Not to be overly harsh, but the site doesn't really give the impression of credibility. It doesn't help that there's no verifiable background information (human names, bios, etc.) for any of the authors.
I'm pretty familiar with the VC world (having raised money, and from the angel/micro-vc side due to having friends in funds, and considered doing a fund myself), and I feel comfortable evaluating the book based on the content, but your actual readers won't -- they'll figure out if you're trustworthy and credible based on presentation, references, and overall plausibility. If you have a background in VC (associate? you seem to be Australian, so that doesn't seem as likely), or have raised VC multiple times, that would be good to disclose.
The actual content is ok. Not as good as the Venture Hacks book or other "standard" startup resources for the general advice -- much of which is available free online, and from highly credible primary sources (i.e. VCs who blog, successful entrepreneurs, etc.). The level of content is maybe a good blog post or two (if you tighten it up, and use examples -- you could maybe do 5), but it's not a $2 e-book.
The "financial modeling for startups" content seems a lot stronger -- if you included editable google docs and/or excel templates, combined with resources on how to do both bottom up and top down analysis (and USE THE STANDARD TERMS OF ART), it could be useful. Maybe that could be a $2 package, if you really want to sell something.
The point of the ebook was to try and present the perspective of VCs very simply and to the point through some research. This was done through a checklist type deal, where the content was free (and an option to pay) - as I say in another reply this is so I can try to understand this type of business.
I am from an Accounting background just btw.
Thank you very much for your feedback - its all part of the learning process. I have made changes and will definitely try to incorporate this in the future.
From an accounting background instead of a VC or entrepreneur background, it's probably worth emphasizing that and focusing the content that way.
There is a lot of "how to do accounting at startups" content which is lacking on the Internet -- maybe something as basic as "how to spend your own money pre-raising funding so you can get reimbursed", and then the basics of accounting for a team of 2-5 with minimal (<500k) seed investment and early revenue.
Just teaching people the difference between cashflow and P&L would be a worthwhile lesson.
If I were you, I'd probably develop a sizable (20-30+) number of standalone free 1-5 page resources on various topics, then offer a service instead of a product (15 minute consultations, phone/skype).
I am not sure how different the accounting rules are in the US vs. Australia vs. elsewhere -- aside from tax, for early stage companies, they're probably fairly universal. I do think helping people set up something like Xero would be useful, since Quickbooks is rather mediocre, and NetSuite is overkill (and the single-entry systems like Freshbooks aren't really worth considering).
In general, sell expertise, give away anything else.
"
This is not your run of the mill E-book – this is content that puts you in the mind of the VCs, allowing you to:
Dominate Pitches
Understand their perspective
Speech their language
Get into incumbators
"
(all spelling mistakes left as-it)
In addition, you are very strongly encouraging people to pay for it and making them feel guilty if they don't.
This is what I got:
a 2.5-page PDF document that contains a really basic check-list of what investors are looking for in a startup - the sort of thing you'll find on a countless number of blog posts about raising funding.
No I'm trying to understand how small businesses work. I seriously have no idea - so I am starting at the beginning by covering their content while also trying to sell what I research.
The ebook was always free - now it is very clear that it is.
So what you're saying is that you haven't got any experience and haven't got the faintest clue in what you're talking about (VC funding), but you're still giving advice to people and were trying to sell an "e-book" about it?
Of course, I know that some people are making a very good living by doing just this - writing about stuff they know nothing about. But this isn't going to earn you any favours here.
You said in another comment that you're an accountant. Are you a good accountant and do you like accounting? If yes, there's plenty to do on that front. Accounting is something that most people hate and see as being horribly complex. Yet, it's something that all entrepreneur have to do very early on in their business - they just don't have a choice. What about you write about this instead? I'm pretty sure you could end up with something a lot more useful than this "e-book".
Another tip: don't lie. Don't tell me that I'm going to get a book and then give me a 2.5-page check-list that has less content than an average blog post. Don't tell me that I'm going to "dominate pitches" or "speak their language" and give me a copied-and-pasted list that anybody interested in raising VC funding would have read a hundred times already.
A check-list is a check-list. A blog post is blog post. A book is a book. It's that simple. Pretending otherwise will only get you angry customers.
MehdiEG - thanks for all the comments; its all part of the learning experience! I also checked out your business and downloaded your software. Good luck with that.
I will definitely take this all in account and stick to what I know. At the moment I'm just starting out so everything is new to me - but at least now I know that what I am writing is not a) at the quality or b) the quantity enough that people will want. I was going under the impression that you sell what the market can bear - and if you do that wrong, you change your strategy; but you keep trucking along.
Just lastly - I did not think I was lying; I didn't assume anything, and all I thought was that this was going to get lost with the rest of HN posts.
Your page doesn't provide much from your book, then tells me to either pay up or feel guilty. Can we maybe get a preview of the first 5 pages without being made to feel like bad people?
Nitpick:
Speech their language should be Speak their language
Get into incumbators should be Get into incubators
I'm pretty familiar with the VC world (having raised money, and from the angel/micro-vc side due to having friends in funds, and considered doing a fund myself), and I feel comfortable evaluating the book based on the content, but your actual readers won't -- they'll figure out if you're trustworthy and credible based on presentation, references, and overall plausibility. If you have a background in VC (associate? you seem to be Australian, so that doesn't seem as likely), or have raised VC multiple times, that would be good to disclose.
The actual content is ok. Not as good as the Venture Hacks book or other "standard" startup resources for the general advice -- much of which is available free online, and from highly credible primary sources (i.e. VCs who blog, successful entrepreneurs, etc.). The level of content is maybe a good blog post or two (if you tighten it up, and use examples -- you could maybe do 5), but it's not a $2 e-book.
The "financial modeling for startups" content seems a lot stronger -- if you included editable google docs and/or excel templates, combined with resources on how to do both bottom up and top down analysis (and USE THE STANDARD TERMS OF ART), it could be useful. Maybe that could be a $2 package, if you really want to sell something.