Category: startups

Game Changing

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Often a certain product market or category has a definite paradigm. Take eco friendly or hybrid electric vehicles. They always look like quirky space mobiles.

 

 (Toyota Pruis)

 

Elon Musk, one of the entrepreneurs of our time – has decided to be game changing instead. His new all electric Tesla Roadtster is anything but quirky and weird.

 

 

(Tesla Roadster)

Surely this design will get the blood pumping in any car enthusiast.

 

If you want your start up to be a game changer – ignore existing category expectations.

Taking premium to a new level

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Don’t think that pricing is just a decision – it’s very often an entire strategy where in fact it becomes the products most redeeming feature.

 

An espresso in Harveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms will set you back $50. (not a misprint)

 

 

The exclusive brew is Kopi Luwak, and is said to be the most expensive drink in the world by volume.

 

The locals call it cat poo coffee, and here’s why: A cat like creature in Indonesia called a Luwak eats the coffee cherries when ripe and then manages to pass the bean without digesting it. These beans then are gathered and used to make Kopi luwak espresso – Yum!

 

You can read more here.

 

What I love is how ‘the story’ invents pricing which is 16 times the average. 

Don’t do this (update)

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Hang the shingle out and wait.

 

 

Guess what, they won’t come and the phone won’t ring. The same is true for your website – even more so. You won’t exist. Netcraft says there are currently over 109 million websites which compile over 30 billion pages. At least with retail there’s a chance people will walk past!

 

Start up advice is this: People don’t know and people don’t care unless you make it so.

Pop quiz

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Two people went to work on their startup business.

 

Joseph got up early started at 8am and worked until midnight, he finished all the tasks on his to do list.

 

Mary slept in, was tired, got up mid morning flicked through the newspaper, had a few good solid hours in the afternoon and goofed off after 5.30pm. She did not complete all the tasks on her to do list.

 

Question: Which entrepreneur achieved the most in said day?

 

A)    Joseph

B)    Mary

C)    Cannot tell.

 

Answer: C

 

As entrepreneurs the most crucial mistake we can make is confusing activity with progress. The entrepreneur who achieved most is the one who made the most progress towards their end goal.

 

We should not confuse time spent with value created.

Business plans

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

For those of us not raising Angle or Venture Capital, our business plans should be directly proportional to the size of our business.

 

No revenue = no plan.

(ok – a small mud map that focuses on the very basic business model which will lead to revenue.)

 

<$1 million revenue  = 1 page.

 

The law of diminishing returns sets in at around about 10 pages, regardless of the size of the business. 

Compound Effort

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Albert Einstein said compound interest is the greatest discovery of all time. There is no question about it’s power. Don’t believe me? $10K invested in the all ordinaries index in Australia in 1970, would today be worth $808K 

The tough thing that entrepreneurs face is life without a wage. Money makes life better. A wage can buy nice things. Shirts, shoes, dinners at fancy restaurants, weekend trips away and mortgages in gentrified suburbs. Yes, these are nice. The interesting thing about ‘compounding, is that it is not limited to financial instruments. It also applies to effort.    

                               COMPOUND EFFORT

       Definition: The ability to generate significant & tangible returns through long term continuous effort via the use of human capital. 

It applies to all things. Start ups, even exercise regimes. If you stay the course, the rewards are there. 

(If you’ve read this post before – you’ve consumed over 50,000 words on this blog! Thought it was worth a re-post) 

Reliability

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

4.17pm – Get email from friend advising of a small bug on rentoid.com

 

4.17pm – I email my main guy from my tech team to ask him to check it out  

4.21pm –  I receive email from my tech guy saying – bug fixed please check it!   

4.23pm – I email my friend advising that it’s all fixed saying – ‘my guy is quick.’ 

4.25pm – Friend emails me back saying “..Wow… that’s amazing.” Blog worthy!! 

As above.

Never underestimate the power strong relationships within supply chains. Strong relationships build efficient supply chains – not the other way around.