Naomi Kokubo
by Naomi Kokubo, Editor of Founders Space
The best way is to tap into your network of friends and colleagues. It’s always better to start with someone you know well and have worked with in the past. That said, all too often you know people with similar backgrounds and skill sets to your own. So how do you find a co-founder with a complimentary skill set?
QUESTION:
Are there any good tax deductions I should be looking out for?
ANSWER:
Naomi Kokubo
by Naomi Kokubo cofounder of Founders Space
Yes. Here are 14 of the top tax deductions you should be aware of:
1. Auto Expenses
2. Expenses of Going Into Business
3. Books, Legal & Professional Fees
4. Bad Debts
5. Entertaining Clients/Customers
6. Travel
7. Interest
8. New Equipment
QUESTION:
Where can I get intros to angels? Do you know of any good lists of angel investors that I can tap into?
ANSWER:
Naomi Kokubo
by Naomi Kokubo, Cofounder of Founders Space
A good place to start is with Venture Hack’s AngelList.
The List includes…
QUESTION:
One of our founders asked the question, “How many days off should I give my employees each year? We’re a startup, and every day counts! What do other startups do in this regard?
ANSWER:
I think every startup struggles with this question. You want to be nice to your employees, but at the same time, a startup needs to go all out until it’s profitable. Just keep in mind that people do need time off. As a starting point, here’s a good reference:
QUESTION:
One of our founders asked the question, “Are interns really that helpful? Every startup I know seems to have interns. I’m in San Francisco, and I could really use some help, but I’m not sure interns are the right solution for me.”
ANSWER:
There are two schools of thought when it comes to recruiting interns to work at your startup. One is that it’s more work than it’s worth. As a startup, you need to move fast and you don’t have the luxury if training up a student, only to have the student leave a couple of month later — just as they are getting up to speed.
QUESTION:
I hear Microsoft is offering help to startups. What sort of program do they offer?
ANSWER:
The program is called BizSpark and it’s under the Microsoft Startup Zone.
Microsoft really has its act together when it comes to helping startups. We are thoroughly impressed. BizSpark seems too good to be true… free software, free support, free business referrals. It is true, and you shouldn’t hesitate to sign up if you plan on using any Microsoft technology or software at all.
WebWallflower Events is run by Cassie Phillipps, and it’s the place to go to if you want to know what’s up with the Bay Area tech scene. She covers it all. These events include meetups, tech sessions, entrepreneur networking, VC panels, launch parties and more!
Sign up for Cassie’s fantastic newsletter!
QUESTION:
Is there a good angel list I can use for fund raising?
ANSWER:
This is a great list of angel investors provided by Venture Hacks. We’ll post more angel lists as we find them.
Akash Agarwal
Jeff Fluhr
Sandy McKinnon
Dan Rosen
Jim Hornthal
Mo Koyfman
Amish Jani
Josh Hannah
Peter Hershberg
Roberto Bonanzinga
Geoff Ralston
Jeremy Levine
Room Full of People has emerged as one of the leading companies covering social networks and social media. They are available to speak at both public and private events on topics related to the social web. If you don’t already know about them, you should check out their website: http://rfop.biz/
They’re involved in all sorts of great things, including:
Geek Sessions
FountainBlue’s High Tech Entrepreneurs’ Forum is a great resource for founders. If you’re starting up a company, getting involved with them may prove helpful.
They offer a number of valuable services, including high tech forums the second or third Mondays of the month from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. Unfortunately, if you’re not in Silicon Valley, I don’t think you can attend. As far as I know, they haven’t expanded yet beyond the Bay Area.
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