Getting Ready
“(a) Do not write a business plan. (b) Do not create a PowerPoint pitch. (c) Do not try to raise money. (e.) Do build a prototype. That’s the way to get off the ground because if you can’t build a prototype, a business plan, a pitch, and trying to raise money is just self-flagellation.” –Guy Kawasaki
“An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he’s in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.” –Charles Kettering
- How To Be Creative (via Gaping Void)
- How Do I Compete With Free?
- What Question Does Your Product Answer?
- How Are We Going To Make Money?
- Are You Ready To Start A Business?
Blogs To Read
“If you truly believe your idea fills a need, then start with identifying how many people would use it. Make sure that someone else hasn’t already built it. Then build a prototype and test it with a small group of people to make sure the potential users will like it.
Put together a brief business plan and build a financial model of how you are going to sell it and make profits . . . All these steps are there to test your mettle, and if you truly believe in your mission you will overcome adversity.
You will never give up, you burnt you boats and there is no going back, ‘Failure is not an Option’ are your mottos. If you stick with that, then victory will be yours.” –Vajid Jafri, cFares
“The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.” –-Nikola Tesla
- Dosh Dosh (Web Marketing)
- 37 Signals (Design / Productivity)
- Guy Kawasaki (Business / Venture)
- Ycombinator News (Startups)
- Paul Graham (Startups)
- Copyblogger (Writing)
- Andy Beard (Google / SEO)
- 99 Designs (Design)
- W3Schools (Web Programming Tutorials)
Documents
“My main advice would be to always remember that your most valuable resource is your time. Are you using it effectively? Having good ideas isn’t hard, knowing which idea to focus on, which to outsource, which to skip altogether, that’s the skill.
Beyond that, all I can say is hire great people. We’ve been very lucky to attract a first class team.” –Ed Freyfogle, Nestoria
“The best museums and museum exhibits about science or technology give you the feeling that, hey, this is interesting, but maybe I could do something here, too.” –Paul Allen
- Form an LLC – Here is a good reason. Here is another.
- Other Legal Business Structures
- SCORE Template Gallery
- O’reilly I.T. Books
…there’s a lot more where that came from. To see the complete list of resources, including getting funded, tax advice, how to launch successfully, hiring, marketing, setting up a virtual and real-world office, and more, click here.
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