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SPONTANEOUS STARTUPS (PART 2): Learn from a real $300 million example

Spontaneous Startups just happen. Often very well.

Today I'll share an amazing example of a real new enterprise that spontaneously rose from nothing to sales of over $300 million (and climbing).

EXAMPLE

The startup is Wayfair.

Its on-line service sells "everything for the home."

Why don't you know about them? That's part of their story and it's a clever one, filled with excitement, risk and extraordinary success.

I highly recommend you read the well written story (just click on the Wayfair link above) in which the two founders, Niraj Shah and Steve Conine, tell how they moved from startup idea to startup idea until one day they found a very special idea for their new enterprise would become Mayfair. It simply "occurred to them".

As you dissect this amazing saga (it took years and a lot of hard work), keep the following characteristics in mind, they'll help you glean extra value from your thinking, they will generate things to apply to your own startup:

• Stalled with several startups, bailed (wisely) one after the other, until they got The Big Idea.
• Took no venture capital until success was very clear, years after starting.
• Stayed focused, did not get distracted during early formation years.
• Looked and looked and looked for a better idea than the one they had at the moment.
• Techies made the move to marketing savvy as a natural consequence of their processing of ideas.
• Settled on a very simple idea, yet one with huge potential.
• Bold vision: "determined to think big -- really big."
• Flanking Strategy: moved into uncontested territory, a new market not yet dominated by a Gorilla.
• Profitable from Month One.
• Quick to follow successful step after successful step (and to not repeat failures).
• Creative with cash flow management.
• Learned how to do the (retail merchandise) business by doing it.
• Avoided attacking Gorillas.
• Figured out what customers were frustrated with, solved that problem.

I'll leave the rest of the story thinking up to you. Read, think and repeat several times how you analyse this Wayfair story. Each reading offers to you the chance to glean a fine harvest of stimulating ideas for how to do a Spontaneous Startup.

BOTTOM LINE: Wayfair is a find example of how to do a Spontaneous Startup. You can do the same. Study the process the founders went through. That is where the low hanging fruit is waiting for you. When you "get it", you'll know the secrets that made serial entrepreneurs serial winners. And you'll be able to use your idea to build an unfair competitive advantage.

I wish you The Best on your Adventure!

SPONTANEOUS STARTUPS: They just happen (and often do, well)

Spontaneous Startups are a special class of new enterprise.

They are the ones that just happen.

One or two people. No business plan, no MBA, no VC money, no whatever else, just that sudden "Hey, why don't we do XYZ?!" And they go do it. Often very well.

I've recently realized there are a lot of amazing entrepreneurs out there who "didn't have a clue" about what they were getting into. Something triggered in their brain one day and presto! Out came a clever idea that became a clever new enteprise.

They are so fresh and different from the classical venture capital backed startup to IPO model that I had to pause and dwell upon them. Like a breath of fresh Spring air, I found them stimulating and inspiring.

My research has revealed so many of these Spontaneous Startups that I decided today to reflect on them for you and supply a real example to think about.

SPONTANEOUS STARTUP IS

Here is what makes a Spontaneous Startup so special:

• Sudden. There is no gradual effort leading up to the formation of The Idea for the new enterprise. It springs up with a loud "Surprise!"
• Wherever. The Idea can occur anywhere. On a plane, in a classroom or shower, watching television, during a sporting event, even on the job as you work.
• Instantly compelling. The Idea is immediately appealing to the founders who sense it is will also be appealing to many paying customers.
• Personal Product/Service. Sports clothing, baby seats, racing bicycle parts, casual digital games and other ideas resonate naturally with the founders.
• Mostly consumer. Industrial startups can be born as Spontaneous Startups, but most are ideas about selling something to ordinary people (or they are about supplying a product/service free to end users and making money via the classical Internet advertising business model).
• Clever. Something is triggered that jumps out as at least novel, or very new, if not extraordinary.
• No Special Education. While founders of this kind of startup range from high school dropouts to PhDs, the founders appear to include relatively high portion of people with no college education.
• Venture Capital Missing. Founders got started with their own savings, typically in the form of going without salary. They begin work in their homes and rented apartments. Cash is precious.
• Quick Time to Launch First Product. Months rather than years are consumed to get from start to first sales.
• Quick to Profit, Mostly. Most are profitable after a few months of first sales. Exceptions are in Internet centric businesses (e.g. mobile photo sharing: Instagram) which race to be first to get the gorilla share of end users in the new market category.
• Hyper Growth, Mostly. The first product/service catches on and spreads like wildfire, with sales following with the same remarkable growth. Exceptions like Linkedin do seem to require decades to get established before the hyper growth occurs, and thus have to get additional funding from wealthy angels.
• Friends Do It. The founders and early core of employees are friends. They may have worked together, but more are simply social friends, often very close friends.

 EXAMPLE OF A REAL SPONTANEOUS STARTUP

I have a real Spontaneous Startup for you to think about. It was born in Norway and is thriving. It is Onepiece.

Here is their story, from the startup's spontaneous beginning.

Early one Sunday morning in 2007, Henrik, Knut and Thomas, three Norwegians in their twenties, fantasized about the ultimate chill-out wear that would be perfect for a lazy day at home.

They all agreed on the merits of the sweatsuit for recovering from a night on the town. "But without the tight waistband and the pressure to go jogging," Thomas said. Knut had been staring at a light bulb when, eureka, it all became clear:
"Why not sew together a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants? Let's make it so big that no one in their right mind would think of working out."
"If we can skip the waistband, I'm all for it," said Thomas. "But how are we going to get into it?"
"No sweat," replied Henrik, "we'll just put in a big zipper."

And with that the OnePiece Jump In was born. The three friends dropped everything and invested all their savings to realize an idea they believed was unique and brilliant. They made the loose-fitting, all-in-one hooded sweatsuits in soft, thick cotton fleece in a wide variety of colours and patterns.

For two years they sold the OnePiece to friends and marketed it to high-school seniors in Norway. Then, in autumn 2009, some bloggers wrote about how much they loved the OnePiece, which triggered other bloggers to rant about how much they hated it. Fuelled by massive debate in social media, the OnePiece Jump in became a huge trend in Scandinavia in 2010, and is now catching on in England and other European countries.

"We were as surprised as anyone when people started wearing the OnePiece at clubs and it became a fashion and lifestyle statement," says Thomas, who has left university to devote all his time and energy to the OnePiece. "I think that the versatility of our jumpsuit and the fact that it is extremely comfortable are the main reasons for its success."

Even as the OnePiece wave hits country after country, gaining a foothold, Knut, Thomas and Henrik are busy developing new ideas and concepts. To be sure, the OnePiece won't be their last innovative fashion item.

BOTTOM LINE: The class of new enterprise known as Spontaneous Startup is large and filled with exciting fresh business ideas. This kind of startup is able to be created by nearly anyone. The specialness of a Spontaneous Startup opens doors for many budding entrepreneurs looking for a way to do a real startup. The ones that succeed seem to be intuitively able to build unfair competitive advantages (which says a lot about the intuitive brains of the founders of this class of startup). Think about a Spontaneous Startup for your own new enterprise. It may be just what you are looking for.

I wish you The Best on your Adventure!

FINDING AN OPENING FOR A STARTUP: Blaze alternate trails

"Where do you begin when looking for an idea for a startup?" is a question that I often get from first-timer entrepreneurs.

One way is to start with a problem, then look for an alternative path to solving it. Research shows it much wiser to flank into uncontested territory than to attack the existing market leaders head-on.

EXAMPLE: Doximity.com

I found the insighful analysis of what one entrepreneur did to find an opening for a startup (March 26, 2012 Investor's Business Daily):

1. Ease their pain
       "15 billion faxes are sent annually from doctor's office to doctor's office." So says Doximity.com founder Jeff Tangney. The fact that sharp professionals rely on decades-old technology amazed the entrepreneur.
       With Doximity, CEO Tangney created a social network for physicians. "They can't really use the same tools we do" beause of patient confidentiality issues, he said.
2. Clear hurdles
       Tangney aimed to make Doximity as simple as Facebook, but as confidential as a closed-door discussion through stringent encryption techniques. "We're taking the best Silicon Valley has to offer to health care," he said. "Our goal is to make it effortless."
       Since launching the site in 2010, Doximity has added 8% of the country's physicians as active users.
3. Increase the chatter.
       Doximity members can send secure faxes from the Web, iPhone or Android. Members also get second opinions and give referrals through virtual curbide consultations.

 That is a simple example of how one entrepreneur moved from big problem to clever solution. The result is a successful startup.

BOTTOM LINE: When looking for an opening to get a fresh company started, look for as large a problem as you can find (I did not say "most complex problem").

Then find the point of pain (exasperation, frustration, anger, disappointment, etc.).

Start thinking up ways to reduce the pain. Keep inventing alternatives to the existing solution (avoid words like "quicker, better, cheaper" because "er" words have no staying power).

When you find an alternative solution that could touch a lot of potential customers, figure out how to build and launch that solution (that's your business plan).

When you build a solution that is exciting ("compelling to customers"), the customers will email, Tweet, and phone the buzz around the planet about your wonderful solution. That's how serial entreperneurs do it. So can you. It is central to building an unfair competitive advantage.

I wish you The Best on your Adventure!

TWIST YOUR STARTUP IDEA UNTIL IT SOLVES A BIG PROBLEM: "Better" is living death

This past week I was working with teams of four or five techies in my startup Entrepreneurship class at Cornell University.

What struck me was how tricky it is to get techies to see the difference between "better" and "BIG".

Great startups find BIG problems to solve.

Companies that get started and go sideways focus on making something BETTER.

Words ending in "er" are four letter words to VCs and experienced startup employees: faster, better, cheaper are not firing up their eagerness to join your new enterprise.

The founders who focus on solving a basic problem that ails a huge number of people produce the great startups. That takes courage and conviction, confidence and determination. There is a lot of emotion in making that decision.

To test your idea, ask yourself "Has this been done before?" Then ask "What that is similar has been done before?" Great ideas for startups find that idea is fresh, new, has not been done before. And the similar solutions are old generations of clunky solutions. You want to move from a ho-hum idea on to one that is very exciting, that has a lot of "WOW!" in it.

TWIST YOUR IDEA : 

Use your first idea to begin a process of altering it week after week, twisting it into different forms that solve different problems. That twisting process will advance your initial idea, most likely shifting it to focus on a very different problem to solve. That is what serial entrepreneurs are terrific at doing.

EXAMPLE:

Here is an example for you to think about: "Build a better game" is not going to lead your startup to greatness. But as you ponder building new games, you realize there is big decision you have to make: On what devices (computers, game boxes, smartphones, pads) should your game run on? It is a lot of work to make a game run on one operating system and one device. How about a dozen in various combinations? Now that is a BIG problem needing a solution.

So how about creating a language that can be used to build one game that works on the many different devices?

Sounds great!

But hard to do (good barrier to competitors).

That is Exciting!

And yes, there is a startup that is focused on doing just what I have mentioned. It is Game Closure. The company has built HTML5. It is a set of standards that lets Web browsers understand animations, videos, graphics, and other multimedia content without the need to download a plug-in like Adobe's Flash.

You can imagine how you might have come up with this idea yourself: as a game developer you grew frustrated at the basic problem of cross platform game playing software coding. You set out to solve it with a couple of ways, tried a few in the lab, kept on thinking and twisting your idea, and then "presto!" you get the idea that we have just discussed.

That is how to move from an initial idea to a great idea. Twist your first idea round and round until it transforms into a solution for a really BIG problem.

That is how you attract the great people and great financial backers.

BOTTOM LINE: Beginning with your initial idea, start twisting it and keep on going until it becomes -- in its transformed shape -- a solution to a BIG problem. That will be the foundation for building an unfair competitive advantage. It is how serial entrepreneurs do it. So can you.

I wish you The Best on your Adventure!

STARTUPS 2012: How should a founder get prepared?

One thing is clear from the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show: millions of people are eagerly seeking to find and ride one of the next big waves. The competitors include the Giant Global Corporations as well as Startup Founders. Mobs are forming, milling about, seeking the fresh waves to surf.

My bet is the Startup Founders will spot the next set of waves before the Giants Corporations do.

Somewhere in the confusion and scrambling about smart televisions, content management, pads and phones is the seminal energy that will start the fresh waves lifting. From hundreds of miles away you can feel the CES energy radiating, pulsing around the globe.

BE PREPARED

So what should the wanna-be startup founder do right now?

Simple: as the Boy Scouts motto says "Be prepared".

Here is what serial entrepreneurs do at this early stage in the phase we are in:

• Start with a bold idea. The key word is "bold". Your initial idea is going to change rapidly. But it always has to be bold so it has enough power, reach and attraction to stand out from the intensity of what everyone else is talking about.
• Secure your Buddy. You have to have at least one more close friend to help work through all the changes your initial idea is going to go through. In the biography of Steve Jobs, that person was Steve Wozniak. Google was two friends. Solo is for pilots, not entrepreneurs.
• Pick a wave to ride. Look, think, decide. Go for it. The early waves will change as they form shape. Your job is to continue to change your initial idea so it begins to ride the forming wave. Be careful to not get ahead of the wave (it will overtake and crush the too-early surfers). Be careful to not be too hesitant (you'll be behind the half dozen front runners and find it hard to overtake them).
• Change, changed, change. You are working with head knowledge at this point in the process. It's quick to alter, even abandon the inital idea. I've watched entrepreneurs abandon one, two, three ideas on their way to the one that launched the startup. That takes guts. And smarts.
• Build your resources network. You are going to need workers and money and lawyers and related services. Contact them, even if you do not yet have a company started. You will learn a ton of great things from short meetings with them, phone/Skype chats. Talk, don't email. Get personal. Get smarter from those smart people. Every question asked of you demands an answer. Soon you will find yourself working on solutions for issues about your fast changing idea. And it cost you nothing but a bit of time.
• Start documenting your Executive Summary. One page. Everything about your idea that you know up to this point. This document is living, it will morph week after week as you make change after change. Writing forces you to make decisions, guess at unknown numbers, be confronted with problems that must be resolved. This is a discipline (based on an old Greek word that means "dis-is-no-fun").
• Plan the construction of your first product/service. On paper. With numbers. And dates. And resources required. Sketch it. Use the resulting costs to start your first cash flow requirements. Add that to your Executive Summary. Keep it simple. The engineers can later dive into the details of how to do their magic.
• Look for the "WOW!" in your idea. You have to have WOW! to stand out from the crowd. It has to be hyper-compelling to end users. This is central to your success. Without it, step aside and just watch.

That will keep you very active, focus your thinking, force you into making important decisions.

BOTTOM LINE: The next waves are forming as you read this. Your job is to prepare to ride one to the beach and win big. Serial entrepreneurs use the above process of continuous change to get their minds ready for creation of the company. This is a matter of months, not days, but time will fly and so should you. Your objective is to get ready with an idea that will attract the resources required to form the company and build an unfair competitive advantage as you ride a fresh wave that lifts you higher and higher as it grows global momentum. That's how serial entrepreneurs do it. You can do the same.

I wish you The Best on your Adventure!

STARTUPS 2012: Tips on what to expect

Here we are in 2012 with a lot facing us as we peer into the coming twelve months.

Like you, I've been pondering what is likely to happen so that I can take advantage of what I perceive and determine what to avoid.

Your primary personal goal for 2012 is to Remain Positive in Spite of Whatever Happens.

You have a lot on your mind and a lot to do today so I here are some short, swift tips to think about:

1. Basic Rollercoaster World Economy
2. Startup Investors Cautious and Very Picky
3. Mass Market Wins Most
4. Great Employees Harder to Find
5. Emotions Ride Big Waves Up and Down

• Basic Rollercoaster World Economy: Expect the unexpected from the giant economies. Consensus has forecast a year of "stagflation" (stagnation overall, with inflation in some areas such as food and energy). Europe in recession, China and India slowing down dramatically, US not accellerating, with the rest of the world hoping to avoid such troubles. National leadership is up for change in bitter elections in major countries. Thus 2012 is not the year of "The rising tide lifts all boats". It is "The Year of the Rollercoaster", a year of many ups and downs, all not easily predictable.
  
  • POINT: Your startup will have to be founded on a rising wave that is independent of the world economy. End users will have to get very excited about it, regardless of their economic situation. Your product/service has to have lots of Wow! to succeed in 2012.

• Startup Investors Cautious and Very Picky: The lack of enough liquidity events has tied up the check books of the angels and venture capitalists. It is not a drought, but many of the people with money are not confident they have enough cash to eagerly pump more into struggling startup after struggling startup. Startup investors reflect the same attitudes of other investors around the world who are upset by poor 2011 returns on investments and now are struggling to do better.
  
  • POINT: You will have to have a lot of WOW! in your presentation to get investors to open their cash vaults. Spend time to pick those who have a lot of fresh cash looking for fresh ideas. Beware of those who have limited cash remaining for their existing portfolio companies. Raising startup money in 2012 will be a long, hard slog for most founders.

• Mass Market Wins Most: Any technology, any idea must appeal to huge world markets during 2012. Life or information science, service or software or hardware, all are now caught up in the vast turmoil of the world market. Did you know the hottest markets for startups are in Africa? Their economies are growing twice as fast as China and India. Industrial simply means being on the food chain that ends up with a consumer. Investors and potential startup employees know that. So must you.
  • POINT: Your startup has to appeal to huge potential audiences. 2012 is not the year for a cautious niche enterprise. It is a year for bold ideas that exploit existing markets and technologies. Expect to see many "mashups" that mix such elements into exciting products/services that get a lot of people excited. I bet we see several Wright brothers emerge with amazing gadgets/businesses built with stuff that already exists and which make headlines in a hundred languages.

• Great Employees Harder to Find: Hot startup zones (e.g. Silicon Valley) already have funded startups at war with each other as they try to recruit the great engineers, marketing people and startup experienced leaders. The uncertain world economic outlook has great people cautious about leaving a blue chip job to join a risky startup. This will continue during 2012. Great people eager to join startups are going to be tough to recruit.
  
  • POINT: Your recruiting skills will be tested as in no other year. Investors want confidence you can find and hire and retain the best people. The best people want the same from you. It is up to you to achieve that. You have to have the skills to do so. Related experience that has lead to recruiting success in the near past will make you stand out. A clear plan of how you will recruit needs careful thinking.
• Emotions Ride Big Waves Up and Down: All of the above add up to an unusually violent range of emotions that leaders will experience during 2012. The highs will be very high and the lows very low, none predictable. When they come (and they will), you'll have to respond quickly and not destruct. You will not avoid such emotions. Even Steve Jobs often nearly barfed before his famous stage presentations. Serial entrepreneurs know such emotional power is real and provokes intense fear and related stress. I've been there. And I've seen the best go there. It happens and it will in 2012. You are not immune. And remember that you are in as much danger when you hit the highs as you are when you hit the lows.
  
  • POINT: You can get prepared to manage better the big waves of personal emotions during 2012. Start with recognition that "it is lonely at the top". Then find at least one person you can speak to in confidence when the emotions hit. Better yet, find several people. Support groups are needed when you get surprised and frightened and have to make The Big Decision. Find spiritual and physical resources. Good psychological and religious well being help people weather intense personal storms. Good health keeps immune systems strong, they are your first defense against illnesses that sap your strength and lead to more emotional dark days and nights.

BOTTOM LINE: You can remain positive in an unusually demanding year like 2012. Anticipation of what is likely to happen helps. Pundants are not God, they are just looking forward as best as they can. Anything can happen. Respecting the hard work of the forward thinkers helps you see what to anticipate and to avoid. You can do things different this year and that will help you attract the money and people talent you need to win big in mass world markets. It is your job to plan how to do that and then convince people you are the leader that knows the way to success and are the one who can convince others to follow you. When you can do that, you are laying the foundation for building the unfair competitive advantage of your new enterprise. Others have preceeded you. Now just go do it!

I wish you The Best on your Adventure in 2012!

TO START-UP FOUNDERS: "Be different, or die" Better is death

Wow, these times are exciting!

Fresh start-ups with great ideas are popping up by the hour.

The New Boom has begun. It's not yet peaking as a bubble does, so take advantage of it and AVOID THE DREADED "BETTER" DEATH.

PROBLEM

I keep getting contacted by people who want to do "better" start-ups. Argh!!!!!! Better is death. To live and thrive, you have to be "different".

DIFFERENT IS LIFE

BETTER IS DEATH

Memorize that. Repeat it daily. Live it.

Still don't get it? Watch this video on being different from Al Ries (rated on of the Top Ten Marketing Minds living today, by Advertising Age).

Now go do it!

BOTTOM LINE: Your start-up has to be DIFFERENT to win. BETTER IS DEATH. VCs know it. Serial entrepreneurs live it. You can do it. It is central to building an unfair competitive advantage.

I wish you The Best on your Adventure!

GREAT START-UPS FOCUS ON SOLVING A BIG PROBLEM: Example shows how fresh ideas sprout quickly

Great start-ups get huge when they focus on a huge problem. I've got an example for you to think about today as you look for ideas to form a great start-up.

At first tiny or even non-existent, the next great market grows quickly to imense size. Then it splits into segments which in turn start the same growth, becoming individual huge segments. That leaves the original competing start-ups plenty of room to thrive.

Founders who spot such opportunities have an opening that lasts for a short while but can be the door to launch a great start-up.

One example of such a huge problem is "What happens to your digital assets (e.g. Facebook page) after you die?" This marks the birth of the "digital legacy" business category.

The problem is getting a lot of press lately. A long New York Times article discusses the issues, exposing unknowns and a lot of opportunities for entrepreneurs. Other reporters and bloggers have published a lot about related problems: legal, ownership, access, rights to edit and alter or delete someone else's Facebook page and all the rest. Just think undertaker, lawyer, trust administrator, judge, plus all the rest of the on-line social network businesses. Yes, the problem has huge, global potential.

At first it sounded easy to me. Then I read what the lawyers and Facebook (and other sites) have in their terms of use (including what can and cannot be done after you die). I was amazed. It is very complex.

That amazement triggered several entrepreneurs to start new enterprises that focus on the huge problem: What happens to your Facebook and other digital assets after you die?

Take a glance at this quick story about Legacylocker.com and then examine the following  points to your thinking about your idea:

7 START-UP IDEA TIPS

1. Personal need triggered the idea.
2. Size of the idea is world-wide and growing quickly.
3. No competitor dominates this new category yet.
4. Value was quickly added to the original idea (to make it more attractive to end users and more difficult to copy by other entrepreneurs).
   
5. The business model could make money quickly.
6. Technology required was not complex.
7. The management was capable of launching the business.

To me this is an example of one of those "Why didn't I think about that?" ideas. And it's a lesson on how to quickly move from a simple start to a robust business model.

BOTTOM LINE: Good ideas for start-ups often come from a personal need. Great ideas focus on solving huge problems. Entrepreneurs grow their idea rapidly, increasing the value to the end user and appeal to customers. Digital legacy issues are one example. There are many others popping up daily. The more you think up a few, the more will come to you. Apply the 7 Start-up Idea Tips to each of your ideas to help you form an unfair competitive advantage.

I wish you The Best on your Adventure!

FOCUS AND FLANKING INTO UNCONTESTED MARKETS FOR STARTUPS: A winning combination

Startups often attempt to attack the market leader by launching products/services with superior features.

Most startups die when the leader responds with a similar or better feature. The Defensive strategy crushes the Offensive strategy.

Serial entrepreneurs instead use the Flanking strategy and win. It is focused on an uncontested market segment, one not yet dominated by another company. There may be several competitors in the space, but non have yet been "first to get it right". That is the opening for a clever startup.

Today I spotted a good example in Foodily. Reporters' responses in USA Today and TechCrunch reveal a stealth startup that is launching with a clear focus, flanking into uncontested territory.

• FOCUS: on social interaction between people who enjoy food. Let's dub it "social food" for now. Bloggers will soon give it a moniker that will stick.
• FLANKING: into a fresh sector of the food space. Many startups are currently offering part of the food experience. But this new space (social food) has no leader, no dominant company, yet. The focus of Foodily draws a larger circle around the food space, adds value to its users and distinguishes itself from other food startups. Bloggers are already a-buzzing.

There are some great tips from this fascinating startup:

• Note how social networking has been integrated as a tool (not a business). It is to be exploited on behalf of Foodlily users. Their business is not social networking, rather, it is about a specific experience to be shared among a crisp category of people who enjoy food. Fortunately for the company's employees and investors, that is a huge number of people world-wide.
• The draw, or carrot, the "gotcha!" for Foodily user begins with a clever home page whose message is about finding recipes. Following the clicking trail leads to social networking moments that begin the process of sharing with friends. Thus the simple, focused start leads to the the extensive offerings of the comprehensive service that grows richer and richer in social food sharing.
• The core team consists of top class professionals who had worked together at Yahoo. That excites investors and candidates for employees of the startup. That is pure gold, hard to duplicate and ads power to the company's ability to execute swiftly with high efficiency.

BOTTOM LINE: Foodlily is a clear example of how to use Focus and Flanking. Those are key to startups looking to win. Attacking a market leader leads to carnage, blood all over the carpet. You can avoid the blood bath if you instead use Focus and Flanking. Serial entrepreneurs get it. You can to. Modify your bplan and launch with confidence. It's what builds unfair advantages. 

I wish you The Best on your Adventure!

2011 - VCS LOOKING FOR "BIG" AND "THRILLS": Founders must be prepared

Are you ready to go after "serious money from top VCs"? 

That's what I heard a serial entrepreneur say Tuesday evening. He knows what that means after doing an eight figure series of financings from blue chip VCs over the past three years. Now he is ready for his next startup. And he knows what he must do to prepare for raising the first multi-million dollar round from the best of the bunch. 

Do you?

The clues are everywhere, so don't miss them. I'll help you out by pointing to a couple:

Here is an example on the home page of VC firm Kleiner Perkins Kauflield and Byers  :

 

Here is an example from the home page of New Enterprise Associates:

DARE TO DREAM BIG

Here is an example from Sequoia Capital:

"Sequoia Capital in the U.S. caters to the founders and management who have selected us as their business partners. We have learned that the only way to help develop a fabulous company is one step at a time. This only happens if the company makes wonderful products or delivers a service that thrills large numbers of customers. If that occurs then founders, management, and employees of these companies prosper. It is only then that the investor deserves to be rewarded. It has to happen in that order. There are no shortcuts."

I think that says it all.

2011 is a year filled with VCs looking for "the next big thing that is thrilling to customers."

If you think you've got that, get ready for your pitch.

If not, head back to your pad and re-think your idea.

BOTTOM LINE: The pattern is set for raising serious money from top tier VCs in 2011. Your business must be working and it must be exciting to end users and customers and bloggers and employees. That's different than "I've got this great idea, let me have an hour of your time to present my 50 PowerPoint slides." When you understand that, you'll be far ahead of others competing for capital from the VC pool. Your competition will complain that you have an unfair advantage.

I wish you The Best on your Adventure!