I stumbled across this fantastic presentation on slideshare this morning; sharing it here for Indian Web2.0 wannabes to gain from. This is a 30 slide primer about how to plan for a Web2.0 venture. Its context is largely North America centric, but the lessons are applicable to India as well. This is from Idris Mootee, who runs a Toroto based design strategy firm called IdeaCouture.
I found some of the points really hard-hitting, so putting them below seperately:
- It’s all about people. Hire people who have little regard for the status quo and who are not afraid of innovating. Look for ambition, intelligence and self-motivation.
- Don’t rely on any research about web 2.0. There’s no best practices either. It is better to have no research than bad research. Trust your gut to find the right directions.
- Never forecast with a ruler or build a business using excel. Nothing in business moves in a straight line and spreadsheets give you a false sense of certainty.
- You’ll spend countless hours on a business plan that most investors will not bother reading. To capture their attention, start with an user story and a truly unique and profitable opportunities
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
For Entrepreneurs: I want to ask “Who is Your First Customer to use your product”.
Make sure the above question before developing the product and what your product provides that could stand out in the crowd
Capturing the people’s desire[problem] which is hiding inside subconscious mind is the key to all entrepreneurs.
If you ask people what you want, they start explaing the short comming features of existing products but dont know what exactly they want. It is this entrepreneurs need to capture. Case study iPod its amazing.
A good way of introspecting while planning for a venture is to ask yourself this question
“how will we get our first 1000 (or 5000) users & what is our plan for that…do we have what it takes to do that”
…long term product planning may be looking too far into the product’s lifecycle, which for web2.0 products is much shorter
I would suggest entrepreneurs to concentrate much on product development and if they need money, when product starts growing, they can give demo @ TiE and get angel investors, as 99% of all startups are angel funded including google too.
Apply strategies of other industries including comodities to your s/w startups, it helps a lot.
Hi,
I was wondering if anybody can throw light on other aspects of venture. ( apart from funding ) . Is it really necessary to be already full time before asking for funds? Specially for web startups , I think they can be managed with whatever current job you are in. Anybody who disagrees , I can prove it to you.
Let me know what you guys think?
Hi Rahul,
There are 2 ways of looking into it –
1. To keep up with your costs, you can continue with your job while working on your idea. This provides the base to your idea and you get a start/feel of things as you get into it deeper. You can keep on managing a start-up with your job, but only till a certain point. Afetr that I dont think this way you would be able to do justice with your job and start-up.
2. Can you think of any company which has made it big, with the founders building it part-time? Its a difficult thing to do..When you dive into it full time, it shows a lot of commitment – It shows your confidence in the idea, your passion to pursue it fully and prove it to the world. You get more time to concentrate on your start-ups product/marketing/team/ops etc.
My view is initially you can bootstrap the start-up while being in a job and get the basic prototype up.(I know thats the most difficult part…but these are fun times..when you got to utilize each and every minute of the day). After this, depending on your commitment, passion, team and financial situation pursue it full-time.
~kartik
So I might not be Indian, but I’d like to think I still have a few tips to offer, being in the business myself.
If it’s starting a new venture that you’re after, there are a great deal of things to consider, and I’ll agree with Kartik above me, that it will probably be a lot wiser to keep your job before branching off on your own. I know there are a lot of people out there who say ‘there’s nothing like being your own boss’ and ‘quit working while there’s still time’ and all of that crap, but here’s a word of advice: don’t go into this eyes closed. Realize that it’s going to take you a lot of time to build up your market and street cred as a serious provider of products or services or both.
However, I would also say that there’s nothing without a little risk and that if you’re taking a calculated risk, it might just pay off in the long run. Running your own company takes time, especially if you’re trying to find the right product and/or service to focus on.
But don’t strike out on your own if you don’t know what you’re doing. There are a bunch of interesting articles on the subject here, and they’re definitely worth a shot since they’re coming from people a lot like yourself.
Cheers,
Tom
THere is alot more to running a business than having a great idea. And Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. It changes the dynamic of your home greatly and you better have a wife who is supportive and understanding.
Entrepreneurs are often mistaken for workaholics, but that is generally not the case. It is that they love what they do and would usually be doing it than other things.
If you can test the waters first part-time to see if the work and your personality fits the be your own boss style, than I recommend you do that first.
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