The Blog - Archive for sme

2 Aug 2011

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The quest for a cheap startup logo

by Mark P.

I’ve been hearing a lot about 99designs over the last year or so. I’ve found it difficult to give feedback on the recurring questions I’ve been getting about it so thought I really should give it a go.

As you may know we’ve got a new product up and running called Rusic. Rusic has been an interesting exercise in general, as we’ve tried to outsource the project as much as possible. We wanted it to feel like a startup. It’s difficult to help startups if you can’t sympathise (or empathise even). So this has been a great experience all round (although possibly a separate blog post!).

When it came to branding we decided that this might be a good time to try out the 99designs service. We didn’t know what we wanted and we didn’t want to spend much money. So for $295 we decided to give it a go.

The basic premise is this:

Give some details about your business/product
Start a competition for a period of time
Wait for people to submit their designs
You eliminate and feedback on the designs
The time runs out and you choose a winner

It actually works well. To me the most interesting part of the service is the way that they get you to express how you want your finished design to the designers.

You choose three of your favourite logo “types” from a selection and you choose various attributes from sliding scales. It’s very simple and feels intuitive. I actually started off with a very feminine, playful set of values and then changed halfway through as I felt that actually I wasn’t getting the results that I wanted. Designs rapidly started to change.

Once you’ve set all of your information that you want to pass on to the “designers” you can set the project running.

At first we had three or four designs within 12 hours. We were chuffed but not impressed. Then within 48 hours things were starting to hot up. By the end of it we had over 130 designs to choose from. Some designers submitting multiple revisions of their designs.

Actually eliminating designs at first made me feel a little guilty but after a while it’s just fun as you start to get left with a succinct pool of reasonable quality entries. The ones eliminated would somehow find there way back with new variations in style or colour. At every stage it’s possible to ask for these changes manually, if you fancy designer X’s logo but in red.

Once the time finally runs out you have to choose. This was the only tricky bit. The designer delivers the files and then you agree to release the money from 99designs. In our case the designer gave us a JPG. We then asked for the file as a vector. He then supplied it as an EPS with a JPG in it, etc… This took a few friendly communications from us to the designer and ultimately to the very helpful support until we finally got a proper EPS file. I think this was just a language issue as the designer is from the Phillipines.

You can see the finished design at Rusic.com we’re pretty happy with it. It will evolve I’m sure, but for the budget, time and manual input that we wanted to give ,it worked well.

Having said that I would not recommend this for client work. It’s just too hit and miss and obviously still takes up time and more than likely you will need to embelish the result (as we did). For a bootstrapped startup on the other hand it is a fantastic service, well thought out, easy to use and efficient. I suspect like most things, the more you put in the more you’ll get out.

29 Jun 2011

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6 things I would tell someone about start-ups

by Jon Ellis

Every month we’re featuring a guest post from companies and people that we respect or admire.
Jon Ellis from tutorhub.com is our first guest offering up advice on starting up an online business.

A few people have asked me along the way to dispense my wisdom on start-ups and what makes one successful. In a nutshell, here it is.

Follow the right idea. Share your idea with as many people as possible, particularly target customers – get them to tell you if you are solving a real need. Their feedback and opinions will help you shape what you want to do. Remember noone has a monopoly on good ideas, least of all you.
Do the sums. Excel is your friend. Model out what the financials of your start-up might look like. Focus on the cost and income drivers. Do lots of scenarios. Ask yourself difficult questions. Does the idea really still stack up?
Get the right people. Sounds obvious, but you need to have the same objectives and values as co-founders and staff. Get the very best developers you can, and use open source.
Launch early. Get your product developed quickly and as cheaply as you can. Get it out in front of customers. Get them to tell you ‘if your baby is ugly’. Check out what people are willing to pay – if you can, try and get some advance sales.
Change the product iteratively and quickly. Keep on doing this to you have a product that the market actually wants and is willing to pay for. If you can’t do this, then the product is wrong. Look at what Steve Blank has to say on the subject.
Develop bounce-back-ability. Roll with the punches. Try not to get too defensive about your idea. If you get knocked down, – which you will get straight back up again and carry on. Don’t take no for an answer.

It’s not for the feint-hearted. Be prepared for late nights, crises of confidence and running out of cash along the way. But if you get it right, it can be extremely satisfying and even rewarding.

14 Feb 2011

1 Comment

Networking – 16 Top tips

by Sarah Bale

Over the past six months I have become what I would call a serial networker. In any given month I may go to a few networking breakfasts, a number of evening events, a business show or two and even training sessions where possible.

I never realised quite how many networking groups there were in Bristol until I really got into it and now I actually feel very lucky! There are so many ways you can meet up with other small businesses in Bristol! From Open Coffee to Lloyds breakfast to Bristol and Bath Marketing Network, there is something on offer for everyone if you know where to look.

LinkedIn is a great way to connect with groups and find out about meet ups. I also ask people when I am out and about networking what else they go to and often find out about new places that way!

Why Network?

Quite simply if people do not know who you are and what you can do they are never going to call you! Yes you can advertise but that does not give you the chance to find out about your customers, build long term relationships and have a good chat over breakfast or a drink!

The idea is that you see these people often enough that your build a relationship and you therefore are not just selling your business to the people you meet but to all their clients too. For the majority of us, there are a number of people doing something very similar to us – relationships are key in this competitive world.

I also enjoy it! Granted I do not always get in the car for a 6.45am breakfast with a smile on my face but I soon get into it after my morning tea! Sometimes it is easy to become quite isolated as a small business and very inwards looking. It is always good to get another opinion, find out what other people are up to, what is new, otherwise you could find you have been somewhat left behind.

16 Top Tips

Get people to talk about themselves first so you know how to frame what you say about your business to suit them
Do not just tell people what you do, there are hundreds of people doing exactly the same thing, tell people why they should use you. And think about this in an innovative way. Do not use phrases like “the best/quickest/fastest/most efficient/most creative in Bristol” you might as well say nothing… on the other hand, if you say something like “we have enabled our customers to increase awareness by 45% and improve customer satisfaction ratings by 55%”….thats worth listening to
Do not be scared to take examples of your work if it helps to explain it
If you are “speed networking” take a bottle of water….trust me on this one!
Do not give up because you did not win business the first time you went. Networking is about building long term trusting relationships locally, it is not a quick fix
Always have business cards and lots of them – you would be amazed how many people turn up without them!
Be memorable for the right reasons
Listen to others and show you are listening. People respect that. If you play with your phone throughout their 2 minutes they will be less inclined to listen to you
Follow up with personalized emails where appropriate but do not spam!
Tell people what you want. You are not just selling to the people in the room, but to all the people they know as well. Be specific and it might ring some bells…. I would like to speak to small, local charities. I would like to speak to personal trainers…
In the same light as the above, do not switch off because you cannot sell to the person you are talking to for whatever reason, they will have a network of contacts and clients who may be useful
Do not be scared if you happen to end up sitting next to a competitor. Talk about your differences, maybe there is business relationship to be developed through skills sharing? Use this as an opportunity to highlight to people why you are different
Use case studies and real customers. Give context to your work. It makes it much more memorable
Try not to read off a sheet, have confidence in your business, no one knows it better than you
Do not just stick with the people you know. Obviously you want to build relationships so spend a bit of time seeing how they are and reminding them of your existence but then move on. Do not sit on a table where you know everyone, they have heard your 2 mins already, go where you know no one, you have more to gain
The most important thing to remember if you are nervous about speaking is that everyone sat around the table wants you to do well, and they are just pleased that you are talking at that exact moment instead of them

10 Feb 2011

1 Comment

Thirsty Bristol #2

by Sarah Bale

Thanks to everyone who made it along to The Big Chill for ThirstyBristol in January! We had a great time and we hope you did too.

Before I say anything else I want to especially thank our sponsors for putting some money behind the bar and ensuring that the night was, erm, well lubricated. So a big thanks to LoveHoney, Simpleweb and Coull TV [update] And EventStreams for their lovely Event CMS.

ThirstyBristol is all about getting digital startups together under one roof and sharing ideas, successes, failures and laughs. So far we think this is working out pretty well! We met some great people and with 80+ attendees it clearly is something that people want to get involved in.

January’s speakers included:

Pete Blackman (DoubleArt) on Branding for Start-ups

Irfon Watkins (Coull TV) on “No one cares about your start-up but you”

Pat Wood (Truffle Shuffle) on “Google analytics and your start-up”

Massive thank you’s to our three speakers. We have had nothing but great feedback about all of the presentations and we know a lot of people found them very useful. We are already lining up our speakers for March and will let you know when the date has been confirmed. You can keep up to date in the usual place wearethirsty.co.uk, and do not forget to follow us on Twitter @ThirstyBristol.

In the meantime if you have some feedback, a suggestion or fancy yourself as a presenter please get in touch! We would love to hear from you!! If we do not see you before, we look forward to seeing you in March!

Special thanks to @Jason_mayes for taking the photos (to see more check out the Thirsty Bristol Flickr page) and to @helloemsy for all her effort and Twitter management!

3 Sep 2010

3 Comments

We use FreeAgent (review)

by Sarah H.

The most important thing for a small business – or indeed any business – is to be able to track regularly and accurately the state of the cash flow. This means knowing how much work has been invoiced, controlling credit, closely monitoring costs and managing client accounts.

However, if it’s the most important thing, it is probably also the routine task that can get overlooked, forgotten or that gives way to more urgent daily issues.

When I joined Simpleweb as office manager a few months ago, I was introduced to Freeagent, the accounting software designed to help small businesses do all this.

Great, I thought. All good stuff that is going to make life easier. Providing the information goes in methodically and accurately, the current situation can be monitored daily.

So, what do we like most about Freeagent?

Well it’ s free! (well almost. There is a small monthly license fee of about £22).

The dashboard on our home page gives a great point of quick reference. It is graphic and clear and shows at a glance the state of the bank account, how much has been invoiced out, payments received and a debtors list so I can see immediately who needs to be chased for overdue invoices. It also shows a tax timeline with key payment dates for PAYE/NI, VAT and Corporation Tax and a quick reference profit and loss summary.

The contacts database means you can keep all your contacts up to date and the work flow section allows you to project manage work for key clients, generating estimates, time sheets and invoices. We use the invoicing function as it links into the payment details and bank reconciliation – but for project management we prefer Basecamp

To manage the cashflow, providing you upload your latest bank statement regularly to Freeagent, you can easily reconcile and account for money in and money out. The information you put in here is categorised into cost centres and feeds into the accounting section and profit and loss making costs monitoring and end of year accounting much easier.

The My Money section can be used for PAYE & NI, generating payslips, keeping records of expenses and more.

What do we not like so much?

Well, three months on, you can imagine my disappointment with one very important, you could say vital, aspect of Freeagent that has turned out to be seriously lacking: the PAYE and National Insurance calculator.

By their own admission, Freeagent say on their website: “. . . this is a simple payslip calculator” and that “if your payroll needs are more complex than the simple calculator supports, you can always use another payroll calculator and edit Freeagent to match”

We were nearly caught out by this simplicity and had been putting blind faith in the payroll figures generated by Freeagent. However, it turned out that there were some discrepancies in the NI payments, albeit small differences. Luckily we realised quite quickly that the system was not really robust enough to cope with the nuances of our payroll and the complexities of UK tax and NI deductions so we have handed the payroll function to our accountant who runs it all through Sage. Peace of mind. I do not think we will be duplicating effort by replicating the data in Freeagent. The net salaries and tax paid will still be accounted for in Freeagent, but not the calculations or payslips which will come from Sage.

Like any system, Freeagent is only as good as the data that is put into it and we have made a judgement call about which parts are really useful to us and then to make absolutely sure that we keep those sections routinely and accurately up to date – then it really does make life easier!