Getting users without a product: This week in startups

Welcome to The Mill, our weekly roundup of the hottest startup stories and resources to hit the web from last week. Curated by the PAYMILL team, here’s what grabbed our attention this week.

This week in startups

How I got my first customers without having a product: The truth of the matter is that your startup journey will begin with just your savings and little or no funding at all! In this post Anthony Bosschem explains how to get your first customers without even having a product ready to ship. The idea behind this, is that you first need to see if people are interested in what you’re offering before actually wasting your time building something nobody cares about!

Image courtesy of Anthony Bosschem

How the Collapse of Nokia Is Igniting Europe’s Next Silicon Valley: Last week Helsinki was host to 5000 startup enthusiasts for Slush 2013. Mashable’s Samantha Murphy Kelly was also in attendance, and covers the event extensively in this article. Where she highlights how Slush got started and some of the emerging trends to look out for in the Nordics.

Holiday Guide to Mobile Marketing: This Friday I talked about how this holiday can be the most profitable for online shops. With the link above you’ll find an infographic by Blue Chip Marketing illustrating the impact of mobile will have on the upcoming festive period.

The Ultimate Guide to Blogging: Tomas Laurinavicius from Despreneur details just how he created, built and monetised his blogs. While he tries to keep things short and sweet, this post is filled with valuable tips and resources for startups to get started with blogging.

Image courtesy of despreneur.com

15 Email Newsletters From Top Entrepreneurs You Can’t Miss: Lets face it. Nobody enjoys being bombarded with useless emails offering zero value! And the initial feeling people have when asked to subscribe to email newsletters is that their inbox will be filled with spam. But there are some email newsletters which are very resourceful as highlighted by John Shea. Check out which ones he considers to be the most helpful for entrepreneurs by following the link above.

Inforgraphic: Dealing with unhappy users on social media

Despite your best efforts to deliver a flawless product, there will inevitably come a time when something goes wrong. Often leading to unhappy users venting their frustration on social media. This infographic below shows five types of social media complainers and also explains how to make them happy again.