It depends completely on the legal documents you both signed related to his investment in the company. Those documents will either provide for "information rights" or not. If the documents don't stipulate to these kinds of rights, you are not obliged to show the investor anything.

Well if you went the admitted route you would likely have to consider 50 varieties of your offering; one for each state. If you went the non-admitted route you could avoid most of this BUT sometimes the reputation of non-admitted is not as good since they do not fall under state guidelines. On the other hand, your company will fail if it does not take care of customers and pay claims so you should be able to avoid that problem.

If you don't have a license, you can't legally offer the file to download, unless it is shared with one of a select number of free licenses that don't require attribution. A "thanks" is no legal protection against DCMA takedown notices and RIAA or MPAA lawsuits. So in short: you need licenses.

If you mention what?

It depends by your company size and structure, but i think a CEO of a small company must understand what is pertinent to strategic decisions for his company. If you are thinking of changing the way you sell, it is better you understand why, which are the cost involved, benchmark your competition and see what they do. You need to have the situation in your hand in order to guide the decision process in the best way.

Can you promote without content? No. However it does not start with content either, it starts with 'strategy'. What exactly do you want to communicate, what you want your audience to expect in your blog, how you want to hook them, engage them, and participate in discussions. What are your strengths - webinars, ebooks, tutorials, reviews? 1. Prepare an inventory of what all you want to offer, and why. 2. Plan a calendar so that you can stick to a schedule. Remember that all blogs start at 'Hello World' and a many end at this post itself. 3. Plan how to reward your audience. 4. Now comes Content and Promotion strategy. If you want more details, write to me or setup a call anytime! :)

Great question, I have launched a few digital products and have helped others do the same. The steps can be as simple as: Setup a PayPal link and send it out to people or can involve complex applications. Without knowing the exact nature of the product or service in mind here are some general steps. 1. If you don't own your business domain and have a website up, that would be the first step. 2. There are several options for payment. If you have a digital product that will be delivered Gumroad has an excellent platform for selling digital items such as ebooks, videos, MP3. There is also selz.com which allows products as well as services. 3. Drive traffic to your page via social media or paid advertising. 4. As this is an existing product, you may have some ideas of where the market hangs out in terms of blogs, forums, chat rooms, etc.. Remember, if going into a group you want to offer value before trying to sell or it will likely backfire. I hope that helps with a bit of a framework. If you have further questions let me know or you can schedule a Clarity call with me to help plan this out in further detail. Rob

A great structure is having an internal champion present on each team, unit, office, etc. that can easily provide answers to benefit questions. This structure is particularly important if the company is spread across several locations without HR on the ground in each locale. On the more proactive side, having the champions provide information through rotating monthly topics in presentation, newsletter, or dropping into team meetings can be extremely effective. For example, a champion might put together a January newsletter for employees that will be utilizing parental leave detailing the process and what they need to know ahead of time. Training of champions can take place through HR or existing champions that know company policies, engagement can occur through project management and implementation, and empowerment through the respect and gratitude earned. Internal champions are often looked to for management positions following effective leadership and project execution.

Hi there, I'd recommend having a strong social media presence. You could use Knowem.com to check availability of social media channels and they will show you the top ones you need to be on. Today you should at least have an Instagram in addition to a Facebook Page and a dedicated Twitter account. I can explain how to set all of this up and how to easily manage it too.

Confluence by Atlassian has worked out great for me in the past. You can track changes, control rights to edit (and more) and take advantage of lots of features. It also integrates with other Atlassian tools. Let me know if you'd like further info or details on my past implementations.

At that pricing I would include in your advertising that the per month fee is only about the cost of a single cup of coffee. To make that clear, tell them that you'll in fact make their first month free by emailing them a starbucks coffee coupon when they sign up. That initiates your relationship with them as more of a 'social contract', rather than a business one, since you've given them a gift (make sure to include their first name in the starbucks coupon email), and their brain now associates the $5/month fee with just a single cup of coffee, which is money they basically throw away each day anyway. A social contract makes people more committed to your brand, and pay less attention to the cost and more to the relationship. With that said, once you start a social contract, you have to keep it up (keep interacting with them in a more buddy way, in terms of email wordings, things you may send them occasionally, etc), otherwise if you switch back to treating it more like a business contract again they will get pretty offended / pissed. If you want more advice on this let me know.

Hey, Aayush; I launched a marketing consulting business in 2008 and ended up teaching marketing strategy to companies like Disney, Cox Communications, and more before the recession hit in 2010 and forced a change in career. Let me share what I learned then with you. The easiest way to do this is to find a niche that you may feel is poorly represented and start buying clicks. Maybe you want to pr motor yourself on Facebook to game developers or target a list of 5,000 self-published authors on Twitter. Find the market you wish to enter and figure out how to reach them. Build content that's laser targeted to that market. Optimize your landing pages, do all the smart marketing tactics that you should have learned by now and you should be able to gain some traction. That will take a decent amount of money, but you're generally better off burning money instead of time if you have a successful business. The exchange rate between USD and rupee may hurt too much to do that, though. The alternative is to take time instead of money. Find those same audience members who you want to do marketing for online. They have hangouts somewhere: Google Plus or LinkedIn Groups or even dusty old phpbb forums. Spend a few weeks just listening. See what they need. Start offering some free advice and see how they react. Once you understand what they need and how you can economically provide it, build your landing pages and then go back to your new friends and start asking them to spread the word. Treat those first few clients like kings, because their recommendations can make all the difference between winning over your new market or struggling futilely. For as long as you can afford to, plow all of the profits from your new market into growing that market. Eventually, after a year or three, you'll look around and realize that all the hard work has paid off in success. And then it's time to add another new market and start again. 😊

The leading players are Zendesk, GrooveHQ, and FreshDesk. I have used all of these and my vote goes to Zendesk. I talked about it as a case study for a documentation task, see http://www.vinishgarg.com/2014/09/kb-case-study-pain-points-and-analysis/. I am also co-founder of @In23Hours where we develop product KBs in Zendesk. If you have any specific questions or doubts, setup a call and I can explain everything that you may need to know.

What you've already done is a great first step. Here are two additional ways you can improve conversion: A) Right now you have two options - Free - $ + pro features To get more people to select option two, you can add a third option. This third option is a 'dummy option', you won't be expecting many or any people to actually choose it. It's just there to make use of a known way in which the human brain makes decisions. The third option should cost more than [option 2], maybe 1.5X the cost. The third option should be [option 2]+anything you can think of that could possibly add any amount of value. For instance, maybe it's access to a special "pro-user FAQ", I don't know exactly what your services are so you'll obviously know better. When this third option is present users will see the middle option [option 2] as a good deal, or at least a better deal than they had previously seen it as. This will lead to higher conversion. B) This method is pretty commonly known and used, but maybe you haven't implemented it yet. Studies have repeatedly shown that the human mind is more inclined to fear loss than to the seek gain. So make the pro version of all your services available for free for one month. This will accomplish two things. - Once they have signed up for free, they will have a lower likelihood of canceling than the initial likelihood of them signing up. - In this process you will be collecting a ton of data on what your users want / don't want. Only notify existing users about this free offer through email (do not advertise it on the site), and mention in the email that it's because they've already given you something, and they're already committed to you to some extent ("we love how you have been using our products", or "because you've such a great user for such a long time"). To use the pro version users will have to give you credit info, and start billing them if they don't cancel within a month. Make sure that if they cancel you have a question about why they are canceling. It may be because 1) they don't want to pay that much, 2) you're missing things that people want ("I wish you had this feature"), or 3) you have some things that people don't want ("there's a bug when I do this"). If it's #1, then you can start advertising to a new user base, or make your prices cheaper, and if it's #2 or #3 you can have your devs fix things. _Only_ notify the users that are not currently paid subscribers (if send the email to paid subscribers too they will be pissed that they aren't getting a free month too). Still though, there is a danger that your existing paid customers might find out. So to avoid potentially pissing them off, you can send each of them and email offer to use a service that they are not currently paying for free for a month. C) If you want to go more in depth into these methods and additional methods we can talk about it,

My company just went through this. There are several ways you can approach the problem: 1. Find a mentor. Who's the biggest kahuna in your space? Reach out to him or to her. Don't ask for money or intros to VCs. Just pose a good question and start a conversation. Experts love to be heard (how else does Clarity work? :). Use that. If you're interesting and you have a great product, they'll approach you about finding. 2. Attend (and win) some pitch competitions like TC Disrupt. This is a toughie, but if you can cut it there, you can cut it anywhere. Note that good pitches do not necessarily convert to good product (hello, "Yo."). Even if you don't win, some VCs will see you and may approach. 3. Get into an incubator. Y combinator, hub:raum, Wearable World, and do on are all designed to teach you what you need to know to make your next round a success. Find one in the US and get going. Yes, it will cost you a little equity, but it may be worth it in networking and preparation for pitching the US VC market. 3. Pitch somewhere else. Why focus on the US? The VC market there is going to be bone dry in 2016. If you can secure money from anywhere (and you need it) I'd suggest you go and take it now. If you need to raise a round in Q2 2016, good luck to you, because you have a tough row to hoe. 4. PR. If you do an excellent job with PR--especially PR aimed at securing a new investor--you can make good headway in the US. But that will run you ~50k USD to raise 3+ MM USD if you're lucky. Performance can vary wildly. 5. Networking. Hit up the speaking and trade show circuit for your industry and shake enough hands, you'll eventually find a VC. But it's hard going and also super expensive if you're not a US company to travel that much to the US. Hope one or more of these helped. Let me know if you have any follow up questions about, for example, pitching. Which is a whole 'nother ball game. 😊

That varies wildly based on sales cycle and product complexity. An easy rule: sales staff should be as much as you can hire and keep costs under revenue. Support should be enough that customer response times are never over 24 hours. If it's taking longer, hire more support if you can afford to. If you can't afford to, you probably need to simplify your product or else improve your sales processes. 😊

If its for sales through Amazon (or even elsewhere) FBAPrep.com is one of the best out there. They can handle importing, preparation (repackaging, barcoding, etc.) and then final shipment. Plus, they know the special requirements of Amazon and other third party marketplaces.

First, you should look for lawyers who specialize in class action lawsuits. To find such lawyers, you can google, or contact the Bar Association in your state. You mentioned the victims are low on cash. Yes, lawyers will work for a future payment, but you have to find such lawyers, and ask if they are willing to accept such a payment agreement. This type of payment agreement is called a contingency fee. This means the lawyer is paid a percentage of the client's monetary award, or a settlement the client comes to with the other party. If the client doesn't win, the lawyer gets nothing. So, basically, the lawyer's pay is contingent upon the client winning the case. I hope everything works out!

It’s easy to get bored when we feel stuck in a routine, same old habits, going about our lives on autopilot. To break out of that routine, we don’t always have to take huge leaps. One small step can be enough, doing one little thing a bit differently. Try taking a different route to work, going to a different coffee shop, trying something new on the menu. Or why not join a meetup group, try African drumming, go on a camping trip, or go along to a meditation session? Personally, I’m doing one new challenge a month! At the macro level, travel is absolutely a way to mix things up. Initially when I quit my full-time job, I got big contracts and then travelled in between. Now, I’m experimenting with working and travelling at the same time, spending a month in each place - currently in San Francisco, next month in Honolulu… I’m going to want to have a base with a bit more stability soon but in the meantime I’m enjoying myself, while making progress on all three of my businesses!

Suppose you're a customer buying from yourself. Why? What reasons do you find persuasive? If identical products can be purchased for a fraction of a price elsewhere ... and that "elsewhere" is more visible than you, then you'll have a difficult time. If, on the other hand, your offering is unique, exclusive, rare, then your pitch will be more credible. Transparency also helps. Customers understand economies of scale. If you can explain yourself, then they may listen. But don't present your pricing with an apology. Massage the phrasing. You're not small; you're "boutique". You're not overpriced; no, you respect the artists whose selections you offer – enough to pay them fairly and not cut corners on production costs. While other vendors work with an "assembly line" business model, you take pride in each piece and give it individual care and attention. And so forth. If you'd like help crafting the words, I can help write copy for landing pages, brochures, etc.

Josh, I am a contract and negotiation expert. I have over 8 years of small business advising and consulting experience. A more detailed bio is easily available on all social media and this site. Let me be a lawyer and give this disclaimer *This is not legal advice, and this information does establish an attorney/client relationship. This is merely for educational purposes* Here are some short answers to get you started, hopefully in the right direction. 1. If it is an option, always ask for a % of the gross. There is a term that I use, "companies WILL net you to death!" Legally, companies have a wide range of what can be written off as an expense, thus shrinking the net profit, thus affecting your rate. If you can't get a % of gross, make sure you have a detailed list of expenses that are routinely taken out every month, and negotiate from there. Why? In some (if not most) businesses there are "necessary" (internet and rent) and "unnecessary" (payment on Lexus for CEO) expenses. Your goal is to eliminate all the unnecessary expenses from the raw number that you will be taking your percentage from. 2. There are many template contracts available. I think entrepreneur is trustworthy (and free). Here is the link http://goo.gl/fz36zg 3. I think it would be smart to ask for some type of accounting sheet. Thus, how would you know if they are telling you the truth about profits and/or net. An additional question to ask yourself, is what are the benefits to taking a percentage vs. a flat fee? I'm assuming the contract is going to be based on performance, thus another option can be a base fee, with bonuses after you hit certain numbers. Just something to think about. I hope this helps! Good luck! If you need more advice, schedule a call!

You are not doing anything wrong you are actually doing all the right things. I took a look at what you are trying to build. That is where you need to do some work. 1. Books today are relatively inexpensive. So what would the cost be to rent vs buy? Rent vs buy used? 2. Why not go to the library? 3. You can buy used, no? As a Non-Technical founder I don't see the problem

As a marketing agency, your work is designed to reach people and be publicly viewable anyway, right? So I don't see the problem. Why not share specimens that have already been shared with the world at large? Today's competitor may be tomorrow's coworker or collaborator. Perhaps your peer might wish to hire you or bring you on as a partner some day ... or vice versa. Maybe the overlap between your services and skill sets is only partial. In some cases, I and my competitors team up to work with a single client; so we actually refer leads to one another. If you're aloof and standoffish, then you may be closing doors to future opportunities. Since the risk of being open appears minimal, just relax and talk about the best work you do.

Really good question. You can do it via one of three ways: 1) Provisional Patent. if an implementation of their system to his new market would be patentable (i.e. using machine X to make donuts instead of jewelry), then you could file a provisional patent on the idea. Provisional patents are very informal and cheap. They can essentially be written on the back of a napkin, and filed for ~$100. They last for only a year, after which you have to convert them into a 'real patent', otherwise your idea will become open to the public to use. 2) An NDA. You could have them sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), which would have wording in it that basically says, "I'm going to tell you something, and unless you have existing proof that you already had thought of that idea, then you're not allowed to use my idea without my consent". Sometimes the company will not want to sign an NDA because they may have discussed a lot of ideas without writing them down, and by signing your NDA, they'd legally lose the right to use one of those non-written-down ideas. But it's worth a shot. 3) Rely on trust. The way to make this more likely to work is if you are good friends with a big investor in their company, or something like that. Some situation in which, if they steal your idea, they'd be ruining their reputation with someone they care about (they probably don't care about pissing you yourself off). If you don't have such a connection, maybe you can form one through linkedin. If you'd like to discuss any of this further let me know, all the best, Lee

Finding focus is a constant struggle, especially when you're in a position that requires you to respond to other people (clients, contractors, employees). Between the outside forces that tug at our attention and the internal tendencies to procrastinate and spiral off-topic, it's very easy to feel overwhelmed. I'm a long-time entrepreneur, and I've worked as a manager (of clients, contractors, and employees) and as a contractor (where multiple people can affect my time and responsibilities) — plus I've battled with my own tendency to procrastinate and screw around. Out of all that, I've found a few factors that make a big difference for me: 1. Take the time to plan up front. Most of the time when I'm having trouble focusing, it's because I'm not clear on what I'm supposed to be doing. When I have a clear plan, it's easier to spot a next step, so things tend to happen without such a huge mental effort on my part to get started. 2. Remove your distractions. Email pings and vibrating phones give us the illusion of being busy and productive, but typically they only distract us. When it's time to work on a project, give yourself 1–2 hours of distraction-free time and put your phone in airplane mode and close your email. It feels scary, but no one will begrudge you 90 minutes of focus time (and if they do, fire them). 3. Group tasks by context. Trying to write an email in the middle of crunching numbers or writing code requires a complete mental shift in focus and context, which uses up a lot of cognitive resources. Minimize the switching by trying to group tasks by similarity: writing emails and entering expenses, for example, have similar contexts, so they could be grouped together. 4. Stop multitasking. We're all bad at it, and everyone loses when we do it. Instead, break projects into small tasks that can be managed in a day or less, and work on one task until it's complete before starting anything else. For each project you're no longer multitasking, you'll see about a 20% increase in productive time. --- I've coached people on productivity and focus frequently, and while there's always variability in how motivated people are by default, there's no personality type I've found that isn't capable of making huge productivity and focus improvements with a few small adjustments to their day-to-day habits. You can read more about how I stay productive here: http://lengstorf.com/scheduling-maximum-productivity/ If you'd like to work together to review your specific situation and put together a tailored plan to help you feel more in control and less scattered, I'm happy to get on a call. Good luck!