trizk

Absolutely biased, but still:

Simplest Signup Ever!

Since the form autonomously parses whois information, I would probably be aware that I am listed for presence.co, captain obvious. :)

Thanks for the heads up jpmc.

Very generous. Hats off to you man.

That's not the point.

Half baked and medium rare. Delicious.

ThrowAwayRecycler.com sounds like a good one. If you dont like it you can also try CashForYourJunk.com but some people might get the wrong idea.

Some of us have been there, and others are still there. Reading your post I imagine your start-ups were missing the key ingredient: Connections. It is likely that the well connected mediocre start-ups got press and funding because they knew people.

While there will always be the silver spoon fed types who really "know" people, you can go a long way networking and being social. Not social networking. Get off your machine and go to events, conferences, where-ever the action is and make friends with people who can help you, and presumably who you can help too.

I know it is really hard to shift focus from the product and socialize, especially as a single founder. You have grown so accustomed to the efficiency of the Internet that any offline PR or networking seems like a grand old waste of time. I am guilty of that too. But I realize that many entrepreneurs have a competitive advantage by virtue of their social connections. Whether it be in the form of an introduction to a venture capitalist at a party or lunch with a tech journalist.

So I suggest you don't throw in the towel just yet. You now have a product. And obviously a supportive wife after four years. Drop the code for awhile. Step back and reassess where you are focusing your energy to steer your company towards a brighter future. It is not an easy or short road to follow. But if you really want it, you will get there.

startupsnapshot.com is available

If you are an employer employing employees, you have to pay your share of Federal and State taxes on their behalf, including FICA and unemployment insurance. Failure to do so will result in penalties that may include jail time. (http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/775884.html). Back to the issue, if the "friend" insists that the op was an employee, he would have been liable for said taxes. Thus he would be incriminating himself. You don't have to be a lawyer to figure that out.

Failure to pay unemployment insurance can lead to jail time in many states. Quick search on Google yields an example for MA:

http://www.ehow.com/list_6306349_massachusetts-state-unemplo...

"Employers who fail to pay unemployment insurance premiums can also be ordered to serve time in a state prison."

You can search for the legislation on Mass.gov if you like.

No, I am getting downmodded because my advice to fight on is against popular opinion. The reason for my last sentence is quite evident. You have written numerous comments advising the op to walk away.

Your argument that he cannot afford the legal fees and thus should not pursue the business is not well founded. Furthermore, he never said he was looking for investors. In fact, I am led to believe that the product is almost market ready and the op is able to dedicate the time to completing it.

The "friend" is obviously in the same boat financially as the op. Neither one can afford to drag out a court case for an extended period of time and the only incentive to do so would be if the software succeeds. In that case the gentlemen could settle favorably and still "win".

"start from scratch again by finding a co-founder or hiring a developer to build his idea." more likely than not means he is taking you for a ride.

Not unless he paid him regularly, offered him health benefits, and paid unemployment insurance. A claim like that could land his "friend" in jail.

It is evident that the other founder isn't wealthy and would have an equally hard time fighting this legally. Furthermore, it is evident that although the other founder may have a claim, it will be circumstantial at best. The op is in a more powerful position. It would be foolish to back down.

You are not the other founder by any chance, are you?

If great companies were built by those exerting the least effort we would live in a very different world today.

The early histories of many successful SV companies are peppered with a sour business deal or two. The winners are those that hung on and fought. Did Gates walk away when when Jobs discovered that he was building GUIs? Who walked away from Facebook? Zuckerberg or the other guys? You know the twins...or "those other people" whoever they were. You get the point. Exactly, its just businesses.

So he is supposed to chuck all his hard work and walk away? No way. He should roll up his sleeves and put up a fight. No one has ever succeeded by being a wimp, except windows 3.0.

Do not under any circumstances sign anything. Copyright (http://www.copyright.gov/register/index.html) your code immediately. Then play hardball. Tell him you feel that you have done most of the work and want 60% or you will go your separate ways.

If he is threatening legal action, take legal action first. File a complaint if he even touched your software. (Uploads it to a server, tries to give it to another developer to reverse engineer, etc.). Don't say anything in email or verbally that you may regret later. In fact, assume that when you talk to him, whatever either of you say may be used in court.

Start going it alone right away. Try to market and sell the product by yourself. Your wrote it. Its yours. He might try to take you to court over this in that you had some "verbal" agreements wrt a joint venture and he probably has some emails to back him up (M. Arrington et. al.) so it is imperative that you either placate him or take legal action first.

You are responsible for the security of any information on your system. Thus you should want to be PCI DSS compliant even if it is not a requirement.

Take a look at PayPal Website Payments Pro.

https://www.paypal-business.co.uk/process-online-payments-wi...

Why don't you want to use PayPal. Its a pretty safe path to start accepting payments online and you can use their transparent API so they are not visible. Get an account, read their API docs and security best practices for the language of your choice (and in general). Implement an example from the docs on your server and grow it from there. Don't store credit card data on your server and don't cut corners when checking integrity of communication between you and PayPal.

Personally I prefer Godaddy. The interface needs some work but I have found that by using them I get really low propagation delays. Their service is pretty flexible facilitating stuff like privacy and configuring your domains to host their own nameservers.

You should incorporate and show your expenditures as losses that will carry over to when your start up eventually becomes profitable. This is standard practice and will rightfully save you money by reimbursing you against your tax liability in the future.

Posted to wrong thread

I think companies could mandate what OSes their servers use and standardize some of the software that the development team uses, but to require an OS is pushing it. I understand that many non-technical companies do this, however operating systems tend to be a personal preference. Some people are more efficient on Windows, other on a Mac and others on their Linux distro of choice. If you have to use one OS for work and another at home it just creates a productivity conflict. Big "Take this OS and Shove It" from here.

into my startup!

Exodus Ultima 3

So all you have is an idea in your head and you want people to give you money? Don't expect anything. Put yourself in the angel's shoes. Do you know how many people tell them "Psst! Have I got an idea for you!" on a daily basis? Your chances are very close to nil and you need to produce some value to differentiate yourself.

Either roll up your sleeves and bootstrap the beta or have professional courtesy to sit and honestly write down, in-depth why you think it would be profitable for someone to give you money.

A business plan is an exercise to both familiarize yourself with your market and explore your vision. It helps ensure that what you are doing is grounded in reality and provides you with a well thought out initial trajectory. It is not set in stone and is something you use as a loose guide to direct your company. You can and will carefully pivot based on ongoing analysis of the dynamics of the situation in the trenches. Although it is of more benefit to you and your company than to anyone else, it certainly helps show that you are on top of your game.

http://presence.co is always looking for good people

Sometimes this very advice is purposefully skewed to work against you. You are wise to question, contextualize and ignore.

I am going to have to go against the grain on this one. Yes you are owed money that is rightfully yours. But you wanted to be part of a startup with all the associated glory and rewards. That means you also assumed some risk and realized you might have to be flexible based on the circumstances handed to the startup. Remember, Amazon almost went under.

The founders are not jerks. They spent what they had on you and treated you well. Now they have nothing but your loyalty and goodwill. They probably want to pay you (maybe even before they pay themselves!) but they can't. Yes they are trying to keep plastic smiles so every one doesn't jump ship and you can live to fight another day. Perhaps, at this point they should be more honest, but I imagine they are afraid to see the dream vaporized.

Obviously, if you worked there for some time you at least kind of believe in what you are doing. Now is an opportunity to gain more control/equity and maybe even help steer the company to profitability. On the other hand if you are sure it is going nowhere, even if everyone tightened their belts and rolled up their sleeves then it is time to let go and write it off.

Yes you are entitled to the money. But you are probably not going to get it. You are only going to destroy relationships. Be up front with the founders. Either leverage your position to change your circumstances or walk away in good faith.

Absolutely! The beta is currently restricted to the mobile device in order to test our MVP, however Presence will soon be offered to traditional web based clients as well (see the screenshot in the features section).