@austin
- Iām not very communicative person verbally. Not an offline meet up guy that will bother people at coffee break and making āconnectionsā with people that I can benefit from a business perspective.
It will work only when it will be interesting for me and that person - like exploring some ideas together or gain new experienceā¦
I like to being stuck with code but have small presentation/packing skills. I definitely can do it, butā¦
- I donāt want to incorporate a company in Ukraine. Different reasons why. Itās just hard/unproductive/fearingā¦
Iām thinking about opening an official company/bank account with local HQ at Estonia, but I donāt think that itās important right now.
Why? Example: There is a good food crowdfunding platform - PieShell. They warmly welcomed me there. But they use Stripe( Startup Bank is an official service provider for stripe)
And only USA/Ireland is supported there. Or if I decide to make some device and fundraise on Kickstarter - itās also a problem(itās solvable, for sure, but why to spend time on it, if it can be done more elegantly)
Incorporating is not reasonable to do right now, because we donāt make an easy to predict recurring profit.
Itās good to make 2-3 grand, that is not necessary to spend on operations and fly to Italy/Europe and apply to some startup accelerators.
Usually, they require to attend meetups offline. Usually, programs take 1-2 month to complete.
Iāll need to live in Lviv in order to be near with EU border and be able to quickly travel to local offline presentations/workshops/pitches/mentorship. I think itās twice per week travel or 2 days on weekdays.
Maybe Iāll contact my lawyer and she will help me by preparing necessary documents + visa + travel to Lyiv
- $250 tickets to Estonia
- $200 visa/passport stuff
- $300 lawyer consulting + documents
Maybe I should also set up some meetings there, or some investors as well for pitching.
Iām also not sure right now how much my project can cost right now.
And how much money I need to ask from an investor. A few years ago I was making an estimate. I did it because I prepare an offer to my previous client(she has a meal planning startup) to become my angel investor.
I was offering her 20-25% of equity(because I want to be able to make decisions myself) in exchange for quick partial cash that can support the continuous process of our development. I didnāt require a lot of cash right now, actually.
I lover my expectations so much and we donāt need a whole sum right now, immediately.
But some recurring money will be a great way to set up a team(which I actually did without any money)), cover my personal expenses, motivate me and covert basic costs for hosting, paid services, fees, etc.
I think that it was a great deal as well, because:
- all my first meal startup I got from her project, working as Team Lead, I know her project weak spots.
- working with me means that Iāll push her own project forward too.
Part of my first moves there was an application, build it with help of Ionic Framework(at that time a cool and quick way to set up an app and use HTML/CSS/JS skill that I have) But she refused. And I understand and accept that. She saw me as an employee at her team.
Not as a business partner that can make strategic decisions and make moves with my responsibility.
Her US residency could also help me to establish a US company. Because itās easier with her help to build/create/operate a US company if you have a local citizen, that can be as bailsman at banks, local authorities, knows US laws, know nice US lawyers, etc.
As I did an estimate before I have that skill and can do it again.
And I know/can predict expenses for project development, but sales and marketing --> this is my weak spots. I only learning how to do it. But for last years Iām making some progress there as well.
One of the good side, here in Ukraine is a low salary for developers/designers.
For sure, by comparing to US/EU salary expenses level.
So here it can be done much cheaper/fewer finance risks.
But I actually not limited for working with my natives only.
Iām remote work fan, so if I can do code cheaper at some point - by using people from other countries --> it also can be done. Iām ready to do it and not scared of it.
I have a lot of friends from India --> I see promise in making local office there if needed. Because Indians has the same troubles as we have in Ukraine -> they can code but have troubles to sell their skills.
they also more āhungryā I mean there a big difference - $500 in US -> $500 in Ukraine -> $500 in India.
for that amount, I can do more in Ukraine/India.
From that offer(2 years ago in April) I made good moves. So I think our progress increases our value.
- I start to write articles
- I form a team
- I create and promote some of our profiles
- I finalize our tech stack
- Iām pivoting with my idea and adjusting things frequently
- we are very flexible aka agile.
- our process more visible and crystal clear
the thing that I feel like an accomplishment - I can not code for a few weeks and my team still will be able to make progress, so we overcome skill/experience with small step progress and team input.
Also, our modular approach should give us more visibility and save time quick updates/releases⦠And I like our code quality. Itās not complex but will be soon.
and itās extendibility are very important to me.
And
- Iām more mature right now
- I donāt have distractions(or support) - I mean I donāt have family/kids/wife or GF.
- Iām ready to protect my team/company from bad decisions
- Iām ready to wait
- But I have some debts. Lol fact, it actually starts to decrease when I donāt work, then it was before.
- Iām not overworking right now. I mean I can leave my desk and PC if I want to have a break - Iāll do it without hesitation. And I donāt care if it can affect our process in the short term.
I learn it from my partner in the previous company - he always knows
how to keep balance.
- I can work without a salary or some compensation.
But I also learn in a hard way how is important to pay salary to my team without delays(yeah, it was not clear before :))
- Iām not a control freak, But Iām also not that fancy startup that motivated by āSocial Network movieā and just love to do your own things.
I want and need profit. I mean that sometimes it better not to do anything that doing something weak in terms of ob business.
- I love steaks, but I can eat rice for months if needed
looks like I become more open after this message 