New to WIP?
We're a group of makers shipping together. We help each other stay accountable and reach our goals.
Apply for access
Other questions
Back
Question
Crazy idea: $500/mo subscription for startup services?
When you join an accelerator like Y Combinator you not only getting funding and mentorship, but I believe they also offer various services like legal advice, setting up payroll, etc. Their goal is let you focus on your core business, and they take care of all the secondary stuff.
VC firms do the same. They don't just offer money, but all the boring business stuff you need to take care of when running a company. In addition, they might have various experts in the team to help with questions where it doesn't make sense for you to hire someone for yet. For example, you could use some SEO advice, but aren't at a point yet where it makes sense to hire an SEO person.
I think this is a great idea, but it's only available to funded startups. I wonder if it's something WIP could offer to bootstrappers?
Obviously this would be require some capital so this would be for a higher priced membership.
Right now it's just an idea, but what if there was a membership at like $500 per month. What would need to be included for it to be worth it to you?
Some ideas that could be included:
- Trademark registration for your projects
- Legal advice when needed
- Periodic SEO report by expert
- Company incorporation
- Accounting
I think I could outsource these services to qualified parties. The benefit of doing it through WIP (versus you taking care of it manually) is that we as a group have pricing power so we can get it at a lower rate, and we can leverage our collective experience to find the high quality parties so you don't need to go and find the best person/organization for the job for each thing.
This idea is a bit out there. But I'd love to hear what you think.
VC firms do the same. They don't just offer money, but all the boring business stuff you need to take care of when running a company. In addition, they might have various experts in the team to help with questions where it doesn't make sense for you to hire someone for yet. For example, you could use some SEO advice, but aren't at a point yet where it makes sense to hire an SEO person.
I think this is a great idea, but it's only available to funded startups. I wonder if it's something WIP could offer to bootstrappers?
Obviously this would be require some capital so this would be for a higher priced membership.
Right now it's just an idea, but what if there was a membership at like $500 per month. What would need to be included for it to be worth it to you?
Some ideas that could be included:
- Trademark registration for your projects
- Legal advice when needed
- Periodic SEO report by expert
- Company incorporation
- Accounting
I think I could outsource these services to qualified parties. The benefit of doing it through WIP (versus you taking care of it manually) is that we as a group have pricing power so we can get it at a lower rate, and we can leverage our collective experience to find the high quality parties so you don't need to go and find the best person/organization for the job for each thing.
This idea is a bit out there. But I'd love to hear what you think.
👋 Join WIP to participate
love it, help on tax worldwide as well
Trademarks are not easy, not cheap and not quick. I have been apart a few trademark processes and it can take years. (US)
I think a service like this could have value but offer different tiers. As most folks won't need trademark until further along the success later.
You could say offer a package as well with a retainer. e.g.
"Bootstrap Starter" - One-time fee of $1500 + optional retainer of $200/month for ondemand legal/seo/accounts
- Comes with initial Legal help around TOS/PP and making sure regulatory you can operate in your jurisdiction
"Bootstrap Plus" - One-time fee of $2500 + retainer of $500
The same as above, but Trademark assistance and enforcement.
Your idea is well beyond where I am in my journey but one thing I've frequently thought I'd pay for is a service that helps me put out YouTube content for marketing. Helps me organize my ideas, write the scripts, buy/rent the right equipment, do outreach to YouTubers for collaborations, edit the videos.
I was already sniffing around xolo.io/leap for a similar service.
If you incorporate & trademark me + sort out all my taxes so I can just focus on charging anyone anywhere in the planet via Stripe without a second thought, I think I would pay for this.
Assume the on-demand services like legal would be an additional $ on top of flat subscription?
I think it's a good idea. What about opting in to certain services and not others? I already have a good, licensed CPA who handles my personal and business taxes, but just the other day I was thinking "wtf am I going to do when I need a business lawyer for something? I don't know anyone"
The pricing does seem roughly correct as these are typically not cheap services on their own.
Note: I would not pay for this immediately since $500/month is 4-5x my current monthly profit, but I could see myself wanting this when my MRR increases (starts to become more worth it when I'm making $2K+ per month)
I'm in! $500/m is on higher side for me considering I make 0/month from my projects but I can see myself pushing harder when the stakes are high.
I wish the list also has annual IRS filing.
Love it! Knowing about the right tools, companies, for certain things also help a lot. For ex: what’s the best tool for payroll, and who’s the best service company for legal work.
If it comes from a trusted source, it’s a major headache gone
My feedback:
The comparison to Y Combinator is interesting, but my experience when I joined their batch in 2018 was that their primary focus is on finding the next billion-dollar companies and securing their 'easy' percentage. They can afford to 'help' all the companies in their batch because they know that just a few successes will yield a massive return on investment. For companies, the main, if not the only real, benefit is Y Combinator's contacts.
As @barker mentioned, trademarks aren’t suitable for everyone, especially given the lengthy process and potential for negative feedback.
Regarding legal advice, in France, this is often included as part of your insurance for an additional 2 euros per month. I’m curious if this is the case in other countries as well, making it a challenge to compete with such affordable options.
On the topic of periodic SEO reports, what value do they offer beyond the basic analytics tools that can now be set up in five minutes for just a few dollars or even for free?
Company incorporation is not something that happens frequently, and there are already many standardized services that have been in place for decades.
Accounting services would interest me if they offered global management across all countries, but I suspect the cost would be prohibitive. Additionally, finding a way to outsource for a global solution would be challenging due to the complexity of different legal requirements.
Lastly, the entry price is debatable. It definitely seems targeted more towards established startups rather than self-funded ones.
How about:
Directory Listings
Perks (WIP)
QA & Testing
Paperwork
Customer support
Design
Blog & SEO
Accounting
Legal
Website
Org tasks
I think all your knowledge and experience with all this, and knowing who to contact means there is something definitely there.
It would be cool to just click a button 'create company', 'add trademark' from an existing project. When it needs info for company creation, it'd be good if we could just upload docs and paste links, and some AI just gathers all the stuff ..ah i'm going down a rabbit hole
We use local accountants who charge a flat fee and a fractional Head of Finance. He works a 2-3 days a month and handles all the enterprise invoicing, payroll, accounts payable stuff, and sets up finance systems like Revolut, Xero, Rippling and others. I think it's super valuable. I could imagine someone like that using this bundle as a channel to help lots of start-ups.
Great idea but it would only justify the cost of bootstrappers if the services are tailored to each one's specific needs and not a solution fits all.