Solving the “marketplace” business model. A sizable percentage of Capital Factory startup submissions take the form of the “marketplace.” In fact, 3 of the 10 selected companies from the past two years have followed this business model. Marketplace companies are notoriously difficult to start, so I’m constantly amazed that so many entrepreneurs chose this route. Maybe it’s the “go big or go home” mentality? If there’s a business plan less likely to succeed than a restaurant, this has to be it. But it’s not impossible; here’s some of the pitfalls and how to address them. A marketplace is born A “Marketplace” connects buyers and sellers who otherwise have trouble finding each other.
Let’s say someone owns a two miniature porcelain cows ironically dressed as farmers and performing the very functional task of salt and pepper shaker. eBay converts these complementary desires into transactions. More examples: So what’s the problem? This all sounds dismal, but here’s a handful of strategies to overcome the obstacles. What else? Startup Lessons Learned – 1 ano depois | Aceleradora. Esse é o primeiro de uma série de posts sobre a Startup Lessons Learned 2011, uma conferência dedicada ao ensino de práticas de lean startups. Para começar, quer investir 1:20h do seu tempo tentando entender como a startup americana média evolui ao longo de 12 meses de trabalho?
Separei dois exemplos bem diferentes que usam técnicas de customer development, foco no MVP e busca do product/market fit. Veja os vídeos na ordem, e se possível, quebre em 2 sessões de 2 videos cada. Food on the Table Veja a apresentação do Food on The Table, ainda no começo do projeto em 2010: Veja como o projeto evoluiu seguindo as práticas de Lean Startup: Dropbox Veja a apresentação do Dropbox ano passado: E compare com 12 meses depois, observando o avanço da empresa e a maturidade do projeto: Conclusões Lembre-se que startups realmente boas conseguem avançar com dinheiro próprio, sem receber investimento.
5 Characteristics of Great Company Names. While a clever and appropriate name can impress your fan base, choosing an unoriginal, dull name communicates a lack of enthusiasm towards your new business venture. However, it's never too late to change a company's name; some of the best businesses have changed their names when a better idea came around. (Xerox used to be called The Halloid Company; Nissan was Datsun; and LG shortened its name from Lucky and GoldStar Co.) A great name can hit in an instant or be a result of careful tweaking over time. While there is no magic formula to creating a good company name, here are five common motifs found across all great company names. Good company names have a certain "stickiness" to them. During the brainstorming process, allow plenty of time—at least a week—between the brainstorm and the decision to really mull over the options.
What do Nike, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Dreamworks, Pixar, and eBay have in common? Making up a word should not be a last resort; it should be the first option. The Pmarca Guide to Startups, part 4: The only thing that matters - pmarca *ARCHIVE* - bit.ly/1z2b3V. ResultsON. A list of top 100 Startups blogs by Blog Rank. Equity - Forming a new software startup, how do I allocate ownership fairly? Today | KillerStartups.com™ Startup Diário. Startupi » Rapidinho pra fechar a semana: dizem que, no mundo das startups. Quick Sprout — I'm Kind of a Big Deal. Startupeiro » uma esquina online para compartilhamento de experiências empreendedoras. Startups: Casos de uso | Marcelo Toledo. Estou com uma estória bem fresca na cabeça que vai ajudar a ilustrar o tema casos de uso.
O Man in the Arena é um vídeo podcast que fala sobre empreendedorismo, se você não conhece, deveria conhecer e assinar, o Leo Kuba e o Miguel Cavalcanti literalmente dão um show em cada programa. O episódio #23 foi demais, eles conversaram com a Bel Pesce, uma Brasileira que se formou no MIT e tem uma história brilhante. São poucas as pessoas que eu vejo falar com tanta sinceridade, empolgação e brilho nos olhos como ela. No meio do programa ela conta sobre a sua startup, a lemon.com, que digitaliza recibos de pagamentos através de um aplicativo no celular e organiza na web.
Dessa forma, você consegue extrair informações fantásticas sobre seus gastos. Logo após essa explicação (~ 21′), o Miguel faz a seguinte pergunta: “O lemon.com será para pessoas ou empresas?” E Bel usou uma forma muito interessante de responder esta pergunta, ela utilizou casos de uso, veja só: How Mint Found Startup Success By Solving Real Problems. Staying on top of your finances can be a daunting and time-consuming task.
Aaron Patzer knows that. That's why he developed Mint.com, a free personal finance and money management platform that offers a bird's eye view of your financial situation and offers advice on how to improve it. In fact, Mint makes money by helping you save money — based on your spending and saving habits, Mint can recommend thousands of products. If you switch those products, Mint earns a kick-back, so it's a win-win for Mint and for the user. Mashable spoke with Patzer, now Intuit's VP of product innovation, about launching Mint, earning consumer's trust and why Mint will be around for a good long while.
Name: Aaron Patzer, 30 Company: Mint Year Founded: 2006 Employees: 100 (in Intuit's personal finance division, where Mint is housed) You majored in electrical engineering at Duke — what initially drew you to tech? It begins before I was an engineering major — I got a computer at a young age. Solve a real problem. Startupi » Sua startup no ExpoY, Festival de Cultura de Negócios Y. Dropbox: The Inside Story Of Tech's Hottest Startup. Equity - Forming a new software startup, how do I allocate ownership fairly? Painel Endeavor de Internet. Findings: Search and email remain the top online activities. Findings: Search and email remain the top online activities A May 2011 Pew Internet survey finds that 92% of online adults use search engines to find information on the Web, including 59% who do so on a typical day. This places search at the top of the list of most popular online activities among U.S. adults.
But it is not alone at the top. Among online adults, 92% use email, with 61% using it on an average day. Since the Pew Internet Project began measuring adults’ online activities in the last decade, these two behaviors have consistently ranked as the most popular. Even as early as 2002, more than eight in ten online adults were using search engines, and more than nine in ten online adults were emailing. Of course, the internet population has grown substantially since 2002.
Email and search form the core of online communication and online information gathering, respectively. Search Similar demographic patterns existed in 2002, when Pew Internet first measured online search. Email. A Billion Dollars Isn’t Cool. You Know What’s Cool? Basic Human Decency. ‘”Business!” Cried the Ghost, wringing his hands again.
“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!” I know, I know. It’s cute to be the token Luddite at TechCrunch — but it’s also hugely disingenuous. The truth is, I love technology. And yet increasingly I wonder whether, for the sake of humanity, it might not be a bad thing if the earthquake comes and tips all of web 2.0 into the sea. I should possibly explain. The Internet — particularly “web 2.0”, with its communities and tagging and reuniting and friending and liking — was supposed to civilize us all. In the early days, the entrepreneurs behind these services really seemed to believe the gospel they were preaching.
At first, Web 2.0 seemed like a perfect two-way street. And yet. This time last week, the musical world mourned the death of Amy Winehouse. Startup Meme - The Unofficial Web Guide. 7 dicas para escolher o nome certo para sua empresa - PME. Marketing | 07/07/2011 06:10 Confira dicas de um especialista para dar um nome vencedor para o seu negócio 4. Fuja dos modismos Fuja dos clichês que indicam “modernidade” no momento da escolha do nome, pois se o negócio vingar e durar muitos anos, ele pode acabar ficando datado. “Muitas empresas colocaram ‘tel’ e ‘digi’ para associar seus negócios a tecnologias que estavam no auge e seus nomes hoje soam ultrapassados para nós”, aponta o especialista. “Uma boa olhada na lista telefônica mostra que esses prefixos ou sufixos não trazem nenhum diferencial a uma marca”, acrescenta. 5.
Uma boa marca não funciona apenas no papel. 6. Muitas empresas de sucesso da nova geração de negócios online criaram palavras completamente novas para batizar seus empreendimentos. Ferramenta online de gestão ágil, qual? - Startup Brasil | Grupos do Google. A Smart Bear. Startupi » Eventos. Life at HOK. The Viral Me: Devin Friedman Investigates the New World of Social Networking: Big Issues.
Cupertino is where Apple is. Palo Alto is where Facebook is. Mountain View is where Google is. Geographically speaking, then, Y Combinator, let's call it YC, is in Googletown, a flat suburban place dotted with low bungalows and bathed almost always in sunlight. On a side street here, more of a service road, really, sits the small building that houses the company. It hardly exists at all, physically.
It's just two rooms—the office, where the three full-time employees can sometimes be found, and the main room, which, with its bright plywood picnic tables and orange acoustic tiling, looks like the dining hall at one of the better youth hostels in Denmark. The first person I meet at YC is an entrepreneur named Jiggity, who is 22 years old and got his computer-science degree from MIT about twenty minutes ago. Of course, there is also a social element to Teevox. The reason I'm here is to try to see social media through the eyes of people like Jiggity.
Sacred Cow Dung: What is a "Scalable" Business? « MYTH: Physicians are Resistant to New Technologies | Sacred Cow Dung Home | RULE OF THE WEEK: The success of a web service is inversely proportional to the secrecy that surrounded its development. » June 18, 2005 What is a "Scalable" Business? For Venture Investors: Scalability is King While both scalable and non-scalable businesses can be “successful” and grow — only scalable businesses can achieve the high-growth characteristics required to command market multiples attractive to venture investors.
So what is a “scalable” business? In my mind, to be truly scalable, a business must satisfy two criteria — Scalability Criteria #1: This is essentially a financial criteria and is what people usually mean by scalable — but in my mind this is a necessary, but insufficient, criteria to be a truly scalable business. For a business to be scalable, incremental costs must be decreasing — ideally approaching zero. This means that the cost of each incremental dollar in revenue must be going down. Christian, How Do You Turn Your Customers Into Brand Evangelists? | Co. Design. Achieving the buzz that product designers, brand managers, and business strategists so relentlessly chase isn't easy. The key is in getting consumers to adopt and advocate a brand. But how do companies convince customers not only to use their products but to adopt their brands? What makes consumers advocate for a product and willingly accept and "own" it as part of their individual identities?
How do you get people so revved up that they're willing to slap a sticker on their car out of allegiance to the company, or tattoo their bodies with your brand, as Harley owners frequently do? Expectations are tricky. You need to understand the aspirations of the target audience. Adoption Adoption goes well beyond trial and use, the objective of many product managers and marketers. A good shorthand rule I've learned is that only products that have true meaningful value for consumers hold the potential for rapid adoption. It is also important to remember the following about adoption: ? ? Advocacy. Alltop - Top Business News. Convertible Debt vs. Equity: Which Is Right for Your Startup? Bill Clark is the CEO of MicroAngel Capital Partners, a venture firm that gives more investors access to alternative investments. He also gives investors the ability to invest in startups online through crowdfunding.
You can follow him on Twitter @austinbillc. Whether you are an entrepreneur or an angel investor, the topic of convertible note vs. equity impacts you. For the most part, startups favor convertible notes and angels prefer equity, but which one is the right choice for your startup? Here, we review the benefits of each. Convertible Debt Convertible debt was most commonly used as a bridge loan between two rounds of financing.
Here is a basic overview of how convertible notes work: An angel investor invests $200,000 in a startup as a convertible note.The terms of the note are a 20% discount and automatic conversion after a qualified financing of $1,000,000.When the next round of funding occurs at $2,000,000, the investor's note will automatically convert to equity. Equity 1. 2. 3. Branding Is About Creating Patterns, Not Repeating Messages | Co. Design. Brands today exist in multiple mediums, defined by multiple voices. The media brands inhabit is iterative, with no beginning, no end, and little permanency. In that context, adherence to a big idea and endless repetition of centralized, fixed rules can make a brand seem unresponsive and out of step with its audience.
But without repetition, how does a brand create consistency? And without consistency, how does a brand maintain value? Brands as Patterns We all know that brands are increasingly accessed digitally, but a less considered consequence is that the interface through which a brand is accessed has become a primary identity element. Instead of a single big idea, a brand must have multiple, smaller ideas. As the digital world evolves, the customer's ability to inform the brand will outstrip the company's ability to control it.
Through the interface, it is increasingly easy to see how a company behaves, the actions it takes, what it says, and how it responds, reacts, or hides. 1. 2. Startup Dicas - 2011 ano do Social Commerce? [Infográfico] ~ Startup Diário. Este é um ligeiro ponta pé inicial para tentar motivar todos empreendedores a buscar o Social Commerce como canal de vendas, não se preocupe com a conceituação exata do termo, pois intuitivamente sabemos que seu significado é o comércio realizado através de redes sociais. Em recente artigo publicado pela IAB - Interactive Advertising Bureau - Claudete Tavares, diretora comercial de mídia digital do Grupo RBS e presidente do comitê Regional Sul do IAB Brasil, alerta as empresas sobre a ascenção do Social Commerce no Brasil.
Segundo Tavares, em março de 2010 havia apenas um site no modelo social commerce no Brasil e ao final do ano já eram contabilizados mais de 1000. Ela diz que, assim como 2010 foi o ano da explosão dos sites de compra coletivas, que hoje somam mais de 1000 websites deste tipo, 2011 deve ser o ano da explosão do Social Commerce, seja ele via Facebook (F-Commerce), Twitter ou Orkut, além das redes menos conhecidas como o Empreendemia, que trabalha muito no B2B. 15 fresh startups with great landing page designs. Welcome to the age of the online startup.
Every day, multiple websites are created to announce a new startup and sadly, most of those pages look horrible. In order to attract the users you have to be able to provide a catchy description, features, and of course design. Now keep in mind that there is no perfect method/formula for a landing page. Don’t worry however there are plenty of successful rules to follow. Remember to use strong call to action or CTA, in order to guide the user on what to do next. In most of the cases that action is to sign-up for your newsletter. But what happens after that? This posts highlights 15 online startups that are out of the ordinary and actually look good! 1. TripLingo was founded on the belief that language learning should be tailored to your unique needs and that most learners aren’t necessarily seeking to become fluent. 2. Twickets will turn your twitter account into a multi-user ticketing system! 3. 4. 5. Shall I Buy = Social + Mobile + Commerce. Why are two of Brazil’s top startups moving to the US? - TNW Latin America.
Earth2Tech — Cleantech, Green IT and Smart Grid News and Analysis. Empreendedorismo na era digital - Núcleo de Inovação & Redes Sociais. Notícias de negócios, mercados, economia, tecnologia, marketing, carreira e finanças pessoais. Following Twitter. Startup_Toolkit_Info.png (imagem PNG, 1200×6400 pixels)