I don't see how a start-up is going to survive 30 days if you are limiting your business to one type of print....I guess not enough info is giving here as to what you are doing. You have a printer, you have some vinyl. That's all I gather. What software/RIP? DO you know you will make a lot more money doing LOTS of different things? Banners? Decals? Bread-and- butter high profit products? This all makes little sense to me. Hiring someone to maintain a Latex 560 sounds strange....they will be quite bored waiting for something to happen.
Sorry I can't share more at this very moment. My partner knows more about IP than me so I'm just following her lead as far as how much to reveal. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself asking about this in the first place. But we have a printer, some vinyl, half a ton of aluminum extrusions, and soon a 3D printer farm. The 6 months was referring to when all the inventory and equipment came in so that I can actually begin setting up production. The 2 years prior to that were spent prototyping, testing, filing patents, all that stuff...
Well, good luck in whatever it is that you do.
I guess what I meant and was somehow lost in your translating is..... most people going into business with a service or product know most of what there is to know about said product or service. Not many people have a thought and build a business around that thought with no one in the room who knows what's going on. With no one here on this site, knowing what you do..... how can you be sure you have the right answers to your problems ?? How can you even know you're having a problem, if no one can identify it ?? Just sounds scary, unless there's part of the equation you aren't sharing...............
I get ya, I also don't like asking for direct help when I'm not allowed to say much. I spent as much time as I can lurking and searching, but this seems like such a noobie question for anyone in the industry I don't its been asked before. My background is industrial design, and this was originally an invention with a printing component, but every print shop we went to either screwed up, said they couldn't do it, or wanted to charge way too much cause it was such a PITA. Doing the printing ourselves was not part of the original plan but here we are.
He's not going to share part of the equation because he's learned at least that much in business...if you're on to some successful niche in the business, you don't go telling everyone about it.
Plus all startups are that way. If I knew back in 05 what all I would need to know today, and everything that I have had to learn along the way, I would have never, ever started. But we worked other jobs until this business took off, learned along the way (I'd say it's like running an uphill marathon, the challenges and required learning never stop), and now we are where we are. Very grateful, very blessed. Just thought today...I've been working for myself now for 12 years. What a ride.
Best of luck in your endeavor and finding the right person for the job. And if your job is "nichey" enough, better make sure that person signs some non disclosure agreement. Talented people are valuable, but the ones with less scruples will steal your ideas faster than you can blink.
Thanks. It was originally designed with the SoCal beachside residences in mind, but we've expanded our scope. My partner is filing a lot of patents and doesn't fk around with IP, but nobody wants to spend their time litigating either. I think we may just hire a local printer experienced with our equipment to be on call for training and fixing stuff. Cause this might be boring for someone who is use to making 100 types of signs. I'm going to have to teach him a lot about 3D printing though, so the other idea was to hire a 3D printing tech to skip that part.
From what I can tell, you are basically starting a sign shop that specialises in window coverings is that correct?
"We're starting a company that prints window coverings"
Are you just producing a product, or are you offering design and installation services as well?
We are doing design ourselves and partnering with established companies for installations. I have been doing our initial installs personally.
No, not all start-ups are that way. When someone does something by going out on a limb and it works, you can later say..... well, I/we did it. However, should things go bad, everyone says.... I told ya so.
An idea is an idea and nothing more. It's not always what you did to make it great, but sometimes just the luck of the Irish is what it took. You're right, he doesn't hafta share anything with us, but with that attitude, why is he here ?? He wants to find things out, because he doesn't really know what he's doing. How can we help if we don't have a clue or he is so vague, we give him wrong advice or answers ??
If I was giving people sub-par craftsmanship or shoddy work and thought I was getting by, who am I fooling...... my customers (who probably won't come back) or myself ?? That's called a reputation. Without a good one, you won't last very long.... or maybe be in that race to the bottom with most of the other people we talk about all the time. One doesn't really create a very good following by using his/her customers as guinea pigs.
Not saying it can't be done as you are living proof, but you are the exception. Most people going off willy-nilly barely make it a year.
Seriously, knowledge is really one of anyone's biggest weapons in their arsenal of talents for success.
It's always safer betting
against startups given the failure rate. I use to do product design work for a lot of inventor types, and I'm constantly trying to talk them out of mortgaging their house to fund their widget. Now I know how they feel, haha.
If this was purely a printing operation, then I might not have gotten involved. But printing has only been a fraction of the technical challenges, and I'm more experienced solving the other ones. But early adopters are guinea pigs by definition, as are innovators.
At least by checking the craigslist job categories, one should be able to glean from art / media / design, general labor, manufacturing, skilled trade / craft. Consider though, the resource may not be the best but it's a start for your edification.
Actually you're printing. Printing has often involved apprenticeship programs as well as journeyman & master certification.
At this point in time, is it easy for you to describe what makes a good print?
I'm just afraid of the printer doing weird things or throwing weird error codes. I once bought an old stratasys 3D printer that did that and spent 6 months and thousands of dollars trying to fix it. When software is involved, weird shit can happen and nobody knows why. Right now everything is working as it should be and I've been learning everything through lurking, youtube, and the pretty decent manual. But since its a used printer with no warranty or training, the possibility of the machine spirit deciding to be a dick keeps me up at night. Through reading these forums, there are enough complaints about this line of printers where I have no idea what I would do if I ran into that. Some people love them and others curse them. I would feel a lot more at ease when we get a second one.
