Startup Next Door

I really hate it when posts have pop-culture, timely linkbait titles like “8 1/2 Startup Tips I Learned from Justin Bieber” and “5 Things Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know about PSY’s Gangnam Style Video”.  But I honestly could not get startup equivalences out of my head when watching “The Hobbit”.

Disclaimer: I hate spoilers, and I wouldn’t put any spoilers in here. But if you’re really sensitive about your movies (like I am) and don’t want to know anything that happens or is said in the movie, see the movie first (it’s been out for 3 weeks, go see it).

Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of months ago I put some thought into the area of competition.  You may not know, but my latest startup has some competition.  The competition we face ranges from trivial to troublesome.

But we’re glad to have it.

Once you launch a startup, it’s only a matter of time until competing businesses come along.

Read the rest of this entry »

Those in the Seattle area can check out TalkToTheManager at Spitfire in Belltown on Tuesday, April 24th. I’ll be doing demos of TalkToTheManager and showing off all the cool features.

Tickets to the event are $15 or $20 for 2.  Get more info at: http://seattlebeta.com/

Update (April 30, 2012): Congratulations to gli.ph for winning the People’s Choice Award for the night. Here’s the Seattle Beta post.

Here are some photos from the night, including one of me sharing the awesomeness:

My latest startup is TalkToTheManager, which is a departure from the consumer-focused startups I’ve done in the past.

This announcement is a little late, since I actually launched on March 4th, but I was holding back on an announcement until I could get some good market traction.

Read more after the break for details.

Read the rest of this entry »

From time to time, I’ll divert from talking business into getting down into tech details, because doing more with fewer servers or other resources will save you money and that’s good for business, especially when bootstrapping.

For this tutorial, you’ll need to be running your apps in PHP and can configure it, and have the ability to install software to your server. If you’re still reading, I’ll assume you’re comfortable with both. Let’s go!

Read the rest of this entry »

Early Friday morning, I was thinking that if I could get an instant domain search going, I could hook it up to Hover.com and send them traffic (because they’re awesome) and get some affiliate revenue when someone bought a domain with them.  After work Friday I started coding, and Sunday night I finished it: http://dotcomornothing.com  Ah, weekend projects.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m pleased to join Earndit as an advisor. Having worked with the founders professionally before Earndit’s inception, I can’t imagine a better combination of co-founders. Harry Kautzman II and Andres Moran have the tenacity and drive that the best entrepreneurs exhibit, yet are good-natured, tempered in their decision-making, and complement each other with strong technical and business expertise.

Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s face it. We want to make all our customers happy.  More happy customers means more money and fewer complaints.

So what happens when you discover that a feature isn’t working properly in one obscure browser?  If you’re like me, you let it go. 

There are quite a few obscure browsers out there, and my obscure meaning that the percent of the overall users using them is very little: Opera, Konqueror, Seamonkey, SRWare Iron, K-Meleon, Lunascape, FlashPeak SlimBrowser, Songbird, Beonex, Camino, Galeon, Epiphany, Kazehakase, Avant Browser, Maxthon, and I’m sure the list continues.  Even well known browsers (though older versions) fall into this category: Firefox 2, IE 5.5, etc.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is Part III of the Delaware LLC series. Start series here.

OK, this is where the real action happens. Once you’ve got your business and personal accounts separated, it’s time to take the plunge and get your LLC.  There are any number of companies that would jump to help you: The Company Corporation and LegalZoom are just two.  But since I’ve had good experience with LegalZoom in the past I used them.

I’ll guide you through the whole process, which takes about 30 minutes.  Let’s go!

Read the rest of this entry »

This is Part II of the Delaware LLC series.  Start series here.

In order to protect your personal assets, it’s vital to separate your personal money, expenses, and debt from those of your business, or you may forfeit the legal protections that LLCs and corporations offer.

Read the rest of this entry »