It’s Time To Quit Your Startup When…

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Nerdr| Leave a comment

“You’ve stopped recommending your product to friends.” – Tiffany Bukowski, spitfire.

“All you’re worried about is getting money back for your investors.” – Doug Ludlow, CEO, Hipster.com.

“You have something better to do.” – Simon Thompson.

“You’re counting the months, weeks, or days until you reach your vesting cliff.” – Anon.

“You don’t feel comfortable recruiting the best people you’ve worked with.” – Anon.

“You think the people around you personally, have gone through enough and deserve better.” – Anon.

“You cant inspire anyone around you anymore and eventually yourself.” – Anon.

“You quit when you can’t find customers, you stick when all signs point up and you pivot when your customers keep asking.” – Matt MacNaughton.

“You run up a lot of debt when you can’t invest more money of your own.” – Anon.

“You start missing the security of a better job or startup opportunity” – Anon.

“At my last startup, I knew it was time to leave when I couldn’t genuinely recruit people to join my team, and I actively avoided recruiting people I previously had worked with.” – Anon.

“To quit, you always have to ask the question whether your timing or offering is wrong.” – Matthew Roche, CEO, BO.LT.

Nerdr.com – <a href=”http://nerdr.com/its-time-to-quit-your-startup-when/”>Quit Your Startup</a>

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Some Advice Before You Quit

Personal advice: think things through. Prepare a plan that contains an element of finance and personal revenue. Don’t just leave yourself hanging without a branch. You do need money to survive, and live. What’s your personal runway? What’s your backup if things go wrong, in 3 months, 6 months, a year? Your top 3 marketable skills?

Write it all down, you’ll need it during those darker days of uncertainty ahead.  Leave on good terms because it’s a small world, and of course, good luck.

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Should I Buy An Ipad?

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Nerdr| Leave a comment

An ipad is an amazing device to buy. Which iPad should you get and how much to spend? Let’s investigate.

Should I buy iPad 1, also called the original iPad – NO. Now that the new retina iPad is out you should never need to buy the basic original iPad 1. The original iPad 1 is now a toy.

Should I buy iPad 2? The main difference is retina screen on the iPad 3 and future upgrades to iOS software for one more year with iPad 3. Only buy an iPad 2 if:

  • You cannot afford the iPad 3 retina display version.
  • You have seen the ipad 2 and new ipad side-by-side and can’t tell the difference between the screen resolutions. Make sure you do this when watching a HD MOVIE or HD image because safari is not HD even on the new ipad.
  • You find a great iPad 2 deal. iPad 2 refurbished versions on the Apple site or on craigslist can be good deals. Be careful when using craigslist to buy things. Do not travel alone with cash for iPads from Craigslist and stay in public places.
  • you don’t care about it being useless in just 18 months. Apple supports products for about 3 years with OS updates. After 3 years it is very hard to make apps works because app developers stop supporting the old systems.

Should I buy an iPad 3 or should I buy the New iPad. Yes! I”m typing this article on one now and it is a joy to use. The retina display is beautiful and it has replaced 90% of my laptop time. It also improves your health because you’re not stuck at a desk all the time. If you can afford the new iPad 3 the buy it right away.

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Is Applecare Worth It?

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Nerdr| 3 Comments

Is Applecare worth it, when buying an Apple device?  Applecare is worth it for some products and not a good idea for others.  Let’s look at the FACTS.

What is Applecare?

Applecare is Apples warranty program for the expensive electronic equipment Apple sells.  You must purchase Applecare within 30 days of buying the product new.  Once you have Applecare on your device you get:

  • One stop technical support.
  • Software support for Apple software.
  • Free repair and replacement program.

The main reason to buy Applecare is the expensive cost of repairing Apple device hardware.  The big screens are the most expensive component and the battery can also fail.

If you are in Europe you get a free 2 year warranty for hardware defects as standard with all big Apple products due to an EU Legislation ruling.  So if you are buying Apple from Europe think carefully if it’s worth the cost of Applecare for just 1 extra year of warranty.  The EU warranty does not cover accidental damage.

Note also that Applecare is a Warranty and not an insurance.  If your device is stolen you will not get a free replacement.  You have to give your old/broken Apple device for fixing or replacement.  This replacement is usually a refurbished product.

Types of Applecare

There are two types of Applecare.  Applecare normal and Applecare+.  Applecare plus is for iPhone and iPad type devices and includes accidental damage.  This is huge because you might drop these regularly on hard concrete floors.

Now let’s look at the prices of Applecare and see if Applecare is worth it.

Applecare for iMacs and Big Hardware

Applecare for Macbook air and Applecare for 13 inch Macbook pro – $249.  Think carefully.  It is hard to replace any parts on Macbook air but at the same time accident cover is not included.

Applecare for iMac ($1199) -$169.  Applecare is worth it.

Applecare for Mac Mini ($599) – $149.  Not worth it.  No screen needing replacement and cheap to replace the entire unit.

Applecare for Macbook pro ($1199) – $249.  Remember accidental damage is not covered!  possibly worth it.

Applecare for the 15 inch Macbook pro with Retina display – $349.  Expensive but possibly worth it because the retina screen is very expensive to replace and nearly all parts except the RAM and non user servicable.  Remember this is covered only by Applecare and not Applecare+ and so accidental damage is not covered.  Maybe worth it.

Applecare for iOS devices

Applecare for ipad (~$400) is priced at $99.  Worth it, remember this covers accidental damage too.

Applecare for iPod touch ($100) is $59.  Not worth it.

Applecare for iPod nano ($129) or Shuffle ($49) – Applecare costs $39.  Not worth it.

Applecare for Apple TV ($99)  – $29 .  Not worth it.

Applecare for iPhone ($200) – $99.  Worth it because you it’s used outside and covered for accidental damage too.  One fall on concrete and the screen is finished.  Consider buying Cell insurance too because the iPhone is a premium device and likely to be stolen and quickly sold.

Refurbished Apple product and Applecare

Can I purchase Applecare on a refurbished product?  The answer is yes arefurb can get Applecare!  ”

(3) Can I purchase the AppleCare Protection Plan for my Apple Certified Refurbished Product?All Apple Certified Refurbished Products are covered by Apple’s one year warranty.  For extended coverage, you have the option of purchasing the AppleCare Protection Plan with your Apple Certified Refurbished Product. The AppleCare Protection Plan extends the complimentary coverage on your Apple Certified Refurbished Product to up to three years of world-class support for Mac, and up to two years of world-class support for iPod, iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV.” – Link


That is the end of our “is Applecare worth it” article.  Remember that Applecare will fix or replace and only covers accidental damage for some Apple devices.  Compare the price to the cost of a replacement from Ebay rather than replacing with a brand new Apple item because that is not what you get with Applecare.

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Entrepreneurship for Hackers and Noobs

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Nerdr| 2 Comments

Compete Don’t Innovate

Innovation isn’t the only way to get rich, competition works just as well and you don’t get the R&D cost. Chinese manufacturing firms know this well, it’s why they sell widget X for such a lower price than the original widget Y.  No R&D.

As hackers we seem to have an aversion to “copying” others hard work.  We feel we’re taking away from it’s purity or something.  Well that’s capitalism son.  If you can’t be a big hitter, at least out perform the mid hitters.  And the way you outperform mid hitters is you copy what you can + fix a pain point.  Repeat that, write it down.  It’s the key to your first big pay packet.

The simplest equation I can give: copy something succesful + lower the price.  It works every time.  By it’s very nature it cannot fail unless you drop the ball on quality.  Don’t be afraid to copy everything you legally can, layout, design, functionality.  Make your moves and keep them legal.  Money.

Pain Points 101

You’re claiming you can’t find pain points? Here’s one: An article on Hacker News about Groupon payments taking 3 months to come through. That’s a pain point. Start a Groupon type service, but offering faster payments. Yes you’ll still need that user base, and you’ll still need seed funding to cover initial marketing costs, but you have one very real cash flow based reason for business to choose you over them.

You could start it locally right this minute.  Set up the site, put on your suit and go knock on some local shop windows.  Sign up a few, remember your USP – payment in 30 days or less.  Then get a few users to sign-up and away you go.  Viral local offers and day 1 cash.

Found a news app you love but the interface is sluggish or wasteful? Copy the functionality EXACTLY, redesign, fix the pain point and release.  You’re not doing anything wrong here.  There is no moral high ground to be had by not doing it.  It’s competition, it’s capitalism.  You deserve that money because you made a better product.  Write that down.

Anywhere someone is making profit is a place for you to slide in and split the pie.  Check the barriers to entry, then, if you can, compete.  Zynga making too much money?  Copy the product as much as you legally can and lower the price they charge for in-apps.  Play the game, they’ve done the R&D for you.  They’ve optimised layout and design already.  You can see RIGHT THERE what works.  They’ve done all the work.

Ship or You’re Nothing

You’ve decided your product or service.  Now it’s time to get real.

Everything you do for your business should come with a time scale.  EVERYTHING.  You ship things.  That is how you make money.  You don’t get paid for research or drinking coffee at a start-up.  You get paid when you ship.  And the way you do that is bringing  your product or service to market.

I will ship X on Y.

Where X is your product or service and Y is next Tuesday, next month, or 10 years from now.  Even if you miss your target, you still took aim and that’s 1 step more than Joe average wannabe start-up entrepreneur.

Market while you wait

Bored?  Do some marketing.  What’s that?  You don’t know how or it makes you anxious? Well, you need to learn.  Product + Marketing.  It’s half the equation and 90% critical to success.  Let’s make one now.

  • Where will you get traffic? – source ideas.
  • What’s the cost of that traffic in time/money for each source?
  • What do you need to do to set up that traffic source.
  • What experiments can you do to test you traffic theories? – This is your start-up marketing plan.

Experiments form the basis of every marketing plan.  You want quality traffic.  Quality means money in your pocket.  Measure everything.  Try everything.  See what works, experiment, repeat.  What works for Axe might not work for you.

Ship.

Good luck, Leave a comment.

Additional inspiration:

“You quit when you can’t find any customers, you stick when all signs point upward and you pivot when your customers keep asking you too.” – Matt Mcnaughton – Promojam.com

“Make something youd recommend to your friends.” – Anonymous

 

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