Unlikely Business Lessons
Posted by thatsinthebook on 10th August 2010
A very interesting audio podcast from The Economist on a few things that for profits can learn from not for profits.
In particular:
- What is the company vision - make sure all are aligned
- Feel what you do matters
- Find what it is that separates you from the rest (the best, the only, the X)
- Treat people as an asset
- Align with a cause (if there is a choice between you and another, customers are likely to go with the company aligned to a cause)
- Open up your numbers (very motivating)
- Say thank you.
Well worth a listen - the podcast can be found on The Economist website. Or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
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Changing Times & Opportunities
Posted by thatsinthebook on 4th August 2010
Great article from Neil Perkin’s blog, Only Dead Fish, about the opportunities that the huge changes in media we are living through are bringing.
Example statistic: 2 billion video views per day on YouTube.
The opportunity is in the exploitation of data that is, or soon will be, available to us all.
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Getting a startup off the ground
Posted by shapeshed on 28th July 2010
Following the yellow brick road
Photo by Chris Devers
Recently at pebble we’ve had a lot of discussion about the best way to get a startup off the ground. We have the ideas and the skills but need a coherent way to make it happen. We’ve got a mixed team of designers, developers and business level people all of whom have different skills and different ideas on the right way forward.
Here are the options as we see it and the relative pros and cons.
Use client work to fund the startup
This model works where the team works on client projects in order to fund the time to work on the startup. The profit from the client work pays salaries and any fat is pooled into a fund to support working on the startup project.
Pros
- No external or personal investment is required
Cons
- Lead time before the fund is big enough and the project can start.
- Will end up working on the project in fits and starts.
- Client work never ends!
Hack days
Come into the office at weekends to work on the startup. Given the short amount of time available it is felt more work will get done and the project will progress further.
Pros
- Everyone is available at the same time
Cons
- This isn’t great for life outside of work and needs an understanding family/partner
- Very short amount of time to work on the project
Spare time
This essentially asks members of the team to work on the project for free in their spare time. Particularly for designers and developers this can be a significant amount of time.
Pros
- If you can find a willing developer this is a great option as it doesn’t affect cashflow or client business.
Cons
- Pressure on personal life.
- No guarantee that you’ll actually see a return on the investment of your time.
- Risk of developer burn out.
- Working in fits and starts.
Venture Capital Investment
Go into the market and see if an idea can get investment.
Pros
- The project will be funded properly so a team can be resourced properly.
- Dedicated time to the project
- Bad ideas will quickly be shown to be bad ideas
- No need to continue client work
Cons
- Need to give a significant part of the business away
- Very competitive
Personal Investment
Members of the project team put up their own cash in order to fund a project.
Pros
- Able to resource a project properly
- Full ownership of the business
Cons
- Personal money at stake
- Further rounds of investment likely to be required
Develop something for a client then spin it off
This model means developing a product for a client and then extracting it into a web application. There are issues over intellectual property here but if these can be resolved this is a great option.
Pros
- You have an active client to help scope the product
- You get paid for it
- The development costs are largely covered by the client
Cons
- The product may end up being too specific to the client
- Intellectual property issues
Conclusion
The biggest issue in all of this is funding. We have the skills and the ideas but we also have mortgages and families. None of the options are 100% perfect and the one we’ll choose won’t necessarily be the right one for all situations.
Ultimately this situation is no different from normal business rules and getting a business off the ground. It is about risk and return. Some options are safer and take longer to achieve, whilst others are more risky but resolve the situation more quickly.
So take your pick Dorothy.
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