Reasons to start your startup in a bad economy
I have recently had a discussion with a friend who wants to start a technology startup and was absolutely overcome with fear on how a bad economy will affect her and her business. We talked about all of the issues that she would have to face…the biggest one of them was financing.
After reading Paul Graham’s blog post & watching Kevin Rose’s video today, our discussion was confirmed….technology companies with a sound idea and quality founders really make startups recession proof and in fact, a recession may actually be a good time to start your startup.
Here are some points to take away from Paul post:
- Technology progresses more or less independently of the stock market. So for any given idea, the payoff for acting fast in a bad economy will be higher than for waiting.
- Startups often make things cheaper, so in that respect they’re better positioned to prosper in a recession than big companies.  The cheaper your company is to operate, the harder it is to kill. Fortunately it has gotten very cheap to run a startup, and a recession will if anything make it cheaper still.
- Another advantage of bad times is that there’s less competition.
- As a founder, you’re an investor….you’re buying stock with work..and like any investor you should buy when times are bad.
You should also watch Kevin Rose’s video where he explains how he used these points four years ago when starting up Digg.com
Like I told my friend don’t fear, be smart, build a business model that is sound, and leverage the opportunity!
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When Did You Last Plan Your Succession?
Be it running your own business, being an individual contributor or managing a team of employees today, when did you last think about who would fill your shoes when you take on the next great opportunity?
Depending on what you do, you should have the following “back of mind”:
If you run your own business…
… You are always for sale.
… You are always courting companies who are not only great partners, but potentially great buyers.
… You are always looking at the next big thing, which may not be in the area your current business is in today.
If you are an individual contributor…
Continue Reading “When Did You Last Plan Your Succession?”
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Solutions Stars Video Conference - October 29
Here is another interesting virtual web conference coming up on October 29.  It is absolutely FREE and no registration required. Just go back to the website on October 29th.
On October, 29, 2008 from 1 p.m. until approximately 3:30 p.m. EST. , Network Solutions proudly presents the “Solutions Stars Video Conference,” a series of videos and live discussions featuring 32 of the world’s leading business and marketing experts. The live video conference will coach small business owners and entrepreneurs on how the Internet can benefit their business. Nine content areas featuring vignettes of the Solutions Stars will run during the conference:
- Building Web Presence
- The Social Opportunity
- Start with Listening
- Strategy Drives Outreach
- You Need Social Networks
- To Blog or Not to Blog
- Visibility Through Search
- Rising Above the Noise
- Time Demands
For more information about the speakers, visit the site.
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Recession Proofing
Scaling back?
Canceling projects?
Losing budgeted money?
How do you decide what to keep and what to cut to survive potentially another 12-18 months of rockiness?
- Stay Invested In Your Strengths and Niches
Be it looking at yourself or your team, keep the strengths and niches you own in tune and ahead of the pack. - Buy Low, Sell High
Have cash lying around you know you need to use by fiscal year end? Nows the time to put your negotiation hat on to get what you’ve been needing to either exploit a niche or retool. - Where to Cut, Where to Grow
Don’t know what your core competencies, or bread and butter work, is? Or, not sure where you are overspending? Better yet, when was the last time you looked at a business dashboard or report that told you where your revenue and costs were coming from?Often times, while we are searching for ways to cut corners by going to open source or hosted technology, we forget about finding ways to generate more revenue. What if you start adding ads to your website? Or tackling a new industry with the same resources you have? Don’t let cost cutting take control of your business development needs.
Remember, it’s key to look at historical information before making decisions on you and your business. Don’t let emotion get in the way of your business nor your career. While you may not need that employee you’ve invested in for the last 10 years in the next 2 months, it will take a year’s worth of salary to hire and train a new employee when you need them in say 6 months.
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New Marketing Summit: Making Connections
I just returned from the exciting, energizing, and thought provoking 2-day New Marketing Summit organized by Chris Brogan, David Meerman Scott, and Paul Gillin at the Gillette Staduim in Foxboro MA. It was a whirlwind of presentations, panels and case studies that really got you thinking about how to plan for and incorporate the new social media tools into the marketing mix. The event was large enough to provide real value and small and intimate enough to really connect with the others in attendance…oh, and I was a winner…Woohoo!
WINNER
BuzzLogic, a technology that analyzes influence across the blogosphere offered a raffle that I had entered…you guess it…my business card was drawn…I won a brand new GPS device so I will never get lost again…Thanks BuzzLogic.
BuzzLogic is a social media analytics company that can find influencers in the blogosphere on very specific topics – they offer clients data on a subscription basis, as well as an ad network for advertisers looking to target influential blogs with online campaigns. If you’re an advertiser looking to harness blogs, you can check out more here: http://www.buzzlogic.com/advertisers/conversation-targeting.html
Talking with Exhibitors
I enjoyed all of the presentations and the differing ideas about how to leverage all of the data that is available and the paradigm shift in marketing and PR philosophies and hearing about the best practices etc. I found even more value in talking with exhibitors (some of which were the presenters).
It is in talking with the exhibitor where you get the real information about the tools and the real application of the tools…and see exactly how it will work for your particular situation…unlike the presentations (one-way broadcast model), when you go to the vendors booths, you have a conversation which is what social media is all about and it is through the dialogue and the questions asked that you can find out exactly if the tool is for you and how it would work within your company or your clients company.
I encourage you to follow the Exhibitors link to find out more about each of the companies that were at the event to learn about the companies.
Highlights for Me
The exhibitors that I had a chance to speak with, all seemed very interesting and their companies offer some great tools that you should investigate either for you or for some of the clients that you are or will be working with. Over the next few days I will feature and highlight some of the companies and the tools they offer in our blog.
We all need to understand and leverage the various new social media tools out there so we can develop a strong strategy to deliver marketing and PR value for our companies and for our clients.
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