Category: startups

Compound effort & Google

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

The good news about Google is that it rewards hard workers. That’s good news for all the genuine marketers, startups and bloggers out there

 

Here’s proof.

 

I decided that startup blog might be a good name, given it was all about – yep start ups and entrepreneurship. But unbeknownst to me the inexperienced blogger there was already a zillion blogs with this title, or one very similar. The dot come was long gone.

 

I didn’t even exist in Google… I was more than 20 pages deep. I was also blogging to about 3 friends and my mother. I never did any marketing of my blog, just registered it on technorati. That’s it.

 

Now after consisting writing, sharing my ideas, almost 500 posts and providing some reasonable insights, this blog is clear number one on Google. Just type in any permutations of the words start up blog and you’ll see. I also have over 20,000 readers a month now.

 

Word of mouth is slow, but effort equals reward.

Bono says

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Circa 1992 on MTV across 4 big, no 4 massive TV screens U2 lead singer Bono was asked what ‘Zoo TV’ was all about. His reply:

 

“It’s about the chaos of choice.” Poignant.

 

Start ups ought listen to Bono – and avoid the chaos. 

 

Bootstrappers business trip

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I recently had to conduct some rentoid business interstate. The content of the trip is irrelevant, what’s relevant is the context. rentoid is a small startup with a long road ahead. Cashflow is important vital, so we conserve it where possible. This is what successful startups do. We know where they are on the revenue curve – and so we are frugal.

 

Flights: Cheapest tickets available with no frills budget airline.

 

Time: First flight in morning, fly back after business hours – last flight. This ensures a full day conversations and maximum value within the trip.

 

Hire Car: Smallest cheapest car available (Hyundai Getz 3 door to be precise). Low on cost, low on fuel. Only needs to fit two people and two laptops.

 

Lunch: A burger and fries at a local pub. (at least it had Sydney Harbour views!)

 

Internet access: Hunt down free wifi area and buy a $3 espresso.

 

Dinner: Airport Pizza & a soft drink.

 

Ok, it wasn’t the most glamorous business trip, but the objectives were achieved with the minimum cost, and we had fun. We’ll fly business class, or in a private jet when our business can afford it, and hence it’s deserved.

 

Start ups out there: Know where you are at. Never let ambition or ego get in front of the revenue reality.

the ‘Democratization of Art’

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

The stuff which really cuts new ground tends to be one of the following:

 

An awesome new app, widget or blob

Something ultra exclusive, or 

 

Something which opens up a market for the first time.

 

I Vote For Art fits in the latter category.

 

Ben Rowe, marketing savant, art appreciator and all round good guy is the brains behind this site. I Vote For Art is a place where you can vote for your favourite art, and buy and sell art too.

 

The premise: Let people decide which art deserves to bubble up to the top– not the snooty galleries. How many extraordinary artists never get their chance because they never had the contacts or the forum to show their wears?

 

 

What I love about this launch;

 

–          Tight category focus – Single Minded Proposition

–          Creating a new marketplace for aspiring artists

–          Use of social rankings

–          Clean easy to navigate web interface

–          The Democratization of an ‘old’ category

–          You can buy all the cool art on the site

 

Worth sending to your Artist friends, and let’s face it we’ve all got a couple.

 

www.ivoteforart.com

Innovation is quite forgiving

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

All twitter users know that it’s not the most reliable website out there. At the time of this post, it’s currently ‘down’ and gives you the message below:

 

 

2 things:

 

1.      They told us about it before hand.

2.      We forgive it, because we love it.

 

If you’re a ‘me too’, chances are your customers would be less forgiving. If you’re a new killer app, service or widget then the lesson is simple: Innovation is quite forgiving.

 

Launch now – improve later.

What exit strategy?

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I once said that “investors only ever get married with divorce in mind”. In fact, it’s often the most popular question at most start up events. “What’s your exit strategy?”

 

At the Hive event last week, local entrepreneur Simon Crowe of Grill’d  had a refreshingly alternative view: He doesn’t have one.

 

  

 

What Simon wants to do is build a profitable business which grows beyond him. One which can operate without him. Simon gets it.

 

Here’s some advice all young entrepreneurs should heed. Because when you can achieve the above you don’t need an ‘exit’, you have ‘options’.

Barenaked Ladies embrace new world

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Here’s an example of an organization who’ve embraced the new world to absolute advantage.

 

Rock band the Barenaked Ladies, achieved a reasonable level of commercial success in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. A song of theirs you may know is ‘One week’ – you can click here to watch it and jig your memory.

 

Their success enabled them to do what most bands can’t – secure a record deal with the large record label Warner. But in 2003 they sacked them. They thought they could a better job – and they have. They just cut out the middle man and began to have a direct relationship with their passionate fans.

 

Here’s some of the cool stuff they’ve done:

They have a ‘dynamic’ websites & myspace– not static pages

They blog ‘daily’

They include fans in ‘every’ film clip

They built a permission database

They provide ‘free’ downloads of their music

Allow ‘free’ sharing of their music (Youtube / File sharing)

They sell their records direct and collect all revenue

They have ‘band days’ and ‘invite only concerts’

They provide photos of the days events

They run cruiseship holidays for fans

(Yep, 300 of their fans socializing, eating, relaxing with them for a week or so, where they provide the entertainment for them every night)

 

 

The net result is this. Their fans feel like they have a real connection, which they do. Their revenue per album sold is now approx $6.00 to the Barenaked Ladies, versus the previous $1.00 while with Warner. They have pure creative control of their work and don’t have to worry about being dropped by their record label.

 

Their site link is here: http://www.bnlmusic.com/default2.asp

 

Kudos BNL.