Re:Looking for partners for my new startup
by apsec112 on Monday June 15, 2009 @03:33AM
(#658090)
I think it's great that you want to start a business, but I think you'll need to improve your overall skill level before you can take a serious shot at it. My advice to you, as a seventeen-year-old entrepreneur wannabe, is:
- Work on the basics. Learn to read and write fluent English (this is necessary even if English isn't your native language, at least if you want to be based in the US). Learn some programming, learn some web development, get some real world experience. Get a programming job somewhere (preferably web programming), or work on an open source project.
- Saying things like "What is the problem?", with a question mark, makes it sound like you're doing a homework assignment in high school, and that's an instant giveaway that you don't have any experience. Real business plans- in fact, real documents of any sort (see, eg., Viaweb's business plan at http://www.paulgraham.com/vwplan.html)- aren't written by going down a list of pre-prepared questions and answering them in sequence.
- The most important component of a business isn't the idea; it's the ability to adjust what you're doing, so that you can succeed even given a bunch of disasters (and there will be a bunch of disasters). This requires flexibility and determination first and foremost.
- Cut down on typos! Nobody will see what your ideas are if they're in documents full of typos (trust me on this). Online spellcheckers are readily available (http://www.spellchecker.net/spellcheck/).
- Is your figure of "400 million" worldwide? A majority of the world's population still doesn't have Internet access. A more realistic figure would be thirty million. And, why restrict yourself to teenagers? Why not everyone?
Reply to this comment if you're interested in contacting me.
- Work on the basics. Learn to read and write fluent English (this is necessary even if English isn't your native language, at least if you want to be based in the US). Learn some programming, learn some web development, get some real world experience. Get a programming job somewhere (preferably web programming), or work on an open source project.
- Saying things like "What is the problem?", with a question mark, makes it sound like you're doing a homework assignment in high school, and that's an instant giveaway that you don't have any experience. Real business plans- in fact, real documents of any sort (see, eg., Viaweb's business plan at http://www.paulgraham.com/vwplan.html)- aren't written by going down a list of pre-prepared questions and answering them in sequence.
- The most important component of a business isn't the idea; it's the ability to adjust what you're doing, so that you can succeed even given a bunch of disasters (and there will be a bunch of disasters). This requires flexibility and determination first and foremost.
- Cut down on typos! Nobody will see what your ideas are if they're in documents full of typos (trust me on this). Online spellcheckers are readily available (http://www.spellchecker.net/spellcheck/).
- Is your figure of "400 million" worldwide? A majority of the world's population still doesn't have Internet access. A more realistic figure would be thirty million. And, why restrict yourself to teenagers? Why not everyone?
Reply to this comment if you're interested in contacting me.