md1515

Just started reading after seeing this thread. Great stuff - I'm laughing my butt off. Keep it up

I think there are a lot of good points in the thread. I understand your risk that makes it seemingly impossible to leave your job. I would agree that without many paid customers it is not worth it to do so.

Try to spend the first few hours after you wake up on your project (I have found these to be the most productive hours of the day). Also try to bring a lunch into work and do some work then? Although doing a side project at work could lead to some problems down the road.

If you want to bounce some ideas off of me or anything, send me an email (it is in my profile). I'm not the most useful person in the world, but I'd love to help if I can.

Good luck

Personal problems meant it was much more practical to make my own way than to have anyone else help me. :\

Definitely ask to see the figures. If they truly are profitable and have closed a series A - TAKE IT.

Usually startups that are successful have a tough vetting process. If they want to hire you, they want to hire you. Do not get greedy, but take some equity and get a bit higher salary as well.

Be careful, though. I have seen a few things about company exits that leave some shareholders with nothing (some stipulation with the deal itself). Good luck

James Altucher has a great writing style.

www.jamesaltucher.com

What drives me? Fear.

I fear I am unable to work for others with extremely limited freedoms.

A few (rather obvious) tips.

- SEO - make sure your site can be found by certain keywords. A lot of traffic can be driven from Google. Maybe focus on "quotes of wisdom" or something. Recently there was a website on HN discussing how to monetize his site - 80% of his traffic came from Google. You need SEO. There is a great guide on the SEOmoz website.

- Blog content - write some really good content that is useful for people who don't use your product. First of all, it helps with overall SEO, second of all it will help with referrals that bring customers that actually do want to use it. This shouldn't be hard given you are a winsdom-sharing based site. Find some inspirational stories etc. etc.

- Partnerships - try to get some partnerships with similar companies or companies where you can help one another. Ex: look for a partnerships with a virtual book design site or something.

These are just a few off the top of my head. Best of luck

Well I micromanage in the sense that a button location will be changed if I have a purpose. A font will be changed if I have a purpose. A function will be perfected if it serves a purpose. Like I said, everything I ask will serve a purpose and I will explain that purpose to the programmer and we will discuss what we think is best. Nonetheless, I'll keep that in mind..

This is fantastic. I think you should follow natbro's lead on a few things - allow disquss commenting and show excerpts of the book.

Also I have a series to add: Harry Turtledove's "Darkness" series. It is like 5 books, if I remember correctly. I'm at work...

Yeah, you have to discuss your issues with the additions. If they are non-technical then you can make up some story about the world exploding if they go through with it...

...I'm a non-technical co-founder and I DO micromanage, but I keep an open mind if my programmer says it is more difficult, harder to implement etc. We have a good relationship with that type of stuff. Marketing/business people have reasons for where they put buttons etc., but you need to get on the same page with him about projects that can't be added.

Yeah, well the other idea might be to just sit back and accept the $30K per year. Within a year you will have a return on your investment so long as that third party continues to advertise. Bulls make money, bears make money, but pigs get slaughtered. Careful you do not overload your site trying to make money!

I wake up, sometimes get my laptop and read something while I am in bed. Sometimes I get up to read. I check my FB, email, and then HN, BBC, Economist etc. which takes about an hour or so normally. I eat some cereal while doing that - must of the time Honey Bunches of Oats.

Then I get to work brainstorming, emailing, brainstorming, speaking with my programmer, brainstorming, and then lunch. In the afternoon/evening I usually go to the gym or sometimes play soccer at lunch.

I would agree with you. First of all, proximity does matter. I'm working via Skype with my co-founder and technology makes this a pretty painless process, but there is nothing like good old-fashioned face-to-face interaction. Second, you're right - networking opportunities are important and your chance of finding the right ones increases greatly. Congrats

I have to agree with revorad - $30 CPM is quite good. I assume that comes from the niche market plus the location - what percentage of hits are coming from Sweden/Scandinavia?

I would suggest trying to make some affiliate partnerships with companies selling baby products. Hopefully some of the moms visiting your site will buy their goods after reading your content (which will net you a % of their expenditures).

Best regards and if you need any help setting up affiliate partnerships, let me know. I am working with some larger companies on that basis as well.

Sometimes I think about having a terrible boss working in some huge company where I am told what to do and go into work 8-5 every day.

...then I realize I need to get my butt in gear and make the startup work, because I can't handle that!

Well, if you are a small startup (>20 people) I would say that recruiting is probably a job you should take over yourself, much less want to know.

You need to know that type of thing. As a startup, word of mouth is a huge factor in your success. If you have disgruntled people who were mistreated, you're going to be in trouble.

I make sure I answer every email (we're ultra small at 2 people). For partner companies I even brainstorm some ideas to help them/make their life easier. It at least shows I care about them. You have to be really involved so...yeah, you should want to know!

Good luck to him!

Hmm, well my last statement still stands. If you believe in the project and want to work on it AND the VC group is faltering, then perhaps you should contact them.

Or it was not a viable business in the first place and that is why they are failing (in which case that's karma and you can move on).

To answer your question - it depends on a few factors. If I'm being paid more than what I can find in the USA, I would move absolutely. If I were getting paid the same as in the USA, most likely. If I were getting paid less, but I could have the same standard of living, it is a toss up. Depends on location etc.

I've visited India once and my mother is Indian so there is a little more "pull" for that reason.

Well you do not need to necessarily have a product that suits the Chilean market per se. Plus, you have one lone data point - perhaps he doesn't know the market as well as he thinks.

In any case,I think the connections would be great, the publicity would be very helpful and the cash would be extremely beneficial (with no strings attached).

If it is tech then you can always run things remotely anyway. You'll be in a cheaper environment for a few months and then you can go wherever you'd like. What is your product? That might help us with the decision (though I understand if you do not want to share openly)

I don't think anything is impossible. Heck, take a look at the Million Dollar Homepage: http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/

Nonetheless, you do have to convince 100,000 to do it (if they all took the cheapest option). That is quite hefty.

I think you may have to set your sights a bit lower, but it is worth a shot. Try to raise some funds via Kickstarter or IndieGoGo - both have a heavy focus on indie films.

Good luck

How do I get points deducted for this?..

We can't answer for you, bud. Read rmason's material and try to decide for yourself. You know best! Good luck

You have to ooze enthusiasm and passion to REALLY get other people motivated to do things with you.

I spoke with a man 8 years my senior with far more experience than me and convinced him to drop everything to work on a project with me. Encourage them, be more than co-workers with them. You have to put as much (if not more) time into your partners as you do your startup if you are the head founder.

Also, there are a lot of flaky people who say "great idea, I'll help" and then do not do anything. That is neither your fault nor anything new. If you truly can't find anyone - just do it yourself. Saves the equity and frustration.

I've never met Sam, so I can't say anything about his personality or attitude, but I am not impressed. PG is in a whole other league compared to Sam A, I'm sorry.

There is always room for a new search engine. I think Paul Graham wrote an article that questioned "do you think 100 years from now we'll be using the same search engine? I don't even think Google believes that".

There is a lot of room for innovation - there always is. Also, a lot of niche search engines are popping up. I briefly perused TC this morning and saw an engine focusing on family heritage...

Well there are a few questions here. First of all, how do you know the VC didn't just reject you because someone had brought him the idea first?

I have never heard of VCs taking an idea and convincing some programmers to develop it.

Perhaps you should speak to him about it. If they are failing, send a reasonably nice letter asking to work on the project as there are many similarities and you think you could really benefit the project. You would have to swallow your pride, but you might get funding...

Dead-pooling (to me) means the company is closing up shop.

I think Yobongo has some pretty strong traction, but they may add some features that take another direction.

Email Paul directly and hope he can help. Best of luck. Things tend to work themselves out.