Oh this is a long question to answer, but let me start with my experience. I'm the "outsourced COO" for a number of small businesses who have grown through their bootstrapping phase, proven they have a market and all of sudden start feeling the pressure of the business expanding. 9 times out of 1...
Best to explain why you're asking + provide a URL explaining your purpose/business. Many times successful prefer to remain anonymous. You're asking for highly private information to be posted in a public forum.
Watch all of Paul Kenny's videos from the Business of Software conference. Perfection, and easy to understand. Then remember this last trick: Honesty wins.
OpenERP and Zoho are both fragmented modular systems that can be very confusing. Without knowing your industry and complete set of needs, have you considered NetSuite, Sage, MS Dynamics, Aptean or Epicor? Aside from feature sets, implementation and ongoing support and training are critical elem...
Of course calls for information interviews are not illegal. Information interviews are an important part of a successful person's job hunt or any target market research. You will find far more people will be open to this than you think now. Some just want to be helpful. Others want to show off h...
In my companies I define a team as my in house leadership (I refer to them in all group communications as the LT or Leadership Team). My Personal Network is the collection of contacts and connections that I use to develop my business (Either through mentorship, advice or social/business connect...
You don't. Research the company and hiring manager or would be manager/leader to such things like their needs, recent prior events (& whom else would have been there), near future company goals, products and find a place within that need structure where you would add material value. Then craft ...
Exciting times. When I read between the lines having faced a similar decision on more than one occasion, I see all the missed opportunities from having been too busy personally to be as effective as needed. The good news, there is but one weakest link in any system and that includes your business...
The Pomodoro method has changed my life! Whenever I'm writing or working out a creative problem, it really helps me focus on just one thing at a time. It's a simple timer that breaks down your day into 25-minute chunks (with 5-minute breaks). I use the Tomato One app on Mac OS, but there are coun...
sounds like you don't trust whoever you spoke with - go with your gut and move along. You need great lawyers and accountants behind you but there are plenty out there that don't remotely get canadian start up land. The answer to your question is they are trying to understand your setup and thos...