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Dane Maxwell- Build Software Companies in 6 months w/o money, experience

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hobokook

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What do you guys think of Dane Maxwell of The Foundation?

Check out his interview here - SPI 046 : Building a Lucrative Business with No Ideas, No Expertise & No Money with Dane Maxwell

Really awesome stuff and it really opened my mind.

You basically go into an industry, find the pain, and ask the customers questions to help build a product around that pain.

If what Dane does Fastlane?

Thanks
 
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glenm

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I listened to that interview and the one he did on mixergy. His stuff is definetly fast lane.

He is finding the need. He is asking what they need.
Separating his time from money. It can be sold day or night and he doesn't need to be there to sell it.
Barrier of entry is high. Not everyone can go create his product.
His business is very scalable. He can sell 1 or 1,000,000
And he is the one in control of his business. He is not dependent on something else to have his business.
 

hobokook

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Just out of curiosity, has anyone here built a software company without doing any of the actual coding?
 

Guest682

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ive done some outsourcing, right now ive decided to outsource my online store development so i can focus my efforts in other things. I'm think im reaching a point where im done trying to follow the zuckerberg path, i haven't been coding since i was 15 and i need to make money now lol.
 
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halfstepdown88

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Anyone have any opinions on The Foundation?

I actually applied, and in Dane's "Marketing Mindset" video he quoted my email in the beginning out of the almost 900 applicants.

Hoping to get in, but he still hasn't said what the price was.
 

skipper

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He didn't even reply to mine.

Seems the execution of this idea can be improved :)
 
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CommonCents

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I like the approach but I do have a question on the elance type outsourcing. He makes it sound like its easy peasy, you just put a job out there and its done cheap and well. If you don't know programming how can you even monitor the progress and know what you are getting that you pay for?

In other words, don't you have to be somewhat of a savvy buyer of these outsourcing services to actually get a good deal on a quality project?

What is the real world experience here?

edit: noted in his real world examples a guy did bring on a developer for equity.

the question remains is what is the real world experience for someone outsourcing coding when they don't know it in the first place?
 

AlasdairM

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Hoping to get in, but he still hasn't said what the price was.

$500/month x 6 months plus optional trip to the US for a face to face with him and the other members. At least that was the case the first time he ran the program.
 

wade1mil

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Best post on the forum, ever.
This is pure gold. Speed++

You've been a member for less than a month and you've read every thread already?

$500/mo for what?

$500 per month to be part of the competition maybe? I missed the call the other day and I'm sure he has some valuable information, but with all of the newer people on this forum pushing his calls, threads and Foundation thing, I got turned off a long time ago. Whether true or not, it feels like a huge orchestrated sales pitch to me now.
 

PatrickP

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halfstepdown88

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Hmm 500 a month. Wonder if it would actually be worth it.

I applied because I feel lost and need some direction. Reading books and going on forums only works to some extent. I can't wade through information and know what to follow and what to do to reach my goals.

Willing to do whatever it takes at this point.
 
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wade1mil

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I applied because I feel lost and need some direction. Reading books and going on forums only works to some extent. I can't wade through information and know what to follow and what to do to reach my goals.

Willing to do whatever it takes at this point.

Think about what you just wrote.

You're "willing to do whatever it takes at this point," but you "can't wade through information and know what to follow and what to do to reach my goals."

It sounds to me like you want to pay $500 a month for a step-by-step plan. It's just a guess, but I bet you part of that plan is to wade through information.
 

TheTruth

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Think about what you just wrote.

You're "willing to do whatever it takes at this point," but you "can't wade through information and know what to follow and what to do to reach my goals."

It sounds to me like you want to pay $500 a month for a step-by-step plan. It's just a guess, but I bet you part of that plan is to wade through information.


Wade hit this on the money. Why would you blindly shell out $500/month when you could come up with your plan, post it on this forum, have millionaires tell you what they think, take some action and report back, see the results and get millionaires to give you more feedback, then either drop it or take their advice and run.

This would also cost you nothing.
 

AlasdairM

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If you don't know programming how can you even monitor the progress and know what you are getting that you pay for?

In other words, don't you have to be somewhat of a savvy buyer of these outsourcing services to actually get a good deal on a quality project?

You need to implement performance benchmarks. The first time I had a programmer produce software for me, I didn't provide benchmarks and the software worked as per the specs I gave him, but it was slow as hell, so basically useless.

Also, there are ways to advertise a job that immediately weed out the crappy programmers, so you can get to the cream of the crop.

You really have to spend considerable time drawing up the specs for exactly what you need the software to do, and ideally what it should look like. There's software you can buy (fairly cheap) for creating wireframes so you can show the programmer what you want the interface to look like.

Anyway, I'm babbling on here, but hopefully this answers your question.
 
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AlasdairM

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$500/mo for what?

I haven't been thru his program, but apparently weekly calls (maybe even daily? Can't remember), plus one on one time with him for people who show promise. Anyway, apparently it was intense.

Oh, and also networking via a forum etc. with other participants.

Only thing is, he apparently some times didn't show up for scheduled calls, and with no explanation and no apology.

That to me is unacceptable and very unprofessional. Perhaps Ver. 2 will be different and better. I hope so for the sakes of participants.
 

skipper

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Only thing is, he apparently some times didn't show up for scheduled calls, and with no explanation and no apology.

That to me is unacceptable and very unprofessional. Perhaps Ver. 2 will be different and better. I hope so for the sakes of participants.

Since he doesn't even answer email this seems very possible. I would be pissed and would refuse to pay the total amount.
 

halfstepdown88

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Think about what you just wrote.

You're "willing to do whatever it takes at this point," but you "can't wade through information and know what to follow and what to do to reach my goals."

It sounds to me like you want to pay $500 a month for a step-by-step plan. It's just a guess, but I bet you part of that plan is to wade through information.

I didn't originally know it was $500 and am reconsidering, but what I meant is if he really WAS legit (which I'm now not sure of) and paying $500 a month for 6 months would save me a few years off the learning curve I'd do it.

Rereading my post I see where the confusion was. I can wade through information, I meant through books and online it can be hard at times for me because there is SO much information I get stuck in paralysis. Reading a book vs working one-on-one with someone who has actually done it is completely different. It would be like the difference in reading MJs book vs working with him directly for 6 months.

Still need to do more research on the guy. But if he was legit, I'd do it. If I could actually pay MJ a sum of money that would be worth his time to help me I'd do that also. I need a lot of help :p
 
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RBefort

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Cool...who cares how much you make from a business when you can get people to pay $500 a month and all you have to do is show up for some phone calls? 100 ppl a month, 5 calls a day and ur banking 1/2 mill repeating same stuff to everyone. I haven't listened to this yet, but not liking what I am reading.
 

theBiz

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Separating his time from money. It can be sold day or night and he doesn't need to be there to sell it.

People need to remember while this is a huge opportunity, it poses a threat no one like to talks about.... so can your competitor, and cheaper while your sleeping... now what?
 
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JAJT

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I listened to an interview with him - I believe he IS actually a millionaire from starting his own software company although I believe his current cash cow is the Foundation class these days.

I believe his Foundation is basically a college-style class. He takes as many members as his team thinks they can handle and then gives them tasks to go do to work towards the goal of setting up their own software companies. He critiques everyone's ideas and sends them back to the drawing board as he sees fit until everyone comes up with some workable ideas.

I think very few actually make it through the other side because (shock, surprise) it requires a hell of a lot of work.

If I was trying to start a software company and was totally lost I wouldn't think $3k is the end of the world to get some hands-on mentoring. That being said, I don't think I'd try setting up a software company with zero software experience... Sounds a lot like starting an engineering firm without being an engineer. Can it be done? Sure. But you are taking a LOT of other people's word for things with no great way to vet them.
 

halfstepdown88

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It is. Some contestants of his previous competition don't have good things to say - you can search online for their stories...

Where did you find those stories? I'd like to read them.

I've searched dane maxwell reviews, the foundation past students, dane maxwell past students, past reviews foundation, etc. and can't come up with anything but his interviews on podcasts like Mixergy.
 

AlasdairM

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Where did you find those stories?

Also see the comments on Sam Oven's interview page on Mixergy.

Those comments aside, Dane seems like a good guy (if not a bit unprofessional), and if you're determined to build a software business, the negative aspects of his approach will not/should not stop you.
 

H. Palmer

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nzerinto

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The general concept of what he does is absolutely fastlane. Ask companies what their pain points are, then solve them. Anything more than this and you are over complicating it...
 
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joona

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Few things to consider: In one of the launch videos he says, and repeats, something along the lines of "There is more money in the how-to than actually doing the thing". This I can understand and it also explains the endless amounts of information products that promise a lot but deliver a little. Also, if Dane ends up taking even 100 people to his program at 500/month, it means 50k/month for him. Not bad. That is more than what he is earning with his software businesses combined. But of course there is the time commitment involved.

The other problem I have is that if you look at the numbers, he has one successful product bringing in 40k/month but others are in the 2-3k mark. I am not saying that it's awful, definitely not, it's just that it's not all profit. Also, you need to consider how many of these kinds of businesses one person can sustain simultaneously.. Also, of course it is cool that some of his students are earning decent income from their businesses.. But as I understood based on listening 3 interviews (SPI, Mixergy, The Rise to the Top), it's not like every student earned even a dollar. And that was with a group of 10, not 100+. So I would think that the hit rate would be lower on the second round.

I don't mean this message as a disrespect towards him as I can see that his approach is great. It's just that I think it most likely the results will be disappointing to most of the students while few will indeed create a cool business.
 

wade1mil

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:coolgleamA:
 
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