Launch Chat

In this episode, we talk about how a pre-product startup can compete for investors when they're up against other startups who have already built and launched their app. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In this episode, we talk about how you should structure equity agreements with your earliest employees, contractors, advisors, and cofounders. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In today's episode, we talk about what's going on with the startup funding market and why (most) startups shouldn't be worried about it. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In today's episode, we talk about whether entrepreneurs should put a valuation on their early-stage startup, and what investors expect from you in relation to that valuation. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In this episode, we talk about the different types of business models startups can choose to generate revenue, and rank them from easiest to hardest to implement. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In today's episode, we talk about how long a founder should wait it out before calling it quits on their startup idea. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In today's episode, we talk about the current state of the economy and how it's impacting fundraising for startups at every stage. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In this episode, we talk about whether startups need a technical cofounder in 2022, especially when it comes time to talk to their first investors. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In today's episode, we talk about what startup founders should do when they stumble upon a competitor doing the exact same thing as them. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In today's episode, we talk about the importance of raising funding from friends and family and how to do it without being or feeling sleazy. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In today's episode, we talk about how you should handle discussing your idea with non-cofounders, specifically those who you've been bouncing ideas off of and interacting with at the start of your startup journey. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In this episode, we talk about whether startups should bootstrap or raise capital for their startup in 2022, and depending on the choice what they should think about doing differently as they startup. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In this episode, I break down why financial projections (spoiler) are important for pre-seed stage startups, BUT the reasons why may not be what you think... --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In this episode, I run down the top tools I'd recommend to new startups in 2022 ranging from domain names and website builders to legal and finance tools. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In today's episode, I talk about whether startup investors will have a problem if a founder is working on more than one startup at a time. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

Did you miss us? Well, we're back and well-rested after a 2-year break from the show ready to answer your startup's burning questions. A lot has changed in the startup landscape since we left which means new topics to cover, and we can't wait to help you get your startup built, launched, and funded through daily answers to your burning questions. Have a question you want answered on the show? Just head to launchchat.com! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchchat/message

In this episode Jake talks about ways to handle investor objections that ensure you get a 'yes' at the end of your pitch.

In this episode we field a question from someone who has a ton of 'startup skills' but can't seem to find an idea to work on. Jake breaks down the methods he uses to find great ideas and how to use them. Join our free Idea Program at https://launchpeer.com/idea

In today's episode Jake talks about the number one skill he wish he'd mastered at the beginning of his startup journey, and why it's probably not what you think...

In this episode Jake talks about what it's been like being married for 12 years and building his business for 6, and 12 specific tips that entrepreneurs should take in order to make life easier for themselves and their families during startup life.

In this episode we talk about what factors you should consider when trying to decide between building a B2B or a B2C startups, and what Jake's preference would be if starting up.

In this episode we talk about why competition for your startup doesn't matter, and how to turn competition into your best friend. Want to ask a question? Go to LaunchChat.com and post it there. Want to join our free community? Go to Launchpeer.com/join and request an invite.

In this episode we talk about whether it's best to rebuild your app to go faster, or just stick with what you got.

In this episode we talk about how your startup should handle the competition (or if you should even care about them in the first place).

In this episode we talk about whether or not PR distribution services work, and also whether PR is even worth your time as a startup founder.

In this episode we talk about whether you should build your startup 'in stealth mode' or tell everyone you can about your idea.

In this episode we talk about whether or not you can have too many cofounders, and what you should do to ensure your team is set up for success (and you're protected).

In this episode we break down some strategies entrepreneurs can use to beat perfectionism and keep pushing toward their goals.

Today's QuestionToday's question comes from Pete. If I were to use a Facebook or WordPress page to test the validity of my idea, would this be enough to act as an MVP?Jake's AnswerThe best way to define a MVP is that it is a solution that allows you to acquire users. Generally speaking, it's the minimum product you can build to get users.Emphasis on minimumMost problems can be solved with simple solutions that are mostly manual in the beginning. Is it an ideal solution? No. But does it get users in the door and allow you to validate your idea? If the answer is yes, then it's a suitable MVP. If you can take your results from the product and show traction and usage to investors, then it works as MVP.Questions to ask when building your MVPCan it be built for less than a few hundred dollars? This would be something like creating a WordPress site and then syncing to an email service.Is anything on your features list something that can be done manually? Can you or a VA take on the tasks and do the same thing manually that you want to automate?Founders often worry that what they're building isn't valuable enough if they don't add all of the features or automate processes? If you build something that only costs a few hundred dollars and you don't get any users, you can always move forward and build more features anyway. But if you build a product with a bunch of features you can't step back and then build a simple, inexpensive MVP."A MVP is the minimum amount you can do to acquire users. Most founders forget this and feel they need to do more before they can validate their idea."Ask your own questionGot questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show.Join our mastermind for Startup FoundersJoin our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club.Launch Recipes BookOur team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com.Stay in touchAsk your own questionFollow Jake TwitterCheck out Jake's articles MediumJake's personal siteCheck out LaunchpeerFollow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Josh. I was recently contacted by an investor online and I am wondering which elements of my startup I should emphasize on the phone, as my previous investor pitches haven't amounted to anything. How can I spark excitement about my startup over the phone? Jake's Answer Investor meetings over the phone or by video conferencing are becoming more common so this is a great question. Let's break down Josh's question: 1) Which elements should I emphasize? Don't go into too much detail. Investors don't care about all of the features of your product. They care about scalability and its ability to acquire users. They also care about you as a founder and a founding team and your ability to grow the business. The final thing they care about is if you are addressing an actual problem in the market. 2) How can you stand out on the phone? How I talk on the podcast is not how I talk to people in real life. Same goes for when you are on the phone. You have to be overly excited and accentuate everything. If you go on YouTube and look for videos on how to start a YouTube channel, they will tell you that you have to go over the top to stand out. These tactics work for phone calls, too. It's something you have to practice. 3) How do you gauge an investor's excitement over the phone? It's difficult to do this because most investors don't overtly get excited about startup ideas. One of things we talk about often is how you negotiate with an investor. When you get off the phone with an investor you should come away with something. It's getting some kind of next step agreed to verbally before you hang up. It can even be a clear pass from them, but that's still better than letting them 'think about it'. "With investors, focus on where your startup is going, not necessarily where it is today. They are investing in what your company will become." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from an anonymous listener. I've been working on my startup for about 18 months, but I feel like it's been forever. I don't like the industry I'm in due to regulations and there's no grand vision for the product - I'm only doing it to make money. How do you know when to keep going or when to walk away from your startup? Jake's Answer A lot of founders go through this same thing. Over the years, I've been able to pinpoint when founders will feel like this in their journey. Most of the time, it's when the features are about 90 percent done. The last 10 percent usually takes just as much time as the first 90 for tech startups. This also happens when a product is ready to launch, which is usually related to imposter syndrome. Founders simply think their product isn't ready or they aren't the right person to launch it. General principles for knowing when to stay or walk away Have you created a list of reasons why you don't want to do this? If you have a list that means you've done more than just think about walking away - you've started taking action toward it. Have you felt this way over time or have you had ups and downs? Most founders don't spend enough time with self-awareness so they have a hard time tracing back their feelings to specific reasons or events. What's the alternative? Even if you meet these qualifications, that doesn't necessarily mean you should walk away. If you are at this point, then you should take the next step and think about what walking away really means. Do you really want to start over? Do you have something else lined up? You could even exit now and just sell your company and move on. If you are ready to walk away, then it's ok to do so, too. It's just important to think through everything and make sure it truly is time to walk away. "All founders go through ups and downs, but it's important to be able to trace those feelings back to specific triggers or events if you want to truly understand your mindset." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Ben. How can you stop someone from copying your web-based startup idea? What do I do if someone copies what I've done and try to launch it? Jake's Answer Unfortunately, there's no way to protect your web-based startup idea. We have many calls with founders every week and we always get requests to sign NDAs before we talk, which doesn't do much to protect your idea or business. If someone wants to copy your business, they will. The downside of trying to protect your idea Recently, we had an incident where we got a former customer into a pitch event and as the event was starting, they messaged us to say they didn't want to participate since the company where the event was being held was a sort of competitor (even though they were a large company who probably didn't know that startup existed). It was a huge opportunity wasted. You have to talk about your idea to validate it No matter what you want to do, your idea is nothing to protect unless you execute. Once of the first things we have companies do is validate their idea. You can't validate your idea without telling people about it. So if you are going the most effective route with your startup, then you have to tell people about it. Even if you can protect your idea in the beginning by withholding information about your startup, then once you launch it your idea becomes fair game anyway. For most SaaS products or apps, there's really no reason to be worried about someone copying your idea. You have to do it better. Bottom line. "If you are not the kind of founder that believes you will be the best at executing your idea, then you shouldn't start a company." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Michaela. I am currently experimenting with ideas and exploring product market fit for one of them. I'm reading and listening to a lot of material on how to build my business, but how much time should I spend learning versus implementing the material? Jake's Answer As a startup founder, it's important to be self-aware of where your time goes. You don't just become a leader of a company or of people - you grow into it over time. And to do that, you have to learn what you don't know and be self-aware. Learning vs implementing When you are first starting out you should be spending 80 percent of your time doing and 20 percent of your time learning how to do. Most of the time in the beginning the things you are learning are action-oriented, so as you learn you turn around and implement right away. Once you start getting users and customers and have hired a few team members, this time split will change substantially. It will likely be more of a 50/50 split at this point - and if you're not, you're doing something wrong. As you grow your company and your team, you are learning things that you can't necessarily test and implement on the fly. Most of the learning is geared toward strategic thinking and if you grow past a certain point, you are probably flipping your time completely and spending 80 percent of time on learning and 20 percent on implementation. "When you first begin your startup, you should be spending 80 percent of your time learning and 20 percent of your time implementing." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from anonymous. I recently incorporated my startup in Delaware to release apps on the app store, but since I live in California, my CPA told me that I have to pay a franchise tax in addition to my regular taxes and fees. Should I reincorporate in California or just continue to pay the franchise tax? Jake's Answer I am not a lawyer or accountant, so what I'm going to tell you today is just general knowledge of what you could do. If you need legal or accounting advice, please do seek out an attorney or an accountant. LLC vs. C-Corp In California, it's almost impossible to avoid taxes - they will find a way to make you pay taxes. Since it's unlikely that taxes alone will prompt you to move out of California, let's look at the option of re-incorporating as an LLC in California. Really, from an LLC point of view, there's not going to be much of a difference between incorporating in Delaware or California. However, for most startups that want to raise capital, the best practice is to incorporate as a C-Corp. The reason that you become a C-Corp when you are trying to raise capital is because they are set up for the purpose of giving stock to others. You can do this with an LLC, but it's harder. Eventually, you'll have to become a C-Corp anyway, so investors like to see it from the start. It can be a bit more expensive and time consuming to register as a C-Corp, but it is probably worth doing it upfront. Why Delaware? Many people incorporate in Delaware rather than the state they live in because they are entrepreneur-friendly. They basically said that businesses don't have to have a presence in the state as long as they pay their fees. It's also cheaper in Delaware because they are working in volume rather than charging a premium for individuals. If you aren't planning on raising capital and are more of an agency, then incorporating as an LLC is perfectly fine and it may be worth doing it in your home state to avoid additional taxes. But if you are ever going to raise capital, you should incorporate as a C-Corp in Delaware. "It can be a bit more expensive and time consuming to register as a C-Corp, but it is worth doing it upfront if you ever plan to raise capital." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Chris. I have a year left in college and I had an idea for a startup so I created an MVP. I'm at a crossroads, should I pursue the startup idea further or use my school to get an internship data science and AI, which is something I'm interested in? Jake's Answer Why choose? The main question I would ask in this situation is, 'why can't I do both?' Most of the people we work with are also working elsewhere to pay the bills while they build their startup and it's a similar situation with school and a startup. There's nothing that says you have to go all-in on your startup right from the start and you really don't have to in order to be successful. Even if you stay in school and get the internship, it's not likely to be full-time and you'll still have time to work on your startup. You may have to put aside going out with friends or other social commitments for a time, but that's the life of any founder. Side hustles vs. startups If you are building something and you're more interested in it just replacing your income or earning money on the side, that's a side hustle. If you aren't willing to prioritize your startup over going out with friends or doing other things for a while, then you are starting a side hustle, not a startup. You can do both If you want to start a startup, then start it - and get the internship. If you aren't the type of person who thinks they can do both, then you probably shouldn't be starting a startup anyway, where you'll have to juggle many things at once. Though you do need to dedicate time to your startup, you don't need to quit your job or college to do so. If you aren't interested in pushing yourself, then building a startup might not be right for you. "If you really want to build your startup, build your startup - and take an internship. If you are not the kind of person who can juggle two things at a time, then you shouldn't be starting a startup anyway. " Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Sonny. I have an idea for a company that could really take off and we've done some market research but the product is only half done. When is the right time to get investors? Jake's Answer Since the product isn't done yet, you are definitely not too late to go out and get investors. If you are actively working on a project, and haven't just set it aside for a long period of time, it's also not too early to go raise funds. When is it too early to raise funds? For me, too early means that you haven't validated your idea appropriately - you don't have data to show that you've done validation. You can also be too early if you don't have a roadmap of what the product is going to be like at different stages of growth. This isn't set in stone and it doesn't have to be long-term, but it should exist in some form. It's also important to have legal and accounting tasks done before you go out and get investors. They don't want to have to teach you what a cap table is or coach you on how to form an LLC - so the more you can have done before you reach out to investors, the better. Investors are also more likely to look deeper at your company if you have all of your legal and accounting ducks in a row. It can be beneficial to have a prototype, or at least part of a prototype, ready to show investors, too. Even though investors probably aren't funding this current iteration of your product, they want to see what its potential is and what it can grow into. If you want help figuring out where you are at in your startup, schedule a call with us. If you want to get the validation part out of the way, check out our validation training. "Before you raise funds, you need to validate your idea (with real metrics), have a product roadmap, and take care of all your legal and accounting tasks." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Abe. I currently don't have enough connections to be able to get a warm introduction to an investor. Since the barrier to entry of sending an email is so low, most investors must get hundreds of emails per day of people trying to pitch their startup. Is high-quality direct mail a possible solution? Jake's Answer Firstly, it's important to address the fact that his initial assumption is true: most investors do get many emails each day with people pitching their startups. However, I'm not sure direct mail is the right solution. Drawbacks of direct mail Most direct mail goes in the trash. Plain and simple. Unless you are looking for something specific in your mail from a specific person or company, most people ignore it. It can also be an expensive tactic, depending on how many people you are trying to reach. How to approach direct mail Though it's not a great solution, there may be some ways it could work. While something like a postcard would probably get thrown in the trash immediately. something like a personal letter to an investor with a hand-written envelope could get some attention. Basically, you would include the same things you would in a cold email to an investor and then actually sign your handwriting to it, buy a stamp, and then send it out to investors. Though this method would take a lot more time than just cold emailing or sending a postcard via direct mail, it has a higher likelihood of working. However, the tough thing about this method is that it's almost impossible to track. While it's ok to do things that don't scale early on in your startup, it's important to think about where you spend your time. While I wouldn't recommend this type of strategy for marketing, it could work for pitching investors. The worst case scenario is that you spend time writing and sending letters and no one responds. Best practices for outreach In direct mail, don't include your pitch deck, but make it easy for investors to go online to find out more about you and your company and perhaps send them to a link to download your pitch deck if they're interested. However, we can't really recommend this method because we don't know that it actually works - though it might be worth a shot. What we do know is that most startups get their digital strategy of doing outreach to investors terribly, totally wrong. The email subject line is wrong, the body of the email is terrible. Most of the time, they're not even close to being in a place where an investor would want to hear what they're talking about or they don't have a prototype or product already. Most of the time startups get this wrong because they are reaching out to investors outside of their network. Outreach to potential investors is not the same as for potential customers. " While it's ok to do things that don't scale early on in your startup, it's important to think about value of where you spend your time." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Decker. We developed a platform where users can add reviews based on personal experience of a local place, but we can't expect people the one side to use it when we're not able to get enough users acquired on the other side of the application to make it valuable. How can we overcome this chicken and egg problem? Jake's Answer This is the problem that most startups have, especially those building a marketplace app and the cause can generally be traced back to poor marketing. Marketplace validation In this case, he's run some ads and they haven't worked, but if your ads aren't getting it done it's possible that they just aren't good. However, the more likely scenario is that other steps were skipped along the way, such as market validation. Most startups just don't spend the time validating their market or their message to their target market. If you've come up with an idea, you've probably identified the problem. Now you just have to figure out how the solution is going to resonate with whatever side of the market you're going after. Do things that don't scale Let's say you have done the proper market and messaging validation and are still having the chicken and egg problem. We often find with marketplace apps that you have to do things on one side of the market that don't scale. Maybe it's cold calling, which doesn't scale, but that is the way you are going to build your user base on one side of the market and it's something you have to do in order to build the value for the other side of the market. If you're not sure what marketing strategy you should use as a marketplace startup, you really have to start talking to your customers one-on-one. In the beginning, focus on things that don't scale because this is the only time in your startup journey that you're actually going to be able to do that. As you get bigger and you get more customers, you're not going to be able to talk to your customers individually. "If you've come up with an idea, you've probably identified the problem. Now you just have to figure out how the solution is going to resonate with the market you're going after." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Byron. The product I'm working on had a successful pilot, but it still has a long way to go before it's fully ready for the market. Should I keep going and try to build this organically or should I start looking for VC money? What kinds of factors go into how I make this decision? Jake's Answer Even just a few years ago, the thought was that you had to decide really early if you wanted to bootstrap or go the VC route. But today that's not really the case and you should take your time before deciding because once you take VC money, there's no turning back. Seed capital What Bryon is really asking about here is seed capital, not necessarily VC money. VC money is when you get to the point where you're raising money from institutional investors and most people are not raising money from institutional investors right out the gate. Initial funding is going to be from an angel investor, an angel group, or individual investors. If you are just trying to scale your product to the point where you can go build your full product or scale it to mass market, you're looking for seed capital. How you want to grow Initially, no matter the funding route you go, you will take a similar path. You are going to get feedback on your idea, create an MVP, and validate the idea in the market. But the funding question is more about how you want to grow from there. If you are ok with growing slowly, then you can probably bootstrap for a much longer period, if not indefinitely. If you want or need to grow fast because your product has mass market potential or there's a timing component, then it's probably better to go the VC route. Reality of VC funding When you have a company that raises funding, you can't have it as a side project anymore. It has to be a full-time job. Investors aren't going to want to give you money if they know that you're only going to be working on this on nights and weekends. The other thing you should think about is that the investors become your bosses in a way. They can't tell you what to do, but they are going to be someone who is looking over your shoulder making sure that you're doing the right things with their money. Reality of bootstrapping Two heads are always better than one. Five heads are better than one. But if you're bootstrapping, it's kind of just on you to build a successful company. You will grow slowly and make mistakes, but with advances in technology, it's making it so much easier to build something on your own. However, one thing to think about is once you get some success as a bootstrapper and a similar company who is willing to take on funding is able to undercut prices because they aren't relying solely on users to pay the bills. They are going to get a bigger portion of the market because they'll have the money to be able to do so. A lot of factors go into making this decision, which is why it's important that you take your time and weigh the type of company you want to be and how you want to get there. "If you're not willing to leave your full-time job and work on your startup full-time, then you shouldn't move down the path to go raise funding." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Jim. We're launching a dating app, but our .com domain is taken. What is our next best option? Jake's Answer The .com is always the best option but sometimes that's just not a possibility. Here's how I think about what the next option is that I should go for. What to do when the .com is unavailable 1. Reach out to the domain owner. Who.is can help you look up who owns it and then you can offer them some money to get the domain. However, sometimes the cost can be prohibitive so it may not be an option early on. 2. Think about your core audience. If you have an older audience who has only heard of the .com extension, then I would either try to think of a different name where the .com is available or something in the front or end of your company name that is still your name but has a descriptor on it. If you have a younger audience, then you may just be able to do a .co or .io. In the first case, it could be something like 'LaunchPeerStudio.com' or 'TheLaunchPeer.com'. At the end of the day, you have to ensure that your audience will be able to find you, so whether you change your name or you choose a different extension, make sure you are clear about your domain in your branding. "When the .com isn't available, make sure that you choose a domain name or extension that ensures your ideal customer can easily find you." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Neil. How does compensation work in early team formation at a startup? I'm coming in as a partner so I want to make sure my value is compensated appropriately. Jake's Answer When you're coming into a startup after the founder and co-founder it can be a challenge to figure out a compensation package. They likely already have 50/50 ownership of the company and their cap table is probably already set. How to determine fair equity There is no real calculation to figure out what your equity should be. It's really a matter of you sitting down with their team and determining how much you are bringing to the table and how much value that adds to the team. You have to sell yourself to the team or recruiter as well as you can to ensure that they see your value before you are onboard. The best way you can do this is to determine what you want to make and then bump it up by 5 percent so that you have room for negotiation. For partners at early stage startups, you'll probably get a salary and equity (usually 5-10 percent) but your salary will be a bit lower than others who work their since you will be getting equity. You also need to make sure that you see and understand their cap table to ensure that your equity stake is fair as compared to others at the company. The bottom line here is that you need to focus on your negotiation skills to get a fair compensation package. If they don't try to negotiate with you, then you didn't ask for enough. "There is no real calculation to figure out what your equity should be. It's a matter of sitting down with the team and determining how much you are bringing to the table and how much value that adds." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Bruce. What are the things I should be looking for when trying to bring on my first co-founder? Jake's Answer You should treat your co-founder search as you would if you were thinking about marrying this person. Dating your co-founder You can do something as simple as finding a startup weekend event to see how you solve problems together or you could pick a small project that you can work on for a couple of days to see what the dynamic is like. This will also allow you to see who has which skillsets and who takes which tasks, etc. The best way to date your co-founder is to work on something together. It's not usually a good idea to meet someone or be friends with someone who you think you'll get along with well and immediately bring them on as your co-founder. While that can work, if you are trying to create an ideal situation, your best move is to pick a startup weekend or event to go to together. Keep the idea something small that you wouldn't necessarily start your business on, but something you can solve together in a short amount of time. If you don't have a startup weekend in your area, you can just pick a creative problem or project to do with some guardrails to recreate the pressure you'll be in as you start your business. Protect yourself Even if you are able to work well together, you need to make sure you both have protections in place, which we've talked about in previous episodes at length. At the end of the day, finding something you can work on together is the ideal way to make sure you'll be able to work well together. "Finding something you can work on together is the ideal way to make sure you and your co-founder will be able to work well together." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Lucien. I have a prototype built for a B2C app but I'm trying to decide what my focus should be in the MVP phase. How should I think about the next stages of my business development? Jake's Answer Every founder has this problem when they are ready to launch, especially in the B2C space. How do you think about revenue, features, and monetization models? Strategies for moving past your MVP In the MVP stage, you should launch without charging. The reason you should take this approach is because it's critical to acquire users so you can start to figure out how they are using their app. It's hard to determine which features to charge for if you don't know what is valuable to your users. And everything should be driven by your customers in a startup. This isn't a long-term thing, but you need to start getting some feedback. If you already built the features you think could be premium, then why did you build them? Odds are, if you already built features that could be premium features then you probably waited too long to launch. When your free features are done, you should launch. Data tracking Sprinkle in some places where you would put the paid features to see if people are trying to access them. This will help you understand which ones are actually valuable and that people will pay for because you have actual data. To do this effectively, you have to make sure you are tracking data. Too often people just throw money at various parts of their marketing and development and they don't track the appropriate data to ensure that they can take their next steps with confidence. The simpler you can make all of these processes in the beginning, the better. "All of your decisions as a startup should be based on your customers and what they are telling you is valuable and important to them." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Christopher. I have a product I want to import and sell in my country. I setup a pre-launch page with an email signup and have done some paid ads. How do I know when my idea is valid? Jake's Answer In Christopher's case, he's spent $20 in Google Ads per day for a week and in that time he had 57 click-throughs and 22 people signed up with their email. Let's talk about what sign up means - since you haven't launched your product, chances are people signed up for your launch notification list, which is not all that telling as far as buyer intent is concerned. Idea validation that works The best thing you can do, which we've outlined extensively, is to fake the sale. The problem with email signups is that you don't know who they are and most of them never opt-in for the product at all. You can also do one-on-one conversations (however, people tend to lie) and you can do letters of intent (usually for B2B startups), but they are not as effective as faking the sale because that means that they are truly ready to buy your product. Let's say you spend $20 a day in Google Ads to get 57 click-throughs and 22 people actually 'buy' the product. That is a 38 percent conversion rate, which means your product idea is valid and you can move forward with it. Also, it's important to understand your cost per conversion so that you exactly what your benchmarks should be for everything you do after this validation. Without having any additional information, you know you would be spending about $4.50, in this case, to acquire a new user. And that information enables you to be able to make pricing decisions and many other decisions and you know exactly what you need to be profitable. "Understanding your cost per acquisition in the validation stage allows you to have benchmarks for everything you do moving forward with minimal output." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Launch Recipes Book Our team is writing a book and it's nearly ready to ship. We profiled 40 of the biggest startups of the 21st Century and documenting how they scaled their businesses. If you want to claim your free book, visit LaunchRecipes.com. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Gloria. I'm trying to start a new startup, but I'm not sure where to focus on my attention. A lot of it feels like I can't focus on one thing without focusing on another and it makes me feel lost. Jake's Answer When you're starting out, there are so many tasks that it can feel overwhelming. There's a lot of stuff you need to think about and it's difficult to know what step-by-step process you should take to get from an idea to a successful startup. Focus on the customer This is the primary thing you should always focus your attention and energy on. Your customer will drive almost all of the other decisions you may need to make in the other areas of your business. If you know who your ideal audience is, then many of those other items fall into place. If you focus on your customer first, it makes it relatively easy to figure out who your partners should be, what your product should be, and much more. Build an MVP or prototype If you are already focusing on your customers and you're ready to move forward, then you should start focusing on the initial solution/product. This is not to say you should jump right into product development, but rather build a simple MVP (no developer needed) or a prototype. In both cases, you can work with a designer to get all of the screens and user experience put together so you can put it into your MVP or an interactive prototype. Having either of these done allows you to do some marketing, approaching potential partners, and getting people to buy into the vision you have for your company. However, we don't recommend approaching this step on your own. If you're interested in starting on this step, our team here at LaunchPeer can help you get started on building your MVP or prototype. "Focusing on your customer first allows all of the other elements of your business to fall into place with relative ease." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Startup Playbook Our team spent a lot of time putting together a playbook that helps founders figure out how to go from idea to launch without having to make all of the mistakes yourself. If you want to get your startup up and running, visit LaunchPeer.com/playbook. Stay in touch Ready to build a successful startup? Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Dan. I want to start an ecommerce business where I purchase products overseas and then rebrand them as my own. What are the possible implications of this route? Jake's Answer When you want to sell physical products, then you generally have two options 1) having a manufacturer make something specifically for you from scratch or 2) taking someone else's products (usually from China or another country) and putting your label on it. This is the essence of drop shipping, though drop shipping doesn't even have to be your own brand. And this process is pretty normal and there's nothing illegal about it. Where you could get in trouble is if you buy products from someone who is already branding their products and then trying to rebrand them as your own. When someone has branded something - clothing, electronics, etc - it's illegal to then rip those labels or tags off and then sell them off as your own brand. Licensing or private labeling is another legal route you can go where they actually brand your products for you when the manufacture them. It's a messaging problem, not a legal one However, the problem with all of this is the branding and messaging. If you were able to easily find products to buy and brand, then others can do the same. So how do you set your brand apart from all of the others out there, especially if you aren't changing the product at all. What would make someone choose your product over the others available to them? If you can determine a unique value proposition that goes beyond the product and you're able to get in front of the right audience, then whitelabeling or licensing can be a legitimate route for your business. "People don't buy products because of their performance, they buy because of what the brand says about them." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Startup Playbook Our team spent a lot of time putting together a playbook that helps founders figure out how to go from idea to launch without having to make all of the mistakes yourself. If you want to get your startup up and running, visit LaunchPeer.com/playbook. Stay in touch Ready to build a successful startup? Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Colton. I won a $1000 at a hackathon to use on my idea, but I have no idea what to do with the money. I've built a prototype on my own already but am not sure if it's something I can scale to take to investors. Where is the money I won best spent at this stage? Jake's Answer If you are early on in your startup and you somehow find yourself with $1,000 that someone or an organization gifted to you, then what should you do? Truthfully, if you don't need to use the money for anything, then you shouldn't. If you can build something on your own and are making progress on the product, then they should be frugal about where they spend money. With many startups, when they start raising money they go out and try to find things to spend the money on. This is not a good path to go down. Be frugal and spend wisely Once you pay for your overhead, you should set aside anything that's leftover for when you really need it. That being said, there are a few things you could spend it on (based on having a working prototype)/ Product validation. Use the money to build out a website where it looks like they can actually buy the product. Drive traffic to the page with Facebook or Google Ads and then use the download or buy now buttons to track whether or not people really want the product and are willing to pay for it. This will likely cost $100-$200 to go through this strategy. We go through all of this with our validation training too. Unscalable strategies. Things like buying dinner for the team to boost morale or other ways to show them you appreciate them. This is a low cost thing you can do to learn from the others on your team or who are helping you out. Save it. You don't have to spend all of that money. Save it for when you hit roadblocks where you need a boost to get to the next step. "If you don't need to spend money, then you shouldn't. Too many startups seek out places to spend any money they've raised and that can lead to reckless spending." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Startup Playbook Our team spent a lot of time putting together a playbook that helps founders figure out how to go from idea to launch without having to make all of the mistakes yourself. If you want to get your startup up and running, visit LaunchPeer.com/playbook. Stay in touch Ready to build a successful startup? Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from an anonymous listener. One of our startup's founding members is not pulling his weight. He did not commit full-time and I do not enjoy working with him. Should I communicate these concerns to him now or should I want until funding is secured and we can find a replacement for him? Jake's Answer This is something a lot of founders struggle with. Not everyone is cut out to be a founding member, founder, or manager at a startup or company. If someone on your team is not pulling their weight, there are a few things you can do. There are usually two reasons this comes up 1) you have a founder who feels that the cofounder isn't pulling their weight or 2) you have empirical evidence that they are not pulling their weight. If you have committed full-time and are working on the startup all the time it can feel like you are the only one who cares about the success of your startup. But that's very hard to measure. If you are in this situation, then you should start gathering empirical evidence. Setting expectations and benchmarks You can only get empirical evidence if you have a clear expectations set out for each founding member of the team along with benchmarks that they need to meet. Without having something to measure, you can't truly know if someone is pulling their weight or not. To start with, your entire founding team should sit down and decide who's responsible for what. Take each part of your business and assign it to someone. Once you do that, then determine what their goal or benchmarks on. Again, this is something you should all agree on. Now it's time to get a project management system, such as Trello, in place. This allows everyone to ensure that they know what they need to work on and shows the other team members what's in progress. That way you can truly see what people are actively working on without having to guess or go by your gut. "If you are frustrated with your cofounder and think they aren't carrying their weight, then you need to start measuring their output through a project management solution so you can come to the conversation with hard data." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Startup Playbook Our team spent a lot of time putting together a playbook that helps founders figure out how to go from idea to launch without having to make all of the mistakes yourself. If you want to get your startup up and running, visit LaunchPeer.com/playbook. Stay in touch Ready to build a successful startup? Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Jolin. I want to approach strategic investors before launch, because we have enough to show. How can we best take this next step? Thoughts on how we should approach the initial email? Jake's Answer Strategic investors are investors who are going to bring you more than just money. Most founders now are just trying to get cash, but those who can bring on strategic investors will get access to resources - beyond money - that will help you build your business. The best time to bring on strategic investors is as early as possible. The most challenging part of building a startup is in the seed stage because you are still trying to figure out what the product is and your market. Therefore, having people who buy into the vision and can bring other resources to the table on board can be very helpful. How to find strategic investors Sending a cold email is not necessarily the right tactic for finding strategic investors because it does not help you build the type of close relationship you'll want with this type of investor. Strategic investors are often people working in the industry that you're passionate about or working in already. Use your network to reach out to people to meet for coffee or have a phone call. Start by building the relationship and don't worry about the money right away. Even if the people you initially reach out to can't invest, they can likely introduce you to someone who can. Another way to find strategic investors is to network with other founders, especially those who are building something in the same industry. These people shouldn't necessarily be seen as competitors. There is a lot of opportunity and space for everyone to build something successful, so you should see them as a support system. "The best way to connect with people who could be strategic investors is to write to people in your industry and ask if you can meet to learn more about their experience - be specific." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Startup Playbook Our team spent a lot of time putting together a playbook that helps founders figure out how to go from idea to launch without having to make all of the mistakes yourself. If you want to get your startup up and running, visit LaunchPeer.com/playbook. Stay in touch Ready to build a successful startup? Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Chris. What's a business that's not that obvious and wouldn't necessarily make money today, but would payoff big in the long-term? Jake's Answer There are a couple of safe industries that would be good to invest in now for a future payoff. Real estate. If you purchased a house 100 years ago and held onto it you'd likely do well when you sell it. The problem is that it takes a lot of capital and upfront investment. Cryptocurrency. It may be a fad, but the amount of adoption over the last few years has created billionaires already. If you can start a tech company based on cryptocurrency, that's also likely a strong bet. CBD/Marijuana. If you look at the trend, states are consistently starting to legalize marijuana, which means there's immense opportunity to start businesses that weren't there before. What makes a company a good bet? When I think about this, I think about what is going to make people money, what's going to make people happier, and what's going to save people money. The businesses that have staying power often fall into one of these categories. The emerging tech that's going to help with a lot of future success for businesses is AI. It's still a relatively unknown field and there's a lot of opportunity to use it to capitalize on one of the three categories we talked about above. "The best way to invest now to make money later is to leverage emerging tech, such as AI, to capitalize on making people money, saving people money, or making people happier." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Startup Playbook Our team spent a lot of time putting together a playbook that helps founders figure out how to go from idea to launch without having to make all of the mistakes yourself. If you want to get your startup up and running, visit LaunchPeer.com/playbook. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Today's Question Today's question comes from Louis. What are the ways people look to exit? I am not looking for the quick exit — I want to build and grow a business that I care about. How should I think about exit strategies along the way? Jake's Answer Startup growth happens differently for venture-backed startups versus bootstrapped startups. Let's say you have an idea and you think you'll be able to be successful with it. Venture-backed vs. bootstrapped If you decide to go the venture-back route, you'll need to build an MVP, get a bit of traction, and then take it to investors. It may not be generating revenue right away, but you know at some point it will tip. Getting traction quickly generally means you can't have pricing structure that makes you profitable. This is not a bad thing, it's just how most venture-backed startups work. If it's bootstrapped, you have to be profitable out of the gate. While your pricing structure may make it hard to grow quickly, you will be able to be profitable quickly. It will be a slow-growth curve, but it will be sustainable. You won't be able to pay yourself much in the beginning because you'll need to reinvest most of the profits into the business. There is no right direction, but if you are trying to build a billion dollar company, the only good way of doing that is hitting scale quickly, which means you'll need to be venture-backed. For investors, it's not about profitability, it's about the company's ability to capture the market. For bootstrapped companies, it's about making sure you can keep things afloat long enough to grow the business, which comes from profitability. Have an exit strategy at every stage At every stage of fundraising (if you are venture-backed), you need to have an exit strategy in mind. You need to have a plan as you go up the ladder because the investor is going to want to know when they are going to get paid back. "Investors aren't buying into the profitability numbers. They are focused on the market share because they know they can change their revenue model along the way." Ask your own question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Join our mastermind for Startup Founders Join our free Facebook Group for founders working to build, launch, & scale together with the help of our startup experts at Launchpeer! Get more details and join the club at Launchpeer.club. Startup Playbook Our team spent a lot of time putting together a playbook that helps founders figure out how to go from idea to launch without having to make all of the mistakes yourself. If you want to get your startup up and running, visit LaunchPeer.com/playbook. Stay in touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake's articles Medium Jake's personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter