leslyn

I can only share our experience: Friends and family were concerned about hurting our feelings and/or encourage us blindly. The tech community was almost evenly split between go forward and stop now. The users have been the ones to offer constructive comments about what they want and when they get it ... they tell their friends.

My technical co-founder is also remote. I'm not sure if I got really lucky or if it is our maturity but we have had a brilliant year of working together. (Cincinnati - Philly) I think it helps that I defer all of the technical to him and he the rest of the business to me so we each have our areas of expertise. However, there is a time in my future when one of us travels three days a week so that we can work at least in office proximity. We've utilized every piece of technology available to us and have had some monster long telephone calls into the night when there were flaws that we had to work through.

I suspect it is not the best way to work but with really good communication skills and trust in one another's expertise, it will work fine.

1. We incorporated 11 mos ago 2. Went live in Nov and have spent a total about $3300 so far (over half on SU impressions) 3. Not profitable - still playing around with trying to figure out a revenue model that will actually work! Not sure about a cutoff... Originally committed $10K in my head

Mike, thanks for spending so much time on the site looking around. I agree that perhaps it was a problem to fit it in because it would be a problem to fit it in!! (Staring us in the face)I'll assume you'd like that test account deleted?(!) If you saw anything else that needs immediate attention - we're always open for that kind of feedback. Thanks!

Hi Mike,

As always, thanks for the offer again! My question is this: We have had a ton of great feedback suggesting that we redesign the creating new acct UI, which is in process. What we are really stuck with is where to add SOCIAL options. We offer FB connect on the create new acct screen (TW coming) but where to add 'like'/follow and invite your friends in the flow is not popping out at us. Any suggestions? http://www.uencounter.me

Thanks!

Just want to add that we received some really valuable feedback from Helen in Dec and it helped us take our site to the next level! Her comments were not only helpful but on target and extremely constructive! If you are getting feedback - take it to heart and if not - you should!

Sure, the question is still valid. How much have you spent, or are you willing to spend to get you to the point that an investor will be interested in talking to you? (assuming that the profits are not funding the growth that an investor will be interested in)

I just wanted to add (I know you didn't ask) but I agree that the white text in the bright yellow is hard to read. I think the suggestion to make that bigger and more prominent will be helpful!

Nalidxic: I really like the simplicity and design of your site - it is really inviting! How have you advertised this?

Thanks. I did mean above and beyond living costs; expenses such as hosting, legal, advertising, etc. Next question - how much money AFTER launch will you be committing to your startup and what is the amount (in your mind) that you see yourself spending in order to make it happen?

I will encourage you to think about your day-to-day needs over time; Do you need predictability in your life? Do you need a lot of structure? Do you need lots of guidance? Do you need personal distance from co-workers? Are you a risk taker? And if so - what level of risk are you willing to assume? Will you regret missing the opportunity if your friend is very successful?

I spent 10 years in the Bay Area and now live outside of Philly.... I prefer it here. But, I believe that your 'roots' are where you are surrounded by people that love and support you. I would ask you why you've always wanted to live and work in the Bay Area? What is the attraction? Does it make sense to your other life goals?

Ultimately, I would encourage you to chase your deepest dream while you are 25 - it becomes harder as you get older and create more responsibility.

Just want to say how awesome it is that so many people reached out here with offers of personal contact!! If you still need additional support I am also offering. I am an educated professional counselor and may be able to offer a coaching perspective. My email too, is in my profile.

My immediate advice is to follow the previous advice about eating, sleeping, and activity. In addition, list your strengths (you are willing to take risks, you are educated, you are smart, you have expertise, you are well traveled, etc.....) and focus on them.

I think one of the most difficult aspects of being a founder is attempting to find balance with your life. There is a fine line between driving passion for an idea and 'living' life. Entroyneur's comment here is valuable hindsight - I think many of us put ourselves 'over the edge' because we are so passionate about our projects. I suspect that you have expectations of yourselves and one another that have yet to be discussed. My recommendation would be to sit down and develop a clear understanding of what you 'expect' from him, what you feel you can/are contributing and define how that looks.

I would also encourage you to communicate more with him. Conversations that begin with "I am really frustrated because..." will help you vent your anger constructively without pointing a finger. It may be that you didn't communicate exactly what your expectations were. "I need to know that you are willing to ...." is a good way to let him know what you expect.

Try to define what his needs are and how much time he is willing to dedicate - does it match yours? Put it on paper so that it is visual. Develop a contract of sorts that you both are accountable for.

In the meantime - step back and take a long deep breath. You are not going to 'change' him. Perhaps he has a better understanding of balance than you do at the moment. Understand that this is a trap that many of us fall into when we get excited and passionate. Patience is one of the most difficult lessons that I ..continue.. to learn being a founder.

I got the idea for uencounter.me last March while talking with a good friend... "wouldn't it be neat if ...", I asked a few more friends and we all tried to find something that did what I was asking for but could not. I am a trained therapist and entrepreneur with a small private practice, not a programmer. I have two much younger brothers who are PhD students at major universities so my first call was to them ... "Do you know any starving brilliant hackers?" (Starving because I didn't have much money). Long story short - One of them had a best friend who loves writing code ... wanted a new project ... and I am awesome at selling my ideas! We brought on one other partner to manage business development/finances and began! That was 10 months ago. Miraculously, we have had a fabulous working arrangement. We divided the work - so much of the front end work was on the coding side but I have spent 40+ hours a week reading and learning as if I was in grad school again. Now - I handle marketing, PR, and manage tasks/organization of ideas every minute I am not working as a therapist! I still have not officially met my technical partner but we talk for several hours per week and burn the keyboard with emails. My most personal hardship was not having any knowledge about the technical side and being impatient while it was built but our communication started out good and has gotten better along the way. My ambition and drive are sometimes too highly energized for the other two partners but that is good as we seem to balance one another nicely. We have spent less than $4,000 at this point and have a fully functional product with several hundred users (and growing) two months post launch. We are terribly proud and visualizing a viable career with the application. Feel free to take a look: http://www.uencounter.me

I really have to agree! I am the non-tech partner (although the original idea was mine). In any case, I have definitely worked as many hours and as hard as my tech co-founder in very different areas - and realizing that more of my time (if that is even possible) could have been spent developing relationships in the beginning. I can't imagine how a single individual can even get a startup off the ground from tech to town - so to speak.

That has been my experience as well... very few conversions but... I'm wrestling with the idea that it is similar to impressions of an ad ... maybe a 'bad' ad?

We use .me - first because it makes sense for our name and because it was available. At the time, the .com version was held by a broker but fortunately for us, he let it expire and we were waiting! We still use the .me but direct the .com

You need to follow me in order for me to message you on Twitter! I will take you up on your offer to comment on my project ... http://www.uencounter.me smile

So, I am not a programmer or a designer but have spent several years as a manager needing to hire talent so my two cents is from that perspective. I see your site like a self-serve online recruiter and it reminds me of the days that I would submit a job posting on Monster.com - only more detail and it looks like, better features. I especially like the ability to 'match' my employer needs in detail with an applicant's talent (similar to Match.com). I would use this if I needed to find tech talent! As far as the idea, design, and UI are concerned, nothing stood out as being unfriendly or difficult. I might suggest though that you change the icon for 'easy to use' to something different than the universal sign for 'handicapped'. My only other note is that psychologically ... you might want to consider adjusting the color scheme - black and grey are 'dark' and not necessarily conducive to a feeling of professional sharpness. You could change that by replacing the 'tan' color bars to match the bright blue ones that you use on other parts of the site. Hope this helped a little!

Ok, so I'm in the 0.05% - I think one of the biggest tricks is staying there ... plod & push, etc. My biggest frustration is impatience!! Daily reminder is that a year ago, my site didn't even exist! You are right, we are beating the odds. BTW... I followed on Twitter! We should help each other build those numbers!!

December was a good month for us!! 2nd full month post launch and we doubled our user database, got exposure from a BBC Travel Blog had more Spanish translations than anything, lol. We contracted a demo video, a home page redesign, and some copy editing which went great. I am the non-tech co-founder and have been marketing my fanny off with a budget of $200/mo. What I have concentrated on is blogging and building a Twitter presence (I need followers.)

When we started, we Beta tested with friends and family... roughly 30 people who were afraid of hurting our feelings - not a good idea! Then we soft launched into a Public Beta, got picked up by Killer Start-ups but we were still learning about promotion copy and I can't say it was our very best foot forward but had some traffic and got some users. By the end of Nov. we had 100 - today it is over 200 so if this trend continues then by the end of 2012 we will have 1.6 Million users - not bad for a year old app!

I think a lot of us hit the ground wanting instant success - there is a big part of me that does but as I define 'instant' in terms of realistic time - one year is pretty darn 'instant'. So... I plug along and learn, read, learn & read some more. I connect, comment, blog, and believe.

uencounter.me went from an idea to a concept to a project to a fully realized app in 10 months time. When we get to 1.6 million users by this time next year ... that will be 'instant' enough for me.

I second this advice! In every experience there is opportunity for insight - especially those in which we feel that we failed. I will encourage you to spend some time considering your strengths. In my day job, I am a therapist/coach and am happy to have an email exchange with you if you want in an effort to help you think about your future and what you want it to look like. A number of people have payed it forward to me and I am happy to do it for you! email me at leslyn@uencounter.me

We've been using 37 Signals https://launchpad.37signals.com/signin, which has worked great and we send emails constantly (saving docs/files with a date for easy reference)

I prefer the green version actually, I think it looks more 'designed' but I also think that 'caw' has a good point about color blind individuals. Also, the wording under Happy Staff = productive Staff doesn't stand out as well on the green. Personally, I am at the point in my own endeavor that I think we spend too much time second guessing ourselves when an A/B test can answer so many of our questions! You might try that.

Thanks so much ... very enlightening and exactly on point! I appreciate the info.

What about a really nice day planner and we all need massages to relieve the stress we feel!!

Congrats on the success!! It's inspiring to see what might be looked on as a 'stupid idea' to turn out "not so stupid"!

I will just share my experience:

We opted for an LLC and did it with Company Corporation (.com). If I remember correctly it was about $350. We then had an attorney look over the documents ($75 for initial consult) who said they were fine for a 'beginning'. We were careful to require vesting so that one of the partners couldn't 'walk away'. My only suggestion would be to have someone with LLC or legal ease experience walk with you through the application process as it isn't in plain English (at least not in my mind). You can dictate in your LLC agreement how to add equity employees and distribute more shares as needed. At some point in time, if you need to change over to a C-corp it will probably as you earn money or get funded.

I like it as well. We are considering a redesign and I (the non-tech partner) was able to upload a .jpg and instantly view what our concept may look like. I think we will be using it, if that's ok!!

Helen, thanks so much for the time and comments! They all 'feel' right. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.