kynikos

We want it, but frankly the financial cost of running the site is eating too much into our personal finances. We are both young, couple years out of college, student loan debt. I left my full time job in Sept last year to focus on this full time and I am almost completely drained of all money by now. That's why we made the decision to begin the sale process.

I once worked with a newly-hired PM who had recently seen a handsome exit from a company he cofounded. By any measure on paper, a very credible and qualified candidate. The development process instituted in our enterprise was a little too rigid for his hardened startup mentality and 2 weeks later, he was let go. Beyond amending your resume with a higher focus on product management, it's important that companies see you as a good fit from process and cultural standpoints.

As already pointed out here, you do need a strong case and a existing trademark. In our case, we were looking to obtain rights to top-level .COM domain that was an acronym of our current site's fullname URL--the acronym was favorable for obvious reasons and we/our users had used the acronym extensively to reference our site.

You basically have to prove all three of these things:

(i) The domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and

(ii) The owner(s) have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and

(iii) The domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. (source: ICANN)

If you haven't gotten a response from the owner based on the WHOIS info, you can file a different type of ICANN complaint (free to file this one) that should force the registrar to contact the owner, who will update the WHOIS information. We had gone through this while trying to buy the domain from the squatter and not getting a response. We think he just updated WHOIS info with fictitious contact information again.

I'm saying this based on a few assumptions about your business... 1. There's a cultural disconnect between you and your customers and there are various barriers to import 2. You have no idea how to price this 3. There is political/legislative concerns (working in telecom myself, I know there are plenty of legal barriers) 4. You need the local skills, resources, and distribution of existing firms.

I'm in a similar situation...team is remote, I'm in NY and we're INC'd in DE. We're actually using HSBC Small Business for banking now. Go into your local branch and they can tell you what you need. From my experience, we had to submit: Application for Authority showing my ability to do business on behalf of our legal entity, DBA filed in New York, opening deposit, and proof/cert of incorporation.

I'd also recommend against freelancing as a first step towards starting a company. Finding freelance work in itself can be a huge distraction towards your end goal of creating a product--not to mention the actual work, dealing with clients, etc.

Think about problems you or maybe your employers have faced in the past and how a product might've solved that problem or at least facilitated its resolution.

From there, do some googling, find some market research studies, talk to people in the industry you want to break in to.

Unfortunately it can be hard to track down credible information among the millions of "expert" blogs that populate most search results. The best source of market data I've found to date is actually my old college's library. Now that my student account is long since decommissioned, they do offer paid access to info databases for alumni at a reduced rate.

I've yet to meet anyone who wholly discounts their college experience, even if they're advocates of alternative, experiential learning (like YC.)

You don't go to college for academic credentials. You go to college to meet people and learn about yourself.

The results should be better. Or, if they can't be, there should be some sort of incentive for me to purchase from this site. Do I get a discount? Free shipping? If I already know what I'm looking for, why do I need to use BongoBing?

- Tell a story!! Whether this is your own personal journey with the company or a unique story surrounding a customer problem that you solve makes no difference.

- Press release distribution services aren't worth your time

- Develop a media list of primary, secondary, and tertiary priority media outlets you'd want to be covered on - research the appropriate writer, their old stories (look for trends, writing style, etc.), and get their contact information--definitely their email, ideally their direct phone number as well

- Be persistent, but not annoying

- Don't be afraid to follow up or ask if another writer may be a better fit/more interested

- If you're sending out cold emails, go straight to the point, don't attach large files or unnecessary materials

- Don't discount local media outlets

- Don't discount smaller, more niche media outlets--big time reporters at publications like the WSJ and NYT monitor smaller time publications for trends and interesting stories

- My personal opinion about TC: Not worth the time unless you have a REALLY unique pitch or story. Focus your efforts on more attainable, niche outlets whose readers match your target demographic

- Just because you're not an incumbent in your market, doesn't mean that you can't get good press. Being reputable can give you leverage, but it's not necessary.

Think of adjectives that describe your company and what it represents.

Plug those into a translation program. See what the same word is in Chinese, Arabic, Swedish, etc.

Pick a word from whatever language sounds best to you.

Now you have a one-word name that may have been taken in the English language, but sounds unique and is descriptive (in a sense.) When people ask what it means, you don't need to give an exhaustive explanation of how you arrived at that name. You simple say it means "XXXX" in YYYY language.

Reaching out to family friends and acquaintances whom you admire is a good way to start.

It's definitely a burgeoning industry, but you really do need a decent amount of certification to be taken seriously. I used to work in clean energy and it is becoming somewhat of a crowded field, especially for residential solar. You'd be setting yourself up for some strong future business, but right now the costs of solar installation for homeowners is quite high, especially considering the federal tax credit for solar systems is about to expire. There might be some more incentives that will drive increased use under the next president, but there likely won't be much within the next half-year.

Not sure how things are where you live, but the geographic market I was working in saw mostly retrofits and very little integration with new construction. As the cost of producing solar panels continues to decrease, you'll be strengthening your position, but until that happens you likely won't be making very much money.

Another thing to consider is the proliferation of larger solar companies that operate on a franchise model and include service and maintenance into the cost of the system.

If you're very passionate about clean energy and have the time to dedicate over the next 5-10 years, I say go for it, otherwise you won't see very strong returns. Just my 2c...

Pros: Lots of things that are brand new, solid CS and engineering departments, academically diverse campus, strong industry partnerships, growing entrepreneurial community, co-op work graduation requirement for most majors.

Cons: No girls, weather, pricey, nerdy

I had put in a couple of months at a startup of sorts (not tech related, but in 'green' real estate development) doing sales and biz dev work. I left because the founder wasn't putting his all into it and the company began to suffer. He had other business interests and obligations that prevented him from making this company his primary focus. The experience taught me that leadership and strategic planning/execution are extremely important. It can become frustrating if you don't agree with the way your employer makes decisions, especially if you come from a business background.

In short, make sure the people you're working for know what they're doing.

If I were you, I'd be sure to have tested, killer cookie recipes, then consider...

-Integrating online ordering system for in-store pickup or shipping

-Cater to fans of vegan baked goods (definitely a burgeoning market segment)

-Work with moms and Susie Homemaker types to determine favorite cookie recipes or trends

-Perhaps use the store as a distribution channel for home-based bakers. I know a lot of people who think they bake "the best" cookies. There's a lot of different directions to take this; profit sharing, recipe licensing, etc.

-Develop an "open source cookie", modified by customer suggestions and input

-Keep a basic product line of old standby cookies (chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, etc.) and have a secondary product line that's shuffled or changed very frequently (at least once a month)

-Publish an annual book of recipes

-Children influence how their parents spend money. Offer a free cookie on a child's birthday and seek distribution in local schools.

Just my thoughts...not sure if any of them align with what you had in mind. I think this is a very cool idea and could definitely succeed if executed correctly. Good luck!

While I'm sure they'd love to see my startup succeed, they are sensible people and are always highlighting the advantages of more stable, 9-5 type of employment. We definitely don't see eye to eye on many things in that regard, however they are always interested in what's going on, what we've got planned, and are always there to celebrate the little successes. When it comes down to it, that's all that matters.

That, and maybe some seed investment :]

not sure if it I'd consider it a failure, but definitely has not seen the organic growth that we initially expected.

It's also important to not overlook the risk analysis section. Go a step beyond a simple SWOT analysis and describe your most primary risks, how you will mitigate them, and what your contingency plan is. If you don't have this section in your business plan, investors will undoubtedly grill you with questions on how you plan to deal with risk.

Keep terms consistent and be sure to PROVIDE CITATION for sources used in your market analysis. Yes, it can be a pain, but it goes a long way in showing the reader that you've done your homework.

Following a template is not a sure-fire way to write a success business plan. The outline posted here is a very good starting point--take it and adapt it, add sections, and remove sections to make the plan more relevant to your business and its operating environment. Above all, avoid using business plan software. In any business plan, your primary goals are to illustrate that you know what you're doing (strong team, market and competitive analysis sections), you know how to deal with risk, and that you are passionate about what you're doing. When writing for investors, try to avoid coming across as desperate--give the impression that whether or not you receive money from them, this is what you're doing, the investment would just make things a little easier.