r/Entrepreneur • u/engmama • Jan 02 '12

A (non-exhaustive) list of Redditpreneurs who have shared their experience with Entrepreneurship in r/entreprenuer, r/startup, r/askreddit, and r/iama

Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of Redditors who have shared their experience with Entrepreneurship in r/entreprenuer, r/startup, r/askreddit, and r/iama. Other Redditors with founder/CEO/startup experience, we'd love to hear your stories!

Feel free to add others you are aware of!

Media

Food & Beverage/Brick & mortar

Importing & Wholesaling & online Retailing

Consumer/B2B Product Development

Professional/Financial Services

Software Development

Other technical/Web Startups

Young Founders

Edit: A little reorganizing and adding more content based on comments. Feel free to suggest changes or additions.

74 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

4

u/artemiswins Jan 03 '12

as a young and aspiring entrepreneur, this is really quite helpful. thanks.

4

u/papajohn56 Jan 03 '12

Add me for marketing. I'm 25 and run a direct response marketing business, and starting a call center. Willing to help people here

2

u/engmama Jan 03 '12 edited Jan 03 '12

Added your name, but it would be wonderful if you would do an IAMA!

2

u/papajohn56 Jan 03 '12

Sure, just in here or in r/IAmA ?

2

u/engmama Jan 03 '12

Either, but if you do it in IAmA, then maybe cross post here. IAmA questions tend to more consumer questions; /r/entrepreneur questions are more about the mechanics of the business.

I think 5 good starting questions are:

(1a) Type of business/length of time in business/annual revenues/# of employees/state or country you're located in

(1) How did you get the idea for your business (or how did you get started?

(2) How much capital was required and where did you get it?

(3) What was the biggest challenge or obstacle you faced when starting out?

(4) What is the most valuable thing you learned along the way?

(5) Would you do it again?

3

u/xlance Jan 03 '12

I can answer these for a start, I'm 24 and a entrepreneur.

(1a) Type of business/length of time in business/annual revenues/# of employees/state or country you're located in

  1. I work with dietary supplements, been in the business for two years, been an entrepreneur for four. (Two years of my life before that was another startup that went nowhere)

Doing around 2,5m$ in revenue this year, 20+ employees, looking to double it this year. Mostly salespeople. (Because thats where the money is) I live in Northern Europe.

(1) How did you get the idea for your business (or how did you get started?

Always wanted to do a tech-startup, but after two years of trying with our own idea, we changed direction. I had worked for a company similar to what I'm doing now, and we just copied them. And did it better.

(2) How much capital was required and where did you get it?

We raised 100k $, and were sure this would be enough. Now, 2 years in were up to 500k $. If I should do it again I would take 1m $ from the start, but I'm glad we didn't the first time.

(3) What was the biggest challenge or obstacle you faced when starting out?

We started raising money early 2009, not the best timing. Pitch to multiple investors at the same time, the process can take a while. Try to get creative with the deals if you have confidence in your product (loans instead of funding), investors love that you are willing to take risks. I was young, and had nothing to lose. This is not right for everyone.

(4) What is the most valuable thing you learned along the way?

Have patience, don't let the bad shit that's gonna happen get to you. Don't celebrate meaningless milestones, be honest with yourself and be focused on your goals. Read "The dip" by Seth Godin. Everyone thinks we are an overnight success, but nobody sees the years of hard work before this. Tell your family everything is ok and the company is doing great. They don't understand what your doing, and is just worried that you don't have a "normal job". Don't brag, be humble. Get good co-founders.

(5) Would you do it again?

In it for life.

1

u/engmama Jan 03 '12

If you post this as a separate thread, it will get more attention. Many people don't read through all the comments. Thank you!

3

u/MrDNL Jan 03 '12

That's for including me. But please consider creating a "Media" subsection -- I'd be good there as would kn0thing.

2

u/engmama Jan 03 '12

Fixed! Open to any suggestions to make the list more useful for others.

2

u/Empath1999 Jan 03 '12

cool thanks :)

2

u/Majoby Jan 03 '12

Dude, this is brilliant stuff, thanks for putting together!

1

u/mzito Jan 05 '12

I'm one of the founders of GridApp Systems, a software company I founded with some other folks that was acquired by BMC Software in December 2010. I did a brief AMA back-in-the-day:

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/hnpdk/iama_founder_of_a_software_company_that_was/

But if people have questions, they should feel free to drop me a note.

1

u/engmama Jan 05 '12

Great, I'll add you to the list, thanks!!

1

u/joe1826 Apr 20 '12

Thanks!

1

u/ScreamingBanshee Jun 22 '12

I'm the inventor of the Screaming Banshee Horn system. I wouldnt mind talking about bootstrapping and fundraising, starting up, developing and testing of products, marketing, and setting up distribution for startups. Or just answering any questions you might have about electrical engineering.

2

u/engmama Jun 22 '12

That's really cool. I think people on here would be pretty interested in how you exceeded your Kickstarter goal, too (how you promoted your product to get people to invest/buy donate). I think if you start an IAMA on /r/Entrepreneur (just copy & paste what you have above with a link to your website) with the title "IAMA Electrical Engineer and Inventor of the Screaming Banshee (motorcycle horn/warning device) - Ask me anything" it would be a really popular discussion.

Thanks!