What do you need to launch a web 2.0 startup that attracts over 1,200 people in less than a week?
A site that supports visits from over 63 countries.
A site with an awesome, energetic community.
Seriously, what do you need to make this happen?
You need the following:
- $6.95/mo. subscription for a hosting service
- Wordpress
- An action-oriented personality
And that’s it.
I launched VentureDig last Thursday with those items listed above. Of course, I put hours into editing the code, installing plug-ins, designing and perfecting the theme. But that’s intangible and a given if you want to be an entrepreneur.
Have I ever taken a class in html, css or php? No.
I simply soaked up knowledge available on the net.
As a VC Analyst, I hear a lot of pitches. A lot.
And most people come to me with an idea–a thought–and of course, they’ve hit the honeymoon period where they think it’s the next google.
Every single one of them is coming to me for one reason: money. I love it! It’s my job. And, I love entrepreneurs. The passion, the energy and the brain-power is mind-opening.
However, many come for the wrong reason. The reason many want the money is so that they can test the idea. They say to themselves, “Well, it’s clearly a great idea because I think so. All I need is a programmer. And that means I need money. Let me go apply to 100 local VC’s and tell them all that my idea is the best thing ever, and that I don’t need them–I just need their money to use on a programmer.”
Technical, or not, I tell them all the same thing, “Put up or shut up.”
Even if it’s a poor sketch of what your product is, launch it. Just slap up a [beta] tag next to your logo as a proclamation of, “Hey, here I am. I think this could be great. It may have some kinks, but tell me what you think and we can grow from here.”
At the end of the day, ideas are worthless.
Business plans tend to be the biggest waste of time–especially in the internet space. And the reason is, once you’ve finished it, if you’re not already burned out and decide to quit, someone out there has already attracted 3,000 users with a superior model with the same exact idea you just wrote 112 pages about.
Let me state that again: ideas are worthless.
Get it? You sure?
Reason being, if you just have an idea, you’ll never get funded. If you just have an idea, no customer will ever know about it–VC’s will–but not your customers. If you just have an idea, it will never get market tested. Again, every VC in the world will hear why your product is great, but not your customer. That’s a problem.
You don’t need money to make money. You need users, you need a great product and you need something that makes sense to investors because it’s already either, (i) making money, or (ii) attracting so many users, it would be a sin not to inject capital into the project.
Remember this always: you need to make money to ask for money to make more money.
What most people do: ask for money to make more money.
Doesn’t work.
To cap it off, check out this link from a friend who posted this ruthlessly insightful video. I mean it. It’s one of the best videos of the year if you’re an entrepreneur or VC:
Did you enjoy this article? Please subscribe to VentureDig to receive all the FREE updates!
{ 3 trackbacks }
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I totally agree. Not ideas, not talk, but only Actions are the only thing of value when it comes to business!
Completely. The opportunity to test ideas with limited money is more prevalent than ever: the barrier is time, priorities and ideas, not money.