here ya go

So the things you're pointing out are completely normal for any business owner, particularly a startup. That doesn't make them feel less painful -- I empathize with you and I'm sure this feels discouraging.

Let's hit on a few key points:

• Right now you're in the process of validating your offer. Your figuring out if you're really offering something that people want.
  
• You've also recognized the disconnect between people who fawn over your product and actual users/buyers.
  
• Plenty of people will tell you your product is a good idea and that they will use it... very few actually will.
  
• What this means for your sake is being able to filter feedback and really understand who your users are and what they think of your product so that you can revise/adapt your offer to convert them.
  
  Some next steps for you:
  
  
• Go back to your niche. Who are you trying to acquire as users?
  
• What reason do they have to use your app?
  
• For those who moved on, why didn't they stay?
  
  To the latter point, you really need to get into the mind of your user and remove any excitement you're feeling around your app. What I mean by this is that the answer to the question isn't, "Because the app's amazing and it does so much for them!" That's what you think. It's clearly not what your users think. So how do you figure out what your users are thinking? A lot of times this means simply asking them for their honest feedback. This can be direct communication or as you scale, it can be something as simple as a survey that gets sent out to users who haven't used the app in X days. I always prefer the former, but that's also my communication style.
  
  A book was recommended here a while back -- I've since read it and appreciate it's perspective. It's called The Mom Test, take a look at it here: https://www.amazon.com/Mom-Test-customers-business-everyone/dp/1492180742
  
  I also have a podcast episode on this topic. I don't self promote but if you want it let me know and I'll DM you where you can find it.
  
  Best of luck. Hang in there!

Hey, DE here with lots of experience, and I was self taught. I can be pretty specific about the subfield and what is necessary to know and not know. In an inversion of the normal path I did a mid career M.Sc in CS so it was kind of amusing to see what was and was not relevant in traditional CS. Prestigious C.S. programs prepare you for an academic career in C.S. theory but the down and dirty of moving and processing data use only a specific subset. You can also get a lot done without the theory for a while.

If I had to transition now, I'd look into a bootcamp program like Insight Data Engineering. At least look at their syllabus. In terms of CS fundamentals... https://teachyourselfcs.com/ offers a list of resources you can use over the years to fill in the blanks. They put you in front of employers, force you to finish a demo project.

Data Engineering is more fundamentally operational in nature that most software engineering You care a lot about things happening reliably across multiple systems, and when using many systems the fragility increases a lot. A typical pipeline can cross a hundred actual computers and 3 or 4 different frameworks.doesn't need a lot of it. (Also I'm doing the inverse transition as you... trying to understand multivariate time series right now)

I have trained jr coders to be come data engineers and I focus a lot on Operating System fundamentals: network, memory, processes. Debugging systems is a different skill set than debugging code, it's often much more I/O centric. It's very useful to be quick on the command line too as you are often shelling in to diagnose what's happening on this computer or that. Checking 'top', 'netstat', grepping through logs. Distributed systems are a pain. Data Eng in production is like 1/4 linux sysadmin.

It's good to be a language polyglot. (python, bash commands, SQL, Java)

Those massive java stack traces are less intimidating when you know that Java's design encourages lots of deep class hierarchies, and every library you import introduces a few layers to the stack trace. But usually the meat and potatoes method you need to look at is at the top of a given thread. Scala is only useful because of Spark, and the level of Scala you need to know for Spark is small compared to the full extent of the language. Mostly you are programatically configuring a computation graph.

Kleppman's book is a great way to skip to relevant things in large system design.

https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Data-Intensive-Applications-Reliable-Maintainable/dp/1449373321

It's very worth understanding how relational databases work because all the big distributed systems are basically subsets of relational database functionality, compromised for the sake of the distributed-ness. The fundamental concepts of how the data is partitioned, written to disk, caching, indexing, query optimization and transaction handling all apply. Whether the input is SQL or Spark, you are usually generate the same few fundamental operations (google Relational Algebra) and asking the system to execute it the best way it knows how. We face the same data issues now we did in the 70s but at a larger scale.

Keeping up with the framework or storage product fashion show is a lot easier when you have these fundamentals. I used Ramakrishnan, Database Management Systems. But anything that puts you in the position of asking how database systems work from the inside is extremely relevant even for "big data" distributed systems.

https://www.amazon.com/Database-Management-Systems-Raghu-Ramakrishnan/dp/0072465638

I also saw this recently and by the ToC it covers lots of stuff.

https://www.amazon.com/Database-Internals-Deep-Distributed-Systems-ebook/dp/B07XW76VHZ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=database+internals&qid=1568739274&s=gateway&sr=8-1

But to keep in mind... the designers of these big data systems all had a thorough grounding in the issues of single node relational databases systems. It's very clarifying to see things through that lens.

MRR is short for "monthly recurring revenue", and ARR is for "annual recurring revenue." It's how much money your company makes each month / year before any expenses, and that's typically how people come up with a price when they want to sell their company (plus other factors like how fast you are growing, etc.)

"SaaS" also means "software as a service", where people pay you a monthly fee to use software hosted on a website. Before that was popular, you would usually pay a one-time license fee to install the software on your own computer. The SaaS model is much better because people keep paying you each month, and eventually a lot of that income becomes "passive" if you don't have to spend too much time on customer support.

I've learned a lot from these:

• https://www.indiehackers.com
  
• https://news.ycombinator.com
  
• https://stripe.com/en-US/atlas
  
  • They have a private forum for Stripe Atlas members, which has been really good.
    
• https://www.amazon.com/Start-Small-Stay-Developers-Launching/dp/0615373968
  
• https://thisweekinstartups.com
  
• https://www.startupsfortherestofus.com
  
  But the best way is to just start building something, try to find paying customers, and make lots of mistakes.

Two books come immediately to mind for me:

1. "Start Small, Stay Small" by Rob Walling (https://www.amazon.com/Start-Small-Stay-Developers-Launching/dp/0615373968/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1480963865&sr=8-2&keywords=star+small+stay+small)
   
   
2. "Single Founder Handbook" by Mike Taber (http://www.singlefounder.com/)
   
   Both host a podcast at http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/

Theres a book called Platform Revolution that focuses on this business model. Highly recommended
https://www.amazon.com/Platform-Revolution-Networked-Markets-Transforming/dp/0393249131

Asking people's feedback is a first step but it's not enough and somewhat misleading, because many people will either :

• Say they will "definitely buy" and don't actually when you present it to them.
  
• Will say nice things, biased answers not to hurt your feelings (even if they don't realize it).
  
  What I advise :
  
  

1. Read this, it will help you define your customer need and products. Best 10$ you'll ever spend if you plan to launch a product and you are collecting feedback.
   https://www.amazon.com/Mom-Test-customers-business-everyone/dp/1492180742
   (NB : There might be other alternatives, @UX guys out there if you have another book to suggest)
   
   
   
2. Launch a quick dummy store.
   Woocommerce, shopify,etc... are options to do so. Do a quick store setup with a them and few products and images and explanation, then add google analytics and track your funnel. Then do some fb and/or adwords campaigns to bring traffic in.
   Do everything like you were selling the actual product and once people reached the checkout and are ready to pay redirect them to a page saying "Sorry we are not open yet, enter your email adress here and we'll let you know as soon we are ready to ship"
   
   
   Once it's done, check the number of people that interacted, added your product to the cart, proceeded to checkout. You'll have an accurate view of the potential of your business.
   
   
   I can tell you, best shit you can ever do. I've done it myself to test an idea. It's better than any business plan and you'll learn a ton of stuff in the process.

Disciplined Entrepreneurship is a step-by-step guide to starting a business and here's a [PDF summary] (http://www.disciplinedentrepreneurship.com/downloads/Disciplined_Entrepreneurship_Poster_Aulet.pdf)

Good to know that having to stay on the company timezone gets to you. That's what I was worried about with my previous job and why I left before doing a year abroad with We Roam. Now I'm a freelancer and don't need to really be on anyone else's watch but my own.

I'm reading a good book right now that walks you through the steps of making a good bit of money as a freelancer: https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Thinking-Like-Freelancer-Evolution-ebook/dp/B00PJIDO9C

oh friend, there are dozens of us. DOZENS!

But seriously, YES! You can be a farmer. Yes, you. The sustainable agriculture movement is happening all over the US. Check out Acres USA, and if you have time, an apprenticeship is a great way to get started. The most inspiring book I've read on the subject is You Can Farm by Joel Salatin. PM me if you want to chat!

My book, Digital Nomad is free over the weekend, if your looking at creating an online business to help support your travels and be location independent its full of useful information to get you started, Here is the US link, thank you! Would love a review if possible cheers in advance :): http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Nomad-location-independent-lifestyle-ebook/dp/B00UG2OI00/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427556769&sr=8-1&keywords=digital+nomad

VCs will typically be looking at 10/20/30x their investment and will be stringent in you sticking to a well defined plan.
The 40k you have spent should go someway to proving your concept. I think angel investors are your first point of call to raise $300-500k seed money and then once you've proven your platform has retention and value, then go for VCs.

A few books I highly recommend:
Eric Ries - The Lean Startup

Sangeet Choudary - Platform Revolution

Read these asap if you haven't already - it's all about lean production of value and minimal waste, which is what /u/duli-chan is getting at.

Besides Lean startup, I would go for:

Business Model Generation - to layout your ideas first and have a feeling of your to be business model (on their site you can get a sneak peek for free https://strategyzer.com/books/business-model-generation)

The startup owner's manual, from Steve Blank (https://www.amazon.com/Startup-Step-Step-Building-Company/dp/0984999302)

Disciplined Entrepreneurship: (https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-Successful-Startup/dp/1118692284)


good luck

Hey,

I'm kind of on the same boat as you (starting a software/media company with strong technical skills and some concern for the business side of things)

​

Few things I've learned and realized these past few years of coding and trying to make my side-projects into businesses:

- Create a high-level overview / design doc based on these principles to align your vision, technical requirements and business objectives.

https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/disciplined-entrepreneurship-24/9781118692288/images/p01-f001.jpg (taken for an MIT entrepreneurship course taught by Bill Aulet. I highly recommend you buy his book: https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-Successful-Startup/dp/1118692284)

​

- Learn how to create an effective marketing plan including an end-user profile, persona, market research, advertising on Youtube, Google Ads and Instagram/Facebook, Google Analytics, re-targeting with custom audiences, creating funnels in Google Analytics to see what parts of your app may be causing churn. Here's a good course for this: https://www.udemy.com/learn-digital-marketing-course/ (does not include churn detecting with funnels in GA, you can find more about this on youtube)

​

- For everything else there's Slidebean's CEO, FounderHub and Patrick from Valuetainment to help you out tremendously:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz9n-2W33WY&list=PLnhdsL4kFmVYMNq6F8k8UiFkc6fwIdk3o

- https://founderhub.io/

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB442EchOTY

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfLLcqC-D7Y

​

- On the technical side of things, I recommend you start with a stack that's easy to work with, can scale without significant effort on your part / without growing your team, and ultimately that gets you to an MVP as fast as possible with minimal trade-offs. For this I recommend Firebase and Cloud Functions to get you up and running quickly without worrying about making an entire API or running servers.

​

Most important of all, DO NOT build a monolithic app thinking that every feature you're building will be something your users will enjoy or that what you'll build may useful in the future. Your goal is to build the most minimal version of your key value proposition. From there, establish an effective means of communicating with beta testers / first customers to determine what features to build out. Think of your product as a psychology / design experiment. You need to establish a baseline problem / solution / theory. Then test that theory through small iterations of changes with QA processes / feedback loops to measure the impact of these changes. Eventually you'll have a product that's centered around your user / problem and not your idea of what's best for them (which is rarely ever going to be perfect). Check out Jobs Theory for a better grasp on how to predict and understand your customer's needs: https://medium.com/frameplay/pt-3-defining-the-job-in-jobs-to-be-done-838087696490

I also recommend looking at successful competitors as their platforms have undergone this extensive process of understanding their customer needs. Don't be afraid to emulate what's successful in the market in terms of design, business model and value propositions / mission. Look at their growth over time and old versions of their site with Wayback machine to get a feel for how they re-aligned their vision to target their customer's true needs.

Nađi ljude koje smatraš svojom ciljnom grupom, 5-10 njih. Za početak pročitaj Mom Test i probaj iz tih ljudi da izvučeš da li je to nekome uopšte potrebno.

​

>jer uglavnom ljudi to procenjuju iskustveno što je sasvim dovoljno

Ovo je nešto jako važno, da li su ti ljudi spremni instalirati tvoju app kako bi ona obavljala posao umesto njih?

​

Postavljaj pitanja poput

• Koliko koristite računar dok radite?
  
• Kada ste poslednji put koristili neku aplikaciju za proračune itd...
  
• Kako Vi trenutno računate te proračune?
  
• Koliko vremena/novca Vam to oduzima?
  
• Da li ste zadovoljni tim rešenjem?
  
• Koji je Vaš najgori deo dana?
  
  Ovim ćeš videti da li to pije vodu uopšte. Poslednje pitanje može da ti da neku drugu ideju/problem koji treba rešiti.
  
  ​
  
  Držim ti fige
  
  ​
  
  EDIT: Mislim da imam pdf na srpskom, ako ti bude trebalo dm-aj.
  
  ​
  
  EDIT 2: Samo sam ovo našao: Summary of 'The Mom Test'

In the 1890's the Hopi Indians prophesied that in 130 years the U.S. government will slaughter millions of its own citizens. Every prophecy that the Hopis predicted has come true. That includes WW1, WW2, the Great Depression, and others. This was discussed by Daniel Pinchbeck, who lived for almost a year with the Hopis.

https://www.amazon.com/2012-Return-Quetzalcoatl-Daniel-Pinchbeck/dp/1585425923

The book is still available for download for free at

https://www.amazon.com/FULL-SCALE-Grow-Startup-Without-Plan-ebook/dp/B00NTC5G28

You are welcome :)

I've posted this before but I'll repost it here:

Now in terms of the question that you ask in the title - this is what I recommend:

Job Interview Prep

1. Cracking the Coding Interview: 189 Programming Questions and Solutions
   
2. Programming Interviews Exposed: Coding Your Way Through the Interview
   
3. Introduction to Algorithms
   
4. The Algorithm Design Manual
   
5. Effective Java
   
6. Concurrent Programming in Java™: Design Principles and Pattern
   
7. Modern Operating Systems
   
8. Programming Pearls
   
9. Discrete Mathematics for Computer Scientists
   
   

   Junior Software Engineer Reading List
   

   
   

   Read This First
   

   
   

10. Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware
    
    

    Fundementals
    

    
    

11. Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
    
12. Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art
    
13. Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach
    
14. Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
    
15. Coder to Developer: Tools and Strategies for Delivering Your Software
    
16. Perfect Software: And Other Illusions about Testing
    
17. Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application
    
    

    Understanding Professional Software Environments
    

    
    

18. Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game
    
19. Software Project Survival Guide
    
20. The Best Software Writing I: Selected and Introduced by Joel Spolsky
    
21. Debugging the Development Process: Practical Strategies for Staying Focused, Hitting Ship Dates, and Building Solid Teams
    
22. Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules
    
23. Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams
    
    

    Mentality
    

    
    

24. Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency
    
25. Against Method
    
26. The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development
    
    

    History
    

    
    

27. The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering
    
28. Computing Calamities: Lessons Learned from Products, Projects, and Companies That Failed
    
29. The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management
    
    

    Mid Level Software Engineer Reading List
    

    
    

    Read This First
    

    
    

30. Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth
    
    

    Fundementals
    

    
    

31. The Clean Coder: A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers
    
32. Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
    
33. Solid Code
    
34. Code Craft: The Practice of Writing Excellent Code
    
35. Software Craftsmanship: The New Imperative
    
36. Writing Solid Code
    
    

    Software Design
    

    
    

37. Head First Design Patterns: A Brain-Friendly Guide
    
38. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
    
39. Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software
    
40. Domain-Driven Design Distilled
    
41. Design Patterns Explained: A New Perspective on Object-Oriented Design
    
42. Design Patterns in C# - Even though this is specific to C# the pattern can be used in any OO language.
    
43. Refactoring to Patterns
    
    

    Software Engineering Skill Sets
    

    
    

44. Building Microservices: Designing Fine-Grained Systems
    
45. Software Factories: Assembling Applications with Patterns, Models, Frameworks, and Tools
    
46. NoEstimates: How To Measure Project Progress Without Estimating
    
47. Object-Oriented Software Construction
    
48. The Art of Software Testing
    
49. Release It!: Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software
    
50. Working Effectively with Legacy Code
    
51. Test Driven Development: By Example
    
    

    Databases
    

    
    

52. Database System Concepts
    
53. Database Management Systems
    
54. Foundation for Object / Relational Databases: The Third Manifesto
    
55. Refactoring Databases: Evolutionary Database Design
    
56. Data Access Patterns: Database Interactions in Object-Oriented Applications
    
    

    User Experience
    

    
    

57. Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
    
58. The Design of Everyday Things
    
59. Programming Collective Intelligence: Building Smart Web 2.0 Applications
    
60. User Interface Design for Programmers
    
61. GUI Bloopers 2.0: Common User Interface Design Don'ts and Dos
    
    

    Mentality
    

    
    

62. The Productive Programmer
    
63. Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change
    
64. Coders at Work: Reflections on the Craft of Programming
    
65. Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering
    
    

    History
    

    
    

66. Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software
    
67. New Turning Omnibus: 66 Excursions in Computer Science
    
68. Hacker's Delight
    
69. The Alchemist
    
70. Masterminds of Programming: Conversations with the Creators of Major Programming Languages
    
71. The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood
    
    

    Specialist Skills
    

    
    In spite of the fact that many of these won't apply to your specific job I still recommend reading them for the insight, they'll give you into programming language and technology design.
    
    

72. Peter Norton's Assembly Language Book for the IBM PC
    
73. Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets
    
74. Enough Rope to Shoot Yourself in the Foot: Rules for C and C++ Programming
    
75. The C++ Programming Language
    
76. Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs
    
77. More Effective C++: 35 New Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs
    
78. More Effective C#: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your C#
    
79. CLR via C#
    
80. Mr. Bunny's Big Cup o' Java
    
81. Thinking in Java
    
82. JUnit in Action
    
83. Functional Programming in Scala
    
84. The Art of Prolog: Advanced Programming Techniques
    
85. The Craft of Prolog
    
86. Programming Perl: Unmatched Power for Text Processing and Scripting
    
87. Dive into Python 3
    
88. why's (poignant) guide to Ruby

Tons of stuff here but I will tackle a few:

1. The vast majority of businesses get no outside funding and are self funded so start building up your credit limits.
   
2. I suggest you take a class in finance because if you can't do a Profit-Loss statement or a balance sheet you are flying blind. You can also take classes in drafting a business plan.
   
3. Think bigger. If you start out with a goal just to make enough money to live on what you are really doing is buying yourself a job. You need to build a business that grows and can eventually take on employees.
   
4. Wanna be entrepreneurs spend a lot of time worried someone is going to steal their "awesome idea". There are 7 Billion people in the world, many people have had your idea. There is probably someone doing your business somewhere right now. The question is can you provide that product or service better than anyone else, that is the key to success. As soon as you launch and have any market someone can and will copy you so just concentrate on being the best and building a customer base. Never try to compete on having a monopoly unless you have a patent for a unique item and never compete on price unless you have huge economies of scale.
   
   If you want to go into business for yourself I highly recommend you read these 2 books first:
   
   The Illusions of Entrepreneurship
   
   The Millionaire Fastlane

Canadian link: http://www.amazon.ca/Digital-Nomad-location-independent-lifestyle-ebook/dp/B00UG2OI00/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427565377&sr=8-1&keywords=Digital+Nomad%3A+Work+online%2C+Travel+the+world%2C+live+a+location+independent+lifestyle

http://www.amazon.com/2012-Return-Quetzalcoatl-Daniel-Pinchbeck/dp/1585425923

If you are looking to rate alternative solutions to a particular problem, you can use the Pugh Matrix method. Where I work, we've used this to compare multiple options and while it doesn't make the decision for you, it provides some good perspective. Here's an Excel spreadsheet setup for this approach.

By idea, I'm assuming you mean an idea for a new product (or service). Evaluating the viability of a product is more challenging. I would suggest the most important questions to ask are as follows:

• "Does a market exist for this product?"
  
• "How big is the market?"
  
• "How competitive is this market already?"
  
• "Do I have a means of reaching this market?"
  
• "Do know anything about this market?"
  
• "Am I passionate about this market?"
  
  I'm working my way through Start Small, Stay Small by Rob Walling and Mike Taber and they emphasize that market is the most important consideration. If you don't have a market, or if you can't reach into that market, it doesn't matter how great your product is.

We connect programmers with freelance programming jobs and we help businesses find freelance programmers.

This diagram explains how our business works for both types of customers: programmers and businesses.

http://imgur.com/a/dZpp9

Sometimes, our customers with hiring requirements pay us additional fees for business services that we have in-house expertise in, such as financing, marketing, operations and sales.

The books URLs are https://www.amazon.com/Code-Cash-Encompasses-challenges-everything-ebook/dp/B01N1TTJFK/ & https://www.amazon.com/First-Freelance-Programming-Client-Step-ebook/dp/B01N9RETLR/

I think it is key, especially if they are "great". It is actually in a company's best interest. The more vested a person is, the more likely they will work hard to create a great product. A salary isn't a great tool to get people to really commit. They get a salary whether the company succeeds or not.

I can't think of situation where you wouldn't want to give a great employee equity. It is just a bad business practice and shortsighted. That said, there is a great book called Slicing Pie: http://www.amazon.com/Slicing-Pie-Company-Without-Funds-ebook/dp/B0096EFHBI which details how allocate equity in super fair way without just "guessing" or using word of mouth estimates on industry standards. It is like vesting but without a predetermined allocation, which is hard to determine when a person just starts.

I recommend reading http://www.amazon.com/Slicing-Pie-Company-Without-Funds-ebook/dp/B0096EFHBI

It advocates against fixed equity splits, rather allowing you to calculate a dynamic ratio of equity that should feel fair at all times.

@jeffreyatucker:
>2015-01-12 03:42:45 UTC

>It's done! Bit by Bit, now published. amazon.com

----

[^[Mistake?]](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=TweetPoster&subject=Error%20Report&message=http://reddit.com/2s5q21%0A%0APlease leave above link unaltered.)
^[Suggestion]
^[FAQ]
^[Code]
^[Issues]

Technically you're supposed to pay yourself a market based wage....not just for tax reasons (like mentioned by another commenter), but also because you should be replaceable and your salary should be able to pay a replacement for yourself. Otherwise you're just earning "sweat equity" that you hope to cash out with later on.

I'd recommend getting the book "Simple Numbers". It's just $10 for a Kindle version. It talks about the financial parts of a business in a way that makes sense and it discusses the concepts and ideas behind profitability, paying yourself a a wage, ad how to track it correctly from an accounting standpoint

Many of us entrepreneurs purposely underpay ourselves. And most of us are interested in growing our business's top line numbers. This book explains the rest.

https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Numbers-Straight-Talk-Profits/dp/1608320561

I've been in business for 10 years and just finished reading this book last week. It's the type of book I wish I would have read five years ago.

If you or anybody wants to read this book but cannot afford the 10 bucks, PM me.

Slicing Pie

Have a read, it's about a hundred pages and it will give you some good insight on this. I'll let others chime in from here.

USA link: http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Nomad-location-independent-lifestyle-ebook/dp/B00UG2OI00/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427556769&sr=8-1&keywords=digital+nomad

https://www.amazon.com/Database-Management-Systems-Raghu-Ramakrishnan/dp/0072465638/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318489725&sr=1-2

>I'm loyal and I can get work done.

I'm not trying to be a dick, but you've gotta look at it from an outside perspective. What "work" have you done in the past? From the sounds of it, this is your first venture of any kind.

From your other comment :

>Well now that I'm thinking about it I can arms deal ammo and guns

Holy shit hold up. Do you know anything about the regulations that revolve around dealing guns online?

Your target market can't just be "adults." I'm gonna stop there. What I'd suggest you do is take a step back from the "I want to be a millionaire" mindset, and spend some time learning.

I appreciate the hustle, but you're not going to become a millionaire overnight. It's gonna take years of luck, perseverance, and differentiation to get where you want to go- and even that's a stretch. You're competing with literally every other twenty-something out there, and only a handful of us are gonna make it.

I recommend The Millionaire Fastlane to any budding entrepreneur. It'll give you a no-bullshit look at building up a business, without any of that preachy stuff many authors are fond of now. It's the only business book I've ever read, and it's a great first step.

There are some books you need to read.

https://www.amazon.com/Platform-Revolution-Networked-Markets-Transforming/dp/0393249131

https://www.amazon.com/All-Marketers-Are-Liars-Authentic/dp/B0009WF9EG/

https://www.amazon.com/Tribes-We-Need-You-Lead/dp/B001IMTKUK/

Your problem is not that the app is buggy. If the users told you that they left because of a buggy interface, they are lying. If consumers liked your story, they would tolerate a few bugs. You have two problems that are kind of the same problem. Problem number one is that without even downloading it, and by just looking at the app store page, this thing reeks of a desperate attempt to monetize my attention with ads or whatever. But this is also because of the bigger problem, which is that there is no story, no tribe, no niche, = no reason to use this app. The name and logo is boring and your whole thing looks like you are trying to be everything to everyone. And you know what happens then.

There is no amount of money you can throw at this problem to solve it. You have to have one damn good and unique and fun reason for consumers to spend their precious time using it that will create a buzz. "Random Acts of Ice Cream" or some shit like that. That is the only thing that can save this.

Not sure if you've seen this but it might be of interest.

I don't know exactly how you put your ideas on paper, but I suggest putting it into a framework to better assess whether it can work. Business canvas model is a strong tool for that purpose. Not only you need to fill out all the blanks in the model, you need to make sure they create a feasible, coherent plan when standing together. It also eliminates too-visionary things that may sound pretty cool but not really needed when you first start build up your business.

I also suggest you spend time reading Disciplined Entrepreneurship by Bill Aulet. It will give you very clear instruction on how to proceed from an idea to a fully-grown company.

Good luck!

Advice: if the database server is at all important, make frequent and automated backups. On a different machine from where the database server lives. Offline, too. Honestly, best practices as to how for your specific software can better be found on sites like StackOverflow (maybe ServerFault), or perhaps /r/sysadmin archives. The important thing is that you make them (and verify that you can restore from them).

Also, have multiple databases for testing: a development setup, "UAT" (user acceptance testing) which can be used for verification outside the development team, and then production (maybe more if it's a large enough setup). Roll changes out to each in order and know how you can go back to the previous version (of the database and code) if anything goes wrong. It shouldn't need to be said, but don't let people develop directly on production; roll out a planned and tested code revision/schema change script.

If you have backups and decent testing, that insulates you from most accidents and you can get better at query-writing and such as you go.

My databases textbook was Database Management Systems by Ramakrishnan and Gehrke, but it's a bit abstract for administration. Something in O'Reilly's lineup for the database you're using would probably be a better fit for picking up general management and use.

I would recommend Small Time Operator. It is a great resource that touches on a variety of important items and issues.

Honestly the best book on this stuff is a textbook if you're interested.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Entrepreneurs-Guide-Business-Law/dp/0538466464

First off check out this video.

So to me it sounds like you are looking for purpose from your work. You want your work life to be meaningful in some way and actually have an impact.

Are you looking for general impact or more charity/EA "doing good" type of stuff?

I don't really know much about EA stuff so I'll speak to the "general impact".

First off, you don't really need a credential if you want to be an entrepreneur. Do you have some specific business ideas that drove you down the tech start up route in the first place? If yes, this is the best road map I've found on starting your own business.

You should take a look at a bunch of start ups (or established firms) and make a list of 10-20 ones that if they offered you a job today then you'd wake up at 5:00 AM tomorrow to start working there. What problems are they trying to solve? Are they things that in 5,10,15 years you'd look back on and say "wow"?

Check out what type of roles these places are looking for then figure out if those roles are something you can already jump into. If you can't jump in directly then go to linkedin or google and reverse engineer the role to figure out what these people's resumes look like & what background do these people have who are already working in the field. Contact some of them off linkedin. Check out the schools, or online classes or certifications these people have etc. Take online classes on Edx, udemy etc, check out the relevant subreddits etc just to try and get a taste for the role(s). Try to jump into the new role as far as you can to see if you like it & if it's something that you really want to pursue further. Obviously start easy and progress naturally...for example if your math skills are OK but you've never taken a calc class then maybe stay away from differential equations.

I mention start ups because this is where you will most likely have maximum impact & responsibility considering you will be helping a firm grow or die. Though, some established firms also have impactful roles too. Start ups can sometimes be hard to find but I guess one way to do it is to check out VCs & look at their portfolios. Those start ups will at least have funding.

Another way to try and answer the "what should I do question" is if you were independently wealthy what would a year in your life look like? What types of stuff would you ideally like to be working on? What type of stuff would you be learning?

As far as the anxiety about the application process goes, & this might sound harsh, but to me it sounds like you're afraid of failure/rejection & so you are using your uncertainty about establishing a priority in what you should be doing career wise as an excuse for not actually filling out apps thus avoiding the possibility of rejection. So, the question I have is would you still be anxious about filling out the app if you bumped into a CEO who really liked you and the perfect job landed in your lap you basically just had to give them a resume/fill out some forms to show you're "real" and the job was yours?

I feel you the uncertainty sucks about whether or not you'll actually get hired. Taking a hard look at yourself in order to market yourself also sucks. But IMO the best way to think about it is to just play the lottery...apply to as many places as possible & eventually you'll land something good. It's only hard at the beginning once you get experience then recruiters will be breathing down your neck & the tables will be flipped. So shotgun that resume. Maybe write a little python script to help you apply?

Good luck & feel free to DM me if you wanna chat.

https://www.amazon.com/Entrepreneurs-Guide-Business-Law-4th/dp/0538466464

I'm an attorney. This book is incredible.

I wouldn't try to value the company at this point. No track record of revenue or customer base makes it so subjective.

Recommend using an equity calculator like this:

http://foundrs.com

only as a starting point for discussion, then talk about likelihood of things that would change your situation.

From here:

• Set periodic time to review equity (e.g. every 3 months) and see if still valid.
  
• Put in Cliffing
  
• Put in Vesting
  
• Get this in writing (e.g. shareholder agreement) & signed by both of you
  
• talk to a local startup lawyer to vet the wonderful legal advice I'm giving you over the Internet
  
  While having it in writing is important. Remember a piece of paper is useless, unless you have inherent trust to begin with - think of it like pre-nuptial and how many of them actually hold up in court.
  
  For more detail, read:
  
  
• 18 mistakes that kill startups by PG
  
• Slicing Pie if you want a more comprehensive equity split model
  
  Let me know if any questions

/r/homesteading/ would be a good resource for you.

Check out the book You Can Farm by Joel Salatin

Check out ATTRA

I takes a lot of work and lots of skills to farm. It takes even more to break even at it. The odds of success are very low. But people can succeed.

Good Luck!

*edit
subtracted a picture of a delicious cookie. :(

check out this book: https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-Successful-Startup/dp/1118692284

Focus on point 1) only first. Read the Mom Test and preferably some more literature (/blogposts/listen to podcasts/etc.) on idea validation. Do the interviews.

For 2) after: do a competitor analysis on a wide range of competitor & substitute products, preferably look at a similar product line where similar need & trends showed up. Draft up your first idea of a business model (e.g. with Business Model Canvas).

Return here after with a better idea and understanding in your mind and better questions.

Yes, it's certainly possible, but as mentioned, it's difficult. I'd highly recommend looking into the following resources:

Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup

Patrick McKenzie's blog -- Kalzumeus Software. Read everything!

The Lean Startup

Also do searches for "micro ISV" and read anything you get your hands on.

You'll find an infinite amount of fragmented resources for your question. I found one book that centralizes and summarizes that information into a process. Disciplined Entrepreneurship. https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-Successful-Startup/dp/1118692284. If you're serious about succeeding, pick up this book and follow the steps.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Entrepreneurs-Guide-Business-Law/dp/0538466464

There is probably an earlier edition that is cheaper.

Static splitting of shares when nothing has been done by anyone is absolutely insane. I absolutely recommend reading Slicing Pie by Mike Moyer. It gives you a dynamic way to split shares within a startup company based around your actual measurable contribution to the project.

http://www.amazon.com/Slicing-Pie-Company-Without-Funds-ebook/dp/B0096EFHBI

VijayAnna, I don't know what stage the startup you're joining is at, but be very careful when choosing what type of content to read. Startup Marketing strategy (Growth Hacking) is nowhere near the same as Corporate Marketing strategy.

As a preface, I'd recommend reading Full-Scale which will give you a good idea of some of the challenges/differences between the two worlds and how to successfully scale a startup using the right data.

Here are three blogs I wrote at my previous company that I tend to share when people want a good foundation to start doing social media marketing:
The Ultimate Guide To Content Curation

How to Use Buffer to Share Like a Social Media BOSS

Three MUST-USE Tools to Optimally Time Your Social Media Posts

Some of my other posts on that blog will also be beneficial when you want to dive deeper into the nuances and "tricks" of individual social networks.

Disclaimer: My previous startup offers digital marketing courses online. I managed their internal profiles and trained/consulted external clients on their behalf. They offer individual courses for FB, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc that cover everything from beginner concepts (how to set up a profile) to the more advanced concepts (interest-based ad targeting). Check them out at SMMU.com and if any of the courses catches your eye, lmk and I'll see what I can do to get you a promo offer (or better).

Not a blog, but "Bit by Bit: How P2P Is Freeing the World" by Jeffrey Tucker was a fantastic read.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S085TRS/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o02_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here are all the books with amazon links, Alphabetical order :)

---

• Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1591396190
  
• Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh et al. Link: http://amzn.com/160941280X
  
• Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown Link: http://amzn.com/0804137382
  
• Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days by Jessica Livingston Link: http://amzn.com/1590597141
  
• How Google Works by Eric Schmidt et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1455582344
  
• Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk Link: http://amzn.com/006227306X
  
• Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way by Richard Branson Link: http://amzn.com/0307720748
  
• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1400064287
  
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck Link: http://amzn.com/0345472322
  
• Never Eat Alone, Expanded and Updated: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0385346654
  
• Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim S. Grover et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1476714207
  
• Rework by Jason Fried et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0307463745
  
• Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin Link: http://amzn.com/1591842948
  
• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss Link: http://amzn.com/0307465357
  
• The Choose Yourself Guide To Wealth by James Altucher Link: http://amzn.com/150100994X
  
• The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison: *God Doesn't Think He's Larry Ellison by Mike Wilson Link: http://amzn.com/0060008768
  
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz Link: http://amzn.com/0062273205
  
• The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen Link: http://amzn.com/0062060244
  
• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries Link: http://amzn.com/0307887898
  
• The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime by MJ DeMarco Link: http://amzn.com/B004BDOUAI
  
• The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday Link: http://amzn.com/1591846358
  
• The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1885167776
  
• The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Steve Blank et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0984999302
  
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell Link: http://amzn.com/0316346624
  
• Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth by Gabriel Weinberg et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1591848369
  
• Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out by Marc Ecko Link: http://amzn.com/1451685319
  
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0804139296

You should be passionate about your ideas and opportunities - just not hostile.

Let me give you the only advice I needed to here when I was flailing around trying to get started.

Read.

The three books that helped me a ton are

1). Content Inc
2). Profit First
3). 7 Day Startup

These aren't lifestyle books like 10x rule (which is also a good one) nor are they sales books - they will give you ideas and the information to solve your own problems.

(I'd also advise you read them in that order)

Thee are millions of books around.
http://www.amazon.com/Small-Time-Operator-Business-Yourbooks/dp/158979799X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0S7XN6A43GPJE4X8JWBS

You aren't going to make a living doing computer repair unless you are servicing many business accounts

I don't know where you're doing your research, but these things should be easy to find. Pick up a copy of Small Time Operator - that will give you the basics of bookkeeping and the sort of issues you'll need to cover.

Then check with your county office, and the secretary of state - they'll tell you about applicable tax requirements. Check with your city or village to see if there are specific licenses they require, or ordinances you have to comply with.

Solve a problem

more broadly read this book

Unscripted: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship https://www.amazon.com/dp/0984358161/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_boesDbEMD2BK9

also watch this for idea validation

https://youtu.be/DOtCl5PU8F0

I started researching banks for checking and CC. I was starting to spend too much time on it, and I was reading 7 day start up.
https://www.amazon.com/Day-Startup-Learn-Until-Launch-ebook/dp/B00NZFKB8S

Essentially I decided to just go with Chase so I can move on to other steps in getting started in my business.

It's a funny thing, being able to see needs.

I've been developing for the past 6 or so years and finding needs is a task I only recently discovered. It seems like such a simple concept, but being able to see a need and fill it without being too complicated, loosing touch with the motivation of the need, and actually finishing the solution is tough.

I recently read a great book called, Start Small Stay Small, and it was comforting knowing that marketing of your product is way, way more important than it's feature set. That has been my credo the past few months.

I wonder if you've ever read this book? The author is very much focused on the concepts of synchronicity and shamanism. At one point he travels to Africa where he takes Ibogaine with a native tribe there. He describes the same tree spirit.

I've not journeyed quite as far as yourself, but your description was enthralling, and many parts of your experience directly match many of the conclusions I've come to during my own moments of introspection. I, like you, am skeptical and tend to question everything, but I think as long as you don't take yourself too seriously, which you don't seem to do, you've got alot of things figured out. Anyway, thanks for sharing.

Edit: Correct link

I am new to this, but here is one book that has been very helpful so far - The Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Law.

It doesn't. If there was an economic meltdown then gold & silver would be as worthless as paper money, people can't eat or shoot with gold. If you are buying gold for an investment then wonderful but if you are looking to survive an economic colapse your money is much better spent on property and guns. Learn how to farm, Learn Bushcraft and buy a few months of food reserves.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is any one link that will help you with that. Let me recommend some books to you that might help:

The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult is one of the most helpful tomes you will ever read. There is an entire section of "Chemognosis," which is to say real knowledge gained through this sort of experience.

There are two books by Daniel Pinchbeck I would recommend reading:

Breaking Open the Head

and

2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl

There is a clinical study on DMT, called DMT: The Spirit Molecule that is worth reading. There is a movie version of it on Netflix, but don't watch the movie over the book. Do both, but if you only do one, read the book.

There is also a documentary I would recommend watching on Ayahuasca. Watch this documentary.

I don't think this is true. The original proprietor is still on the hook for all the debts incurred while he was the owner of the business as these are personal debts. The new owner would only be liable if he agrees to take on the liabilities. This process would involve sitting down with the original owner's creditors to work out some kind of deal to transfer those debts.

Furthermore, if the business is organized as a sole proprietor, I would set up the business as an LLC to avoid unlimited personal liability especially considering the nature of a gym (people getting injured).


To OP: This is a great beginner's guide to starting/running a business. The book is called "Small Time Operator".

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Time-Operator-Business-Yourbooks/dp/158979799X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1485891222&sr=8-2&keywords=small+time+operator

I think you should consider reading a copy of this book https://www.amazon.com/Mom-Test-customers-business-everyone/dp/1492180742/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 because imo you're asking the wrong questions.

That said, my job is quite literally to decide what tools a development team should be building for a VFX house (though I am internal and not trying to sell software/solutions/etc to other parties) and I can say with total confidence that the things people ask us to make are not the things that would actually be most beneficial to the business.

In your original question you asked "what would be your dream pipeline helper in terms of versioning, file format exchange, etc.?" but I can guarantee you that artists and even studios in general don't give a flying fuck about any of that - artists care about making cool images and studios care about throughput and profitability. File versioning, backups, dailies, whatever are all just various ways that we facilitate that and remove friction from the process. Can you build a product/service/business that increases my studio's throughput without us having to dedicate development resources to integrate it?

Also if you can't see how Shotgun helps a VFX facility work in a streamlined manner, you probably have no business developing artist/production facing software solutions for this space. I don't mean that in a super offensive way, I'm just genuinely surprised you'd write that since other than RV, Shotgun is one of the very few non-DCC products in the last decade that has come out and been widely adopted by studios of all sizes. So... it clearly solved a problem.

Disciplined Entrepreneurship: https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-Successful-Startup/dp/1118692284/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538665255&sr=8-1&keywords=disciplined+entrepreneurship

​

Its a fantastic overview that covers all the major steps for "successfully" launching a business. I've bought it for employees every Christmas.

I am with you!

This whole business structure is just time-wasting, and, in fact, demands and rewards time wasting!

I hate it so much. I was almost fired once for taking a 'it's too nice to work inside' day off - even though I'd worked for 4 years there, following all the rules. I won't give that kind of power to anyone again.

Life's too short.

You might want to read UnScripted, by MJ DeMarco. I cannot praise it enough for practical advice on escaping this shit.

Start with this book and you’ll be ahead of the game. Small Time Operator.

Also familiarize yourself with the IRS publications for starting a business.
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/starting-a-business


https://www.amazon.com/Small-Time-Operator-Business-Yourbooks/dp/158979799X

This is a great process for dividing equity and a quick read: Slicing Pie

I'm not experienced enough to even remotely consider consulting, though this book is one I have bookmarked.

It's US-oriented(ish) though should be of some help to you.

The answer to your question is: Yes!

There are a lot of people who do freelance creative work. The key is to differentiate yourself from the $3/hr Fivvers.

Do you have a portfolio? What sort of things do you do?


The typical strategy would be:

1. Branding. You are a graphic artist, UI designer, etc., not just 'someone who has years of experience with Photoshop.'
   
2. Put together a portfolio that shows the different kinds of things you can do. Put this online somewhere so you can post links to it.
   
3. Google for remote work/freelance job sources. There are quite a few, and some have work for graphic artists.
   
4. Reach out to all the local graphic artist freelancers to see if they have overflow work. Do the same with some of the boutique creative shops.
   
5. Send emails to everyone - friends, previous employers, family - letting them know you're in business for yourself and would appreciate if they know of any work. (They might not employ you, but they might know of someone)
   
6. Start promoting yourself - blog post about things that demonstrate your expertise without being salesy. Your posts should be designed to help people.
   
   Grab a copy of Stop Thinking Like a Freelancer:
   https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Thinking-Like-Freelancer-Evolution-ebook/dp/B00PJIDO9C
   
   Check out some of the articles on: https://doubleyourfreelancing.com/ (it's not my site)
   
   Check out r/freelancing
   
   
   
   

Disciplined Entrepreneurship by Bill Aulet

The approach outlined in this book is a large part of why MIT is known for creating successful startups.

I am also a developer, and wrote this post about how I generate tech business ideas.

Another recommendation is to read Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup. It has a lot of good advice on how to validate ideas once you have a few ones that sound plausible, and it is written for developers.

I've read a lot of the books recommended so far in the comments, and IMO a lot of them wouldn't really apply to OP and what he's looking for.

For the financial analysis stuff you're looking for, I would recommend ["Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits"] (http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Numbers-Straight-Talk-Profits/dp/1608320561/ref=pd_sim_b_52?ie=UTF8&refRID=1S8HGR7A61EGGQWPC28R).

I would also second "The Personal MBA" as someone already posted here. I also liked ["E-Myth Mastery"] (http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Mastery-Michael-E-Gerber-ebook/dp/B000RO9VIQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419395662&sr=1-1&keywords=e-myth+mastery) for the company structure and organization that you're looking for -- if you can get past the waffling and storytelling crap Gerber is so fond of, there's actually good information within those pages.

Lastly, "Street Smarts" is also a great book on business strategy for those with more experience like you.

I think there are some guys who read the 7 Day Startup Book.

Its from the owner of http://wpcurve.com

I saw this one today on producthunt http://shopenhancer.com/

Tucker's new book can be bought here:

http://www.amazon.com/Bit-How-P2P-Freeing-World-ebook/dp/B00S085TRS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1420766939&sr=8-2&keywords=bit+by+bit+tucker

Not affiliated with OP - here's a link to the book.

Stop Thinking Like a Freelancer: The Evolution of a $1M Web Designer

I second all four of these recommendations. Especially the personal MBA for aspiring business owners. I would also add a few more: Profit First, Lean Startup, and Will it fly?

I love Small Time Operator: How to Start Your Own Business, Keep Your Books, Pay Your Taxes, and Stay Out of Trouble

> For those who prefer video lectures, Skiena generously provides his online. We also really like Tim Roughgarden’s course, available from Stanford’s MOOC platform Lagunita, or on Coursera. Whether you prefer Skiena’s or Roughgarden’s lecture style will be a matter of personal preference.
>
> For practice, our preferred approach is for students to solve problems on Leetcode. These tend to be interesting problems with decent accompanying solutions and discussions. They also help you test progress against questions that are commonly used in technical interviews at the more competitive software companies. We suggest solving around 100 random leetcode problems as part of your studies.
>
> Finally, we strongly recommend How to Solve It as an excellent and unique guide to general problem solving; it’s as applicable to computer science as it is to mathematics.
>
>
>
> [The Algorithm Design Manual](https://teachyourselfcs.com//skiena.jpg) [How to Solve It](https://teachyourselfcs.com//polya.jpg)> I have only one method that I recommend extensively—it’s called think before you write.
>
> — Richard Hamming
>
>
>
> ### Mathematics for Computer Science
>
> In some ways, computer science is an overgrown branch of applied mathematics. While many software engineers try—and to varying degrees succeed—at ignoring this, we encourage you to embrace it with direct study. Doing so successfully will give you an enormous competitive advantage over those who don’t.
>
> The most relevant area of math for CS is broadly called “discrete mathematics”, where “discrete” is the opposite of “continuous” and is loosely a collection of interesting applied math topics outside of calculus. Given the vague definition, it’s not meaningful to try to cover the entire breadth of “discrete mathematics”. A more realistic goal is to build a working understanding of logic, combinatorics and probability, set theory, graph theory, and a little of the number theory informing cryptography. Linear algebra is an additional worthwhile area of study, given its importance in computer graphics and machine learning.
>
> Our suggested starting point for discrete mathematics is the set of lecture notes by László Lovász. Professor Lovász did a good job of making the content approachable and intuitive, so this serves as a better starting point than more formal texts.
>
> For a more advanced treatment, we suggest Mathematics for Computer Science, the book-length lecture notes for the MIT course of the same name. That course’s video lectures are also freely available, and are our recommended video lectures for discrete math.
>
> For linear algebra, we suggest starting with the Essence of linear algebra video series, followed by Gilbert Strang’s book and video lectures.
>
>
>
> > If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is.
>
> — John von Neumann
>
>
>
> ### Operating Systems
>
> Operating System Concepts (the “Dinosaur book”) and Modern Operating Systems are the “classic” books on operating systems. Both have attracted criticism for their writing styles, and for being the 1000-page-long type of textbook that gets bits bolted onto it every few years to encourage purchasing of the “latest edition”.
>
> Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces is a good alternative that’s freely available online. We particularly like the structure of the book and feel that the exercises are well worth doing.
>
> After OSTEP, we encourage you to explore the design decisions of specific operating systems, through “{OS name} Internals” style books such as Lion's commentary on Unix, The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System, and Mac OS X Internals.
>
> A great way to consolidate your understanding of operating systems is to read the code of a small kernel and add features. A great choice is xv6, a port of Unix V6 to ANSI C and x86 maintained for a course at MIT. OSTEP has an appendix of potential xv6 labs full of great ideas for potential projects.
>
>
>
> [Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces](https://teachyourselfcs.com//ostep.jpeg)
>
>
>
> ### Computer Networking
>
> Given that so much of software engineering is on web servers and clients, one of the most immediately valuable areas of computer science is computer networking. Our self-taught students who methodically study networking find that they finally understand terms, concepts and protocols they’d been surrounded by for years.
>
> Our favorite book on the topic is Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach. The small projects and exercises in the book are well worth doing, and we particularly like the “Wireshark labs”, which they have generously provided online.
>
> For those who prefer video lectures, we suggest Stanford’s Introduction to Computer Networking course available on their MOOC platform Lagunita.
>
> The study of networking benefits more from projects than it does from small exercises. Some possible projects are: an HTTP server, a UDP-based chat app, a mini TCP stack, a proxy or load balancer, and a distributed hash table.
>
>
>
> > You can’t gaze in the crystal ball and see the future. What the Internet is going to be in the future is what society makes it.
>
> — Bob Kahn
>
> [Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach](https://teachyourselfcs.com//top-down.jpg)
>
>
>
> ### Databases
>
> It takes more work to self-learn about database systems than it does with most other topics. It’s a relatively new (i.e. post 1970s) field of study with strong commercial incentives for ideas to stay behind closed doors. Additionally, many potentially excellent textbook authors have preferred to join or start companies instead.
>
> Given the circumstances, we encourage self-learners to generally avoid textbooks and start with the Spring 2015 recording of CS 186, Joe Hellerstein’s databases course at Berkeley, and to progress to reading papers after.
>
> One paper particularly worth mentioning for new students is “Architecture of a Database System”, which uniquely provides a high-level view of how relational database management systems (RDBMS) work. This will serve as a useful skeleton for further study.
>
> Readings in Database Systems, better known as the databases “Red Book”, is a collection of papers compiled and edited by Peter Bailis, Joe Hellerstein and Michael Stonebreaker. For those who have progressed beyond the level of the CS 186 content, the Red Book should be your next stop.
>
> If you insist on using an introductory textbook, we suggest Database Management Systems by Ramakrishnan and Gehrke. For more advanced students, Jim Gray’s classic Transaction Processing: Concepts and Techniques is worthwhile, but we don’t encourage using this as a first resource.
>

> (continues in next comment)

As always, the best advice is to consult a lawyer and CPA. I am neither, but I can share my personal experience.

As a solo-founder, setting up an LLC will involve less paperwork up front, less paperwork annually (C Corps have extra requirements, such as quarterly meetings/filings), and less cost. It also makes taxes much simpler, as in an LLC you can do owner withdrawals with passthrough taxation (i.e., you just do your personal taxes with a Schedule C) instead of dealing with salaries, W2s, dividends, double taxation, etc in a C Corp (which has to file its own taxes). If you find a co-founder, you can easily amend your LLC documents to give them part ownership. The C Corp only becomes advantageous when you want to hand out ownership of the company to non-founders. That is, if you want to raise money from investors, take on a board of directors, or give employees equity, then you can convert your LLC to a C Corp. For a good intro to these topics, check out The Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Law.

Read the 7 day startup by Dan Norris and get your shit out the door aiming for your first customer before the end of December. Worry about microlearning sometime in the (never) future.

Seriously, this is just buzzwordy riffraff, similar to searching for VC funding, requiring an NDA before talking about your business outside of a real acquisition discussion, or blaming your 2 week delay on a designer because... "logo"

Banks are more business friendly in my experience.

Find a good LOCAL bank for the business.

And get a separate savings account at a credit union.

Use the separate credit union account as your PROFIT account.


Oh, and get the book “Profit First” by Mike Michalowicz

Profit First: A Simple System to Transform Any Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981808298/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_HPTZzb8X0N2BA

My strong opinion is that the most reliable and efficient (ie $/hr) way to do this is with development consulting (app dev, front end and back end)

Buy this book:

The Software Engineer's Guide to Freelance Consulting: The new book that encompasses finding and maintaining clients as a software developer, tax and legal tips, and everything in between. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N1TTJFK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_wBTRzbR596M0F

Imo, because I've seen how long it can take people to find things they are deeply interested in, if you really want $10k, get there via consulting, and then just reduce your consulting hours and use your free time to work on things that interest you. And then you'll always have an income source you can scale up and down as needed.

[https://www.amazon.com/FULL-SCALE-Grow-Startup-Without-Plan-ebook/dp/B00NTC5G28]

Read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Fastlane-Wealth-Lifetime-ebook/dp/B004BDOUAI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380613408&sr=8-1&keywords=millionaire+fastlane

Then this one: http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Work-Week-Anywhere-ebook/dp/B006X0M2TS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380613398&sr=8-1&keywords=four+hour+work+week

Don't be put off by the titles. These are both excellent books. By this point you're going to struggle to ever want to get a job xD. These books are great overviews that give you a solid mindset shift in what's possible and what's required.

Once you've done that, resources like Mixergy, Smart Passive Income, etc will give you a lot of ideas for different approaches (there are heaps more, find the best and listen to what's relevant to you).

Break what you want to do into sections. You'll need to get clients, sell them the idea, have them pay you and be able to deliver the product. So figure out what you need to do to achieve each of those objectives.

OP read this first

http://www.amazon.com/Slicing-Pie-Company-Without-Funds-ebook/dp/B0096EFHBI

This book is fantastic and not even that long of a read:

http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Thinking-Like-Freelancer-Evolution-ebook/dp/B00PJIDO9C/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 (not an affiliate link)

Covers everything one needs to know about growing a freelance business into a million dollar company.

I promise if you read it you will make back the $10 you spent to buy it. I'm not an affiliate or anything – I just think it's a great book.

UK link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Nomad-location-independent-lifestyle-ebook/dp/B00UG2OI00/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427576248&sr=8-1&keywords=digital+nomad

I'm in same position as you, and would love to know if you're open to partnering up but to answer the question I've found the following very useful so far.

• Learning to launch
  
  
• Getting Real
  
  
• 90 days to profit
  
  
• 7 day startup
  
  
• lean startup
  
  there are more but these are what i've read so far and liked.
  
  Main points I've learned...
  
  
• Build nothing, or as little as possible. Think of vision, say craigslist, don't build it. Build stairs to it, dig a path to it. Start weekly email letter with website as complementary to save emails. Grow from there.
  
  
• If it's b2b, do selling first, nail down how to approach, who to approach, what to sell, for how much, get 5 people signed up before writing a line of code. Free or not, get people on board.
  
  
• prioritize speed and delivery over all coding standards, security standards, and over everything else.
  
  

I thought this book was pretty insightful
https://www.amazon.com/Platform-Revolution-Networked-Markets-Transforming/dp/0393249131

Honestly, keep it liquid in a savings account for emergencies or for when you find an opportunity to invest in a business or yourself.

This book is a must read. Although many people here hate it because it doesn’t follow the traditional path.

You’re way ahead of the game so far. Please don’t squander it away for 40 years for a rainy day.

\>with the accounting books, Accounting was still the only course I have ever failed. What ones you ready?

Not so much straight accounting - more like "I need a CFO, but am not going to hire one, so that's me now."

The best one I've found - that really is blowing my mind - is:

https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Numbers-Straight-Talk-Profits/dp/1608320561

I am way into anything that gives you a manageable load of metrics and tells you when to watch out.

"The Ultimate Blueprint for an Insanely Successful Business" by Keith J. Cunningham is another good intro to reading financial reports and getting something out of them.

Slicing pie

Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup by Rob Walling.



Great book!!



Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615373968

The amazing book Slicing Pie outlines ways to deal with almost your exact situation in the fairest way possible. It's short, sweet, and I highly recommend it. It has ways to value everything you mentioned, including time invested, money invested, his ownership of the LLC, etc. Using their formulas, you can figure out fair ways to represent all that time and money in your equity splits.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0981808298/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520524448&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=profits+first&dpPl=1&dpID=41dpPGpXR9L&ref=plSrch

Read this book.

There are a lot of books out there and some of them are pretty heavy duty. The Startup Owners Manual is, as it describes, a manual. I've found this book lighter weight and easy to digest. Disciplined Entrepreneurship

D'oh! Was not 100% sober when writing that. Correction, the book is "Slicing Pie". Site, Equity Split Calculator, Amazon (not-affiliate).

i am an american planning on backpacking in AUS. a lot of these jobs are targeted directly at backpackers on gumtree since they know most urban dwellers wouldn't want to do work this hard, fickle, or seasonal. they're sort of taking advantage of our lack of choice and therefore able to offer very low pay, or none at all in exchange for room and board, with the ability to stay in the country.

You could also try looking for farms around you by woofing.

If you want to get into business for yourself (basically all farming is) I'd pick up some books by Joel Salatin which give realistic expectations of farming life and some semi-realistic ideas for starting out for yourself.

Most farmers have bits of excess land that they can find no use for and will rent to you for super cheap. This is a good way to do some tunnel house chicken coops and such and to learn for yourself.

Well, fundamentally, a database is just a bunch of data. Different database management systems sort and store this data in different ways, and have different ways of interacting with the data. Probably the most important type of database management system right now is the RDBMS. SQL is the language used to interact with most RDBMS. NoSQL DBMS are the big competitor to RDBMS currently.

Try learning about the difference between the two and you'll probably find a million other things you want to read about. As a programmer, you'll probably be interacting with RDBMS rather than manipulating databases yourself.

If you want a more straightforward way to learn about databases, the first chapter or two on a textbook about DBMS is probably a good read.

Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco

I would read : "The 7 Day Startup" - It's a short read -- https://www.amazon.com/Day-Startup-Learn-Until-Launch-ebook/dp/B00NZFKB8S

The author actually sold his business to GoDaddy: https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/05/godaddy-wp-curve/

Hi. We're a company developing management systems for fraternities and sororities. We're looking for a developer proficient in PHP and JavaScript to join our team in exchange for equity (fairly).

The equity would be split in accordance with what I've learned from: Slicing Pie.

We are a team of two CEO's (one learning to code) and one developer right now.

Major, major plus if you were part of Greek Life.

There are a number of good books. One I found helpful is this one. available on amazon

To hell with the Career! Identify a problem you learned in the years you have put in so far, design a solution and build it up while helping your son grow too!

The ugly truth is - careers are an illusion used to convince people to use up their most precious years. So they can retire at 70, die a few years later with no time to use the money they saved.

Please do not look at this change as a negative thing! Join a group of entrepreneurs (real ones - not some MLM bs), learn how to a) find a problem to solve, b) create a solution c) listen to your customers d) maintain control.

Takes about three years to take a viable idea to reality - your son will still be young, and you will not have missed the chance to spend time with him. And if you succeed, you'll make more money than your husband :D

Surround yourself with people who do the things you need to succeed with your new focus

Evidence:

https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-Successful-Startup/dp/1118692284

https://www.amazon.com/UNSCRIPTED-Life-Liberty-Pursuit-Entrepreneurship/dp/0984358161

https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Fastlane-Crack-Wealth-Lifetime/dp/0984358102

https://www.startupschool.org

Stay-At-Home Parenting is not a prison sentence! It is an opportunity to break free!

Read stories of success, surround yourself with cheesy inspiration to keep moving forward. Whatever it takes - it's a process, start now and make this your "Eff this! I want a second house in the Cayman Islands" moment.

Write down your dreams, how much they cost, list the steps you need to obtain that money, and put dates on them. Then, go!

And good luck! You will fail at least once - regroup and do it again.

Unlike most things in life where one bad apple spoils the bunch - with entrepreneurship, one good crop feeds you for life.