web 2.0 Archives - Page 10 of 20

Some stuff all web startups should know

Posted on March 27, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

I’ve just read the following book. 50 great e-Businesses and the minds behind them. By Emily Ross and Angus Holland. It includes all our favourites over the past 10 years. Put simply it’s insightful.

I really think you should read it, but if you’re time poor like most entrepreneurs here’s my bullet point summary for you:

More than 80% of these businesses were founded and run by non-technical people (web designers / coders etc)
Only a handful actually went viral and had overnight success
‘Fun parks’ build traffic & members quicker than ‘real commercial sites’ (see next blog entry)
The majority did not have VC funding, fancy offices, or even staff. They bootstrapped.
Most took much longer than 2 years to build
The most unexpected and common thing that drove success was cold calling & collaboration
The entrepreneurs behind them we’re driven by the idea, belief and excitement – not only the potential for big money.

Worth a read.

Keeping up to date

Posted on March 23, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

Can be a huge time waster. The irony for us in startup land is that it’s our job to stay informed.

Startup blog advice: If you need to stay on top of a broad topic find a good aggregator.

Someone who’ll cover stuff when it becomes important enough for you to know. Seth Godin does this for me as far as web 2.0 and new marketing is concerned. Startup blog does this for you as far as keeping your mind thinking as an entrepreneur should.

Got some good short cut summary sites? On new technology, web sites, new businesses? Add them to comments.

Want to be wealthy?

Posted on March 22, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

Well, why not behave the same way in which wealthy countries do. It’s a very simple formula:

Invest in health care & education.

The 3 wealthiest countries in the world by GDP per capita – Luxembourg, Norway & Switzerland, have outstanding healthcare and education systems which are largely government funded.

The two most valuable assets you can ever have are your health and education. If we’re healthy we can do anything. If we educate ourselves, we can always find ways to generate income.

For those about to argue about about wealth not being ‘economic’…then please refer again to what these countries invest in. Financial wealth is the outcome, not the driver.

Social Networking – let’s get physical

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

Ok – so we’ve all worked out that we can now find each other on line. That there’s more people than we thought with similar interests, and that connecting with them can be mutually beneficial.

Now; get off line and get out there.

Get connected physically. Nothing beats facetime and smart social networking organizations are getting back to basics. Creating old school events like business networks such as Rotary have been doing for years. Old is the new new.

If you’re in Melbourne (which I am) get along to the Hive. The Hive is a new entrepreneurs network started by some savvy entrepreneurship students in Melbourne.

Their premise is simple. Come along, hear some successful entrepreneurs speak, meet other entrepreneurs. Communicate, collaborate and corroborate. It’s free and valuable.

You can check it out here and here. They run a good show for some youngsters.

I’m a believer – the test

Posted on March 18, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

I’d spend my last hour working on my startup.

I’d spend my last dollar working on my startup.

Conceptually not just financially, I’m a believer in how I invest my time.

If we don’t believe, how can they?

Pictures

Posted on March 17, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

I try and use pictures on every blog entry.

I use pictures every time I do a business presentation.

You might see something my words didn’t tell you.

My words might tell you something my picture didn’t show you.

(Where’s wally?)

Rain makers

Posted on March 15, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

Hippo jobs is a fast growing web startup which focuses on the youth job market. I recently had a coffee with the super successful entrepreneur and General Manager of Hippo.com.au – James Masini.

The discussion found its way towards scaling up and staff requirements and structure.

Insert startup insight here:

The majority of his work force are currently in business development roles – read ‘sale people’. He’s currently recruiting a few more staff who’ll also be in Business Development – sale people.

Not coders, not techies, not marketers, not bean counters, not admin…. rain making, revenue generating, sales people. Simple.