Tag Archives: Amazon

Hey Engineer, If You Want To Start Your Dream Company Read This Now!

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I recently wrote a guest post on Mashable titled  5 High-Risk, High-Reward Steps to Starting Your Dream Company, where I squash conventional the wisdom of starting a company.  The article is quite extensive with real world examples, but this is a short list of the steps I identified one must take if they really want to commit to starting their dream company.

1. Quit Your Job

Conventional wisdom suggests, “Don’t quit your day job” while you start your new venture; only jump over when it shows promise. Unfortunately, this decision can be a recipe for disaster.  I say quit and get to work on your vision.

2. Don’t Follow The Crowd

Oddly enough, once most entrepreneurs abandon a “normal life” and set out on their own paths, they then look at what others are doing in the industry and opt to imitate instead of originate.  Following others will only get you lost in the crowd. Why not be unique and stand out from the all the rest?

3. Join Strangers, Not Friends

Conventional wisdom encourages you to bring together a few friends — people you already know and trust — to help launch your new company.  In reality, starting a company is tough and many things can go wrong. Don’t let friendship get in the way as you pursue your dream.

4. Launch A Buggy Product

Which situation will produce better results: a perfect web application that took nine months to launch, or a buggy but working prototype released in four weeks that gets immediate attention from early test users?  Think about it…

5. Build A Board of Advisors — Now

Conventional wisdom says that entrepreneurs don’t need to report to anyone. On the contrary. Developing a board of advisors as soon as possible will help keep a company on the right path.

Read the entire article on Mashable, 5 High-Risk, High-Reward Steps to Starting Your Dream Company.

@jnickhughes

Groupon, Google, Ebay or Amazon: Who Will Win The Local Market?

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No doubt he local space is heating up.  We are starting to see an all out war and currently there are 4 major players lining up their guns and taking aim on the local marketplace.

Groupon recently went public on the Nasdaq and is the undisputed king of daily deals, creating a new movement in local commerce known as the group coupon.  Yet things are not all rosy as they also created quite a bit of controversy as they approached the finish line.  Their numbers are greatly scrutinized  and they can’t seem to shake questions regarding the validity and sustainability of their current model.  Groupon no doubt made a significant splash in the local space, but do they have what it takes to transform our daily consumer lifestyle?

Google’s eyes have been on the local economy ever since they realized a critical mass of searches are local in origin.  Early on they knew local was a goldmine, the tough part has been designing products which bridge the gap between local consumer and local merchant in a way that adds value for both.  Google Places, HotPot, the purchase of Zagat, the failed acquisition of Groupon, and now Google Offers are all attempts to make a play on the local marketplace.  But to date it is hard to argue they have made any significant progress in solving the local market conundrum.  Will they do it?

EBay, the buyer/seller marketplace who has lingered on the outskirts of the web for more than a decade (and hinged earnings on a payment platform) looks to be emerging as a solid player in the local marketplace.  The combination of a number of acquisitions have placed them in a drivers seat helping power the next generation of location specific platforms.  Milo, Magento, Zong and Where all offer unique value propositions that when grouped together create a strong combination – and a strong competitor to the Googles and Amazons of the world.  This is one to watch…

The king of worldwide online commerce is Amazon, and I guarantee they their sights are set on the last mile of the web – the local market.  Their $175 million investment in LivingSocial seem a lot like a “look and feel” investment as they watch how the landscape is taking shape.  Make no mistake, the leader in worldwide e-commerce would love to be the worldwide leader in local commerce as well.  The question is, do they know how to do it in the way the everyday consumer will appreciate?

Ultimately, it is nearly impossible to predict who will eventually win out in the local market.   Remember, Google was late to the search party…

Another valid question is: will any of these major players hit the home run or will a new, tremendously different but effective startup with a better combination of commerce and communications transform our everyday consumer experience?

Share your thoughts in the comments.