joshuahays

I would agree that finding and building a team in the first year, first MONTH if possible, is critical to building a core foundation of enthusiastic people who love what their doing. After that, you really just have to do your best to find team members who can do a good job and can be motivated to at least appreciate what their a part of. At that point, it's up to the founders to keep everyone focused and motivated.

+1 I wrote this above. They are just a front-end, nothing more.

Doesn't it say on their site that they aren't really a bank, but just a simple... umbrella for other banks? I think they are just supposed to provide front-end tools for big banks so users don't have to deal with the banks. I'd rather it be a all-in-one bank.

My biggest problem is finding others who are just as motivated and passionate about the project as I am, or at least close to that level of enthusiasm. I'm sure every founder comes to a point where it's less about that and more about finding someone who can get the job done right and is a good contributor.

Very true

You might be in a better market for this, Tampa is pretty well influenced by tech... especially in recent years. His area is EMPTY. lol

That's true. But, if the medium is low to mid 40's (UI) and he starts them at mid 30's, a few raises in the first year would be a quick boost to the 'going rate'. I wouldn't stick around either without a yearly or even bi-yearly raise!

Would love to add our shirt to this. :)

Rather than focus on TAM, focus on what your service brings to a potentially unlimited amount of users. I would never open a deck or conversation with 'we will max out at xxx'. That's like starting a job interview out with an apology for being late.

Interesting... what part of Florida? Close to Orlando? He's in NSB.

I think he's going to need full-time guys, but its a good suggestion!

This is true, freelancing and contract work always pays nicely, but a steady paycheck is sometimes more important... especially if you can double your income with freelance.

I wouldn't consider it low-balling, I figured it pretty close to the paying rate outside of a major city in Florida. Plus, there aren't very many tech-centered jobs in this area... could be a good opportunity. :)

It depends on the project. They declined our website and my friends paper-picture-flower making project. It seems the majority of their projects are in the arts (music, movies, art, etc)

Thank you, I appreciate the time you took to respond! I imagine our homepage will do the job of clarifying the benefit to the buyer, buyers will be those in the market for a new/used car.

I saw several forums called 'petrolhead', which do you suggest?

Yes, we have several dealerships right now who have utilized the alpha. They do have access to car buyers but wouldn't dare distract them from purchase to help us test our site. Yes, we can control who sees what. However, there isn't a benefit for one dealer to encourage one customer to go to Bidzuku if there aren't other competing bids?

So offer the dealers actively utilizing our alpha and providing feedback with future incentives like discounts on our service?

Thanks again!

Indeed! Thanks.

Good point, and the answer is right now we don't really have any users - so updating front-end stuff isn't that big of a deal. However, I may have worded it wrong regarding why the updates were made. I am a brand nazi, so we weren't changing the brand as much as we were fine tuning it and further implementing it into the front pages.

Agreed. In fact, he's seemed a bit negatively opinionated lately in general.

This was expected. I like the idea of a proximity-based social network but the problem is that they didn't do a good job presenting it that way and they were overshadowed by a very negative launch to the tune of 40+ million dollars. Set up to fail from the very beginning.

I can't imagine actually waking up and realizing I left the worlds most valuable tech company for a dying clothing store. However, I am sure the price was right. :)

The single best advice I can give you is to do what you know best.

Yea, and the recent TechCrunch 'end fund' joke was actually quite depressing. For starving startups who have great ideas and are trying to execute them with little or no money...it was actually a pretty jerk move on their part.