fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
The pandemic CRUSHED my startup, but…
By: Tj Oyeniyi
Tags: Covid 19, Startup Story, Startup Life, Entrepreneurship, Startup Lessons

The pandemic crushed my startup back in March, but somehow, that was one of the best things that could’ve happened to me.

Most people don’t know, but I spent most of 2019 building the MVP for my now defunct startup called Bagdrop, a short-term luggage storage and delivery service.

How did it work? Imagine checking out of your Airbnb at 11 AM, but your flight doesn’t leave until 7 PM. What are you going to do with all your luggage?

In the same manner you call an Uber, you can request a Bagdrop by putting in your pickup time and location, drop-off time and location, number of luggage items, and a Bagdrop driver comes to meet you at your pickup time and location to take your luggage to storage, freeing you up to roam the city luggage-free. When it’s time for drop-off, another driver meets you at your drop-off time and location to return your items back to you.

My plan was to launch right before SXSW 2020. Imagine, you land in Austin, TX for SXSW and instead of having to first rush to your Airbnb or hotel to drop-off your luggage, a Bagdrop driver meets you in the airport lobby to take your luggage to storage so you can go catch a show or meet up with friends. Later that day, another driver meets you at your hotel or Airbnb to return your items back to you.

I thought I had it all figured out. 2020 was my year lol

I finished building the MVP (minimum viable product, the most basic version of the app) early February and swiftly switched to business development mode, on the phone and emails trying to set up partnerships with Airbnb hosts and hotels in Austin, as well as partnerships with other luggage storage companies to be their delivery partner.

The initial reception was great! I had hosts signed up on the platform, hotels that were interested, and almost 50 drivers ready to go!

My startup was geared for a breakout launch at SXSW!

Like Mike Tyson said, “everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”.

That pandemic punched me so hard I thought I got JUMPED!

NOT ONLY did SXSW get cancelled early March, but a couple weeks later Austin, TX went on lockdown and the travel industry came to a halt 🤦🏿‍♂️. My business, which revolved around the travel industry, had to pack its bags and… nvm 🙃

I was crushed. Seeing my brainchild get popped like that was heartbreaking. A year’s worth of hard work went out the window in a matter of days. No way I could fund the business through the pandemic, especially considering the new safety measures that would’ve had to be put in place to protect my drivers and users, and the potential liability issues. I had to shut down.

But, this story ends well though.

After my startup failed, I refocused on my initial business where I teach people how to code, ROOTs Technology, and launched a YouTube channel (ToluVsTj) to support it. That channel just crossed 2K subscribers, is a few months away from being monetized, and ROOTs Technology has taken off as a result.

Moral of the story: when life gives you pepper, make pepper soup.
And then there were three
By: Bhakti Gajjar
Tags: Tech, Founders, Startup Life, Founder Stories

Photo by Lukas from Pexels

On Wednesday we had a video call to catch up on a few things. Having spent the majority of my time working in isolation, it felt like a big deal having three people in a meeting for the first time (myself, my co-founder and our brilliant intern). It was genuinely exciting!

It’s been such a long time since I’ve had the privilege of being in a situation where everyone’s voice has importance, and where different people bring different perspectives. Things I hadn’t considered, for example, for our user survey, that someone else picked up.

Each contribution added something and I was so pleased to have teammates. There’s an adage about going further faster, if you work together — which felt particularly pertinent.

A healthy case study for diversity of thought.
Benefits Of Competition In Business
Tags: Starting A Business, Startup Life, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Online Business

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I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t start where I was then.
By: Juliana Lane
Tags: Ready, Just Start, Startup Life, Entrepreneurship, Motivational

The time to start is now. 💫

👉 The first time I started public speaking, I WAS NOT READY FOR IT.

👉 The first time I switched gears on my career path, I WAS NOT READY FOR IT.

👉 The first time I posted that YouTube video, I WAS NOT READY FOR IT.

But guess what?

You will never be “ready” for it. 🤯

If you wait to start until you feel 100% ready for it, you might be waiting a long time. ⏱

💚 Do yourself a favor today and just start whatever it is you’ve been wanting to do.

Give yourself permission to do it.

It doesn’t have to be perfect.

You don’t even have to have it all together.



✨ It’s so much better to at least be imperfectly in the game than waiting at the sidelines of your dreams.

Someday, you’ll look back and thank yourself that you took that first step. 🏃‍♀️

Today’s reminder….

“I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t start where I was then.”
Why the heck am I buying a .africa domain?
By: Akinola Dixon
Tags: Africa, Resistance, Startup Life, Enterpreneurship, Persistence

It’s the end of the year and as usual I have managed to wriggle myself in-between a rock and a hard place. The only escape (even though it sounds ludicrous) is to build an African fintech business while running on an empty tank. I can barely cover Lagos Mainland as it is and now I’m being forced to think about multiple countries in Africa.

Does. this. even. make. any. sense. ??

I have had to borrow “again” to get even this domain registered as all avenues to earn decent revenue from my consulting seem to be welded shut!

At a certain time, I had begun to believe there was a hex of some sorts as I just couldn’t fathom how such a promising year could go south so fast! I’ve been stretched to my very limits emotionally and spiritually. How does one walk a path where none has treaded before? How does one keep their head up after so many knocks?

For the first time ever, I actually considered myself a failure. Heck…my father even told me point-blank that he was ashamed of me and didn’t believe I had it in me to be an entrepreneur after observing me for the past 5 years…I’m still recovering from that shellacking…

In addition, I made an absolutely silly mistake of planning a victory speech before actually winning the battle at hand. I clearly struggled to come to terms with delays to my anticipated victory (which in all fairness might have had to do with the COVID pandemic). Thank God for a few friends and family who pulled me out of that nasty quagmire as it surely would have been the end of me.

Why do you persist?

However, today is a new day and “progress” is increasingly looking like a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. Do I persist? Do I even have a choice not to?

I learnt something interesting about myself a month ago. My mother told me that as a kid I hated loosing and that whenever I suffered defeat, I would adamantly request for a rematch until I finally won!

So it comes to this, a choice of taking on the “Africa challenge” versus the choice of living the rest of my life as an almost-guy. The path I need to take is clearly before me... Someway somehow, I just have to believe that I am being divinely guided and this is the latest installment of this never-ending-adventure.

I hope and pray it works out.
An app that drags you out of the bed
By: Mustansar Gulzar
Tags: Android App Development, Startup Life, Entrepreneur Ideas, Self Improvement Tips, Technology

How does it work?

Alarmy app is one of its kind available in the market. It has a dedicated task system that lets you dismiss the alarm after performing a specific task; otherwise, it’ll annoy you until you get out of your bed. Right now, you might be thinking how it can get you out of your bed. In that case, it acts like my mother: quite annoying. Once you start using it, you are surely going to agree with me on that. It has about six dedicated tasks to dismiss the alarm; you have to choose the right one according to your behavioral nature.

Mathematics Genius

Mathematics problem-solving task is one of the features that allows you to dismiss alarm only after performing the task that appeared before you. You can beforehand assign how many problems you need to complete to get out of your sleepy state depending on how deep your sleep is. You can even allocate difficulty level for the problems. I won’t recommend you this one if you are too good at performing mathematics problems even in a sleepy state, as it might not be helpful for you in that scenario.

Walking out of the Bed

What if I tell you that you’ve to walk out certain steps out of your bed to dismiss your alarm app? Isn’t that a very advanced feature? Because once you’re out and a few steps away from your bed, you’ll eventually wake up with your eyes wide open. Even if this doesn’t work for you, I don’t know what will?

Barcode and Photo Scanning

Photo and Barcode Scanning are one of my favorite tasks, which I use personally. It allows you to assign a bar code or a photo beforehand while setting up the alarm. And to dismiss the alarm, you have to scan the same bar code you assigned while setting it up. Just like me, you can assign the bar code of your shampoo or conditioner, so when the alarm rings, you have to go to the washroom to scan the bar code and start your day with a warm or cold shower, whichever you like.

Shaking and Typing

There are two more features which, in most cases, are not that helpful. One is typing, and the other is shaking. In one case, you have to type either a specific sentence or a quotation, and in the other, you have to shake your phone for a particular time to dismiss the alarm.
Resources for Startup Founders
By: Caroline Yeager
Tags: Venture Capital, Startup Life, Entrepreneurship, Startup, Startup Lessons

Sharing just a few of my favorite resources that I’ve discovered over the years — hoping you find them as helpful as I do!

Feld.com — Brad Feld is a legend in venture capital. He is the founder of Foundry Group and has been in the industry since 1987. He is also the co-founder of Techstars, and he publishes regular content on his blog, including helpful tips for startup founders.

Venture Deals — Also written by Brad Feld, this book is a must-read for anyone in the startup or venture capital ecosystem. You can also take the Venture Deals course that Brad Feld puts on every year, where you’ll learn about the various stages of VC funding, how cap tables work, how legal documents work, and more.

Twenty Minute VC — This is a podcast by Harry Stebbings, founder of Stride VC, a seed-stage fund based in London. He regularly interviews successful startup founders and venture capitalists.

AVC — This is Fred Wilson’s blog. Fred Wilson has also been in VC since 1987. He co-founded Union Square V​e​n​t​u​r​e​s and has made investments including Twitter, Foursquare, Etsy, and many others. Fred Wilson regularly publishes content for startups and VCs.

YC Startup Library — Y Combinator is one of the most renowned accelerator programs in the Valley. In the YC Startup Library, you can find videos, podcasts, and essays from over the years that have been consolidated in one place for the convenience of startup founders.

Sequoia Business Plan — Here you can find resources that Sequoia has published, including a business plan guide for when you are first getting started. You can also find pitch deck guides and more.

That’s all for now. I plan to continue sharing resources on a regular basis!
Day 09 — The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
By: Bob Weishar
Tags: Passion, Startup Life, Founders, Startup Lessons, Founder Stories

The Good

1. Responding to Families for Interviews

I started the day by responding to the families that I reached out to last night on Instagram. So far I heard back from 5 of the 10 families I reached out to, and I scheduled 3 of 5 interviews I set as my goal for the week.

2. Update Training Modules

Knowing today would mostly be coordinating interviews, I set down the experiment and used today to clean up a bunch of work that’s been on my backlog.

The first of these is our training content in our app. I took a few hours to refresh content based on feedback I’ve received, such as response text (thanks, Steve!), image assets, and added a more gamified approach to the end of each module where kids can level-up with superhero powers.

Updating our Training Modules

3. Releasing New Product Features

Today we also pushed a really exciting app update: the ability to export data. It allows families to share data with their doctor, so that care can be improved and kids can have better outcomes. It also allows us to help school nurses save time on documentation, which today is all done on paper.

Invincible’s New Export Feature

Here’s what the app build process looks like:

Building our App in Expo

4. Updating our team website

I updated our team website to include our newest team member, Elizabeth! She’s been a huge part of our team these past 2 months and it’s been really exciting to see her learn quickly and deliver a ton of value.

Our website is built in Webflow, I highly recommend it for building great no-code websites.

The Bad: Stuff I Never Thought I’d have to do

1. State Tax Stuff

Since COVID, I’ve been living back in Indiana, so I needed to change my tax filings (it has the added benefit of 5–10% tax reduction, too!). But with it comes paperwork. Gusto is my tool of choice, but it still takes some hassle working with state agencies.

2. Bookkeeping & Tax Preparation

Accounting & Tax is another really “fun” aspect that comes along with running a business. Each month, I need to do a little cleanup and make sure everything is in order. Luckily, I use Bench Accounting for both, and I’ve been really happy with their service so far.

The Ugly

Legitimately the most stressful part of starting Invincible so far has been managing my healthcare. Some things are just better when you work for an employer. I’m grateful that I can access healthcare and kind of can afford it, but it’s not cheap, and it’s not easy, especially when out of pocket my medication would cost over $1K a month.

The realities of starting a company

One way I’ve saved money on healthcare has been to enroll in an ICHRA plan so that I can pay my premiums pre-tax.
How I [am about to build] my $1B business— DAY 1
Tags: Startup Life, Enterpreneurship, Cvc, Startup, Startup Lessons

Okay, resources are all laid out. What do I look for first?

That’s a tougher question. But before that, what do I actually need?

Know-how/idea

I don’t have an idea. I want to make an app. Which app though? Which problem will it solve? I need to go back to my idea bank and list it out. Also, what’s super hot/trendy right now? What even category do I lean to?

I don’t have an idea. I want to make an app. Which app though? Which problem will it solve? I need to go back to my idea bank and list it out. Also, what’s super hot/trendy right now? What even category do I lean to? Capital

I don’t have enough to be self-funded. And do I even want to be self-funded? Why do I take risk and fail with my own money? 🧐

I don’t have enough to be self-funded. And do I even want to be self-funded? Why do I take risk and fail with my own money? 🧐 People

I’m not going to do the myself, right? I need a team, solid team. Thankfully, this is part I feel more confident about — I know few dope people I can potentially involve. If anything — Upwork is THE place consider for hiring/partnerships.

Whew. Let’s look at that. Not much, I have probably 2% of what’s needed. Could be worse. While thinking about things I need for my business I already discovered many questions I need to find an answer on.

And here is my first task to myself:

Put around 3 hours into app trends research tomorrow to find out what’s cool today, where app industry is moving towards to in general.

I need to have at least approximate idea about the category of my interest and then what’s the problem I can solve within it.
Being part of the community, not just in the industry
By: Ian Martin
Tags: Startup Life, Charity, Ordering App, Purpose, Order And Pay

In December, our favourite pubs, bars, restaurants, cafes, and hotels would normally be buzzing with festive cheer. They’re usually the places we chose to spend time with our friends and family, to treat ourselves to a mulled wine, hot chocolate, or our fifth turkey dinner before December 21st.

This year we can’t do that as freely, which means that some of our favourite places won’t be here next year.
How I [am about to build] my $1B business
Tags: Business Development, Startup Life, Enterpreneurship, Startup, Startup Lessons

To be accurate this is a story of building something from 0. I have no idea how to do that. Yet.

Books about successful “10 steps to becoming a billionaire” type of stories make many people sick for obvious reason: this won’t happen to you, it was another time/place/life.

I don’t have secrets/resources/reach family/fantastic educational or professional background/secret sauce to make me a successful entrepreneur. But I’m going to do that anyway. There are few ideas in my head that I believe could turn into something big if I just have a little bit more determination.

I’m going to document everything I do towards the goal — to run one of the hottest startup in the US. All findings/failures/resources will be stored here. I’m planning to make it very straightforward, without extra fluff. That’s a purpose of this blog. And knowing that somebody can actually read it will make me accountable (a little trick against procrastination).

It is a reality-show in a written form.

Few rules I set for myself:

Journaling my progress minimum every two days.

There can’t be a moment when I don’t know what to do next. There’s always Google here for me.

No personal side-stories, it’s not a diary (well…it kinda is, but focus is on actions/thoughts/things that can move me forward).

I can’t focus too much on the way I write, there’s no entertainment/followers gain purpose. I’m free to write in boring way or in the way my thoughts are formed immediately. As long as my writing can be understood by anyone who can read.

Few things about me:

I’m not a native English-speaker, so pardon my mistakes.

I’m 24. I’m an immigrant who lives in Chicago

I want to make it real before I’m 28.

That’s the quick intro to the plan. Wish me some luck 🤞

12/06/2020
The Best Businesses you can Start Now!
By: Pete Geissler
Tags: Startup, Startup Lessons, Business, Startup Life

The best business for you is the one that turns you on, or, as Steve Jobs said, “If you haven’t found your passion, keep looking.” He was letting us all in on a key to wealth and happiness and the reason Apple is the biggest company on the planet as measured by market cap.

If you’re looking for a more concrete answer, try accounting and its cousin, financial management, for these reasons:

1. it’s a growing but stable profession. America and Americans may not know how to make washing machines and t-shirts, but we sure know how to make money. It must be counted, distributed, ratioed, and analyzed in multiple ways for multiple purposes. As one wag put it, it’s the way individuals, companies, and countries keep score. I f we didn’t, how would we know, for example, that Jeff Bezos will soon be richer that Bill Gates, or that Bill Gates is on the cusp of being the first trillionaire, or that the P/E ratio of ABC’s stock signals a buy or sell, or…

2. It’s nice to be needed: Accountants are indispensable members of most management teams and are increasingly becoming CEOs as pressures mount for businesses to be managed for the bottom line and stockholder value. They also are chosen frequently to be Treasurer, VP Finance, and Comptroller.

3. it’s the second-best seat in the corporate house. Accountants, with the exception of CEOs and EVPs, are privileged to work with and evaluate the performance of many parts of a multi-part firm, gaining valuable insights into the effectiveness of management at various levels. As such, accountants sit at the right hand of top execs and can influence major decisions.

Few professions demand more discipline, creativity, and opportunity to display your intelligence. Surprised?
The best way to build team when you have a low-budget start up
By: Tamir Ciprut
Tags: Hiring Strategy, Hiring For Startup, Startup Lessons, Startup Life

Which leads us to a way of thinking that I want to present to you:

Hybrid Ways

First hybrid way is to Hire a permanent low-cost country resident worker to be with us, but the disadvantages of dependence and uncertainty still exist. Not good enough.

Second hybrid way — The best way in my opinion

Bring in a temporary freelancer / low-cost country resident worker, but when we understand the field in which he operates.

That way we can measure what he does, and most importantly direct him to the standards we set and stay with us along the way. This way we can continue from where he left off. The employee is temporary, but will do it “my-company-oriented”.

For example, If we look at basic mobile app, instead of spending four to five months studying and building the demo app — I will only spend one month learning the field, and THEN it can be cheaply done for someone.

If we take for example Image Processing field, which I know deeply, it is possible to bring someone to help there — by the standards I will set for him, and save a lot of my time relatively cheap.

What do you think? PLEASE FEEL FREE to respond and say your opinion.
We made it !
By: Arash Jalali
Tags: Entrepreneur, Founders, Startup, Startup Life

A huge shout out to everyone who has poured into making CHAPTER, LLC a reality. It’s been a lot of work, it’s been a lot of fun, and we are just now getting to the good part- LAUNCH!

I’m really proud of the vision and strategy the team has built, but much more so, I’m proud of the PEOPLE behind it! They each bring something unique to the table, and they are why this is going to be a resounding success that solves a major problem in the advertising and marketing industry! We are a full house creative and digitale agency. We believe that the MAGIC of creative and smart chapter will happen here.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us along this journey. This is just the very beginning and we have so much to learn. We have all experienced a difficult and long year, and we have been able to stay positive because of all the support we have surrounding us. Thank you to everyone, we’re excited to see where this road leads us!
UrbanStall: What, Who and Where?
By: Adarsh Jais
Tags: Urbanstallapp, Hyperlocal Delivery, Startup Life, Indiasuperapp, Urbanstall

UrbanStall is an India Based Super App that provides services in Dumka, Jamtara, Pakur, Deoghar, Bhagalpur, Sahebganj, Gomoh and Godda. UrbanStall is under its parent company LawaziaTech as a leading project and will continue to be the umbrella company for LawaziaTech.In 2018, It was founded by Sandeep Jaiswal and Suman Jaiswal along with Adarsh Jaiswal (Current CEO), Pratik Jadhav and Kiran Gupta(Sales Head). It is headquartered in Dumka, Jharkhand-India

HISTORY

UrbanStall was founded in July 2018 by Sandeep Jaiswal and Suman Jaiswal. UrbanStall started out as a small All In One App and transformed into a Super App of India providing services like Hyper-local Deliveries, Vehicle Booking, Custom Order, Beauty Services, Wholesale, Travel Ticket Booking e.t.c

As from September 2019, UrbanStall started its journey from native city Dumka, Jharkhand and currently operating in more than 8 Cities from Jharkhand and Bihar. The company has a userbase of approx 30,000+ and it is listed on both platforms like Google PlayStore and App Store. Starting from a member of five(3 Developer and 2 Company Growth), It is now operating with more than 60 employees including 6 Area Manager in cities like Dumka, Jamtara, Pakur, Deoghar, Bhagalpur, Sahebganj, Gomoh and Godda.

URBAN STALL is like a big shopping mall where every small and big brand has their stalls. Businesses have full control of their branding and their store without the hassle of App Management.

Keep following UrbanStall in Social Media handles for the more recent updates.

Instagram:- @urbanstallin

FaceBook:- @urbanstallapp

Twitter:- @urbanstallapp

LinkedIn:- @urbanstallapp
Let’s go step by step. [My Startup Journey Episode 2]
Tags: Startup Journey, Startup Lessons, Startup, Startup Life

Start Small

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”

Norman Vincent Peale

I would say that this quote from Normal V. P. perfectly reflects my way of thinking. Remember my first post, the startup thesis was about an B2B SaaS tool for companies. Actually, we will start much more smaller than this. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not pessimistic about the ideal, we’re more scared about the massive size and the workload that’s coming on my partner and me. I’m full-time employed, and so it is also my partner, and you know the charm of COVID and WFH — you’re working even more than just 9 to 5.

So the execution (validation of the Startup thesis) will start with a chunk of the actual idea. It’s not anymore the B2B SaaS idea, it will start as a tool for individuals, in this case, freelancers. :) More about the actual idea later on in the next posts.

Next steps

The next step on this Startup journey will be the idea validation. The idea will be validated through a couple of simple steps:

Static landing page with Sign Up for early access form,

Driving freelancers to the landing page,

Do a Q&A session freelancers who sign up to the Early Access

It’s Friday, 4th of December, and the deadline for the landing page is 14th of December, so let's get the work started. :)

Let’s see how this will work out. More details on the idea validation strategy itself in a couple of days.

Talk to you soon and stay safe! :)
MindsetXchange Fall 2020 Class
By: Mindset Startup Community
Tags: Venture Capital, Startup Life, Startup, Founders, Startup Lessons

MindsetXchange Fall 2020 Class

Week 3, Clip #4

Title: Product Differentiation and Projections

Here is the YouTube link to view this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1pdA3Wksl4

- This clip was taken from MindsetXchange’s Week 3 Course in Nov of 2020.

- Students participating in this class will be introduced to their target investor audience in February 2021.

If you’d like to participate in an upcoming MindsetXchange course to receive personal introductions from Mindset to your target investor audience, please complete our MindsetXchange application using this link.

Our next class begins March 2021, with open enrollment beginning Jan 2021!

Follow Mindset On YouTube For Archived MindsetXchange Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdr70xJrIQce7H-fYhV7P3A?sub_confirmation=1
Startup Equity Shares: everything you should know about this
By: Massmedia Group Software Development Services
Tags: Startup Financing, Startup Capital, Startup Life, Startup Equity, Startup

Sharing startup equity is quite a challenge. You’re always thinking about how to share equity between founders, investors, and employees so that everyone is happy. This article will help you understand this issue better.
Lucid Lane Chosen as a 2020 Red Herring Top 100 North America Winner
By: Lucid Lane
Tags: Startup Life, Tech Companies, Startup, Startup Marketing, Red Herring

Nov 19, 2020 — Red Herring today announced the winners of its Top 100 North America 2020 event, recognizing telehealth startup Lucid Lane among the continent’s most exciting and innovative private technology companies. The winners have been chosen from thousands of entrants, whittled down to hundreds presenting their companies at the virtual conference on November 17th and 18th.

The event, led by Red Herring chairman Alex Vieux, included two days of keynote speeches, discussions and finalist presentations. Industry experts, insiders and journalists on a wide variety of criteria including financialperformance, innovation, business strategy, and market penetration judged companies. Winners ran the gamut of verticals, from FinTech and Artificial Intelligence to Security, IoT, and

many more industries.

“Red Herring has a twenty-year track record of recognizing game-changing tech brands like Alibaba, Spotify, Twitter and YouTube before the rest of the world does,” said Adnan Asar, President and CEO of Lucid Lane, a telehealth startup empowering people living with medication

and substance dependency, anxiety and depression to live better and healthier lives. “We at Lucid Lane are honored to have earned this distinction from Red Herring’s editors.”



“2020’s crop of Top 100 winners has been among our most intriguing yet,” said Vieux. “North America has led the way in tech for so many years, and to see such unique, pioneering entrepreneurs and companies here, which is in many ways the heartland of the industry, has

been a thrilling experience.

“What has excited me most is to see so many people forging niches in high-tech and cutting edge sectors,” added Vieux. “Some of the technical wizardry and first-rate business models showcased at the conference has been fantastic to learn about. We believe Lucid Lane embodies the drive, skill and passion on which tech thrives. Lucid Lane should be proud of its achievement — the competition was incredibly strong.”

Lucid Lane now advances to the RedHerring Top 100 Global event next year that will encompass the best-in-show from the Top 100 Europe, North America, and Asia.
How we launched our first MVP in one month
Tags: Parenthood, Mobile App Development, Children, Startup Life, Startup

The idea of the ChildrenGo app, an aggregator of children-friendly places, came up to me and my husband in March this year.

Photo by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash

It comes from our own problem which was a pretty simple one. We’ve tried to find a coffee place to visit with our son. He was 11 months old back then and, like many other toddlers, he was (and still is!) very active, curious, and willing to explore the world. So, we had a strange list of requirements for a cafe: a special transforming table, a place to crawl and play for the kid, and tasty coffee for us. And we thought it would be great to have an app where you can look for a place, which meets all our requirements.

Photo by Samuel Cesar on Unsplash

We began with a conversation with our potential customers — with other parents. We had to understand if they have a similar problem too. So we drafted a survey and sent it to all our friends and acquaintances, to online communities. And we have got a lot of replies! It convinced us the idea is interesting for other parents.

After that we… No, we haven’t write any code yet. We interviewed parents who reply to our survey to meet. We wanted to know what is important for them when they are looking for a place to visit with children. And how we could help them.

Thanks to those meetings we’ve got a lot of new ideas too. We found out that some parents rely on reviews, while other parents are more interested in photos. Some parents look mainly for outer places, while other parents spend their free time in museums.

The next step was to go through all the replies, all the notes from the meetings and made a list of the functionality that is needed to get started. Minimal, so that it can be done quickly.

And only then we started writing code.

Photo by Alexandru Acea on Unsplash

Looking back I think even at that stage it was too early because it was possible to start with a list of places in google.docs. But what’s done is done.

We used Python for the backend, and React Native for the mobile app. No regrets, both are great for a quick start.

We tried to follow the Agile ideas but we didn’t follow rituals strictly. For example, we had sprints and we tried to limit it in time. But it didn’t work out. Development in the evenings after the main work does not contribute to this.

We prioritized tasks, did what users asked for first. There were no retrospectives and evaluations of tasks, no strict time limits. We just worked as fast as we could.

The test version was done in about a month and we were ready for the alpha test. But that’s another story.
Shubham Garg : From Mechanical Eng Student To Full Time Blogger
By: Shubham Garg
Tags: Blogging, Blogger, Startup Life, Inspiration, Startup

Do you believe in fate? Well, I didn’t do too but now when I look back on my life as no less than a roller coaster ride with many ups and downs. I know Hardships are a part of life and today I wish to share my journey. After failing to get in both Medical and IIT , I finally had to settle for B.tech from a small college in my hometown in Uttar Pradesh.

So like any other first year student in mechanical engineering, I was also full of aspirations. But soon the reality was to hit me , I was weak in Maths. Also I was not much concentrating on studies. After getting back in 1st year and again disappointing everyone , it made me actually realize that I need to really do something out of the box.

After that I started working as a freelancer doing transcription gigs , web research. I also used to answer a lot of questions on Quora , where I got the idea of starting my own blog and answering people’s queries there. With ecommerce growing in India , people wanted to know which product to buy and is good for their needs. I have always been very interested in products , it’s my curiosity to know how a product works. Even in childhood I was always taking out motors from remote control cars and dismantling everything in the house.

Well, there is a lot of difference in thinking and implementing. I started but I didn’t know much about Wordpress and Blogging. I started learning from Youtube and soon by making small baby steps I started earning through my website. While in my college, people were still busy with their relationships and handling engineering, I was earning and doing something that finally gave me satisfaction. I wanted my blog Shubz Gadget Review to grow , so I was working day and night.

At Shubz Gadget Reviews , our goal is to write genuine content and review products like headphones , home appliances , Laptops , Gaming and other daily use products. Our research is top notch and most often we test the products for days and then only write a detailed review.

Indian buyers like to do his research before spending their hard earned money. Our goal is to publish guides which makes it easy for them to understand the pros and cons of a product. Our blog is visited by thousands of visitors per day and many other blogs try to follow in our steps.

Now it’s been more than 4 years working on Shubz and I still feel excited every day, enthusiastic enough to research new products and write about them on Shubz. Well, now I’m earning alright for a stable life , every day comes with new challenges but much better than working a 9–5 job in a private company.

When I get kind messages from people on Instagram about how much they appreciate my work and want to decode my success story , I feel very happy and satisfied.
Employee Challenges for Going Remote
Tags: Startup Life, Startup, Founders, Remote Working, Startup Lessons

Employee Challenges for Going Remote

Individual freedom is a key underlying driver why many employees to go remote. A lot of employees would love to move to a place of their choice. And continue working for their current employer. But challenges abound for work-from-anywhere. Here are the top ones from my network:

Disinterested Leadership

Unless you are the business owner, your leverage is less. If the leadership has strong views against remote work, an employee can’t do much. The best option for an employee is to change employers.

Misaligned Policies

Employers who have adopted remote work have announced their relocation policies. As with anything in life, these policies veer from one extreme to the other. On the left, the compensation change is so high that employees don’t find it worthwhile to move. On the far right, employers pay everyone the same. And the best ones even provide a one-time cash bonus to offset relocation costs.

​Secondary Offices

This reminds me of the Henry Ford statement in 1909. “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black”. Many employers are adopting remote work policies like this. “You can move to any place as long as you are within our designated secondary offices”. It is understandable why employers are doing this. They need a critical mass, hiring predictability, and coverage for specific locations. But this creates a constrained set of choices for the employees who want to move.

Lifestyle Infrastructure

​My previous note, Removing our Tethers: Part 1, highlights these constraints. Solving these constraints can alter the city-suburb-rural demographics. The three biggest ones that constrain employees are:​

Connectivity: Work in current times has high dependence on being available.

Education: The lack of highly-rated public schools takes out many locations from consideration.

Airport: Being close to a decent airport is a massive time-saver.

Spousal Career

A location that provides good career options for both partners is not always easy. But this is an easier problem to solve. At least the employer isn’t constraining the employee.

The best approach is to focus on solving challenges under your control. And work around the rest.

​

Next Note:

Employer Challenges for Going Remote

Related Notes:

#startup #founders #startupfounders #startupjourney #startupstories #startupsuccess #lessonslearnt #startupideas #remote work #work-from-anywhere #distributed work

Let’s Talk: If you have a true experience that resonates, please send me an email.

Original: https://www.visionpassage.com/employee-challenges-for-going-remote.html

VisionPassage Newsletter: https://www.visionpassage.com

#startup #founders #startupfounders #startupjourney #startupstories #startupsuccess #lessonslearnt #startupideas #remote work #work-from-anywhere #distributed work
What it has been like to build Inkoop for 5 years
By: Vivek Kumar
Tags: Startup, Startup Lessons, Company, Startup Life

Ah, it has just been 5 years!

It has definitely been my toughest challenge. Building a company is always difficult but building it from scratch, bootstrapped, with no strong network is even more challenging.

I started the company when I was 26, recovering from a 0 bank balance at age of 25. My aim was largely to learn how to build a team as I had failed at it in my previous startup.

I had also experienced working with a bad team and I wanted to build a workspace that was a bit fun while delivering premium work quality.

To date, we haven't delivered work with any delays, have highly satisfied clients. We have worked with some clients for 5 years now, and have worked with some amazing brands.

What I have learned?

At the core, I am a programmer and I still code almost every day. I learn a great deal of new technology or how to code better from younger and better people.

Programming aside, you learn a great deal of stuff while managing a company that is difficult to explain. These aren’t stuff that you can add in a resume/achievements but are of a crazy value. Like how to submit GST/TDS :)

How are things running now?

It has been going great!

I have an awesome core team (Ameena, Shashi, Rupinder, Jaskaran, Jitendra) that is running Inkoop mostly.

The feeling of seeing your company run without your involvement is just amazing.

What are the next goals?

Well, I am still 31 so a long way to go and lots to learn!

Build a larger team. Engage with bigger brands. Launch some awesome products.

That’s it! Keep coding!
Employee Challenges for Going Remote
By: Vic Kapur
Tags: Startup Life, Startup, Founders, Remote Working, Startup Lessons

Employee Challenges for Going Remote

Individual freedom is a key underlying driver why many employees to go remote. A lot of employees would love to move to a place of their choice. And continue working for their current employer. But challenges abound for work-from-anywhere. Here are the top ones from my network:

Disinterested Leadership

Unless you are the business owner, your leverage is less. If the leadership has strong views against remote work, an employee can’t do much. The best option for an employee is to change employers.

Misaligned Policies

Employers who have adopted remote work have announced their relocation policies. As with anything in life, these policies veer from one extreme to the other. On the left, the compensation change is so high that employees don’t find it worthwhile to move. On the far right, employers pay everyone the same. And the best ones even provide a one-time cash bonus to offset relocation costs.

​Secondary Offices

This reminds me of the Henry Ford statement in 1909. “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black”. Many employers are adopting remote work policies like this. “You can move to any place as long as you are within our designated secondary offices”. It is understandable why employers are doing this. They need a critical mass, hiring predictability, and coverage for specific locations. But this creates a constrained set of choices for the employees who want to move.

Lifestyle Infrastructure

​My previous note, Removing our Tethers: Part 1, highlights these constraints. Solving these constraints can alter the city-suburb-rural demographics. The three biggest ones that constrain employees are:​

Connectivity: Work in current times has high dependence on being available.

Education: The lack of highly-rated public schools takes out many locations from consideration.

Airport: Being close to a decent airport is a massive time-saver.

Spousal Career

A location that provides good career options for both partners is not always easy. But this is an easier problem to solve. At least the employer isn’t constraining the employee.

The best approach is to focus on solving challenges under your control. And work around the rest.

​

Next Note:

Employer Challenges for Going Remote

Related Notes:

Let’s Talk: If you have a true experience that resonates, please send me an email.

Original: https://www.visionpassage.com/employee-challenges-for-going-remote.html

VisionPassage Newsletter: https://www.visionpassage.com

#startup #founders #startupfounders #startupjourney #startupstories #startupsuccess #lessonslearnt #startupideas #remote work #work-from-anywhere #distributed work
【新創手冊 EP 1】怎麼選擇新創？加入新創可以獲得什麼？
By: Hazel Lee 李宛儒
Tags: Careers, Startup Life, Career Advice, Startup, Startup Lessons

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Lessons learned from side projects
By: Selçuk Fatih Sevinç
Tags: Programming, Side Project, Startup Life, SaaS, Productivity

Hi, I’m Selçuk, I’m the solo developer and the cofounder of the Unitz.

As I mentioned in previous posts I’ve made many side projects. Currently we have 4 projects right now, and the 5th one is on the way. Side projects can be very helpful. You can try and learn new things. You cannot directly jump into the real projects without trying new things. Side projects are suitable for this. For example, I learned Node.js and React, thanks to the side projects. Besides all these benefits you make some mistakes, not only techical mistakes. I’ll tell you about 3 big mistakes about side projects.

1. Starting too big.

I think the biggest mistake about side projects is to start too big. Ideally choose a project you can code as mvp in 1–2 months. If it takes 6–12 months or more, while you have a daily job, it can be dangerous; because you can easily get bored and lose your motivation. I have also falled in this trap while coding Unitz but as I wrote in the first post, I’ve overcome this situation by the Unitz’s approach. I wish I could have started small.

2. Being impatient

If you are impatient about your project, you can lose your motivation and at some point shut down the project. Maybe the project had a potential but you have killed this possibility by being impatient.

3. Developer’s dilemma

My biggest mistake about side projects is the developer’s dilemma. I called it developer’s dilemma because I think while coding side projects, most of the developers are focused on the code, not the project. You try new things; you try to write beautiful, readable, fully tested, fully covered and very performant code. It is not a bad thing of course. However, you are missing the point. If your main purpose is to learn a new thing, it is ok, go that way. But if you want to build a product and to learn while coding the new project, maybe you can focus on the product, not the code. Do you think that biggest tech companies started with perfect codebases? If you earn money, you can always play with the codebase and change it because coding is an incremental and iterative progress. You cannot code a perfect app in a month. If you have a product coding always continues; it never ends.

These are the main mistakes I learned from my side projects. I started too big but I could handle it, thanks to the Unitz’s approach. We started 1,5 years ago and we have enough patience for Unitz projects. I also falled into the developer’s dilemma. However, I didn’t lose my motivation with the help of our Unitz approach. (This issue also requires another post.)

I’ll keep writing about Unitz and its products. Please, don’t hesitate to leave comments and feedbacks.