

Startup Steps, Learned over 22 Years - krobertson
http://lancewalley.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/business-startup/

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ryanelkins
Wow, some of you guys are being pretty harsh. This isn't "The Only 9 Startup
Steps" it's just 9 steps most people need to take and if you're unfamilair
with them it's great to see some information laid out about them.

Personally I found it pretty useful. I'm working on some of them but it's
unfamiliar territory and I'm not sure what all needs to be done exactly. I
found this to be some good practical advice that complements some of the more
esoteric higher level advice that we normally see around here.

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run4yourlives
When you list 9 steps and not one of them is "Build something", you're
probably doing it wrong.

Edit: You know what, I take this back; not only too harsh but somewhat off
topic. I think the title got me expecting one thing and upon reading another
felt unfulfilled.

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krobertson
The steps are more about setting up a business rather than running a business.

Not all business build something either. Say you simply want a business to do
consulting under. In the article, his PerlUSA he started with was just that.

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run4yourlives
Fair point, not all business' build things: I would suggest not even bothering
to "set up a business" until you at least have a) something to sell and b)
someone to sell it to, however.

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krobertson
A consultant is selling themselves... their skill set and their time. If you
are a consultant with no clients, then sure you don't need a business, but
good to have one set up before you get clients.

Sometimes having a business is as simple as a DBA... cheap to do and a couple
hours, looks more professional to have a client pay a company than cutting a
check to Joe Smoe.

In my opinion, any time you are entering into a contract with a third party,
it is best to have a legal entity set up. Talk to any company whose been
around a while, consultancy or product company, and you'll hear war stories
about deals gone bad. When you are still small, there'd be nothing scarier
than having a deal fall through and leaving your personal assets exposed if
they decided to sue.

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tjic
This advice is garbage.

Which is not to say that it's FALSE, per se, but that it covers the purely
mechanical details.

Yes, you need a checking account.

Yes, you need a tax ID.

But, heck, you need a desk too.

And, if you don't eat meals, you'll die, and never do a startup, so why not
put that on the list?

Having launched two bootstrapped startups over the last six years
(<http://SmartFlix.com> and <http://HeavyInk.com>) I would NEVER give this
advice to someone - it's like saying "The secret to becoming a tennis pro?
Simple: 1) guy a tennis racket; 2) but tennis balls ; 3) and never, EVER
forget to buy tennis shoes - you just can't play barefoot".

This stuff will all get done in due time, because it HAS to get done. There's
not need to itemize steps which more or less take care of themselves.

The IMPORTANT stuff is the stuff you find in Steve Blank's book Four Steps to
the Epiphany, and in a few other great business books (Getting Everything You
Can From All You've Got).

1) figure out you value proposition (who are you helping?) 2) who are you
selling to? 3) what is your unique selling proposition (how do you convey the
value to your would-be customers?) 4) what is your plan to iterate in
discovering your customers? 5) what is your plan to iterate in discovering the
proper marketing channels to reach your customers?

etc.

"Get a bank account" is the kind of bogus filler that you find in a
housewive's magazine about how to turn her candle making hobby into a small
little business selling to friends and relatives.

Entrepreneurs need REAL advice.

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locopati
That's easy to say that if you've done this before. This is a nice list for
people like me who may want to break from corporate life but have not run a
business and would like to see the practical steps outlined somewhere (so as
to minimize the obvious missteps).

