We can only beat the big guys with focus. It has to be so small the big guys don’t care. Big guys rarely buy big businesses anyway, especially not in the tech or web scene. They want it to fit tightly into their portfolio. We ought put all our eggs in a tiny basket. In this way we wont get short short of resources, both human and financial.
When we do this in startup land, we have a chance of winning.
I’m really impressed with new Melbourne Startup www.salvagebazaar.com
What is it? Salvage Bazaar is an online marketplace where you can buy and sell recycled and scrap building materials.
I’m impressed for a few reasons:
It’s a very nice addendum to the existing established real estate websites in most markets such as www.realestate.com.au in Australia.
It also has a strong play with the move towards gentrification of housing in inner city areas, as well as green / eco requirements emerging in the architecture scene.
But here’s the kicker: the founder Kim Pannan, has never done anything in the tech space before in her life, not even blogging let alone founding, designing and building her own commercial web business. The bit I love is that Kim was a graduate from Startup School. So a feel a bit like a proud uncle.
If you want to learn to what Kim did – who incidentally bootstrapped Salvage Bazaar on very little money, then you might want to grab 1 of the 2 seats left at the Melbourne Startup School.
There are no prizes for originality in business. There is no shame in copying others, sorry – idea borrowing. So many aspiring entrepreneurs say they are just waiting for a great idea. The original idea for them to launch a startup under. I was once this person too. And I was so very wrong. I learned the hard way by losing half a million in venture funding that originality is over rated. I’m convinced highly original ideas increase our probability of financial failure.
The startup blog view is this: originality is for artists.
Let me explain. People want change they can cope with, and so the business world (consumers) are most likely to reward incremental improvements. Ideas which people can cope with. Ideas that are easy to spread because the audience has a reference point. Something to switch to, a substitute. Yes, radical products and services can be a success, but they are so rare (especially with low and self funded businesses) that it is tactically foolish to chase them. We ought leave that to large corporations, and heavily VC backed startups.
It comes back to our objective – do we want to run a business, or be original? It’s rare to achieve both, so make the choice early and know whether you are an artist or an entrepreneur.
This is the first of my crowd sourced blog entry ideas as suggested by Christopher Hewitt. Chris wanted to know whether providing services Pro Bono was a good idea for startups.
In a word Yes.
More important than the answer are the reasons. It says something about us as people or an organisation. It starts the brand personification process.
It says we give before we expect.
It says we have confidence in our knowledge and our skills.
It says we trust you not to take advantage of us.
It says we are prepared to a resource before we expect you to become one.
In all it creates an environment where reciprocity is likely. Reciprocity is part of the human condition. In addition, it’s the best way of providing a sample, when providing a small bottle of shampoo or a taste test isn’t possible.
Startup Blog says: Pro Bono is rad.
Seriously, your friends and family don’t care about your startup. They don’t have to. Sure they might pretend to care, but mostly they’ll wish you luck and get on with their lives.
Of all of my family members, only one has ever listed an item for rent on my website rentoid.com At first this surprised me. I thought that having a very broad target audience, they’d like it and get involved. They didn’t. So why we feel the need to seed our new startup with family and friends is beyond me. It’s really a waste of time. If they don’t like what we do, we’ll be offended. If they don’t buy what we sell, we’ll be offended. The feedback is less like to be honest than from a stranger. And most of all we are not going to get rich selling to our family and friends.
Startup blog advice is this: Go direct to your real market. Family and friends rarely, if ever, hold they key to startup success. So why delay the start of said success by launching to them?
A friend of mine is tremendous cook. It’s always a pleasure to eat at her house. At the end of every meal she gets the same comments about starting a cafe, restaurant or some type gourmet food business. As a startup evangelist I’m glad to say that time has finally come.
Welcome to Rubble – Home baked goodness from Bec.
The launch product is Homemade Gingerbread House which is that we expect to see in some Hollywood Christmas movie than on our dinner table this Christmas.
The thing I love about it the most is the ability to customize. I’m getting the family name ‘Sammartino’ on ours. Might even be a very cool thing to get your brand name on it or gift it.
WHAT: Large, gift wrapped, X-Mas Gingerbread Houses (see attached photos)
LIMITED OFFER: 50 only being made. First in best dressed!!!
HOW MUCH: $60 (COD)
WHERE: Collection from 42 Peers St, Richmond, but we can work something out if difficult.
HOW TO ORDER: Return email providing – name, contact number, quantity required, pick up date, personalised name of house (if wanted).
APPEARANCE & TASTE: You will say “Wow’ for both! But not too spicy for the children to eat.
* email your orders to (bunglik [at] gmail dot com)
You know you want one.
I’m launching a new startup. For those who don’t know about it here are some of the key points:
My new startup is my baby due January 25th, and it’s the most exciting one I’ve ever been involved in. We’re involved in more startups than we think…
Startup Blog says: Let’s not define ourselves by what we own, but the cool stuff we do.