Hiring is fine if you can afford the cash flow outlay now. Remember, no one will ever care as much about your business as you do. At this stage, a combination of base plus commission is likely to work best. You want that base to be just not quite enough for the hire to pay their monthly bills; ideally, you want them motivated to go get the sales. If you pay them enough to be comfortable, they will stay comfortable. So the base shows you are serious. However, it does not let them wallow in complacency...which they will be tempted to if you let them because it's not their business. You will attract better candidates because of the base. Make the commission hefty, say 30% of the project revenue. Perhaps 50% if the numbers work. The risk tolerance of commission-based salespeople is very close to entrepreneurs. This is important to keep in mind, because if the reward system doesn't keep them hooked, they will realize they could eliminate you as the middle man and keep all the money themselves--which accounts for high turnover in many commission salesperson-based operations. Also note that once you set a remuneration structure, it is dangerous to change it. Even alterations that result in the salesperson making more money than they were prior will cause some experienced staff to get angry and quit.If and when you do want to look at changing commission structure, have the salesperson/people participate fully in the process with you. So do your best to get it right this first time. Next time you touch it, there will be consequences. Develop a sales plan with your hire. The numbers need to support the revenue you and the salesperson have in mind. These numbers need to be believable and achievable, not pie in the sky. Each person has their own money tolerance, which is your belief of what is "a lot of money". Check for this: there's no point in hiring an individual who has a low money tolerance and thinks $500 is "a lot of money" if the deal sizes are $10K+ and on-target annual revenue for the salesperson is $200K. If you want to discuss your situation further and set up a specific plan that avoids the pitfalls and gives you the best chance of success, you know where to find me.

I've managed digital products (apps) from concept to maturity. My experience is with SaaS and apps, so it may or may not be relevant to your situation. I think the best tool for prioritizing features is to create a features scorecard in a spreadsheet and use that tool to get alignment with your team as to what features get what priority. Start with defining your business goals (e.g., get more revenue, increase word of mouth, reduce churn, increase retention, etc.). Then assess the resources you have (e.g., number of developers, designers, writers, customer support, sales, whatever your company has to "spend" to create any feature.) In your spreadsheet, create a row for each potential feature and a column for each goal and each broad category of resource (engineering, marketing, support, for example). Use a small numeric scale (0 - 3) to "score" each feature in each column. For example, a feature may not move you toward goal #1, so you would put "0" in goal #1 column. For the resources, do the same. To the right of all these add a column that subtracts the sum of the resource or "effort" scores from the sum of all the goal column scores. You can multiply these scores by a confidence factor as well. If you have a team, it's important to get their input on the scoring. This is not something you just show them and ask for approval. You have to involve them in a meaningful way. I can show you how to do that and point you to some examples you can use, if you'd like to give me a call.

There is certainly value in starting customer discovery interviews. And no reason to wait for the delay that creating a landing page and waiting to collect emails would take. I would just advise that you get clear on your hypotheses about who your target customer is so you talk to the right kind of people. Personas can be a good tool for capturing your assumptions about target customer. A key concept is the different between problem space (understanding customer needs and pain points with how they're getting their needs met now) and solution space (evaluating your idea for how to better solve those problems). You can go pretty far with customer discovery to understand the problem space. At some point, though, you will want to transition to soliciting feedback on some solution space artifact that represents your solution. A landing page is good for testing your value proposition and messaging. At some point, though, you'll want to transition to testing a prototype of your product (e.g., tappable or clickable mockups using InVision). I'm a big believer in testing with prototypes before you actually build your product. I've actually created a 6-step process for defining and testing a new product idea, which I describe in my book The Lean Product Playbook: http://amzn.to/1EYCUdP I've also given several talks that you can check out at http://dan-olsen.com/speaking/ Good luck! Dan http://dan-olsen.com

Interesting question, but I don't really see it as a "chicken and egg" type challenge. For a service startup business, you will still need an online presence. In the Lean Startup method we talk about MVP, the minimal viable product you can build to both test the waters and get paid. Why build a business that no one wants and therefore, no one will pay to use? So, a better approach would be to test the waters first with a few phone calls. Is there a need? Want to be sure? Make one hundred calls. Then let's talk. There are affordable ways to build a MVP.

I would make sure to have a "one sheet" for your pricing already created. If you're okay with a discount rate and equity then have that as an option. When you pivot to discussing compensation it becomes as easy as " for compensation for this projects here's a link to our page/PDF for startups. As we outline there we take pride in our work and like to pay our staff on time so we don't work for just equity but do have special rates for startups who designate a portion of equity."

I founded one of the first independent app development studios just as App Store went live in 2008. In addition to building this successful indie studio, I've helped dozens of companies launch successful apps on App Store and Play Store. Congratulations! Ten thousand downloads a day is a great start. It shows that you've found a sweet spot in the market that has a sizable potential user base. Unless it's a paid app, however, there's nothing monetizable in downloads themselves. App engagement after download, on the other hand has inherent value. If users are indeed engaging with your app, there are dozens of ways to generate revenues from that. Also, you can use that engagement to create content that is shared socially to increase downloads, return visits and longer usage. I've work with app owners like you to make enhancements that ensure engagement, user content creation and sharing. Call me if you want to discuss how to do that.

Find out what your target market values and wants before you set up any kind of lead capture page or differentiation content. Anything else is complete guesswork and virtually guaranteed to be completely off target. Get some information interviews with members of your target market. Do this by phone. You can't automate it or do it by email because it's too slow and easily ignored. Plus, if you use an online survey, the responses are limited to the choices you give them and that is an approach which is too leading. You want the truth, not to confirm your own biases. If you want help in this department, let's talk.

The quality of the photograph and the words you tag the photograph with are keys to success on Instagram. Along with the link to your URL of course. Be selective and post only the most beautiful and interesting unique images and use the best and most relevant words for tags for the search function. Also have a consistency in the images you post. It takes time but eventually you will attract Instagram users who will follow you and share your posted images and links.

Answer your own questions by talking to your target market. They'll tell you. If you won't do this now, what chance do you have to succeed? You'll have to talk to prospects if you want to make sales--do you think they'll just come to your door because you put up a shingle? Ask your target market. Sure, some will talk to you and some won't. Who cares about those who won't? Five conversations with your target market will give you enough correlation to tell you what direction to head in. Should take you a few days, tops. This has to be done live, by phone or in person. Not by email--they'll never get answered. If you're too chicken to do this now, you're not ready to get into your own business. Now as to the other part of your question, which is the money. Every one of us has a money tolerance. That's your level of what you believe is "a lot of money". Your customer has a different belief of that that figure is. You will block your own progress with that belief you so dearly and unconsciously hold... that say "$500 is a lot of money". Many buyers, including myself, believe that if something has a low price, it can't be very good. We're interested in quality, not a low investment. Work on your money tolerance. It is NOT easier to make a low ticket sale than a high ticket sale. As a sales trainer, I used to say it was just as easy to make the high ticket sale as a low ticket sale...but from experience, I can now say it's actually easier to make the high ticket sale. The buyer psychology is that the high ticket buyer has money...and they just give you some. They aren't anxious for the thing to work; they're not desperate. The low ticket buyer is nervous, and is desperate for the solution to magically work right out of the gate. They probably have to steal money from somewhere else to pay for you, and that makes them even more desperate. But the money tolerance thing is up to you. It's your belief more than anything that will determine your outcome. If you believe "$500 is a lot of money," you won't try to get the bigger ticket sales. One big ticket sale can eliminate the need for dozens of low ticket sales. Think about all that time you need to invest in prospecting for, qualifying, and closing each customer: the time requirement is no different despite the price. But you'll probably have to get some experience to figure this out for yourself. You'll seek your own level. There's nothing wrong with low ticket sales; just be clear with yourself that this is the game you've chosen to play. And you could choose to play at any level.

These are some great questions. As an entrepreneur, growing and scaling my business has been both a challenging and rewarding task. I'll answer both your questions separately: 1. How should you decide which business idea to pursue? Your decision should take into account both personal factors and should have regard to your environment, your market and your resources. From a personal perspective, choose an industry which (1) you are passionate about and (2) you have knowledge/experience in. This will considerably reduce your risk of failure. As a startup founder, you will find your job to be extremely challenging and the only way to succeed is through resilience. If you are not passionate, you will easily give up. Having the knowledge and expertise of your industry will not only give you more gravitas but also save you lots of time in research and understanding the wants and needs of your customer. From a larger perspective - ensure your business solves a problem that is large enough to build a profitable business out of. Here is a non-exhaustive list of questions to help you get there: 1. What is your intended customer base? It is harder to target a broad and general audience - try to establish a niche customer base which needs your products and/or services. 2. What problem does your service/product solve? Identifying a problem and providing a solution is the heart of every innovative idea. 3. How can you add value to the product and customer experience? Your customers need to gain benefit from purchasing your goods/services. 4. What are the most unusual characteristics of your business which will give you competitive advantage on the market? Establishing yourself in the market means you need some advantage over your competitors to attract their customers or new ones. 5. Have you researched your competition? In what ways do you feel you can do better than the competition? You need to know who are you facing to understand your market share, and how can you provide better solutions. 6. Do you have access to all the resources you need to launch the business? This includes funding, manpower, premises, equipment etc. 7. What is the size of the market? Do your research! 8. What would it take to create a minimum viable product and test it on the market? You don’t need a finished product to launch, start small and test your ideas. 9. What will it take to make profit? You need to have at least some estimated financial projections as to what you need to spend and what you need to earn in order to break even and then make a profit. 10. Is the problem you are trying to solve on the top priority list of the potential customers? Important consideration to see whether your products will sell. 11. What is your business model? How do you plan on charging your customers, how do your competitors do it, can you create additional revenue streams? 12. Is there a potential for growth? Think in the long term, can you scale the business further? 13. What are the possible roadblocks you are likely to face? You should attempt to find a solution for each problem you can think of. 14. Have you chosen a business name? Make sure that your name is descriptive of the branding and targets your customers. Ask people their input - choosing a name is an important matter as it will affect the rest of your branding. 15. Have you looked for your business name online? Ensure that no other business can be confused with yours. Ensure that the domain name and all social media accounts for your business name are available. I hope this answers your first question. 2. How do I decide which direction to invest my energy in and how can I develop my idea further? This will come to you much more clearly once you have found the answers to your first question. Ensure that you are spending your time in a way that produces results. Your first goal is to bring your MVP, to test it amongst customers, to learn from feedback and then to improve your product. Repeat this formula until you reach product market fit. I hope this helps - please don't hesitate to get on a call with me if you'd like to drill this down further.

I don't have a great answer if you have a limited budget and time, but I would focus on 1) Building a social media strategy with an incentive plan attached to spark engagement. 2) Create a "hit list" of companies that fit the profile and ask them to participate. Not sure how many companies you'd need for the beta but this select list could have special privileges and guarantees such as free or reduced cost when it launches. 3) Check out launchrock.com. For $5 per month you can build a acquisition website and get free promotion to their audience which I think is 200K+ people. Not sure the demo of those people though. 4) Rent a list of contacts in your target market, perhaps through a trade publication that caters to your audience, and send an email (or series of emails) asking for their participation and telling them why they should participate and what they will get for it.

One is a SERVICE. Services sometimes have issues with profitability when scaling. You end up managing people and profit margins stay the same or decrease. The other is a PRODUCT. Products generally scale better as the cost of product remains more or less the same (COGS). Many people start consulting and build a product later. You can also do a productized service which is a mix of both.

Don't even think about monetization yet. You want to focus on first starting to capture this month's traffic - even just 1% - as email subscribers who you can continually message and Market to. Once you have someone as a subscriber, you can now email them a dozen times over a few weeks promoting your affiliate offer, increasing the chance that they'll convert -- after all, who is more likely to convert? Someone who just read a post or someone who opted in and received a dozen trust building emails promoting a product? If you have an email list built off of this traffic you could even promote multiple products over time! If you have three compelling offers, you can pitch all three in sequence, with breaks for education and information. You're right to want to monetize this audience. First and foremost: you want to capture this audience as subscribers to your email list.

I think you're looking at the low hanging fruit rather than digging for the gold that is surely inside these goldmine companies... What I recommend is to advise all of these startups is to master internet marketing. It's the one skill set that once mastered, can and should give rise to new business strategies that can achieve that which you really want, which is an exit at 10x - 100x whatever their current valuation is... Literally ask them and their teams to spend 4 hours a day minimum learning about internet marketing, starting with the fundamentals, the pirate metrics... AARRR - google it if you don't what these are.... Have all your startups declare these metrics, then have them focus on ONE of these metrics, set a goal that is achievable but shows real progress. Give them a goal for every quarter... And don't worry about anything other than these startups meeting these pass/fail goals

Do it now! I don't know your life situation but there's no reason why you can't just continue to try and validate the idea by generating a few early leads and seeing what people are willing to pay before launching into your first project?

I have NO idea BUT... Here's a couple of things I would do if I were in your position and trying to find out. 1. Look at the questions on Quora related to this topic. 2. Look at the questions and topics being discussed in LinkedIn groups. 3. Survey the people you intend to give your talk to before creating the talk. 4. Search for the topic using Twitter search and Facebook search. 5. Go to Amazon, search the words "Crytocurrency" etc. and see what books have recently been released about the topic. 6. Find a really popular website for finance professionals and ask to run a survey to their audience through their mailing list, website etc. re Bitcoin. Use this survey info to inform your talk. If I were to pick just one, I'd go with the last one. Good luck with your talk.

The best day to launch your app is either Wednesday night or Thursday, because the iOS App Store changes features every Thursday and you may get featured that day as "New games..." "New app..." etc. Ideally all your marketing/PR/advertising efforts should start that day (Thursday) because Apple likes it when an app is being privately promoted at the same time it's being featured. Yes AdMob could work for you but please know that there are many other ad placement companies similar to AdMob that can work for you too. You need to see what kind of clients they have, if they match with your niche, etc. Usually this is a trial and error process, you start with several ads and you see which works and which doesn't, you improve, you cut them. etc. Good luck

Yes, it is possible. These are called Information Interviews. The key to keep in mind here is that some people are going to be happy to talk with you, and a few are not. Don't take the few personally: they don't want to talk to anybody. If you want a fast turnaround, call; if you can wait, send a letter. I suppose you have the option of an email as well, but those are easy to ignore. So let's say you were to simply call up companies, ask for the right person, and get talking with those you could connect with. Some would just tell you openly what was going on in their industry. Unbidden! Unprompted! Some people just want to be helpful. Some want to show off what they know. Let them. I'm sharing this with you so you understand that the world is not stacked against you. I had a client who was in Florida and worked a 9-5 so he couldn't make dials in his own time zone. We picked Colorado because it was a couple hours behind, and the roofing industry because it could use the marketing help he provided. Within a dozen dials, we had the marketing manager of a medium-sized roofing business on the line. And she just started telling us the pain points and state of the Colorado roofing industry! I could sell this information! So communicate with your target interviewees, and simply be honest with them. Tell them what you're looking to do, and ask them if they'd be open to sharing their knowledge and experience with you for 20 minutes, since you know they have a lot of value to share. It really is that easy. Some will say yes; a few will say no. But all you care about is those you say yes. The others are probably in companies that aren't doing well--clamming up is a sign of financial failure. You may have to book a talk time with them, ie. not right at the moment you make your first connection. That's fine. I've waited three months to interview people. They're busy, and they mean it when they put a date in their calendar. But enough will talk to you now. Fear is what stops nearly everyone. There's nothing to be afraid of here. If someone--and it's really unlikely anyone will--acts like a jerk, they're a jerk. It's nothing against you. Thank goodness they showed you so quickly! Get talking with the people who are open to talking with you.

There are a couple of routes you can take. You can research people with the background you are looking for in LinkedIn, post a job to indeed, recruit on indeed, network or hire a recruiter. There are pros and cons to each. Let me know if you'd like to chat about these options. I have experience doing all of the available options.

I bring in cash from web based games, I like to play, we a portion of the time coexist with allies following a committed week and play with a glass of whiskey. In any case, by and by I simply play online considering the pandemic, I have been picking the page for the game for a long time outline, the primary concern for me is high store and withdrawal limits, so I picked https://www.9winz.com/live-roulette for playing roulette online. I urge you to draw your thought.

Don't go for email software..Personally, I didn't find worth the expense.. Rather, you should create your own list which should be niche/focused and not something which everyone is using. If you cant, take professional help who can do that if you can share your target company, job titles, location etc. I am not trying to promote my services here,, but I can help people like you and can surely do a test run, if interested. You can validate the result and see it is more productive than subscribing to email software companies. Good luck..

Do you offer a service already? What is your goal with find "big volume of quality dating traffic"?

The only 2 companies I have heard of that could do something like this are: 1-Airship: they have automated all the processes of dispatching, logistics, customer support, credit analyses, order fulfillment, etc on the backend. In the front end you just built your own e commerce website. It is plug & play and that easy. 2-Indemand. (Tryindemand.com) They built the order management, inventory system and dispatch on the back of a white label e-commerce site. They are focus on grocery stores so don't know how much it will fit your specific needs. (Disclosure I know both CEO's and have invested interests

My first question is "How do you monetize your blog?" If you don't know, then there's not much I can do for you right now. See, how you intend to monetize will drive the pre-qualification of readers. Meaning, who do you attract? If you monetize by having a store section, or sponsorship by retailers who sell online (who either pay you for advertising space or give you affiliate payments for customers you send over), then you definitely want readers who have demonstrated a comfort zone with buying clothes online. Otherwise, why bother? It's a too-uphill battle. Sure, you can get the readers, but then they won't buy because sourcing clothes online makes them nervous. If your blog gives them printable coupons they can walk into a physical retail store with, then you needn't worry about that. Though now, your concern is attracting readers who are local to these outlets. Nobody is going to drive 1000 miles to save 15% on a new suit. You really need to understand what you want your readers to DO before you begin producing content and attracting visitors. Otherwise, you'll spend your resources on the wrong things. Who do you partner with? What branding do you want? There's a huge difference between big and tall Men's Wearhouse and big and tall Versace. This goes for any readers of this answer who are tempted to ask a question: please provide more information in your write-up. We're not mind readers. We can't look into a crystal ball and see your exact situation. Give us more to work with, so we can provide a more detailed answer. We want to help you. And to do that, we need to know about your situation. A single descriptor sentence is not enough.

The best, most interactive and best UX design for a "book recommendation plugin" shall be one that has an app-like design. An app-like design includes clear icons, buttons, tabs, and navigation that can be accessed at any time. A book recommendation plugin should also have an easy-to-use interface that is easily navigable. This shall provide them with a greater sense of satisfaction that they are recommending books that they enjoy to other people. Unfortunately, there is no plugin that can provide you these features but you can achieve it using custom code. I've successfully helped over 150 entrepreneurs, startups, and businesses, and I would be happy to help you. Please send me more information before scheduling a call - so I can give you maximum value for your money. Take a look at the great reviews I’ve received: https://clarity.fm/ripul.chhabra