this means is, when you are developing your apps, you won't have the luxury of being able to use the latest and greatest technologies. You will have to wait for Corona to add those specific features into their own library, before you'll be able to gain any benefit from them.