Co-Founder Dynamics: Evaluating Contributions. I will not promote. Hey guys, I need input regarding our startup's co-founder dynamics. We have four co-founders with near-equal equity: three at 20% each and one at 30%, with 10% reserved for future hires and investment. Each co-founder has a distinct role - growth and product, sales, another is technical, and our CEO focuses on fundraising. Key questions I'm grappling with: 1. How should we measure and evaluate co-founder contributions given our different roles? 2. What's the appropriate stance on co-founders maintaining side projects? One of the co-founders pushing that no side... 4 0 replies
I’m 18, launched an agency in a week, and have 5 days to get my first client—advice? (I will not promote) Last week, I started a service that helps startups get listed on Product Hunt, YC, and Wellfound to gain traction and users. I know the right launch can bring huge exposure—but now I need my first paying client.I don’t have much funding, and I only have 5 days to make this work. For those who’ve been here before, how did you land your first customer? Cold outreach, referrals, or something else? 1 0 replies
Firstbase, Doola, Clemta - All I need to run a US company? I will not promote Hello, I'm considering incorporating a company in the US as a non-US resident. Just stumped about incorporating services such as Firstbase, Clemta and Doola. Those services also offer premium packages with bookkeeping, tax filing and so on. Hence my question: Are those services essentially all you need to run a US company or do they lack important parts? If so, which parts are lacking? Have you any experience with them as a non-US resident? Looking forward to hear from you guys! I will not promote 2 0 replies
PayPal equivalent of Stripe Connect - I will not promote **I will not promote** Does anyone know of a PayPal equivalent of Stripe Connect? My googling led me to PayPal for Marketplaces, however, their copy and onboarding seem to target established/enterprise companies while I am still getting started. I am building an invoicing/CRM app. I need to allow my users to send invoices to their clients and enable their clients to pay them digitally (and I am not taking a cut). With Stripe, it is a self-serve onboarding, follow the documentation and you are set. I see some small/startup-ish... 1 0 replies
I got laid off and I ended up building my startup instead of finding a job: I will not promote Hey guys I am a developer and I ended up getting laid off a few months ago (shockers) my position ended being offshored 😢 long story short my manager screwed me over and honestly didn’t realize how toxic that place was until I left, it was my first job out of college. A few months went by, rejection after rejection I I didn’t want to make finding a job my whole purpose in life so I decided to build something on the side to keep my skills fresh cause... 5 3 replies
How advantageous can it be to build your SaaS around SAP (or any other ERP providers) and be an SAP/Oracle partner (I will not promote) Curiously asking about a potential Saas, not in conflict/competition at all with SAP or any other ERP providers for that matter, but more of an extension to services offered, attempting to aid and further enhance an experience or correct an issue within a certain area. Moreover, how advantageous can it be to be a SAP/Oracle/Workday partner? 1 0 replies
Early-Stage Founders: What’s Your Biggest Challenge Right Now? - I will not promote Hey founders! 🚀 If you’re building something from the ground up, I’d love to hear what challenges you’re facing. 💡 **Product & Users** – How are you validating your idea? What’s been the hardest part about creating something users love? Any struggles with engagement or retention? 📈 **Business & Growth** – What’s your biggest hurdle in getting traction? Are you more focused on product-market fit or scaling? 🚀 **Execution & Team** – What’s been the most unexpected challenge? Do you have the right skill sets on your team, or... 4 0 replies
Experiences in business with Rob kischuk of Atlanta (I will not promote) Has anyone done business with him or personally? His company is Bellwood labs but most of his staff seem incredibly unhappy. He also owned badgy? Is this a common issue with him? It seems he exploited staff and is in legal battles with a bunch. Anyone else? I will not promote. I am just looking for feedback on this person 4 1 replies
V2 - Algorithmically Free Content Consumption Proposal (I will not promote except my own thoughts) So here’s a very high level (yet to be implemented in any serious manner) idea that’s been on my mind. What do you think about a content consumption platform based on manual content curation and promotion? As a possible alternative to the ongoing platform enshittification phenomena? The idea is that instead of a feed of content recommendations by a recommender engine, a platform can be designed in such a way that **incentivizes professional content curation by humans** who can better distinguish between good and bad content in the age... 4 0 replies
What’s Your Go-To-Market Strategy? What’s Actually Working for You? (i will not promote) I’m a solo founder, still in the development stage of my SaaS, but I’m almost done. Now, I’m starting to think about how to actually get users. There are so many GTM strategies—SEO, paid ads, cold outreach, partnerships, product-led growth… and everyone seems to have a different take on what works. I’d love to hear from other founders: * What GTM strategy are you using? * What’s worked well for you? * Anything you tried that was a total flop? 3 3 replies
Does the AI boom feel like the dot com boom to you? (i will not promote) For those who lived through the 90s with the emergence of the internet and the dot com bubble (I haven't), does the AI race feel somewhat similar right now? Does it make you feel like you're in a gold rush and a hurry to create, otherwise you'll be left behind? I'm watching the Blackberry movie right now and saw the engineers scrambling to put email in your pocket, creating this sense of urgency and race against time and competitors. My first thought was "huh, kinda feels like AI right... 2 13 replies
Question for founders about hiring needs and how they access their talent - I will not promote Background: I am the director of recruiting at my recruitment firm, we are midsized and have national reach. Lately, I feel it has been difficult to get ahold of anyone to help them with their hiring needs. Questions: 1. Do startups still use recruiters? 2. What are your likes and dislikes when it comes to being outreached by them? 3. What percentage fees are you typically paying if you have used them? 4. What makes you open to using them? I'm not posting this with the intent of soliciting... 3 0 replies
I will not promote I'm interested what are common pain points when building MVP, any horror stories how early tech decisions derailed your growth in future? for example I worked in really promising startup who managed to raise good money but their original dev team made some terrible architecture choices, so when they replaced them with me and few other really competent colleagues it took us almost 2 years to get it back on track, but it was kinda too late for the product at that point sadly. Missed on some good equity... 5 0 replies
Validating Your Product: TAM, SAM, and SOM Essential Market Sizing for Business Growth (I Will Not Promote) I thought it would be good to try and get some conversations going related to marketing and business techniques, strategies and concepts. I have never seen anyone on this sub or others discussing TAM, SAM or and SOM so this should be a good starting point for all of us. If you are validating your product understanding the size of your market is crucial for setting realistic business goals and developing a scalable strategy. Three key concepts—TAM, SAM, and SOM—help businesses analyze their opportunities and potential for success. #... 3 0 replies
1099 contractor as LLC, and ISO stock options (I will not promote) As I understand it, ISO can only be granted to individuals (Rule 422). 1099 contractors often form LLCs or S-Corps. If you want to grant ISOs to such a contractor, how do you do so? Contract with the company, but options to the individual? Something else? 5 0 replies
Investing & Joining a Startup (I will not promote) Hey guys, I'm an international student who just finished their Masters in computer science. I've always wanted to work in a startup environment and given how bad the market is right now( I do not have prior industry work experience which means the job market is much more cruel on me.) there has never been more inclination towards joining a startup imo. I understand that shouldn't be the sole reasons to, but it has definitely affected my old desire to join one. On the other hand, I have an... 2 1 replies
Did your CoFounder "earn" their equity? (I will not promote) Usually when startups form they give equal shares to CoFounders (not always). Curious for folks here who are maybe a couple of years or more past that point - would you say your CoFounder "earned it" from the work and contribution they made thereafter? I think some of these insights might be helpful to an awful lot of people on here that are going through that decision process right now. 3 0 replies
"I will not promote" - Anyone here use an incident management platform? We're looking at deploying either Rootly or FireHydrant (or if you have other suggestions...). Looking for some non-sales-y stories from folks that have used any of these platforms. In our case, we're around 200 people and growing so getting things organized is getting more expensive when we need to work on a major prod. issue. edit: I will not promote, ffs. 1 0 replies
Your partner can make or destroy your career - I will not promote From September 2016 to June 2018 I ran a blockchain consulting business that grossed $15M USD, and the first year was a huge struggle getting my name out there and convincing people to trust me. At the time I had been living in China nearly 10 years and decided to leave and was traveling around the world. in September 2017 I was continuing my travels and arrived in Vietnam. My first day there, I met an amazing Vietnamese woman and we started dating immediately. Her love and support helped... 3 0 replies
“If you don’t have significant amounts of money or a massive list of existing clients, you should not be a non-technical founder ever.” (I will not promote) I read this here. What do you all think about it? Being somewhat new to exploring being a founder in a startup, is this really what technical cofounders are looking for, someone with either a bunch of cash or a lot of existing clients? I’d previously read domain knowledge and sales are two important skills a non-technical founder can bring to the table. But honestly the above mindset does seem to represent my experience so far on YC matcher, mostly finding technical founders who seem to want something closer... 4 0 replies
