Category: Strategy

Idealab, the most famous tech startup incubator in the world, just released a 90 minute video from their IdeaDay event last week. The goal with IdeaDay is to share 10 business ideas they’re excited about in the hopes that potential entrepreneurs, team members, and investors come forward to partner with Idealab in some way on them. Of course, the ideas are free and people can take them and run with them on their own as well.

Here are the 10 free business ideas from Idealab’s IdeaDay:

1. Too Many Pictures – With digital pictures stored in so many places there’s a growing need to wrangle them all in a manner that’s more maintainable (e.g. photos on Facebook, Picassa, Instragram, Dropbox, etc)
2. ActionMail – Interface with email in a more manageable manner through features like pulling questions out of email text and prompting for answers, prioritizing inbound email based on whether or not you’ve already emailed the person, etc
3. Deliver.it – An Uber for delivering common, convenience store-like items where the items are already in the vehicle (as opposed to someone having to go pull a specific order, all the items are in the vehicle ready for delivery)
4. LifeChanger – Wearable technology, similar to Fitbit, that would be used track eating, smoking, etc with the goal of changing and/or improving behavior
5. Product Search – Moving beyond standard shopping comparison engines, the idea is to have a guided product search that takes into account more structured search criteria
6. DashCam – Bring the popularity of Russian car dashboard cameras to North America for the purpose of saving money on insurance, providing more context-sensitive information, etc
7. Luv.it – Provide a list of places, hotels, restaurants, etc that you love and get a list of ones you might not know about based on what other people love (recommendation engine to find other stuff you’d love but don’t know about, as different from Yelp, Trip Advisor, etc)
8. Dashboard.biz – Real-time business dashboard with the most important, actionable metrics pulled from other cloud-based systems
9. CloudShare – Cross cloud file storage searching (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, etc) for personal files as well as coworker files so that if a coworker has a file that you want, the software prompts them to share the file only if a match was found (as opposed to the standard practice of emailing a company mailing list and interrupting everyone to see if they have a file)
10. Optipark – System for real-time assigning of parking spots based on the size of the car whereby the parking lot is stripped with a variety of parking spot sizes such that 10-20% more cars fit in the same area (think of using a touch screen to say the type of car you have and it telling you a specific spot to use as it knows all spots in use and not in use — future idea would be to use LED lights to dynamically stripe the parking lines for maximum efficiency)

Watch the IdeaDay video to get a more detailed explanation of each idea as well as visuals. Overall, I think it’s a very cool idea that Idealab is open sourcing ideas as a way of recruiting people to get involved. Well done!

What else? What are your thoughts on these 10 free business ideas? Which one is your favorite?

Have you ever been to Grader.com and gotten a marketing grade for a website? Amazingly, over one million people have done it. And, you know what, it’s an unbelievable lead generation channel for HubSpot. Much like content marketing – blogging, white papers, ebooks, SEO, etc – has been a mainstream marketing tactic for over a decade now, there’s a new kid on the block: micro apps.

A micro app is a custom web application that provides some type of useful value, like Grader.com’s automated evaluation of marketing best practices for a website, in exchange for contact information (e.g. we’ll give you some value at no charge in exchange for becoming a lead). Micro apps are more difficult to build and more expensive to maintain, but also provide more value and interactivity compared to traditional content marketing.

Here are some more micro app examples (Disclosure: I’m an investor in these companies):

• SalesLoft’s Prospector – Semi-automatically mine the web to build lists of leads (this micro app was so successful it was turned into a full product)
• Rigor’s OnlineCurl – Run the cURL commandline tool right inside a web browser
• Rigor and Kevy’s APIstat.us – Check the uptime of popular cloud-based applications
• Rivalry’s Crown Report for Sales – Find out how a sales rep stacks up against other sales reps

Due to the technical nature of micro apps it’s never going to be as popular or mainstream as content marketing, but for the sophisticated companies that can pull it off, micro apps will be an excellent source of lead generation.

What else? What are your thoughts on micro apps as next generation content marketing?

One of my favorite exercises for entrepreneurs is putting together a one page strategic plan. The exercise only takes an hour for a rough draft and provides immense value. Generally, the idea is to capture as much pertinent company information as possible on the front side of one piece of paper, preferably as a living Google Doc (Google Doc template), and refreshed on a quarterly basis.

Here are the categories:

• S.W.O.T. Analysis
  – Strengths
  – Weaknesses
  – Opportunities
  – Threats
• Core Values
• Purpose
• Three Year Target
• Annuals Goals
  – Goal 1
  – Goal 2
  – Goal 3
• Quarterly Goals
  – Goal 1
  – Goal 2
  – Goal 3
• Quarterly Priority Projects
• Market
• Brand Promise
• Elevator Pitch

So, if you don’t do anything else this week, please, please, please put one together based on the Google Doc template and share it with everyone inside and outside your organization.

What else? What are your thoughts on putting together a one page strategic plan, especially as part of the start of a new year?

Earlier today a friend emailed me a Quora article on the one thing that you would advise NOT to do when you start a startup. The author provides some great insight, but, more importantly, includes an awesome graphic that overlays four startup stages on Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm theory. Similar to the August post titled 5 Steps to Startup Success in 30 Words, the goal is to synthesize startup stages in a concise manner.

The four startup stages in eight words:

1. Pilot it
2. Nail it
3. Scale it
4. Milk it

So, there you have it: the lifecycle of a successful startup in eight words. Short, sweet, and concise.

What else? What are your thoughts on the four startup stages in eight words?

One of my favorite big-picture quotes comes from the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates:

We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.

I’ve seen it play out so many times with new technologies, organizations, initiatives, etc. Things start slow, as they always do, and then eventually pick up momentum such that you look back a few years and are blown away by how much has changed. Coming from the startup world, this quote is especially applicable as the first couple years are always overestimated by entrepreneurs (think about how revenue and progress is always below expectations).

Here are a few examples of overestimating the short-term and underestimating the long-term:

• Twitter – I had heard about it for two years before I created my @davidcummings account at a Georgia Technology Summit in 2009. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time but the early adopters loved it. Now, looking back, I clearly underestimated its potential.
• Atlanta Tech Village – We’re still in the top of the first inning at the Village but I’m confident that the Atlanta community overestimates what we’re going to accomplish in the short-term as it takes so long to build great startups. On the other hand, I believe people underestimate the profound impact we’re going to have on the city over the next decade.
• Marketing Automation – During the first two years of Pardot most people thought that B2B marketing tools were good enough and business buyers weren’t in the market for a whole new platform. Now, Pardot is almost seven years old and I can honestly say that I underestimated the power of marketing automation and how fast it would catch on in a major way.

Humans are apt to repeat themselves and consistently overestimate the next two years and underestimate the next ten, and that’s never going to change.

What else? What are your thoughts on the idea of overestimating and underestimating change?

There’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur, and it’s only getting better. Technological change in society is growing at a faster rate due to the proliferation of smart phones, the power of cloud computing, and the connectedness of society. Now, it’s 10x cheaper to build a minimum viable product compared to a decade ago and there are many more tech opportunities available.

Here are a few startup trends on the horizon for entrepreneurs:

• Talent War – Technology has such great economies of scale that it magnifies the value of smart people who get things done, and that demand is only going to increase
• Changing Workplace – Millennials seek an environment that encourages autonomy, mastery, and purpose along with a focus on results, not being in the office from 9-5
• More Outsourcing – With continued technological enhancements comes more ability to outsource non-core work and more items available as a service (even office space as a service)
• Emphasis on Design – No longer is it good enough for the product to just work — now people look for it to work in an intuitive and beautiful manner

More opportunities results in more competitors, but overall it’s a great time to be an entrepreneur. With these trends, and more, look for continued entrepreneurial opportunities.

What else? What are your thoughts on startup trends for entrepreneurs?

With the end of the calendar year upon us, it’s time for the annual ritual entrepreneurs love: planning. Why do entrepreneurs love planning? Easy, because it’s an opportunity to dream about the future. Entrepreneurs love scheming up the next big thing.

Here are a few ideas about startup annual planning:

• Make a simplified One Page Strategic Plan and share it with the entire team
• Put together an annual budget with a focus on cash flow and cash burn (here’s an example Marketing Budget Google Spreadsheet Template that can be adapted)
• Read Rory O’Driscoll’s thoughts on annual planning

Annual planning is an important part of every startup and shouldn’t be overlooked.

What else? What are some more thoughts on annual planning in a startup?

Last night Keith McGreggor tweeted a picture laying out the characteristics of the Investment Readiness Level (IRL). After seeing it, I was impressed as seed and early stage angel investors often invest based on the team, the market, and gut feel — a very unscientific process. With the Investment Readiness Level, there’s a barometer of progress that brings much more rigor to the evaluation.

Here’s the Investment Readiness Level, based on the picture of the slide:

• High-fidelity MVP
• Sufficient market opportunity
• Left side of canvas validation
• Right side of canvas validation
• Product / market fit
• Problem / solution validation
• Low-fidelity MVP
• Canvas
• Hypotheses

So, the next time an entrepreneur is trying to raise money, have them evaluate their Investment Readiness Level using these attributes.

What else? What are your thoughts on the Investment Readiness Level?

One of the most common refrains I hear from people when talking about a new startup in the Village  is “doesn’t so and so already do that?” Why, yes, you’re right, XYZ company does do a similar thing as the new startup. So, then, why is the new startup doing what they’re doing?

Answer: they don’t fear the dominant vendor.

Let me explain further:

• Large, fast growing markets have room for multiple vendors as most aren’t winner-take-all or winner-take-most
• Markets have segments like small-to-medium sized businesses and large enterprise customers, which have different needs
• Vertical specialization is the next wave of successful startups, so even if the new startup looks like the dominant vendor, the vertical specialization creates significant differentiation
• Incumbents, especially as they get larger, move slower and slower creating room for startup to outmaneuver them (speed and ability to stay close to the customer are two major reasons startups win)

So, the next time someone brings up a dominant vendor in a category, think about some of the reasons why a new startup can carve out a successful space in the same field.

What else? What are some other reasons startups can be successful in the face of a dominant vendor?