The best way to find out if your idea is going to work, or how to make it work better, is to make a mockup really quickly and get it into people's brains. I find a lot of resistance to this from businesses in my city; maybe because I'm from a pretty pragmatic, conservative place, and people expect an idea to be complete before you try to sell it.
Read MoreAdvice for Small Town Startups, 9/10 - Tell Your Customers You Love Them
If you are from a small town, there is a chance you will NEVER MEET YOUR CUSTOMERS IN PERSON. So you have to establish trust online. That is a hard thing to do, and you should consider the person you put in charge of it carefully...
Read MoreAdvice for Small Town Startups, 8/10 - Public Exhibitionism is Good Marketing
Document everything. Get a good camera. Take video of your journey. Start a blog, and write about your challenges and successes. Schedule a regular time each week to update documentation, including your website. Your company story is important. You have to remember to document it, though, or no one else will ever know it.
Read MoreAdvice for Small Town Startups, 7/10 - Yes, You Need a Goddam Business Plan
A business plan is what you want to do, written down. It's not an 80 page MBA document with a bunch of pie charts. The sooner you come to terms with that, the better. Write that stuff down, show it to people, and make sure you can explain it properly. Your plan will change as new opportunities emerge, but it's important to always know what you want at any given time, otherwise you won't get it. No one else is going to figure that out for you and hand it to you, so you need to think about it and aim for it.
Read MoreAdvice for Small Town Startups, 6/10 - Get Advice That Doesn't Suck
Where should you look for feedback? The short answer is that you should seek advice from anyone you think should be interested in your company, whether you see them as potential or actual customers, investors, or people who have done things you respect that are related to your own or your company's goals.
Read MoreAdvice for Small Town Startups 5/10 - Start Pitching Now
A pitch is the business equivalent of a Plenty of Fish profile. You want to present enough information to get a first date, preferably with someone who's not a complete nutjob. A short, clear overview is much better than a long, detailed breakdown. Make sure your last slide has contact information on it. Your pitch should invite people to ask questions.
Read MoreAdvice for Small Town Startups, 4/10 - Solve Communication Problems Early
PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE AND ONLINE COMMUNICATION TOOLS ARE YOUR FRIEND
We use Jira and Confluence. We started out using Asana (this is a great tool for designers but not as good for integration with versioning software like Plastic.)
We don't have one person dedicated to keeping it in order, but once we have task management staff, I'm confident the system will run much more smoothly. As it is we now have a single central place where we are slowly putting daily tasks and projects and links to development tools.
Read MoreAdvice for Small Town Startups, 3/10 - Make Do With What You Have
REMEMBER THAT NECESSITY IS THE BABY MOMMA OF INVENTION - If you don't have what you need, find a way to use what you have.
In a small town, you learn to make do with what you have. A lot of our company's hardware and furniture originated from giveaways and pawn shops.
Read MoreAdvice For Small Town Startups, 2/10 - Make Friends Who Are Smarter Than You
If you can't get your friends at home and strangers you meet excited about what you're doing (even if they're just excited about the fact that you're doing something cool), you are going to have problems. If you're a total introvert, you need to find a person you trust who is good at this, and make them a co-founder.
Read MoreAdvice For Small Town Startups, 1/10 - Get Out Of Town
No matter what stage you're at, who you think your market is, or how much money you have, the very best investment of whatever resources and time you do have should be in getting out of your small town for at least a month and spending time in a city with an international market like New York, Toronto, Vancouver, or pretty much anywhere else.
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