Speaking from the experience of someone who has hired general heavy labor and skilled trades... This has literally existed since the gold rush, chances are 60-80% of the labor involved in building your house came from an organization like this. They are a unique niche of staffing agencies that only staff same day labor. Many of organizations are nation-wide. Also, lots of skilled workers ask to be paid in cash, so they wouldn’t want a paper trail anyway... you pay 50% upfront and 50% when the job is done to spec. Just doing a few jobs on Craigslist and hiring some laborors won’t make you in any way even close to expert enough to tackle this field.
Quick note- your survey assumes that each startup has only two co-founders, therefore, your results may be skewed by responses like the one I just submitted. I met my non-tech cofounder ("cofounder2") in first grade, but our tech cofounder ("cofounder3") I've known for less than a year. However, cofounder2 has known cofounder3 for a few years... I hope you post your findings, I'd love to see what everybody responds.
"What did Spence learn from Collins? “You’re only as young as the new things you do,” he writes, “the number of ‘firsts’ in your days and weeks.” Ask any educator and they’ll agree: We learn the most when we encounter people who are the least like us. Then ask yourself: Don’t you spend most of your time with people who are exactly like you? Colleagues from the same company, peers from the same industry, friends from the same profession and neighborhood?
It takes a real sense of personal commitment, especially after you’ve arrived at a position of power and responsibility, to push yourself to grow and challenge conventional wisdom. Which is why two of the most important questions leaders face are as simple as they are profound: Are you learning, as an organization and as an individual, as fast as the world is changing? Are you as determined to stay interested as to be interesting? Remember, it’s what you learn after you know it all that counts."
"what I like about you
she told me
is that you're crude --
look at you sitting there
a beercan in your hand
and a cigar in your mouth
and look at
your dirty hairy belly
sticking out from
under your shirt.
you've got your shoes off
and you've got a hole
in your right stocking
with the big toe
sticking out.
you haven't shaved in
4 or 5 days.
your teeth are yellow
and your eyebrows
hang down
all twisted
and you've got enough
scars
to scare the shit
out of anybody.
there's always
a ring
in your bathtub
your telephone
is covered with
grease
and
half the crap in
your refrigerator is
rotten.
you never
wash your car.
you've got newspapers
a week old
on the floor.
you read dirty
magazines
and you don't have
a tv
but you order
deliveries from the
liquor store
and you tip
good.
and best of all
you don't push
a woman to
go to bed
with you.
you seem hardly
interested
and when I talk to you
you don't
say anything
you just
look around
the room or
scratch your
neck
like you don't
hear me.
you've got an old
wet towel in
the sink
and a photo of
Mussolini
on the wall
and you never
complain
about anything
and you never
ask questions
and I've
known you for
6 months
but I have
no idea
who you are.
you're like
some
pulled down shade
but that's what
I like about
you:
your crudeness:
a woman can
drop
out of your
life and
forget you
real fast.
a woman
can't go anywhere
but UP
after
leaving you,
honey.
you've got to
be
the best thing
that ever
happened
to
a girl
who's between
one guy
and the next
and has nothing
to do
at the moment.
this fucking
Scotch is
great.
let's play
Scrabble."
Anything we can do to help, you guys have a great product! I'll be sure to utilize the downloads- maybe one of those brief tutorials when you download the app (like on Snapchat when you first download) could help to explain app features like long-pressing.
I just tweeted Gimlet to see if it encourages a response, but I'm nobody special on Twitter so don't get your hopes up. ;)
There are jerks in every industry. Just gotta work hard and be glad you're not one of them.
I'd like to believe the industry attracts just as many people who are trying to make the world suck less... like every person who was just disgusted by this story.
Whenever I give a talk, I show up wearing fancy lingerie underneath my business clothes. That way I get the feeling that I know something absolutely nobody else in the room knows... and that little fact gives me confidence.
If you're a guy and/or not into wearing lingerie you can always wear a ridiculous shirt underneath your presentation clothes that has something outrageous on it. Or (if you're crazy enough) put a printout of something random, like a banana or a hamster or Oscar the Grouch in your pocket. Just thinking in the first ten seconds that you did something so nonsensical make you kind of wonder if you are losing your mind- in which case you may have a little chuckle to yourself, causing the tension to dissolve. Also, you will know something the audience absolutely doesn't.
I realize this is exceptionally unorthodox advice, but it works so don't knock it 'til you've tried it.
Another tip is to pretend that you are talking to a room full of friends, that you have been accepted by all of the audience members already and they support you. Takes the edge off...
jsonne is absolutely right the lead up is always worse and after 10 to 20 seconds it starts to feel normal.
Hey! I've worked in business development for nearly a decade, as a consultant and in the corporate world. I've also started my own startup so I'd love to help in any way I can- I've learned a lot through the process.
In order to help you out, I need to know a little more about your business. What are you building and how have you determined demand?
(This will help me get a general idea of the path you need to take and how to get there)
In terms of books- I've never really read one that can replace experience. Unfortunately the times I've learned most have been times I've tried and failed.
What I highly recommend, though, is a business plan. Check out any old business plan template on the internet- I've written many and I recommend that you do a brief plan (1-10 pages) and focus on your financial statement. It will help you sniff out all the hidden costs you wouldn't typically think about (electricity, depreciation, office space- even if it's in your house) so that you can get a clear idea of how much you need to make in order see growth.
Feel free to get in touch on HN or email [email protected] and good luck!