Is There a Superman Your Clark Kent Can Become?

March 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment
clark kent

In this early 2005 interview with Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder described Facebook as: "I mean, I just really want to see everyone focus on college and make a really cool college directory product...there doesn't necessarily have to be more..." Zuck was intent on just focusing in colleges. He was ecstatic with his 3 million users. Then, somewhere along the way, he realized he was sitting on a goldmine. Now? He's just passed his first BILLION users. Sometimes, all we need is a fresh look at our business to experience an epiphany.  Pao and I experienced the same thing in STORM around 2 years ago. (at a lesser extent than Zuck, obviously) We were making most of our money off … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Startup Ideas, TOOLS AND RESOURCES, Your Value Proposition Tagged With:

Employing The Mach 3 Strategy

February 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment
smooth sheen like could only be accomplished by a Mach 3!

I was shaving my head this morning in the shower with my trusty Mach 3. I thought the blades needed changing. I made a mental note to myself to buy a fresh pack of blades - the woefully overpriced ones at the grocery counter. I had been buying these blades for FIFTEEN years already - I had been paying Gillette a small fortune. Funny, because I had never wanted these high-end blades in the first place - I won this Mach 3 way back in the 1998 Christmas party in my first corporate job. Once I got the Mach 3, somehow I just made a habit of buying the blades. I represent recurring revenue for Gillette. They must love me. If your startup idea can operate with a recurring, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Sales, STARTUP ADVICE, Startup Ideas, Your Value Proposition Tagged With: , , ,

Forget the search for the next great idea. Look for your inner fire, instead.

July 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
inner fire

A couple of days ago, I was talking to an “idea guy” with 6 startup ideas he wanted to pursue. I listened and gave my opinion on each. Then he looked at me and asked: So what do you think? Puzzled, I replied: About what? Coyly, he then asked: What should I choose? No mentor, confidante, or adviser can answer this sort of question. Only you can. It’s easy to get carried away with money potential, or how “sexy” an idea is. Careful. Choosing a startup solely based on these will almost guarantee failure. The process starts internally. Follow your heart. We have heard this from thousands of successful entrepreneurs: your passion will fuel your startup.  So what … [Read more...]

Filed Under: STARTUP ADVICE, Startup Ideas, TAKE THAT LEAP! Tagged With:

Startup Funding: The FIRST option should always be doing it on your own

July 23, 2012 By 4 Comments
bootstrap

I've been blessed to have talked to a growing number of young entrepreneurs over the past few months. One common concern for the would-be-startup-owner is funding. How do you get the funding to start? The two general answers are bootstrapping and raising investment money. There are other interesting fund-raising strategies arising, like crowdsourcing, but that's a topic for another post Before I give my bootstrap-biased opinion on this, let me give the easy answer first, which is: it depends on the idea.  THE EASY ANSWER: Generally, you can look at the following things when determining which path to take: 1. Do you need a huge capital investment to break even? 2. How big is the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bootstrapping, STARTUP ADVICE, Startup Ideas Tagged With:

Curiosity Skins The Cat

June 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
skin the cat

3 months ago I was talking to whole lot of doctors. I was talking to our pediatrician for the needs of my older kids, our gynecologist for my wife's pregnancy, my surgeon for my impending operation, more doctors to get the clearances needed for me to push through with the operation, and even visited a few confined loved ones and friends. I was in and out of hospitals and hospital clinics. A good chunk of this time I spend waiting.  What did I do to pass the time? I couldn't help but be an entrepreneur. First, I noticed that for all the clinics of the new doctors I saw, the secretary asked me to manually fill up a patient's form. Curious, I asked the secretaries if I would … [Read more...]

Filed Under: STARTUP ADVICE, Startup Ideas Tagged With:

To ensure success, go DEEPER not wider

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
deeper

Okay, so you are a startup owner. Chances are great that you have limited resources. Understanding that you cannot be everything to everyone, you identify a niche and concentrate on that. I am now getting more and more convinced that the niches we think are specific enough are STILL oftentimes too broad. We have to go deeper. When STORM was originally conceptualized, we wanted to be a technology firm which specialized in HR. Soon enough we found out that was too broad. So we thought of specializing on benefits. You know what? Still too broad. This year, our big decision is just to concentrate on ONE thing: Flexible Benefits. See all those other products in our website? We shall soon … [Read more...]

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Generate Startup Ideas Using Tourist’s Eyes

May 9, 2012 By 1 Comment
tourist

When we are travelling for the first time in a foreign location, time seems to slow down, and we get to absorb all the juicy details. There is no little thing which escapes us: how the air is different what clothes people are wearing how the food tastes how people greet one another how clean (or dirty) things are what people listen to how people drive how people eat how the architecture is different Isn't it interesting that we are suddenly ultra-aware of the things around us. We find our heads and eyes ever-circling and observing, trying to take all the detail in. We look at the world with wonder. We figuratively (and depending where, sometimes literally) stop and smell the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: STARTUP ADVICE, Startup Ideas Tagged With:

Are you picking a passion, or a mere interest?

May 4, 2012 By 2 Comments
passion

I've been talking to an increased number of people now with regards to their startup ideas. Will this work? What about this? Could you rank these five ideas? You know what? It really depends on you. Are you passionate about one of these ideas? If you are, then even if any expert or investor tells you your idea sucks, you've got a good chance of proving them wrong. Isn't this the story of so  many successful startups? Passion fuels great execution. And execution is everything. What is interesting is that one person's multiple ideas can encompass a wide variety of areas. While it is quite probable that you are interested in all these ideas, it is quite improbable that you are … [Read more...]

Filed Under: STARTUP ADVICE, Startup Ideas Tagged With: ,

7 WAYS TO ENSURE YOUR STARTUP IDEA DOESN’T SUCK, Part II

December 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We're talking about tips on startup business ideas. This is part two, you can view part one here. 4) RESEARCH There are hardly any truly novel ideas anymore. That great idea you've always thought of? There's a great chance someone out there has done it. Don't fret, this is normal. In many cases, this actually means your idea has a market. Now, look deeper. Find out about how your competitor is doing it. How could you make the idea more remarkable?  What other gaps aren't being met? Two years ago, I thought about the idea of starting an executive search firm, partly because STORM, our HR technology firm, was always declining when we were asked by our clients if we did headhunting. A … [Read more...]

Filed Under: STARTUP ADVICE, Startup Ideas Tagged With: , , ,

7 WAYS TO ENSURE YOUR STARTUP IDEA DOESN’T SUCK, Part 1

December 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
startup idea

Ok, while ideas ARE overrated, they are still important. Let's talk about the process of evaluating, and ultimately choosing, which startup idea to commit to. This will be a long one, so I will cut it up into 2-3 posts. Remember, the criteria I will be using here will be for startups, not necessarily for lifestyle or small businesses. For a small business, sometimes all it takes is a good franchise and a good location. It's a little more complicated for a startup with big dreams. Let's start with some career advice cliche. 1.Go after a passion It's cliche for a reason: its extremely important. A lot of entrepreneurs get into the game motivated by money, and that is fine. But it is only a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: STARTUP ADVICE, Startup Ideas Tagged With: , , ,
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