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Topics - Reyed Mia, Daffodil

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31
NDA / Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
« on: March 24, 2018, 05:28:22 PM »
Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)


A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement, is a legally binding contract in which one party agrees to give a second party confidential information about its business or products and the second party agrees not to share this information with anyone else for a specified period of time. NDAs are used to protect sensitive information and intellectual property (IP) by outlining in detail what information must remain private and what information can be shared or released to the public.


NDAs are typically signed at the beginning of a business relationship. The information covered by a NDA can be unlimited, ranging from test results to system specifications to customer lists and sales figures. If the NDA is broken and information is leaked, it is considered a breach of contract.

Key elements of a NDA include:

Identification of the participants
Definition of what is considered to be confidential
Duration of the confidentiality commitment
Exclusions from confidential protection
NDAs are commonly used at technology companies when products are jointly developed. In such a case, the NDA is often mutual or two-way. An NDA can also be useful when a company seeks venture capital from potential backers. In this scenario, the NDA ensures that investors can access the information they need to make a financial decision, but not exploit it.

In addition to an NDA, potential investors may be asked to sign a non-compete agreement (NCA) which prevents the investor from using information acquired during negotiation to gain a competitive advantage. Such considerations are especially important when patents have been applied for but have not yet been issued.

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/non-disclosure-agreement

32
7 Creative Strategies for Marketing Your Startup on a Tight Budget


Boostrapping builds character. There are endless ways to finance your ideas, but there’s nothing like marketing a startup with a modest budget to encourage innovation. Limited funds give you an excuse to flex your creative muscle and truly share your vision with the world.

Don't rely on the same old banner ads and Google reviews. Instead, try these eight marketing strategies to place the spotlight on your business.

1. Share your central "why."
“What do you do for a living?” This simple question is one you’re asked during almost every introduction. If you answer with a quick, “I’m an entrepreneur” (vague and a little diluted) or, “I run a small business” (makes people think of brick-and-mortar spots), you’re cheating yourself out of an opportunity to generate word-of-mouth marketing for your business.

Instead, develop a narrative that differentiates your company from others and sparks conversation. Does your startup support a certain cause with every sale? Say so. Did you come up with your business idea during a troubling life event? Mentioning it may inspire those around you.


Related: Social Media Marketing Tips for Local Businesses

Sharing your central “why,” as well as the story on how your startup came to be, will make your business more memorable to others. Plus, it will interest people more at parties.

2. Don’t just sell -- engage.
As an entrepreneur, your instinct may push you to sell to everyone you meet. Though there’s nothing wrong with flaunting your brand now and then, it’s important to give your company relevance and participate in discussions that don’t quite revolve around your business.

With social media, it’s easy to engage your target demographic without looking like you’re just trying to advertise. Some businesses may leave encouraging comments on photos of people’s food; sports equipment retailers may “re-post” articles on a local high school basketball team’s recent win. Build brand trust by showing your support, whether of your community or your online following.

Next time someone’s looking for a product or service within your niche, they’ll remember your kindness and go to you. Sharing someone else’s content doesn’t necessarily mean losing your audience’s attention. You can use Start a Fire to create share-ready URLs that add branded badges to any Web page, so that when someone clicks on the links you post, they’ll see you there, along with more content that you recommend.

3. Carve a niche and build industry credibility.
Your startup’s shoestring budget can’t keep you from carving out its own niche. Assemble a culture around your business by offering an insider’s perspective to those on the outside. A blog can offer laymen the chance to understand your trade with a new perspective. A webinar or a podcast can help viewers (or listeners) feel like experts in your field. Speaking at an incubator, expo or niche event can put you in the role of the teacher and allow you to share your groundbreaking ideas with an immediate audience. The small business convention you attend every year is probably in need of a few more keynoters; why don’t you try speaking instead of observing?

Networking and sharing your expertise with others can help you prove your abilities to your community. A variety of people, from journalists to aspiring entrepreneurs, can help to create buzz around your business.


Try offering your expertise to small business newbies through forum sites like Quora, where thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs ask questions for pros to answer. You can also share your story by connecting with journalists online via Help a Reporter Out (HARO).

4. Help people discover your content.
If your startup is fit for the twenty-first century, it maintains some sort of online presence. In fact, you may be satisfied with just a website, some social media pages, a blog, or even a pre-launch Web page. Just because your content is online, though, doesn’t mean it’s easily discoverable by your target audience.

With every post you publish, use keywords specific to your niche, like “vegan leather tote” instead of “handbag,” for example, to improve your Google rankings. You can also use these hyper-targeted keywords to power your social media-based audience acquisition. With Socedo, a social media automation tool, you can find Twitter users who post content using your niche keywords and engage with them over time.

Related: Small Business Marketing Tips for 6 Industries


Next, help people find your content by practicing a few SEO techniques, starting with your website. Title your pages with phrases unique to your business so they stand apart from other sites. Improve your website’s load speed by removing unnecessary plug-ins and long strings of code (perhaps a job for your Web developer), and always be sure to post original content instead of copying from another site. There are countless options for improving your general SEO ranking, but taking care of a few easy tasks will boost your content’s position in search results for now.

5. Send out irresistible e-coupons.
You’ve probably experienced coupon temptation before. Research shows that very few can resist the appeal of a great coupon; four out of five consumers use coupons regularly both in-store and online. Moreover, about half do business with a particular company because they were provided a coupon.

While you could go the old-fashioned route and distribute coupons via snail mail, exclusive e-coupons hit two birds with one stone by convincing more people to join your email list. There are also some clever ways to integrate e-coupons into your email marketing strategy.

Those who are already invested in your mission will appreciate the ways in which you thank them for their business. People new to your company will be more likely to join your following. It’s a win-win.

6. Scratch their back, they’ll scratch yours.
If you’re just starting out, you may have a hard time introducing your company to the public. A great way to build a niche and generate word-of-mouth is through samples and giveaways.

Try reaching out to eager members of your target audience and offering up your commodity (or a sample slice of it) in return for a review and shares on social media.


Related: 10 Marketing Tricks From the Pros

Those who participate get a cool new item or experience to share with their friends, while you get trust and visibility -- another win-win. You don’t want to give up your entire stock all at once, but sharing it with a select few could give you a marketing edge.

7. Co-sponsor an event within your niche.
Every industry hosts its special events: the annual Carnegie Conference for traditional and digital marketers, VeritageMiami for U.S. winemakers and the Interior Design Hall of Fame gala for -- you guessed it -- interior designers. Unless an event is owned and managed by a single company, most planners seek out sponsors to help fund the event.

This provides you with a fantastic niche marketing opportunity. Next time you’re thinking about attending an event within your industry, see if it has any sponsorship spots open. Better yet, ask whether you can present there (or otherwise spotlight your company) to further engage attendees. Aside from giving you a good name, co-sponsoring a niche event allows you to meet and greet with your target demographic, network and generate new leads.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/277343

33
Learn about machine learning


34
Mobile Apps / Marketing Strategy
« on: March 12, 2018, 05:35:18 PM »
Marketing Strategy


35
Mobile Apps / My Top Mobile Apps of 2017
« on: March 12, 2018, 05:30:39 PM »
My Top Mobile Apps of 2017




A quick word about home screens
This is only partially-related, but Android two huge big advantages over iOS when it comes to home screen configuration. First, you can arbitrarily place app icons anywhere you want; on iOS, the icons have to fill in from the top left. And second, Android supports an all apps view so that you only need to place your favorite apps on the home screens; in iOS, you need to use folders to hide infrequently-used apps.

My iPhone X home screens


These differences impact how I access my favorite apps on each platform. On Android, for example, I tend to keep a small set of favorite apps on the bottom half of each home screen so that they can be easily accessed one-handed. On the iPhone, I tend to fill the screen with icons, and put the most-frequently-used apps on the bottom half, again for easier access.

My iPad home screens

I also experiment a lot with different layouts, especially on iOS, because I just hate how limited the customization is there. On the iPhone X, I’m using multiple home screens, each with a theme of sorts, but in the past, I’ve stuck to one or two screens with folders for organization. Both kind of suck, frankly.

My Pixel 2 XL home screens

Anyway, because of these differences, my Android phone is, perhaps, a better indicator of what apps really matter most to me. Because those apps are in the app shelf (app dock on iOS) and/or on the first home screen.

My top apps (phone)
On that note, I have Firefox (web browser), Phone, Messaging, and Camera in the app shelf/dock on both Android and iOS; because my Google Pixel 2 XL supports placing 5 icons there, I add Google Maps.

But my top productivity and sharing apps also make the first home screen on all of my phones. These include Google Inbox (email), Google Calendar, Skype, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google Photos, and Skype. Additionally, Duolingo—which I use every single day—and Google Play Store/Apple App Store are on the first home screen as well.

My top apps (tablet)
I use an iPad almost primarily for reading, and, when traveling, to watch movies and TV shows. So the layout of these devices is tied to this kind of usage.

I pin the Apple App Store, the iTunes Store, Firefox, Amazon Kindle, Pocket, and NYTimes (newspaper) to the dock. On the first home screen, you will find Settings, Clock, Duolingo, Google Inbox, Google Calendar, Google Photos, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google News, Kindle Store (a web shortcut), and a few others.

Reading apps (phone)
Reading is a primary function on the tablet (above), but it’s secondary on my phones: I have NYTimes, Pocket, Google News, and Kindle on the second home screen on my phone.

Media apps
I use Audible (audiobooks), Pocket Casts (podcasts), and Google Play Music (music) regularly on my phones. These are on the second home screen.

I tend to use video apps on the iPad more often: TV (Apple’s terrible new video player), Google Play Video, and YouTube most frequently, but also Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Hulu. These are also on the second home screen.

Work and other apps
I have airline apps, Uber, expense reporting, and other work-related apps on my phone’s second home screen. And I sometimes use other productivity apps, like Cortana, Microsoft Edge, and few others. I use Fitbit to sync my wearable and Philips Hue to control my smart lights.

I also find myself in Google Home occasionally, to set up Chromecasts, and in Google Wifi to monitor or manage my home network. I use Microsoft Authenticator and Android’s built-in authentication for 2FA, but because these things display prompts, I don’t need to pin shortcuts anywhere. Both of these methods work great.

Photo apps
I back up my phone photos to both Google Photos and OneDrive, only via Wi-Fi. I don’t use any special photo viewing or editing apps, just what’s built-in.


https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/147909/top-mobile-apps-2017

36
জেনে নিন কিভাবে অনলাইনেই কোম্পানি রেজিস্ট্রেশন করবেন । How to Register a Company In Bangladesh


37
নতুন উদ্যোক্তা কিভাবে একটি কোম্পানী তৈরী করবে | Company Registration


38
Trade License / How to get trade licence in Bangladesh
« on: March 10, 2018, 11:33:49 AM »
How to get trade licence in Bangladesh


39
Trade License / Registration for Trade License
« on: March 10, 2018, 11:31:58 AM »
Registration for Trade License


40
Angel Investment / Angel Investing - What Returns Do They Want
« on: March 08, 2018, 10:23:19 AM »
Angel Investing - What Returns Do They Want


41
Angel Investment / What is an Angel Investor?
« on: March 08, 2018, 10:21:28 AM »
What is an Angel Investor?


42
Venture Capital / Venture Capitalist
« on: March 08, 2018, 10:16:48 AM »
Venture Capitalist


43
Angel Investment / Angel Investor
« on: March 08, 2018, 10:15:31 AM »
Angel Investor


44
Angel Investing: 20 Things Entrepreneurs Should Know


Angel investors invest in early stage or start-up companies in exchange for an equity ownership interest. Angel investing in start-ups has been accelerating. High-profile success stories like Uber, WhatsApp, Facebook, and others have spurred angel investors to make multiple bets with the hopes of getting outsized returns. Here are my thoughts on frequently asked questions from entrepreneurs about angel financing.

1. How much do angel investors invest in a company?
The typical angel investment is $25,000 to $100,000 a company, but can go higher.

2. What are the six most important things for angel investors?

Here is what angels particularly care about:

The quality, passion, commitment, and integrity of the founders.
The market opportunity being addressed and the potential for the company to become very big.
A clearly thought out business plan, and any early evidence of obtaining traction toward the plan.
Interesting technology or intellectual property.
An appropriate valuation with reasonable terms.
The viability of raising additional rounds of financing if progress is made.

3. What do angel investors like to initially see from an entrepreneur?
A clearly articulated elevator pitch for the business.
An executive summary or pitch deck.
A prototype or working model of the proposed product or service (or at least renditions).
Early adopters or customers.

4. How long will it take to raise angel financing?
It’s my rule of thumb that it will always take longer to raise angel financing than you expect, and it will be more difficult than you had hoped. Not only do you have to find the right investors who are interested in your sector, but you have to go through meetings, due diligence, negotiations on terms, and more. Raising capital can be a very time-consuming process.

5. What financial questions should the entrepreneur anticipate from angel investors?
How much capital are you raising?
How long will that capital last?
What will be your monthly burn rate?
Do you have detailed financial projections for the next two years?
What are the key assumptions underlying your projections?
What key cost components are there for the product or service?
What are the unit economics?
What are the likely gross margins?

6. What questions should the entrepreneur anticipate about marketing and customer acquisition?
The angel investor will want to get a sense of how the company plans to market itself, the cost of acquiring a customer, and the long-term value of a customer. So the entrepreneur should be prepared for the following:

How does the company market or plan to market its products or services?
What is the company’s PR strategy?
What is the company’s social media strategy?
What is the cost of a customer acquisition?
What is the projected lifetime value of a customer?
What advertising will you be doing?
What is the typical sales cycle between initial customer contact and closing of a sale?

7. What questions should the entrepreneur expect concerning the management team and founders?
Who are the founders and key team members?
What relevant domain experience does the team have?
What key additions to the team are needed in the short term?
Why is the team uniquely capable to execute the company’s business plan?
How many employees do you have?
What motivates the founders?
How do you plan to scale the team in the next 12 months?

8. How risky is angel investing?
It’s very risky, and an angel will only invest if he or she is comfortable with potentially losing all of his or her investment. At best, only one in ten startups are successful.

9. How can you find angel investors?
There are a variety of ways to find angel investors, including through:

Entrepreneurs
Lawyers and accountants
AngelList Opens a New Window.
Angel investor networks (groups that aggregate individual investors)
Venture capitalists and investment bankers
Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter Opens a New Window.  and Indiegogo Opens a New Window.
The best way to find an angel investor is a solid introduction from a colleague or friend of an angel. The use of LinkedIn to ascertain connections can prove useful.

10. Will angel investors sign nondisclosure agreements?
No. Angel investors see too many deals and you don’t want to impose a roadblock to getting an investor interested in your company. The entrepreneur will have to be careful and not disclose highly confidential information.

11. What questions should a CEO ask of potential angel investors?
The entrepreneur should determine whether a prospective angel investor will be a good fit for them. Here are questions often asked:

Can you refer me to other entrepreneurs you have worked with?
How do you like to help your portfolio companies?
What amount of follow-on investment do you think our company will need to succeed?
What are your relationships with venture capitalists who would fund our next round?
How do you think you can be helpful to us in growing the business?
How do you like to interact with your portfolio companies?
What are your other investments in our space?

12. What are typical terms for convertible note seed financings?
Angels will often invest in the company through a convertible note. They key terms negotiated are:

Unsecured or secured on the assets of the company – this is almost always unsecured.
Interest rate and payment – the interest is usually accrued and not paid currently.
Discount rate – this is the discount rate the investors enjoy for taking the early risk in the company, expressed as a discount from the company’s Series A round of financing. A discount rate of 20 percent is typical.
Valuation cap – this is the maximum valuation of the company where the note can be converted in the next round of financing. For example, the valuation cap could be set at $10 million, so that if the next round valuation is set at $15 million, the seed investor only converts at the lower $10 million valuation. This rewards the early investor for taking the earlier stage risks. Some notes are uncapped, but most early stage investors strongly resist this.

13. What are the key factors in determining the appropriate valuation in a seed round of financing?
Ultimately, valuation is determined by negotiations, but the key factors will include:

Experience and past success of the team
Market conditions
Competitive environment
Market opportunity
Amount to be invested and resulting dilution to the founders
The value add expected to be brought by the investor
Market comparables
Potential for a big exit

14. What should an email introduction to an angel investor contain from an entrepreneur?
I get tons of emails from start-ups, asking if I will consider investing in their company. Here are the key elements that will get my attention:

Tell me how you got to me – was it ideally a referral from one of my trusted colleagues or friends?
Give me some short bullet points within the email about what your company does, what problem it’s addressing, and any early traction it’s getting.
Tell me something that shows the founders to be competent, experienced, and passionate.
Attach a 2- to 3-page executive summary or 15-page PowerPoint deck.

15. How often should an entrepreneur give updates to his or her angel investors?
It’s best to give monthly updates to your angel investors, whether you have good or bad news. If you are having issues, this can be a way to seek help or advice. And if you need extra investment, this might facilitate a discussion. No one likes to be surprised, so regular communication is important. Jason Calacanis, a noted angel investor, has said, “There is another really awesome reason to keep investors updated: they didn’t give you all their money — they have more!!! They want to give you more!!! If you keep your investors engaged with honest updates, they will reward you by participating in future rounds.”

16. What are typical reasons angel investors will reject an investment?
There are many reasons an angel investor will reject your pitch. In fact, the great majority of prospective investors are likely to reject you.  Here are some of the typical reasons for rejection:

The market opportunity or potential size of the business is perceived as too small.
The founders don’t come across as knowledgeable or passionate.
The sector that the start-up operates in is not of interest to the investor.
The pitch was made by the entrepreneur through a blind email and not a referral from a trusted colleague of the angel investor.
The financial projections were not believable and the founders couldn’t convince the investor of the reasonableness of the underlying assumptions.
The company was based too far away from the angel investor (most angel investors like to invest locally, and in tech-oriented cities like San Francisco or New York).
The investor wasn’t convinced of the need for your product or service.
The investor was not convinced that your company was going to differentiate itself from competitors.

17. What legal documents will the angel investors expect to review for a company prior to investing?
The investors will expect these documents prepared by experienced counsel to already be in place:

Charter document (Certificate or Articles of Incorporation)
Bylaws
Organizational Board Resolutions
Confidentiality and Invention Assignment Agreements for all employees and contractors
Organizational Board resolutions
Tax ID number
Federal and state securities law filings for any previously issued stock or options
Stock option plan for employees and directors
Indemnification Agreement for directors
Stock Ledger and Capitalization Table
Stock Vesting Agreements with founders
For the angel round of financing, the following legal documents will likely be necessary:

Board and stockholder resolutions approving the financing
Securities law filings
Subscription Agreement
Convertible note agreement, unless stock is being issued
Amendment to the charter documents, if necessary

18. What mistakes are made by entrepreneurs in a pitch meeting with angel investors?
Not showing me why the market opportunity is key
Bringing your team to the pitch meeting, but only having the CEO speak
Telling me you don’t have any competition
Showing me uninteresting or unrealistic projections
Taking too long in your presentation
Not doing a demo
Not being able to explain the key assumptions in your projections
Not being able to articulate why your product or technology is differentiated from a competitor
Not being able to tell me how you will use my investment capital and how long it will last
Not knowing your potential customers and what they are thinking
See 28 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Pitching to Investors Opens a New Window. .

19. What benefits can an entrepreneur get by taking on an angel investor?
Other than money, some or all of these benefits are obtainable from good angel investors:

Contacts to venture capitalists
Contacts to strategic partners
Advice and counsel
Credibility by being associated with the investor
Contacts to potential customers
Contacts to potential employees
Contacts with lawyers, banks, accountants, and investment bankers
Knowledge of the marketplace and strategies of similar companies

20. What should an entrepreneur do to prepare for a pitch meeting with an angel investor?
Here are some key things an entrepreneur should do in preparation for a pitch meeting:

Review the investor’s LinkedIn profile and website.
See if you have any common connections on LinkedIn and ask those connections for insight or advice.
Practice your pitch in front of an audience that will give you honest feedback.
Review what portfolio companies the investor has invested in.
Be prepared to be interrupted.
Be prepared to answer difficult questions like “What do you think is the appropriate pre-money valuation for your company?”
Revise and refine your PowerPoint deck. Keep it under 20 slides. Review other company decks for guidance.
Entrepreneurs can be optimistic about raising financing from angel investors, as highly publicized success stories are encouraging more angel investors to commit capital to start-ups.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/angel-investing-20-things-entrepreneurs-should-know

45
Angel Investment / How To Find Angel Investors For Your Startup
« on: March 08, 2018, 10:02:43 AM »
How To Find Angel Investors For Your Startup



Angel investors (not venture capital firms) are the most likely candidates to get your businesses from a piece of paper to a proof-of-concept.  These angel investors typically come in four distinct groups:

Friends and Family

Friends and family investors have their distinct plusses and minuses.  The plusses are these people know you the best, so they are the closest to you in determining whether or not you are backable, as first hand references.  The minuses are pretty major:  these are your friends and family!  It is very difficult to mix personal and professional relationships.  And, as we know, only one in 10 startups is successful.  So, there are very high odds you lose all the money invested by your closest friends and family, which will make for VERY awkward Thanksgiving dinners from that point on.  So, if you decide to ultimately go down this road (which for many startups are their only option), make sure your friends and family know this investment is HIGHLY risky, and they should not invest the funds unless they are prepared to lose 100% of their investment (e.g., like money they would gamble in a casino).

Individual Angel Investors

As for finding angel investors directly, this is the hardest route, by far.  First, because they prefer to stay anonymous.  And, second, because they don't know you at all.  Sometimes rich individuals have built formal family investment offices, with professional managers screening deals for them.  But,if they can afford a family office, they prefer to invest $5MM+ in more typical venture investments, not $500K for a startup.  Preferably, you need to find an individual that understands your industry and business model and can bring real value to the table.  If they have first hand experience in your space, and they think they can help you accelerate your efforts, it is easier for them to get over the investment hurdle.  So, identify those individuals, and try to figure out someone they know, who can credibly make an introduction for you.

As an example, if you think you have the next great video gaming technology, I would research what similar video game technologies have recently been sold (meaning the founder just got very cash rich), and reach out to that founder to tap into their expertise as an advisor, board member or investor.  Notice, I didn't lead with investor.  You need to establish credibility with this individual before jumping into the investment question.  And, if he doesn't want to invest, he may know others in the industry that would, so ask him for references.  Venture capital firms are also aware of key angels in their market, so reach out to them for guidance.  Angel List is a particularly good resource that makes finding angels for your region/industry easier than ever, so check them out as a good place to start.  But, again, look for credible relationships to help open the door for you, preferably to investor is your home market (as most angels tend to bias local investments).


Angel Investor Networks

This category, is my favorite category: networks aggregating angel investors.  Like the family offices, investors set aside funds for angel investments, screened by a professional team that sources deals for the network.  So, the individual angel gets to keep their anonimity and have the comfort of a team of smart managers doing due diligence on investment targets, on their behalf.  So, instead of one angel investing $1MM by themself, 100 angels aggregate $100MM and invest as a group in the deals they like the best, individually or collectively.  And, on the flipside, it is much easier for you to raise your full amount needed, with one phone call, instead of calling the numerous investors individually.

https://goo.gl/Gar2Fe

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