Advisoray Guide for Startups (eBook)

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    Dear founder,

    Thank you for picking up a copy of Advisoray Guide for

    Launching a Startup.

    Advisoray is a group of professionals who want to

    help startups succeed, so that their innovations can be

    brought to market and enrich peoples lives.

    This guide is a distillation of many conversations amongthe professionals within our network. The end result is

    35 pieces of honestsometimes contrarianadvice

    that you can use as you take your new products or

    services to the marketplace.

    Every startups situation is dierent, so we dont expect

    all these pieces of advice to apply to everybody equally,

    but we hope you will find a few of them insightful and

    relevant.

    We also hope you take advantage of Advisoray.com as a

    companion website to this pocket guide. You can search

    for terms or jargons mentioned in this guide and find

    advisors that may be willing to work with you directly for

    free or for a fee, as well as give you valuable feedback

    that is tailored to your unique situation.

    The members and sta of Advisoray are here

    to help. We hope to hear from you, and goodluck on your new venture!

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    Find a metaphor, not just an

    analogy

    HONE / YOUR IDEA

    One of the biggest mistakes startups make, is to

    compare your product or service with another popular

    startup or website:

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    8FXBOUUPCFUIFF#BZGPSSFTUBVSBOUSFTFSWBUJPOT

    0VSBQQJTBDSPTTCFUXFFO"JS#OCBOE'BSN7JMMF

    Often the thing that you compare yourself to is obscure

    in the sense that many have heard of it, but they may

    not understand the full capabilities of the site unless they

    have interacted with it and formed an intuition of what

    that comparison site does. This vastly diminishes the

    uniqueness of what you do, as others have to under-

    stand what your comparison company does and why

    they are unique before they understand what you do.

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    Brainstorm and test out your

    idea with someone who has

    done it before

    HONE / YOUR IDEA

    One of the funnest activity you can do as a startup

    founder is brainstorming: Lets talk about new product

    ideas! Cool design concepts! Disruptive marketing hacks!

    Maybe even throw in a famous spokesperson for our

    company!

    The truth is that brainstorming is really less about

    coming up with new ideas, but more about sifting out

    the gems from the pool of ideas. Then, you will need to

    synthesize a cohesive set of goodand doable ideas

    that can form the foundation for a viable new business.

    This is harder than it looks. What you need to do is to

    find an experienced entrepreneur and pretend he or she

    is your co-founder. Brainstorm, or even argue with this

    person for an hour or two. An experienced entrepreneur

    usually have a good feel of which ideas are good and

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    Answer the question:

    Why you?

    HONE / YOUR IDEA

    Once you have honed in on an idea that you believe

    is the right one, you must be prepared to explain to

    yourself and others why you are the right person to run

    this venture.

    Look at this as an application essay for yourself as the

    CEO of this company. It could be because of your prior

    experience, educational background, lifelong passion,

    circumstances, skill sets, or a combination of all of these.

    The key is to convince someone who must be sold on

    the idea that there is no other person in the world better

    than you for the job.

    Outcome 1: Your narrative is natural, it makes sense,

    and it becomes your personal story behind founding the

    company. Investors and customers are convinced that

    you are the only one for this role.

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    Get as many reactions as you

    can to everything you have

    made

    HONE / YOUR IDEA

    How a person reacts is more important than what they

    say after you stop speaking. Read their face and their

    body language. In a marketing study, you would have a

    one-way mirror, but when you are having dinner with

    prospective customers, have a team member attenddinner with you. Have one person pitch while the other

    observes how the prospective client or investor reacts

    to the product. There will be some things that worked

    better than you thought they would have, and others

    that will work less well.

    The goal is to get as many reactions as possible as these

    reactions will give you perspective on how your idea

    would translate when a random person on the internet

    or a mobile device interacts with your product.

    People are really good at picking up cues and adjusting

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    Invest in a beautiful set of

    screenshots that show what

    your site or app does

    DESIGN / YOUR PROTOTYPE

    Invest time in this and make it great. You will use them

    over and over again as marketing materials, and in

    meetings with partners, customers, investors and even

    with the press.

    This should not be a flowchart, a set of wireframes, or

    even a concept animation. These screenshots should

    look like it is taken from the real site, so the viewer will

    know exactly what your site does. The screenshots need

    to contain most of the features of your site even before

    it is built. They should be explorable and understand-

    able by anyone without a narrative. Annotations and

    descriptions are helpful but the screenshots in linear

    order should describe the business to someone that has

    neither seen nor heard of your business before.

    Dont fret if its not perfect, after all, you dont have a

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    Find the epicenter of your

    product and devote all your

    eort towards it

    DESIGN / YOUR PROTOTYPE

    When we interact with most products or apps, we tend

    to only interact with a very small portion of the product,

    but with an extremely high frequency. These most used

    and useful features can be regarded as the epicenter of

    the product.

    Devote a larger amount of time, energy and money to

    this epicenter and then work on the supporting features

    to make your product minimally viable. Do not waste

    too much time on features such as login, account page

    or dashboards. Use it instead on the epicenter and make

    that part of the product exceptional.

    The way to ensure that the epicenter is correct is to

    try as many productive variations on this epicenter as

    possible. It is worth making five variations of a composi-

    tion, narrative, or structure with slightly dierent foci and

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    Conceptualize for the future,

    but prioritize for the present

    DESIGN / YOUR PROTOTYPE

    Once you have honed in on your idea and developed

    some concepts of what you want to build, create a

    minimum viable product (MVP). This is a small product

    that users can use to see if your hypothesis is working.

    Prepare a list of all the things you want to get done in

    inverse priority order. This process gives you the chance

    to think through what is most important and most ap-

    pealing. It enables you to reflect on the broad capabili-

    ties of this service and perhaps build and present these

    these capabilities in wireframes or prose form.

    Talk to prospective customers to get as much feedback

    on your intuitions as possible before translating them

    into actionable steps for another person to build. Your

    development goal is to make an MVP. Thus, having

    a reasonably complete set of concepts or cohesive

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    Build a version of your

    product by writing the fewest

    line of code possible

    DESIGN / YOUR PROTOTYPE

    If you can build the first version of the product without

    writing any lines of code by simply pointing and click-

    ing, then...Congratulations! you have won the Grand

    Prizeyou have built the minimum viable product (MVP)

    in no time! Any written line of code will deduct from thegrand score of writing no lines at all because more code

    introduces more testing, more costs and more time

    expended. Worst of all, the more code you write for the

    first version, the harder it is to move away from this code

    since you have invested so much in it.

    It is likely that the first version of your product or your

    supposedly minimum viable product (MVP) turns out to

    be not viable. Despite your best eorts, you might have

    picked the wrong epicenter or built the wrong product

    or chosen the wrong brand. So the less you invest in itthe better.

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    Design version 1 on a hunch,

    and version 2 on the basis of

    hard data

    DESIGN / YOUR PROTOTYPE

    Most people want to research and gather facts and

    figures to support the decision they are making in

    designing the first version. How big is the market? How

    likely are people to use a product like this? What are the

    preferred ways of communicating with customers in atarget group? While these data points are sometimes

    useful, they could also lead you to a conclusion that

    moves you away from the epicenter of your product.

    Before your first product exists, the data points you can

    collect are from other peoples products. They are hy-

    pothetical oerings and vague generalizations. Without

    a real product that is collecting granular data about its

    actual usage, these indirect data points may cause more

    harm than good.

    Instead, you should follow your intuition or hunch based

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    Dont look for an ideal co-

    founder, look for someone

    that can help you right now

    STRUCTURE / YOUR COMPANY

    Think about finding a co-founder as finding a husband

    or a wife. Nobody goes around the city asking someone

    to marry them on the spot. You start by taking someone

    out on a date, and see what happens from there.

    Similarly, when it comes to looking for a co-founder,

    date them first. Start working with dierent people

    that can satisfy your immediate needs. It will be clear

    who the right people are and a co-founder (or two) will

    eventually emerge. It could be someone you are paying,

    bouncing ideas o of, or someone that is just willing to

    help you out. Before you agree on any paperwork, un-

    derstand and communicate about your goals and ideas,

    ensure your working styles are compatible because, as

    already stated, making someone a co-founder of your

    startup is like marrying someone.

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    Lock down the company

    structure before things get

    interesting

    STRUCTURE / YOUR COMPANY

    Before you get in the trenches and get your startup o

    the ground, you need to test people. Ensure that the

    companys interests and the interests of all the individu-

    als align. Once the idea you have talked about stabilizes,

    your goal is to use the process of locking down shares,vesting agreements and collaboration agreements to

    test the strength and collaboration of the people around

    you. This is early enough in the process that you can risk

    everything to be scrapped.

    Separate the idea stage from the execution stage of the

    company. Before this point, it could be gentlemens

    handshakes or pinky promises, but the formation of the

    company will define what the next 3 or 4 years will look

    like. You will need to do this only once.

    This is a rigorous process assisted by each persons

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    Choose a corporate structure

    to optimize your short-term

    tax implications

    STRUCTURE / YOUR COMPANY

    To form a company, either a lawyer or an accountant

    can help you talk through the benefits of each type of

    corporate structure, e.g. S Corp, C Corp or LLC. One of

    the most important things is the tax implications in the

    first two years of your startup. Decide how you want tobe taxed, and this will determine the type of company

    you will be building. Tax implications are often more im-

    portant than where you decide to incorporate (although

    most startups do end up incorporating in Delaware).

    Deduct company expenses from your income. Any tax

    money you save becomes capital you can use to invest

    in your company. A tax professional can give you a

    better idea for your specific needs. Make your expenses

    clear. Separate home oce expenses from personal

    expenses.

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    Dont feel guilty when it

    comes to using your unique

    advantages

    STRUCTURE / YOUR COMPANY

    While most startups lack cash to pay vendors and

    accelerate growth, some founders, especially those that

    are working professionals, may have quite a bit of cash

    flexibility. While you might want to preserve capital,

    when you have cash, spending it wisely really doesaccelerate your progress and elevate the quality of your

    product if you get the right people to work for you.

    If you are currently a student, you can get a lot of free

    help from classmates and you should plan to engage as

    many people as possible in your circle while in school.

    Though most people are not as driven as you, they want

    to feel like they are part of something exciting that could

    become big one day.

    These are examples of obvious advantages you may

    have. The key is to look deeply and honestly on every

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    Business plans should be

    bottom-up, not top-down

    STRUCTURE / YOUR COMPANY

    People with professional experience of making business

    plans for larger businesses often make the mistake of

    talking about the size of the market. This is a top down

    approach and it is a waste of ink and paper. A startup is

    certainly not in a position to take any percentage of anymarket since your biggest struggle is to exist at all.

    Your business plan should be based on what you

    believe you can realistically achieve with actions your

    team will perform to get to quantifiable success. If you

    are thoughtful about the tactics you can chain them

    together to achieve your short-term and medium-term

    goals. Then it may be inspiring to talk about the larger

    macro climate and discuss how you could be a big

    player in a big market somewhere down the line.

    However, even if you have your eyes on changing the

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    Dont put anything in your

    terms of service you wouldnt

    talk about in public

    STRUCTURE / YOUR COMPANY

    Think of your terms of service as a deal you are oering

    your customers that they can accept or reject. The norm

    on websites is that you either automatically agree with

    the terms or need to check o the box before using the

    site. This seems like you could add any terms you wish atany time to benefit yourself. Dont do this.

    Make this deal you are oering fair, mutually beneficial

    and most importantly, comfortable to you. You should

    never translate something you are not comfortable

    asking in person onto a legal document.

    Experienced lawyers will always find ways to maximize

    protection for you without compromising the deal you

    are making with the users. Before you speak with one,

    write out the gist of the deal in terms you can under-

    stand. Discuss feedback from your first customers in

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    Build half of a polished

    product, not a half-assed

    product

    BUILD / YOUR PRODUCT

    In an industry that is enamored with shipping features,

    every startup is working with an in-house or outsourced

    engineering team shipping stu at lightning speed.

    Therefore, it could be a rare advantage to build a highly-

    polished product that actually works and works well.

    It cant be emphasized enough the importance of identi-

    fying an epicenter of your designyou can concentrate

    your eort on polishing and refining that to ensure that

    the end product is as perfectly-crafted as possible.

    Engineering and writing real code is too costly of a

    process for randomly trying things out. When you start

    building your product from your epicenter outwards,

    you have a better chance of achieving polish. Wording

    matters. Spacing matters. Handling exceptional flows

    matters. When you bring out a product that is polished,

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    Make your product too good

    to be true

    BUILD / YOUR PRODUCT

    The dierence between too good and good is the

    surplus from which you can extract value. To extract

    value, it needs to be at least better-than-good. The

    better you make your product, the more surplus you can

    extract from your customer.

    Once you have figured out how to make your product

    too good to be true, you have found your business

    model. This means that the business model is simply a

    part of your service or product that has excess value of

    which you could charge for that value. People are willing

    to pay for it. In a freemium model, everyone could get

    some free storage, but if you want unlimited storage

    then you would have to pay. Therefore, your business

    model must incorporate excess value people are willing

    to pay for.

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    Use a mobile screen as a

    thinking frame about what

    your user would want to do

    BUILD / YOUR PRODUCT

    You may not be building a product with a mobile use

    case, but using a smaller screen such as a smartphone

    or a tablet as a thinking frame, will keep your product

    focused on its epicenter. This is likely how someone

    will interact with your product. The person will desireimmediate pay-o and will only devote limited time to

    your product (a minute or two tops). If you are success-

    ful in making your epicenter come alive given the mobile

    limitations, you know that you have found the right

    focus.

    Obviously, having a mobile strategy helps with the

    narrative of why this company is relevant and valuable.

    The mere thought of a person holding the mobile device

    in his or her hand, at a particular time of a day, with a

    particular need to fulfill, helps ensure that you keep yourproduct focused on the epicenter.

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    Write your user interface,

    dont just draw it

    BUILD / YOUR PRODUCT

    A common misconception of user interface design

    is that it is best done by a graphics designer. This is

    probably because a well put together user interface

    looks like a picture and not a novel. The truth is, most of

    us interpret the user interface and learn how to use thesystem by reacting to the words on the screen rather

    than looking at the color and texture under the words.

    We all somewhat know how to write. Try to explain how

    you can engage an end user exclusively with words.

    Imagine that your beautifully constructed website has

    gone down, due to some hosting problems, but you

    have the ability to fulfill all the features on your website

    over e-mail or instant messenger. You can write a dia-

    logue between two people on both sides of the conver-

    sation and figure out the words they would use. Thesewords should be used in your user interface designs.

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    Capture data about what

    your users do as soon as your

    site launches

    BUILD / YOUR PRODUCT

    Why? Because you will never get another chance to

    capture this data once it has happened. Poof!

    You dont need to have sophisticated tools to analyze or

    mine the data and provide beautiful data visualization;

    those can come later. What you need is to instrument

    your product to collect data in fairly granular units and

    store the data somewhere. It would give you a history

    of how users interact with your site that will form the

    foundation of the objective criteria of which future

    features are designed and prioritized.

    While standard web packages like Google Analytics are a

    good start, more application-specific analytic tools like

    Mixpanel provide a much more precise capture of what

    your users are trying to do. Some other analytics pack-

    ages allow you to automatically send e-mails if your user

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    Its not just about the code.

    Seek to understand the big

    picture of technology.

    BUILD / YOUR PRODUCT

    Talk through your technology options with a Chief

    Technology Ocer-level person. Most startups would be

    happy to have access to a programmer on the founding

    team or a vendor that can build the first version of the

    site. This person is likely to use the tools he or she knowsto minimize risk. Once in awhile, you may get lucky,

    and the persons skill sets matches the technical needs

    of your product perfectly. But most of the time there

    are better ways to build the product, especially beyond

    the first version. There are technologies that are more

    appropriate, easier to evolve and ultimately scale better if

    your product is successful.

    While you dont need to implement many of these

    technology considerations right away, as getting your

    first version out is still the most important task, it is prob-ably worthwhile to look one or two years ahead and talk

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    Failure is overrated. You

    can iterate by succeeding in

    succession.

    BUILD / YOUR PRODUCT

    People sometimes conflate the need to iterate with the

    need to fail. You should try not to fail because failure

    means wasting time and chance. There are ways to

    reduce your chance of failure by avoiding traps and by

    reaching out to people who have done it before.

    One of the most valuable resources available to a startup

    are professionals. Most professionals who are on solid

    career paths in various functions and industries all wish

    in some ways they were in for some exciting startup

    venture. They just may not be ready to jump in head first

    the way you have. However, they may be very excited to

    play an advisors role and share their professional know-

    how and experience with a newcomer in exchange for

    a fun experience of dipping his or her toes in the startup

    world.

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    Craft a brand name that

    summarizes the promise of

    your product in one word

    SPREAD / YOUR MESSAGE

    Perhaps the greatest mistake a startup can make is to

    fall in love with a cute word and then struggle to find a

    product to fulfill the promise of that word. To avoid this

    trap, startups should first determine a resonating product

    concept and then discern a brand name using variousnaming and branding techniques.

    The most successful brand names become commonly-

    used verbs for a products main function. In the 1980s,

    oce workers began to xerox copies. In our own day,

    to google has become the worlds favorite way to

    search the Internet.

    A brand name should be a natural nickname for people

    to remember via a mnemonic device. A brand name is

    for recall and not for introduction. It should come from

    your product. It should not define your product.

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    Claim your name everywhere

    before others can hold you

    ransom

    SPREAD / YOUR MESSAGE

    Building a brand in these first decades of the Internet

    can be a bit like oil prospecting in the American West in

    the mid-1800s. Its a race to get there first.

    After you determine your product and select your brand

    name, it is imperative that you claim that name in every

    corner of the World Wide Web. This includes registering

    your domain name with the common domain suxes

    (.com, .org, .net, .tv, etc.) as well as securing the brand

    name (as close as possible) on all of the social media

    sites. If your chosen brand names are already taken, pick

    a variant of the name you can get everywhere and stick

    to it. This will reduce confusion for customers searching

    for you in the social media space.

    It is helpful to create a unified email account to manage

    all these resources. Never share access to an email ac-

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    Measure your market

    through early advertising

    SPREAD / YOUR MESSAGE

    Can you only advertise when you have something to

    sell? Absolutely not.

    In the first weeks and months in the life of your startup,

    it may be advisable to advertise a product that is com-

    ing soon to gauge the level of interest in some of its

    features or toolsas well as to test various advertis-

    ing messages. You will find your audience may react

    favorably to some features and messages and poorly to

    others. Getting this feedback at an early stage can help

    you build your product and hone your message in align-

    ment with the needs of your target market. Dont build a

    product that people dont want.

    Google AdWords can be an inexpensive means to test

    and validate your product, brand name and message.

    These ads could lead a user to a landing page where you

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    Tell a compelling story about

    your company and people

    will repeat it

    SPREAD / YOUR MESSAGE

    Hollywood producers and New York publishing execu-

    tives will tell you the same thing: the key to selling a

    story is creating sympathetic characters in the midst of a

    compelling story. The audience needs someone to root

    for. Perhaps the same could hold true for even the mostutilitarian startup.

    Your product is your star. And it needs a compelling

    reason to exist. How is your product going to change

    the world? How will it make life easier for the masses?

    Once you are a success, you can hire advertising agen-

    cies and public relations professionals to help craft your

    message. But, before Don Draper joins your team, spend

    some time thinking about the story you will tell about

    your product (and maybe even yourself and your team).

    The default state of the public toward your product

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    Create a video that can

    stand alone as a piece of

    entertainment

    SPREAD / YOUR MESSAGE

    The best way to demonstrate the functions of your

    product is to show it in action in a video. But, the days

    of boring industrial films are over. You cannot create a

    video that simply demonstrates what your product does.

    You need to create a dynamic video that both illustratesyour product and is at least somewhat entertaining in its

    own right.

    Most product demonstrations can be realized as a series

    of screenshots, possibly stitched together into a single

    page narrative (see how Apple explains the features of a

    new product on its website).

    When making a video, choose one unique aspect of your

    product that would wow people. This is not the time for

    an exhaustive description. Staying focused in this way

    could reduce your time spent and costs while increasing

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    Reflect your best thinking on

    your front page

    SPREAD / YOUR MESSAGE

    The front page of your website needs to reflect the best

    of what you have to oer. If your product is clean and

    smart, your front page should reflect that. If your prod-

    uct is quirky, your front page should be just as unique.

    You need to build a front page that presents to the worldwhat your product and service is about and allows you

    to build a list of prospective users even at an early stage

    of development.

    Is your front page a personal invitation to a fewor a

    flyer for all? Thats something to keep in mind through

    the various stages of design. Dont fall into the trap of

    speaking to no one in particular. Consider how specific

    you need to be in dierent steps of your launch. Make it

    a conversation.

    As you unveil your product and your message evolves,

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    Love those who love you

    back

    SPREAD / YOUR MESSAGE

    In business, as in life, sometimes our early presumptions

    turn out to be wrong.

    Sometimes the customers or users whom you presumed

    to be your target market fail to swoon over the result of

    your hard work. At the same time, its occasionally the

    unexpected user who sends you love notes.

    To quote the songwriter: Love the one youre with.

    It is the people who fall in love with your product first

    that you need to love back and give them everything

    they want and need to move your product from an idea

    to a thriving business. To identify who is loving you back,

    look for signals of unexpected success or messages

    saying you have solved a real problem. Strive to be a

    breath of fresh air.

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    It is better to get the best

    person for 2 hours than a

    mediocre person for 20 hours

    GROW / YOUR TEAM

    There is a saying among software engineering managers

    that the best programmers are 10 times more productive

    than an average one. Building software is a high leverage

    activity, for example, a little bit of improvement for the

    speed of the website, may yield a lot more purchasesbecause the site responds quickly and you can breeze

    through the shopping process.

    A lot of the jobs surrounding a startup are also high

    leverage ones. Creating a blog post that becomes viral

    because it is just entertaining enough to spread virally,

    the return of that 500 words may be a 100 times what a

    run-of-the-mill blog post would be.

    Essentially, instead of trying to fill roles that need to

    be done and evenly allocate money to the dierent

    roles, you should look for exceptional people and

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    Build the smallest possible

    team you can get away with

    GROW / YOUR TEAM

    The greatest enemy to productivity is communication

    overhead. The success of your startup depends on what

    you produce and not who produced it. The most valu-

    able players in a startup are what we call unicorns. They

    are the rare group that are simultaneously two things.They can do two roles or morea marketer who can

    build their own web page, a designer who can write very

    well, or a salesperson with a law degree. You want to

    condense the skill sets to the fewest number of people

    to cover all the needs of your organization.

    To reduce the communication overhead, you should

    carefully design and delegate responsibilities, so projects

    dont have a lot of dependencies on getting everyone on

    the same page. Agree on a philosophy for your company

    that is consistently applied against projects to judgetheir success or failures. The best projects happen when

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    Partner with people who

    need access to technology

    GROW / YOUR TEAM

    Sometimes startups want to build partnerships with

    other startups because they feel like the recognizable

    names of similarly hip ventures will improve their stand-

    ings within their hierarchy or respectability. The truth is

    the respectability does not translate to customers andacquiring customers is the real measure of success in

    turning your startup into a real business.

    Instead of pursuing partnerships within the echo

    chamber of technology or even social media, try to

    oer your startup to old world organizations that may

    not have the same access to technology and the new

    markets. Oer to be their partner to provide a conduit

    between their existing base of customers and the new

    tools and opportunities that your business has to oer.

    Winning these more traditional partnerships will allowyou to show traction and give you a compelling story

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    Establish a fair employee

    stock compensation

    structure by being formulaic

    GROW / YOUR TEAM

    The founders collaboration agreement should have

    been decided upon at an early stage of structuring the

    company. It is important to include in the founders

    shares a vesting agreement so that people have the

    incentive and expectation to contribute and carry theload of the new venture for at least a few years.

    Beyond the pool of founder shares, you should establish

    a very formulaic strategy of allocating stock to employ-

    ees who join the company after the founders. There are

    various literature online that describes the model to fairly

    distribute equity but the basic idea is the sameemploy-

    ees that join around the same time get an equal slice

    of the stock that is allocated for that year. Every year

    that goes by, you get exponentially smaller slices. This

    encourages people to get involved early and rewardsthem disproportionately with a potential upside. The

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    Game the real estate market

    to get the workspaces you

    need

    GROW / YOUR TEAM

    In the age of web products and apps, it doesnt matter

    where you build your product. Many successful startups

    started in garages and out of peoples homes. Convert-

    ing a founders residence into a temporary workspace

    is often the most cost-eective working option at theearly stage of development. It is important that every-

    one is comfortable while working but be sure to keep

    boundaries between personal and shared space. If this

    arrangement isnt possible, co-working space is a more

    expensive alternative.

    As your space needs grow beyond what a private

    residence can accommodate, subletting oce space

    from companies that has excess space is preferable

    over getting startup incubator space that is much more

    dense and sometimes noisy. On the other hand, the co-working or incubator space does have perks of shared

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    Look for trust and honesty in

    your Board of Advisors

    GROW / YOUR TEAM

    Do not give equity to people only because they are a

    big name. A seat on your Board of Advisors should really

    be a reward mechanism for non-employees that have

    contributed generously throughout the formation pro-

    cess of your company and your product. They may be afriend that has been doing work for free, a partner that

    has been giving you advice, or someone that has made

    key introductions. In each case they have interacted with

    you and your business and have a deep understanding

    of it.

    Unlike your Board of Directors, these advisors dont

    provide oversight as your superiors. Instead, they provide

    suggestions as a peer. They should be the people you

    respect and trust for their brutally honest feedback.

    There are many ways to find people who can help or

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    If you find the advice gathered in this guide useful, thenwe think you and your startup will benefit from the

    collective knowledge of our growing network of advi-

    sors and professionals, covering the areas of business

    strategy, technology, design, law, accounting, marketing,

    real estate, to name a few.

    To find the right advisors for your needs, you can:

    Search Advisoray.com for advisors using keywords

    listed on the bottom of each page in this guide, or by

    areas of expertise or services oered.

    Browse the interactive version of this guide atadvisoray.com/startup and look for advisors that

    have listed their profiles there.

    Let us play matchmaker for you by sending an e-mail

    to [email protected] describing your situation and

    what problems you need solved.

    We hope you have enjoyed this pocket-sized guide.

    Follow us on Twitter (@advisoray) to keep up-to-date

    as we roll out new content and expand our services to

    serve you and help your startup succeed.

    TAKE THE NEXT STEP

    2012, Advisoray Club. All rights reserved.

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