My assumption is that fast-food chains begin as restaurants in a single location. Then, if they're successful, they expand – with or without franchising. Honestly, I know next to nothing about running a business in the food industry. But I can help you with 1 important first step: creating you...
You are comparing apples to oranges. WordPress is a platform, Ruby is a web framework. If you are looking to develop a completely custom platform, you could certainly do it in Rails, but you could also write it in PHP (like WordPress). I'd do some digging and see what is out there for pre-made...
Consider service providers which work in specific employee sub-segments. For example, create a relationship with service providers servicing the aboriginal segment. This is just an example, but you can work with service providers who hire people with certain disabilities, etc.. Service providers...
I've been through several acquisitions and a few IPOs. If the company is acquired, you should contact the CEO and the CFO to ask the price per share at which the company was acquired. If you have vested options, they should send you a letter letting you know whether your options are "in the mon...
Personally, I'm a fan of sales comp plans being tied to ongoing performance. Sure, the salesperson should get some of that long tail, but only while he continues to work productively at the company. Once he leaves, he should lose the tail, since someone else will likely need to step into the rela...
Have you considered crowdfunding? Investment grants will be able to take care of funding but crowdfunding has the benefit of taking care of funding and providing a customer base.There are many examples of teams without a fully working prototype being successful on these platforms. Kickstarter ...
You can read about Zaarly, which was a 2-sided reverse Craigslist, and their struggles with pricing and the ultimate impact it had on their decision to change to a storefront only tool. * http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/09/zaarly-shutters-its-reverse-craigslist-marketplace-goes-all-in-on-virtual-...
The best way is to offer early adopters a discounted rate and lock it in for life. Make it a no-brainer for them with the understanding that they are your beta group and that you will ping them from time-to-time for feedback on concept improvement.
Do you have any internal sales professionals? You should at LEAST have an internal sales director who sets the strategy for a sales force. Then you determine if the proper path is a contracted sales force. I've known companies that have used outside sales teams however NONE that have seen the typ...
Make sure your long term strategy is tied into your short terms tactics. Tactic - method or technique to achieve a immediate short term gain, run ads, sales calls etc. Strategy- A carefully defined detailed plan to achieve a long term goal. The overall position you would like to achieve. So ...