Start Your Startup Engines!
Posted on July 3, 2007
Filed Under General, Internet Marketing, Web Development
Is the web really over saturated with blogs, social networks and new startups? Yes, No, Maybe So! Who knows? But one thing is for sure, everybody is trying to emerge on the surface of the web 2.0 market. You can start your own startup as well. Here are some examples of what the latest startups deal with.
The one that really cracks me up is Mizpee. This service is focused on delivering information regarding the nearest restroom within your perimeter. Helpful! The latest startup that Digg’s founder Kevin Rose launched is called Pownce and many people on the web say that it is supposed to be like a web based sharing network. This new site is like a social network which is supposed to be a better version of twitter. Kriptonic, an advertising insertion provider is starting an ad insertion campaign and offering video content management to its clients. There are plenty of examples for new and innovative startups.
What are the most important things that you need to know so that you create a successful startup? Well, I’m going to dwell on the five most crucial points that you have to cover.
Idea
Do you need a brilliant idea to start a startup? I guess that if you are helping people and making their lives easier, and if you are offering something that is needed then this thing doesn’t necessarily have to be brilliant. BakeSpace is a good example. It is a social network for people who like cooking. The virtual kitchen that they offer lets their users talk, share recipes and exchange videos. This “social kitchen” has grown to have like 10,000 members so far. That is why it is vital to manage and get some feedback from people while you have the project on a blueprint, and only then you will save some time which you could spend developing the idea. Generally speaking the startup has to offer better technology in order to earn good money.
Market
Try to find an unexplored market area where you can focus on a specific item that’s being anticipated from the public. For example Powerset is trying to build a search engine that has a technology matching meaning to meaning rather than keywords. No one has done this so far. This new Google competitor will be called Powerlabs and is expected to be launched in September. So far Powerset has 10,000 Powerlabs test users. If you release such idea you will have a bigger attention driven towards it compared to the other ones. It is like an itch that you scratch - you’re solving somebody else’s problem for him/her. Your startup would be way more successful if it deals with things that are of help to its users, it will fit the market and it won’t be out of place.
People
Get into the mind of people. Focus on your users and on the things they want. Most of the businesses fail just because they do not serve their customers the things they want. The failed startups are those ones that offered their users things they never wanted. If you are having trouble, it is the people that will give you the best feedback. That is why it is really crucial to know your customers’ opinion at every point of your product development and distribution.
Product
If you are going to build a system for like consumers it is really important that you don’t make it for 50 million people in the first place, because you can’t. It is important, though, that you at least think about it. The thing that you have to do is to focus on your final product. When you show something to the world for the first time, the impression that people get is vital. You have to be obsessive about your esthetic and design. Web users form first impressions of web pages in as little as 50 milliseconds (1/20th of a second), according to Canadian researchers. To get an idea of how long 50 milliseconds really is, take a look at an experiment comparing Bank of Americaaˆ™s home page for 50 milliseconds versus 500 milliseconds. You really have to pay attention to the user experience that you give with your product. And yet another thing to think about is the different ways you use a product, why you use a particular product, what you use and what you don’t use. This will give you a better idea of how and what you have to build and add to your final product.
Money
At the very beginning is really important to set a plan which focuses on the way of extracting money from your clients. You should definitely have an already built characteristics of your business. Extracting money from customers is like an engineering problem. Think about how you want your business to work. Like for example, Microsoft is a master at extracting money from customers. The Vista upgrade costs are reasonable but when you add the other numbers up, you are going to ask what happened to your wallet. Companies that plan such tactics in an early stage have greater success.
Getting that super compelling service in the very beginning is really important. All the web2.0 startups have a purpose they serve. Each one of them gives a different experience to the user. Do you think you can give a better experience to the online community? What is the thing that you want to see on the web? How do you want it to be served? Some basic questions that every entrepreneur has to think about before diving in the vast ocean of web startups.
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