When I came up with the concept of this site in early 2009, I was coming across many services that effectively outsourced tasks that you would normally hire someone to do. One of these tasks is logo design. Update (Feb 1, 2016): I’m no longer using the logo on the site. There are hundreds,…
Read more
When I was driving to the Dallas-Fort Worth airport today from Abilene, I saw an old building with a large realtor’s sign on it that read “Residential - Commercial - Ranch”. That got me thinking - how different is a ranch from a residence or a commercial property? It’s…
Read more
I used to run my startups anonymously, and made them seem somewhat corporate in order to gain credibility. I didn’t want anyone to know it was just a one-man show. So in order to cover my tracks I used anonymous domain registration. I had registered with GoDaddy, and they offered the option…
Read more
In the beginning when the idea of some hot new startup idea is fresh in your mind, but may require considerable resources, you’ll be tempted to borrow money from friends and family. You’ll go on about how they’ll be rich and how the idea is sure to succeed because no one has ever…
Read more
I briefly mentioned using an umbrella company in 6 Tips to Picking a Great Company/Product Name, but I want to go a little further in explaining. An umbrella company is one company name that you run all of your startups under. You may have 5 startups, all with different product names and domain…
Read more
A solo or home-based startup is a wonderful thing when done right. My favorite startups are the ones which are self-sustainable without babysitting them. When I come up with another idea for a site, I’ll do a good bit of research to make sure it hasn’t been done already, will see how…
Read more
When naming your company you’re naming your baby. So give your baby a name that will still be a good name when she’s all grown up. Here are some tips to help you get it right. At this point you probably have a name in mind, or a number of names, and have been searching domain…
Read more
I’m not going to tell how you should run your business, or how much privacy you should give up. I’ve run both closed and open door businesses, and they both have advantages for your business. But since I have quite a bit of experience in keeping my identity hidden when running…
Read more
When a brick-and-mortar business sets up shop, such as a restaurant or shoe store, they have a business space, employees, a published phone number, and other items that identify the business. As the proprietor on the internet, you expose only what you want to. Depending on the volume and demands of…
Read more
Many times, startup founders have this plan: Come up with a winning idea Figure out how many people you’ll need to hire to make the idea come to life Figure out how many server and other datacenter resources you’ll need to support millions of users Hire or contract enough to get a…
Read more