Version 2.0 of StartupAddict is finally up and running. I want to thank everyone who waited patiently as SA was converted from a custom php/mysql application to Drupal 5.x. To see why I chose Drupal for the Startupaddict platform check this earlier post. StartupAddict is community driven and only as good as its’ users, so please signup and provide feedback of where you would like to see SA go in future versions. SA’s user interface should get more aesthetically pleasing over the coming weeks now that we are rocking and rolling.
I have ambitious plans for the funding tab and plan to offer micro-payments and peer2peer lending components for investors and entrepreneurs. In addition early fall we plan on migrating to Drupal 6 and implementing OpenID to simplify signing in to SA and “going open” for third party social network integration.
I came across the center of entrepreneurship BYU Marriott School and found a tremendous resource for entrepreneurs. I took the liberty to answer the first 10 thoughts on the list of entrepreneurial thoughts with my two cents. I felt compelled to answer these great thoughts. For a the complete itemized list (26 total) of entrepreneurial thoughts check out the BYU | Marriott School “Center of Entrepreneurship”. You will also find other great resources like Idea Evaluation, Common mistakes, Starting costs, 5 Stages of Growth etc…Enjoy.
1. It has to be a business that gives you an emotional high.
Startups are like marriages, they are a tremendous commitment and you have to be willing to see it through to the end. If you just “like” the business and not “love” it, don’t bother. A failure that was “loved” is better than a success that was “liked”.
2. Try not to go into anything that is labor, inventory, or accounts receivable intensive.
An entrepreneur’s time is extremely valuable, spent being the puppeteer of so many business systems from accounting to marketing to operations. The last thing you want to do is sacrifice your precious time doing administrative functions. Here is a quick solution to this great entrepreneurial thought: If your startup demands labor then outsource, if it demands inventory then drop-shop, if accounts receivable is a must then streamline your A/R systems and personnel.
3. Have independent market research done on feasibility of your ideas.
Due Diligence and idea research is one thing and one thing only —CHEAP! So don’t skimp on the market research and save yourself the future hassle. I tend to follow the 10:2:1 ratio with new startup ideas. I nurture 10 good ideas with market research and end up with 2 that are worthy of further development. Out of the 2 ideas left, one almost always proves to be superior and quite possibly becoming my next startup.
4. Don’t think someone is waiting to steal your idea, it’s paranoia.
You can’t steal an idea, only the methodology of executing an idea or a specific use of that idea. This is an important point because startups are based on a developed idea but the execution is what determines success not the idea itself. If someone said they had an idea for an Internet auction site, do you think they are nervous about that idea being stolen? Put yourself “out there” or you will end up “nowhere”
5. Don’t get started on a real business until you have someone (spouse, family member) who will listen to your dreams, sympathize with your failures and applaud your successes.
Sounding boards are critical in to startup success. I do this long before I commit to market research, if you can’t convince your own blood or friends it is a good idea, who are you kidding? Make sure you don’t “hard sell” your concept….do a “soft sell” and listen to their feedback. This is like a mini and free focus group before your idea has ever left your skull.
6. Never involve yourself in any service or product that requires a consumer attitude change.
This is a brilliant philosophy…it is the entrepreneur that needs to roll with the consumer’s punches not the other way around. Don’t end up like the music studios in a changing digital environment. Underestimating the consumer’s tenacity and crowd sourcing ability will be an entrepreneur’s downfall.
7. Don’t invest your money or time in home run schemes—invest in what you like and know.
The book I’m writing on the daily life of a StartupAddict dedicates a chapter to this concept. Everyone of us has our very own toolbox of skills, education and experiences in life. If you know a tremendous amount about real estate don’t try to startup a pet store. This sounds like blatant common sense, but sometimes we all need to be reminded of just that.
8. Find a lifelong mentor as soon as possible. Have him continually play devil’s advocate with all of your projects.
I have multiple mentors in this game called life, but I also tend to be very industry agnostic when it comes to starting companies (almost to the point of negating my answer to the previous thought #7). Because I am so transient with industries I have not always been fortunate enough to have an industry specific mentor handy. So I developed a technique of utilizing only the friends, family and associates I know play devil’s advocate role. This is a great substitution. This is also why I created the advisors section in “StartupCentral” at StartupAddict.com so I could mitigate this problem for future entrepreneurs.
9. Make sure you are not just buying yourself a job. Have an exit point or harvest plan to cash out.
This is a safe mind-set to have going into any new business or startup. If you want to build a cash-flow business and never sell, know that going in. If you want to build a company and sell for 10 times annual earnings, make sure you know that. This is critical to how you treat your business on a daily level.
10. Do self-awareness training. Find out who you are.
As far as we know (us mortals) we only get one go at this life. Make sure you don’t merely plod along and just get by. Find out who you are, your purpose and then Dream Big and Be Great.
If you get a chance to read the 8th habit or at least listen to the audio book by Stephen Covey (author of 7 highly effective habits of successful people) it is well worth it. I’m a little late on getting the book, but it was in the bargain bin at Barnes the other day and couldn’t help myself. Mr. Covey makes some very interesting points on the difference between workers in the 20th century verses the worker of the 21st century.
The old century was based on the industrial age where production and efficiency was paramount. Today the Knowledge worker is among us and needs to be treated less like an expense (industrial age accounting system) and more like an asset. The modern day worker is more entrepreneurial than the 20th century industrial age worker, yet current employers have not adapted to that change. Most employees feel they are restricted or wasting their time in their current work environment.
Solutions need to come from the employer to let the knowledge worker be more entrepreneurial and base a reward system on company improvement and common goals. I think the churn rate at businesses and the overall work culture would grow dramtaically by implementing this ideology. In the process, the modern worker would feel empowered and satisfy the entrepreneirual gene that is in all of us. The employer just needs to loosen the leash a bit. Some of the most successful companies have implemented flavors of this technique.
It has alway been my philosophy with any businesses I am involved with to give employees and partners enough rope to either perform or hang themselves.
Most of you are aware social advertising has had a tumultuous time in 2007 and 2008. Although not all that different than the overall economy at this point I guess. Probably the most well know social advertising is Facebook’s beacon which has gone through numerous iterations and revisions to walk the line between “user privacy” and “advertiser confidence” for brand exposure among sometimes less than tasteless user-generated content. Despite the difficulties of being Avant-garde social advertising is here to stay. Rich Ord from Webpronews has a great article with some convincing stats on why social networks and technologies continue to get gobbled up by old media. Webpro stated:
The top 25 social media networks delivered over 155 million unique visitors in Feb. 2008 with 70 percent coming from MySpace, Facebook and Classmates.com. Add in YouTube and Flickr and you get another 60 million totaling an estimated 215 million humans viewing social media monthly.
Now imagine the the growing number of concentrated vertical networks in industries like healthcare, financial, beauty, business etc…The numbers are much smaller but the potency of advertising is much greater. The value of a 20,000 member social network on facelifts is greater to an advertiser than a 75,000 member general network.
Sorry for the extended absence everyone, but it was another expo all week in Vegas on the heels of the Drupalcon 2008 conference in Boston so I didn’t have time to post. Lots to catch up on so lets get started.
1. I’ll be writing a part II on starting your own real estate brokerage firm based on “start a real estate brokerage” post.
2. AOL bought social network Bebo for $850 Million
3. Facebook rolls out IM
4. Why Hulu is going to rock the video boat…earlier post here
5. I will be posting a 3-part case study series on the creation of StartupAddict.com and outsourcing in hopes fellow entrepreneurs can learn a thing or two.
I’ve been promising SA 2.0 this week (hell, I’ve been promising for months)….but I will truly roll it out even with the few concessions and kinks (damn bootstrapping).
Well all I can muster for a roundup on my residual “red eye” fumes but will be back on schedule tomorrow.
Day two of Drupalcon was just as amazing as Day one. It’s astounding to see the diversity of Industries and number of people that comprise the Drupal ecosystem. The only thing more impressive than the diversity is the rapid rate at which the Drupal community is growing and the pure dedication everyone offers to better the overall community. Some of my favorite seminars involved case studies of enterprise-level Drupal deployments, companies like Lifetime Network and FastCompany have poured tremendous resources into Drupal based sites that are rendering heavy traffic. Hopefully StartupAddict will become a case study of how to go from bootstrap to enterprise-level Drupal in less than 2 years –time will tell.
Later in the evening we all gathered at an industry networking event at Felt in Boston which was sponsored by Acquia Dries’s new company that will service the Drupal community as it grows. The concept is similar to what Red Hat does for Linux and what Sun does for Mysql (you can read my earlier post on Acquia here). I met some interesting Drupalers including Benjamin from Agaric Design who is a wealth of knowledge on Drupal and often shares his “blood and tears” tips from the trenches on his website. I used a few of his tips to trouble-shoot a module on StartupAddict several months ago.
The development of StartupAddict has forced me to learn more about Drupal than I probably ever cared too….but now I’m hooked (no pun intended). The only disappointment from this year’s DrupalCon was that I had to leave early for other business obligations (ah…the life of a startupaddict).
Drupalcon 2008 got underway today and a great day it was. Dries Buytaert the original founder of Drupal kicked off the event with a Keynote about the release of Drupal 6 (only a month ago) and a discussion on where Drupal 7 is heading. Like any conference my head is still spinning from information overload as the next generation of the various Drupal components are discussed.
As Day 2 looms, my decision to delay the launch of StartupAddict.com by 5 months in order to migrate the code to Drupal 5 is a better decision than I even imagined. SA 2.0 is officially ready as of yesterday, but will not likely go live until next week when the dust settles from the conference and the servers are provisioned correctly. Future updates and features should be very rapid for StartupAddict and I look forward to everyone’s feedback. More importantly what you think really works and what you would rather see eliminated.
I have to run to a networking event…but more to come and plenty of “semantic web” fodder from this conference that will fill at least a month worth of posts and discussion.
