1) Should founders vest?
Yes, over a period of four years. On any change of control the vesting speeds up.

2) Should you go for venture capital money?
First build a product, then get a customer, then get friends-and-family money (or money from revenues which is cheapest of all) and then think about raising money. But only then. Don’t be an amateur.

3) Should you patent your idea?
Get customers first. Patent later. Don’t talk to lawyers until the last possible moment.

4) Should you require venture capitalists to sign NDAs?
No. Nobody is going to steal your idea. VC's view NDAs as amateur hour.

5) How much equity should you give a partner?
Divide things up into these categories: manage the company; raise the money; had the idea; brings in the revenues; built the product (or performs the services). Divide up in equal portions.

6) Should you have a technical co-founder if you are not technical?
No. If you don’t already have a technical co-founder you can always outsource technology and not give up equity.

7) Should you barter equity for services?
No. You get what you pay for.

How do you market your app?
Friends and then word of mouth. And then blog on multiple platforms. And then add new features.

9) Should you build a product?
Maybe. But first see if, manually, your product works. Then think about providing it as a service. Then productize the commonly used services. Too many people do this in reverse and then fail.

Oracle is a great example of a company that did this. They had a "database" but really they had an army of consultants that would go in and "install" the database. After about five years of this they finally had a database.

10) How much dilution is too much dilution?
If someone wants to give you money, then take it. The old saying, 100 percent of nothing is worth less than 1 percent of something.

11) Do you listen to venture capitalist?
Yes, of course. They gave you money. But then don’t do anything they ask you to do.

12) What if nobody seems to be buying your product?
Then change to a service and do whatever anyone is willing to pay for using the skills you developed while making your product.

“You’re gonna rattle the stars, you are.”

13) If a client wants you to hire their friend or they won’t give you the business (e.g. like a bribe) what should you do?
Always do the ethical thing: Hire the friend and get the client’s business.

14) What do you do when a customer rejects you in a B2B business?
Stay in touch once a month. Never be angry.

15) In a B2C business?
Release fast. Add new features every week. Very important. Constantly unwrap a suprise.

16) How do you get new clients?
The best new clients are old clients. Always offer new services. Think every day of new services to offer old clients.

17) What’s the best thing to do for a new client?
Over-deliver for the first 100 days. Then you will never lose them.

18) What if your client asks you to do something not in your business plan?
Do it, or find someone who can do it, even if it’s a competitor.

19) Should I ever focus on SEO?
No.

20) Should I do social media marketing?
No.

21) Should I ever talk badly about a partner of an employee even though they are awful?
Never gossip. Always be straight with the culprit. NONE of your employees should ever say bad things about the client.

I just saw this rule violated in a $100 million revenues company. Now they are losing the client and can't figure out why.

22) I have lots of ideas. How do I pick the right one?
Do as many ideas as possible. The right idea will pick you.

23) What is the sign of an amateur?
— Asking for an NDA.
— Trying to raise VC money before product or customers.
— Having fights with partners in the first year. Fire them or split before anything gets out of control.
— Worrying about dilution.
— Trying to get Mark Cuban to invest because “this would be great for the Dallas Mavericks.”
— Asking people you barely know to introduce you to Mark Cuban.
— Asking people for five minutes of their time. It’s never five minutes, so you are establishing yourself as a liar.
— Having a PowerPoint that doesn’t show me arbitrage. I need to know that there is a small chance there is a 100x return on money.
— Catch 22: showing people there’s a small chance there’s 100x return on their money. The secret of salesmanship is getting through the Catch 22.
— Rejecting a cash offer for your company when you have almost no revenues. Hello Friendster and Foursquare.

24) What is the sign of a professional?
— Going from bullshit product to services to product to SaaS product. (Corollary: the reverse is amateur hour).
— Cutting costs every day.
— Selling every day, every minute.
— When you have a billion in revenues, staying focused. When you have zero revenues, staying unfocused and coming up with new ideas every day.
— Saying “no” to people who are obvious losers.
— Saying “yes” to any meeting at all with someone who is an obvious winner.
— Knowing how to distinguish between winners and losers (subject of an entire other post but in your gut you know — trust me).

25) When should I hire people full time?
When you have revenues

26) How long does it take to raise money?
In a GREAT business, six months. In a mediocre business, infinity.

27) Should I get an office?
No, not unless you have revenues.

28) Should I do market research?
Yes, find one customer who DEFINITELY, without a doubt, will buy a service from you. Note that I don’t say buy your product, because your initial product is always not what the customer wanted.

29) Should I pay taxes?
No. You should always reinvest your money and operate at a loss.

30) Should I pay dividends?
See above.

31) What should the CEO salary be?
No more than 2x your lowest employee if you are not profitable. This even assumes you are funded. If you are not funded your salary should be zero until your revenues can pay your salary last. Important RULE: the CEO salary is the last expense paid in every business.

32) When should I fire employees?
When you have fewer than six months’ burn in the bank and you aren’t getting revenues growing fast enough.

33) When should you have sex with an employee?
When you love her/him and the feeling is mutual.

34) What other reasons should one fire an employee?
— When they gossip.
— When they don’t over-deliver constantly.
— When they ask for a raise because they think they are making below industry standard.
— When they talk badly about a client.
— When they have an attitude.

35) When should you give a raise?
Rarely.

36) How big should the employee option pool be?
15 to 20 percent.

37) How much do advisers get?
One-fourth of 1 percent. Advisers are useless. Don’t even have an advisory board.

38) How much do board members get?
Nothing. They should all be investors. If they aren’t an investor, then one-half of 1 percent.

39) What if one client is almost all of my revenues?
Treat them very nicely. Don’t forget the Christmas gift basket.

People say: don't have one customer be more than X% of your revenues. That's great in a textbook but it doesn't work that way in reality.

40) What’s the best way to sell anything?
Show arbitrage: If they pay X now they are buying something worth X * Y. That is the ONLY way to sell.

41) What is the best way to sell anything?
Part II: fear and agitation. Get them afraid (the world is falling apart). Get them agitated (this is the only way to stop it).

42) What’s the best way to talk about your competition in a meeting?
Use “choice ambiguity” (Google it). Say, “all of my competition is great. I wouldn’t even know how to choose among them.”

43) What’s the best way to value a company?
Ask yourself (no BS): How much would it cost to recreate the technology, services, brand and customers you have already built. Then quadruple it and see what people would pay.

44) Should I ever worry about the news or the economy?
Absolutely not. The best businesses are started in horrible economies.

45) What happened to all of my friends?
You don’t have anymore friends.

46) How do I charge more for my services?
Itemize as finely as possible and charge for each item.

47) Do I charge per hour or per project or per month?
First per project, then per-month maintenance.

48) How do I prepare for a meeting?
Know everything about the clients: competition, employees, industry. Over-read everything.

Read everything.

49) What is the only effective email marketing?
Highly targeted email marketing written by professional copywriters, and the email list is made up of people who have bought similar services in the past six months.

50) Should I go to industry parties and meetups?
No.

51) Should I blog?
Yes. You must. Blog about everything going wrong in your industry. Blog personal stories that you think will scare away customers. They won’t. Customers will be attracted to honesty.

52) Should I care about margins?
No. Care about revenues.

53) Should I spin-off this unrelated idea into a separate business?
No. Make one business great. Throw everything in it. Do DBAs to identify different ideas.

54) Should I hire people because I can travel on a seven-hour plane ride with them?
Don’t be an idiot. If anything, hire people the opposite of you. Or else who will you delegate to?

55) When should I say “no” to a client?
When they approach you.

56) When should I say “yes” to a client?
Every other conversation you ever have with them after that initial “no.”

57) Should I have sex with an employee?
Stop asking that.

58) Should I negotiate the best terms with a VC?
No. Pick the VC you like. Times are going to get tough at some point, and you need to be able to have a heart-to-heart with them.

59) Should I even start a business?
No. Make money. Build shit. Then start a business.

60) Should I give employees bonuses for a job well done?
No. Give them gifts but not bonuses.

61) What should I do at Christmas?
Send everyone you know a gift basket.

62) If my customer just got divorced, what should I say to him?
“I can introduce you to lots of women/men.”

63) When should I give up on my idea?
When you can’t generate revenues, customers, interest, for two months.

64) Why didn’t the VC or customer call back after we met yesterday and it was great?
They hate you.

65) Why didn’t the above call back after we met yesterday and it was great?
“Yesterday” was like a split second ago for them and a lifetime for you. There’s the law of entrepreneurial relativity. Figure out what that means and live by it.

66) Should I hire a professional CEO?
No. Never.

67) Should I hire a head of sales?
No. The founder is the head of sales until at least 10 million in sales.

68) My client called at 3 a.m. Should I tell him to respect boundaries?
No. You no longer have any boundaries.

69) I made a mistake. Should I tell the client?
Yes. Tell him everything that happened. You’re his partner. Not the guy that hides things and then lies about them.

70) My investors want me to focus.
Should I listen to them? No. Diversify in every way you can.

71) I personally need money. Should I borrow from the business?
Only if the business can survive for another six months no matter what.

72) I just bought two companies. Should I put them under the same roof and start consolidating?
No. Not for at least two years.

73) Should I quit my job?
No. Only if you have salary that can pay you for six months at your startup. Aim to quit your job but don’t quit your job.

74) What do I do when I have doubts?
Ask your customers if your doubts are trustworthy.

75) I have too much competition. What should I do?
Competition is good. It shows you have a decent business model. Now simply outperform them.

76) My wife/husband thinks I spend too much time on my startup?
Divorce them or close your business.

77) I’m starting my business, but I have relationship problems. What should I do?
Get rid of your relationship.

78) Should I expand geographically as quickly as possible?
No. Get all the business you can in your local area. Travel is too expensive time-wise.

79) How do I keep clients from yelling at me?
Document every meeting line-by-line, and send your document to the client right after the meeting.

80) I undercharged. What should I do about it?
Nothing. Charge the next client more.

81) I have an idea for an app but don’t know how to execute. What should I do?
Draw every screen and function. Then outsource someone to make the drawings look like they come from a real app. Then outsource the development of the app. Get a specific schedule. Micromanage the schedule.

82) I want to buy a franchise in X. Is that a good idea?
Only buy a franchise if it’s underperforming and you can see how to improve it. Don’t buy on future hopes; only buy on past mistakes.

83) I want to buy a franchise in X. Is that a good idea?
Rely on the three Ds: Death, Debt, Divorce.

When someone dies, the heirs will sell a business cheap.

When someone is in debt, they will sell a business cheap.

When someone divorces, the couple usually has to sell a business cheap.

IMPORTANT: even if the trends in the industry are in your favor, you CANNOT predict the future. But you can use the past to help you get a deal. Always get a deal.

84) I have a lot of traffic but no revenues. What should I do?
Sell your business. There’s only one Google. (Well, there are two or three Googles: Facebook, Twitter … )

85) I have no traffic. How do I get traffic?
Shut down your business.

86) Should I hire a PR firm?
No. Do guerilla marketing. Read “Newsjacking” and “Trust me I’m Lying.” PR firms screw up from beginning to end. The first time I hired a PR firm, instead of sending me my contract they accidentally sent me their contract for “Terry Bradshaw.” He was paying $12,000 a month. Was it worth it for him?

87) My competition is doing better than me across every metric. What should I do?

Don’t be afraid to instantly shut down your business and start over if you can’t sell it. Time is a horrible thing to waste.

88) I’ve been in business now for six years, and my business doesn’t seem to be growing. It’s even slowing down. What should I do?

Come up with 10 ideas a day about new services your business can offer. Try to get a customer for each new service. I know one business in this situation that refuses to do this because their VCs are telling them to focus more. You’re going to go out of business otherwise.

89) Is it unethical to run my business from the side while still at my job?
I don’t know. Did God tell you that in a dream?

90) My customer called me at 5 p.m. on a Friday and said, “We have to talk.” And now I can’t talk to him until Monday. What does it mean?
It means you’re fired.

91) XYZ just sold for $100 million. Should I be valued at that? I’m better!
No, you should shut up.

92) Investors want to meet me and customers want to meet me. Who do I meet if I need money?
You should know the answer to that by now.

93) If an acquirer asks me why I want to sell, what should I say?
That you feel it would be easier for you to grow in the context of a bigger company that has experienced the growing pains you are just starting to go through. That 1+1 = 45.

94) I just started my business. What should I do?
Sell it as fast as possible (applies in 99 percent of situations). Sell for cash.

95) I can change the world with my technology.
No you can’t.

96) Corollary: Don’t smoke crack.

97) If you’re so smart why aren’t you a billionaire?
Because I sold my businesses early, lost everything, started new businesses, sold them, and got lucky every now and then.

98) Corollary: These rules don’t always apply. But like Kurt Vonnegut said, “if you want to break the rules of grammar, first learn the rules of grammar.”

RULE #infinity:
You create your luck by being healthy and not regretting the past or being anxious about the future.


[url]boredgorilla.[/url]

The only way to get rich rapidly is to understand the principle of leverage.

Leverage (v) : use (something) to maximum advantage.
“the organization needs to leverage its key resources”

Financial leverage works this way. You spot widgets for sale in bulk for only 10 Naira. You know where you can sell them for 20 Naira. You’ve got a N1000, so you buy a hundred and make back N2000. If you had borrowed N10000 from your mother, paying back N11000, you could’ve bought two hundred and cleared N30000 for your total outlay of N10000 plus N1000 in interest, quite a bit better return on your investment.

Leveraging your time works this way. I hired an Aboki grass cutter for my store for the customary N400 out of petty cash. It took only twenty minutes to complete the job, so that represented a lot more than the $140/hour I paid my sales clerks, but the idea was, he provided his own tools and supplies which he had to lug around and spend time selling his services.

The next time he came to wash my windows, he was in a much cleaner apparel. He took the N400 bill and left his associate behind to do the work. As I walked around downtown, I could see as many as three of his associates working at one time. Let’s say there were just three. How does this work?

Working for himself, if he really humped it he could land twelve jobs on a good day, or N4800. By hiring workers and focusing on sales himself, they could each handle fifteen or more jobs a day. He’s paying them N140/hour or about N80 per job, which means he’s clearing N320 per job for himself, or N14000 a day, cash!

What do you do with all that money when savings isn’t paying? Buy things that will appreciate in value. When you can leverage your time and your money and then put your money to work, you are on the road to riches. Many people make the mistake of looking for a high rung to catch onto, a position worthy of their education and experience. Something as humble as window washing, leveraged, is a surer road to financial security.


https://boredgorilla./

Hi There is a job fair on Saturday

The guys speaking will be

1. Join Opeyemi Awoyemi (Co-Founder, ),
2. Aruosa Osemwegie (Coordinator, HR School)
3. Mr. Yinka Sanni (CEO, Stanbic IBTC Bank)

Its a Career fair and Seminar tagged: "Get Employed; Remain Employed".

Over 12 International Companies would also be recruiting and doing on-the-spot interviews, so come along with your CV and dress formal on Saturday 6th June, 2015 by 9am prompt at David's Christian Center By Meadow Hall School, Elegushi Beach road, Lekki 3rd Roundabout, Lagos.

Admission is ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!! Enquiries (08157004444). -

https://www.facebook.com/dcclagos

http://davidschristiancentre.org/

dejt4u:
All depends on your reference frame..


looking at it very well, the cat is really going up.

this is what the man Albert Einstein called 'Relativity' in physics

Relativity is totally different o. Its the law that explains why someone can spend just an hour in some other planet or galaxy while about 10 years has would have passed here on earth.

Watch the movie, Interstellar.

And those liking his post without even verifying. . . smh for you.

Bloomyloo:
What's ur mail address plus whats the remuneration?..At least hint

About 50k, it is negotiable of course. I'm skeptical about putting my official mail on a public forum. i assume one can send a mail though Nairaland. Maybe I'm wrong, reach me on my personal email "contactdanny19 @ gmail.com" (Ignore the space). Cheers

Hi guys,

A Female Admin assistant is needed at an Enterprise Software firm located at Illupeju, Lagos. (I work there)

She is to handle all administrative duties and must be willing to stay committed for at least a year. That eliminates those waiting for NYSC.

PS: If you watch "Suits" then you should know about "Donna". If you are anything like Donna, you have the job Immediately.

Shoot me a mail and you will get a call within 36 hours.

Alimosho Lagos Local Govt Chairman Caught on Camera Performing Rituals Without Clothes on,
Hon. Olusola Israel Adekunle, the local government chairman of Alimosho Local Government, Lagos., is seen stark naked in a swampy area sitting on a horse. He is heard muttering some Curses before pouring ‘human blood’ On His Head!

http://4us.ng/politics/alimosho-local-govt-lagos-chairman-caught-on-camera-performing-rituals-without-clothes-on-18/#comments

Anyone knows how to embed a Youtube video here. I've tried, without success, to get it working.

Meet up and coming R&B singer MICAH. He's handsome, has a great voice . . . and is HOLDING MORE AZZ THAN A KARDASHIAN. This can't be real . . . right? How a dude got all that hips and azz





Source: MediaTakeOut

http://4us.ng/entertainment/this-dude-has-more-hips-and-azz-than-mercy-johnson-and-kim-k-combined/

https://twitter.com/IkpebaOfficial/status/553317978868305924
[img]http://4.bp..com/-B-h0rBzzC2M/VK-6eZlzF9I/AAAAAAAEQng/GqEYNIqqLqk/s1600/1.png[/img]
[img]http://4.bp..com/-fAGLG3z3QRs/VK-6dwoBeDI/AAAAAAAEQnc/v2seBBpCg1s/s1600/Victor-Ikpeba-1405.jpg[/img]

This is getting serious
http://twitter.com/ikpebaofficial

lekkie073:


U try......


But anyhow wey e be, ppl must argue about politics and religion because as u said, they are the only arguments that make everyone's perception about d topic right ......


So no tell us say make we no argue

Thanks for commenting.

The purpose of any discussion na to build the both parties up. Arguing with a fixed mindset na just waste of time.

I finally realized today why politics and religion yield such uniquely useless discussions.

As a rule, any mention of religion on an online forum like nairaland or 4us degenerates into a religious argument. Why? Why does this happen with religion and not with relationships or toke makina gossips, or other topics people talk about on forums?


What's different about religion is that people don't feel they need to have any particular expertise to have opinions about it. All they need is strongly held beliefs, and anyone can have those. No thread about toke makinwa will grow as fast as one about religion, because people feel they have to be over some threshold of expertise to post comments about that. But on religion everyone's an expert.

Then it struck me: this is the problem with politics too. Politics, like religion, is a topic where there's no threshold of expertise for expressing an opinion. All you need is strong convictions.


Do religion and politics have something in common that explains this similarity? One possible explanation is that they deal with questions that have no definite answers, so there's no back pressure on people's opinions. Since no one can be proven wrong, every opinion is equally valid, and sensing this, everyone lets fly with theirs.

But this isn't true. There are certainly some political questions that have definite answers, like how much the recently conclude CONFAB cost. But the more precise political questions suffer the same fate as the vaguer ones.

I think what religion and politics have in common is that they become part of people's identity, and people can never have a fruitful argument about something that's part of their identity. By definition they're partisan.

Which topics engage people's identity depends on the people, not the topic. For example, a discussion about a battle that included citizens of one or more of the countries involved would probably degenerate into a political argument. But a discussion today about a battle that took place in the Bronze Age probably wouldn't. No one would know what side to be on. So it's not politics that's the source of the trouble, but identity. When people say a discussion has degenerated into a religious war, what they really mean is that it has started to be driven mostly by people's identities.

Because the point at which this happens depends on the people rather than the topic, it's a mistake to conclude that because a question tends to provoke religious wars, it must have no answer. For example, the question of the the merits of voting a particular political party often degenerates into a religious war, because so many Nigerians identify as APC or PDP.

This sometimes leads people to conclude the question must be unanswerable—that all political parties are equally good (or bad). Obviously that's false. And indeed, you can have a fruitful discussion about the relative merits of each political party, so long as you exclude people who respond from identity.

More generally, you can have a fruitful discussion about a topic only if it doesn't engage the identities of any of the participants. What makes politics and religion such minefields is that they engage so many people's identities. But you could in principle have a useful conversation about them with some people. And there are other topics that might seem harmless, like the relative merits of Deeper Life Church or Reedeemed Church, that you couldn't safely talk about with others.

The most intriguing thing about this theory, if it's right, is that it explains not merely which kinds of discussions to avoid, but how to have better ideas. If people can't think clearly about anything that has become part of their identity, then all other things being equal, the best plan is to let as few things into your identity as possible.

Most people reading this will already be fairly tolerant. But there is a step beyond thinking of yourself as x but tolerating y: not even to consider yourself an x. The more labels you have for yourself, the dumber they make you.

http://4us.ng/politics/i-finally-realized-today-why-politics-and-religion-yield-such-uniquely-useless-discussions/#comments