The biggest startup, which is not
Recently, the authors of start-ups are increasingly using the marketing ploy with the launch of the project's blog, even before the appearance of the working version of the service. The guys from bigstartup.ru believe in the success of their offspring and the fact that intrigue will not die before the site is born.
How to achieve profitability, how to communicate with investors, how not to get lost among other innovators - in the living room “toodoo + internet.ru” tells the initiator of the project - Igor Sanin.
- Igor, Do all team members have this first startup startup experience?
- Andrei Zyatikov and I once launched a design studio. There were orders, we put together a good team and successfully implemented several projects. Then I participated in the creation of an Internet service in the hotel sphere: I led the development of the portal for half a year until I left there: my partners and I had different visions of its development.
')
- Where is the confidence that everything will work out?
- Very vague concept of “everything will turn out”. Will we reach the planned audience? Will we get the expected returns? Will we become leaders in our field? All these categories are very relative. But the fact that we have everything, or almost everything, to achieve these goals is for sure. We have formed and worked out in detail the concept of the project, created an excellent backbone of the team and managed to attract the attention of individual specialists and potential investors. We have repeatedly told our friends about our idea and in one voice received the answer that such a service is really necessary. All this gives us reason to believe that the project has excellent prospects. In order to talk about confidence in success, a much more solid foundation is needed. Perhaps such a foundation for us and could be an investment.
- You have already mentioned that you are planning a short time to bring profitability. Do not somehow fit with statements about financial illiteracy?
- We are sure that it is not enough to rely only on our own and expert conclusions based on personal experience and knowledge in determining the prospects of any project. Many startups do not conduct any research and analytical work to describe their ideas in concrete figures and indicators. The Internet is a very dynamic area and any business project that is organized there is subject to a number of significant risks. And when planning it is necessary to take into account the many uncertainties affecting cash flows.
We, as we can, are trying to determine future profitability: we attract consultants and experts, communicate with economists, and have already conducted valid serious research. So far, the result may not be perfect, and needs some work, but this is only a matter of time.
We can plan the yield on profitability based on indicators of similar services - basically, it is possible to draw conclusions from them regarding the performance of the business model.
- Negotiations with the original investor, as I understand it, are stumped? What experience have you learned from this?
- I would not call it “deadlocked”. Rather, on the contrary, they went out on an endless road. The conclusion is very banal: when negotiating with an investor, the situation should be such that you do not need the investor, and you are the investor. Actually, we have already practically led to this, starting development ourselves.
In general, we realized that a startup is not enough in its team to have only developers, marketers and “creatives”. It should have a business administrator, preferably with an economic education and financial planning experience.
- Could it be that you will bring the project to a certain stage, and you will not allocate money for it? What then?
- Lack of money for most Internet startups cannot serve as a deterrent to launching a project, at least at the initial stage of its development. As a rule, the authors are able to start a web service and organize its basic promotion on their own - here the bill goes to hundreds of dollars. Financing at the seed stage is necessary mainly to speed up the work, attract professional specialists and more large-scale promotion.
When a startup functions and has a certain user base, money can serve as fuel for the rapid growth of the audience - either directly, through advertising campaigns, or indirectly - through improving the quality of services. In the case of the emergence of competitors, often, the winner is the one who has the greatest financial potential.
We need investments, first of all, to attract a significant audience - the specificity of the project is that a cheap word-of-mouth will not work for us. Plus, of course, we need people to support and develop the service. Work on the part and on enthusiasm before the appearance of real incomes can seriously slow down the project and affect its quality.
- Now all expenses come from a personal pocket? Or are they simply not there - Does the team work for a share in the project?
- We pay for basic needs in a project from our own pocket - hosting, domains, communications, printing. Also, we plan to give some works in the near future for freelancing - there will be costs for paying for their services.
As for compensation for the work of our team members, one of the key incentives that motivate their work is the share in the project. Although we, of course, strive to ignite them not only with the idea of ​​the project and practical benefits, but also with a special atmosphere and relations in the team.
- It is clear that concealing the key idea is part of the image, but still: will your model look more like an e-generator or free-lance.ru?
- Let me just say that our model will be similar to many projects and will be completely different at the same time. We do not repel from other people's concepts and approaches and do not copy them - we are not afraid to create our own, introducing some kind of innovation.
- Are there any competitors in your niche?
- Our project is complex. It includes many services and solves several problems at once with representatives of the target audience. At the moment there are separate resources that solve only a certain range of tasks. We offer a range of services under one brand, so that most of the tasks users can solve in one place.
In general, we are unique in its kind. But, nevertheless, with a stretch of competitors can be called many. Just despite the sufficient narrowness, we absorb a lot. We can easily say that to a certain extent our competitors are such companies as “Runner”, “Yandex”, etc.
- Service will be focused on the Russian audience?
- According to our development plan, at the first stage we will focus on the Russian audience, and, if we achieve certain results, we will go to Europe. I think it’s too early to think about America, although there is no such service there.
- What effect have you managed to extract from a startup blog?
- Incredible effect! At first, when I spent a few days creating it, the guys from the team said that I was so enthusiastic about this work.
But less than a week, how people began to write to us, wishing to exchange experience, communicate and even cooperate. And, after some time, we started receiving letters from investors who visited the blog and were interested in the project and the team. At the moment we are negotiating with them and we see real prospects in cooperation. On the course of these negotiations, of course, we will continue to write on our blog.
- The personnel question is finally resolved?
- Depending on the way we will go further. In any case, those whom we have gathered will remain with us. If we manage to attract investments, we plan to hire a dozen people for specific functions. Now we only have the backbone - a manager, programmers, designer, SEO, and a couple of authors.
- Plans to launch the beta by September are saved?
- Of course. This is a matter of principle.
- If the startup still does not take place (I knock on the tree) - will you find the strength to admit this to yourself?
- Yes. In general, it is sometimes very difficult to see your mistakes, and, especially, to admit to yourself that. But, as it seems to us, we have learned to do it. At least, all the conclusions, even the most negative, we have always been aware of and voiced. For example, one of them is that it was a mistake to look for money for an idea without a prototype.
- The guys from bros.su also started with active blog updates, and then subsided. Do you see the same infrequent blog update - what is the reason?
- We try to evenly distribute our enthusiasm. To restrain excitement at the initial stage, so that the fuse will suffice for the longest possible time. The blog is updated exactly once a week - we believe this is the right balance: and not bother the reader with daily discussions and news about minor events, and provide high-quality and useful information that can constantly maintain interest in the project.
By the way, after the 13th day in the blog will open a new branch on the technical side.
- Why start a blog, if you still need to keep a secret - you can't keep the excitement for a long time?
- Starting a blog, we wanted to draw attention not to the essence of the project, but to a startup as a special undertaking of young and energetic people. We want to share our experience, to tell about the features of the pitfalls in this work. Pay attention to the same bros.su - a very interesting blog, all posts are more than informative, but in the comments we see that the lion’s share is made up of talk about the idea of ​​the project and its viability. Of course, this is also important, but not quite what we are striving for.
As I said, thanks to the blog, we have established many useful contacts. People offer their help in the development, testing. We do not so much promote our project as we gain ourselves by communicating with interesting and necessary people.
- You follow other Russian startups in the spirit of web 2.0 - which development model do you like?
- Yes, we try to keep abreast of events occurring in this area. Attracted, of course, recently, the noise around the success of vkontakte.ru. I hope its author will be able to monetize their traffic. The fate of “Mamba” is also interesting. That bright example when intelligent people made an excellent project from a banal idea and achieved success.
Of course, interesting are also relatively young startups - habrahabr, news2, toodoo and others. Sure, they have excellent prospects.
- Do you communicate with other startups?
- Through our blog and at a meeting organized by the “Living Ideas” project, we met a few guys who are working on their projects. In the future, we plan to maintain contact with them and communicate closely.
- The fact that start-ups are launched at 3 per month - does this not cool the demand, do you think?
- I am sure there will be enough space for everyone (smiles). In general, it’s about the startup level. A couple of years from now, answer me the question: “How many startups, in terms of level like ours, are released per year?”.
- Is this a prerequisite for inflating a new bubble?
- Not everyone will burst together, as in 2000, but separately. Those who can not offer an effective scheme of earning on services, apparently, will have to disappear or, if a significant audience is attracted, count on a deal with a strategic investor. And he, in turn, will be interested in the project only if he is able, if not directly, then indirectly, to bring the company a profit.
The business model will be the tool of “natural selection” that can distinguish a group of successful projects from a huge number of projects.
Our advice to all startups is to first determine what people need, then how they are going to make money on it. Then compare this with costs, and if the gain is not multiple, it is better to think it over once again.
Returning to the issue of negotiations with the investor, they helped us to take a fresh look at the project, to calculate all the nuances. And, it is necessary to recognize that the structure has changed dramatically in comparison with the original one. And if we started development right away, then a startup would be completely different.
Source toodoo.ru
How to achieve profitability, how to communicate with investors, how not to get lost among other innovators - in the living room “toodoo + internet.ru” tells the initiator of the project - Igor Sanin.
- Igor, Do all team members have this first startup startup experience?
- Andrei Zyatikov and I once launched a design studio. There were orders, we put together a good team and successfully implemented several projects. Then I participated in the creation of an Internet service in the hotel sphere: I led the development of the portal for half a year until I left there: my partners and I had different visions of its development.
')
- Where is the confidence that everything will work out?
- Very vague concept of “everything will turn out”. Will we reach the planned audience? Will we get the expected returns? Will we become leaders in our field? All these categories are very relative. But the fact that we have everything, or almost everything, to achieve these goals is for sure. We have formed and worked out in detail the concept of the project, created an excellent backbone of the team and managed to attract the attention of individual specialists and potential investors. We have repeatedly told our friends about our idea and in one voice received the answer that such a service is really necessary. All this gives us reason to believe that the project has excellent prospects. In order to talk about confidence in success, a much more solid foundation is needed. Perhaps such a foundation for us and could be an investment.
- You have already mentioned that you are planning a short time to bring profitability. Do not somehow fit with statements about financial illiteracy?
- We are sure that it is not enough to rely only on our own and expert conclusions based on personal experience and knowledge in determining the prospects of any project. Many startups do not conduct any research and analytical work to describe their ideas in concrete figures and indicators. The Internet is a very dynamic area and any business project that is organized there is subject to a number of significant risks. And when planning it is necessary to take into account the many uncertainties affecting cash flows.
We, as we can, are trying to determine future profitability: we attract consultants and experts, communicate with economists, and have already conducted valid serious research. So far, the result may not be perfect, and needs some work, but this is only a matter of time.
We can plan the yield on profitability based on indicators of similar services - basically, it is possible to draw conclusions from them regarding the performance of the business model.
- Negotiations with the original investor, as I understand it, are stumped? What experience have you learned from this?
- I would not call it “deadlocked”. Rather, on the contrary, they went out on an endless road. The conclusion is very banal: when negotiating with an investor, the situation should be such that you do not need the investor, and you are the investor. Actually, we have already practically led to this, starting development ourselves.
In general, we realized that a startup is not enough in its team to have only developers, marketers and “creatives”. It should have a business administrator, preferably with an economic education and financial planning experience.
- Could it be that you will bring the project to a certain stage, and you will not allocate money for it? What then?
- Lack of money for most Internet startups cannot serve as a deterrent to launching a project, at least at the initial stage of its development. As a rule, the authors are able to start a web service and organize its basic promotion on their own - here the bill goes to hundreds of dollars. Financing at the seed stage is necessary mainly to speed up the work, attract professional specialists and more large-scale promotion.
When a startup functions and has a certain user base, money can serve as fuel for the rapid growth of the audience - either directly, through advertising campaigns, or indirectly - through improving the quality of services. In the case of the emergence of competitors, often, the winner is the one who has the greatest financial potential.
We need investments, first of all, to attract a significant audience - the specificity of the project is that a cheap word-of-mouth will not work for us. Plus, of course, we need people to support and develop the service. Work on the part and on enthusiasm before the appearance of real incomes can seriously slow down the project and affect its quality.
- Now all expenses come from a personal pocket? Or are they simply not there - Does the team work for a share in the project?
- We pay for basic needs in a project from our own pocket - hosting, domains, communications, printing. Also, we plan to give some works in the near future for freelancing - there will be costs for paying for their services.
As for compensation for the work of our team members, one of the key incentives that motivate their work is the share in the project. Although we, of course, strive to ignite them not only with the idea of ​​the project and practical benefits, but also with a special atmosphere and relations in the team.
- It is clear that concealing the key idea is part of the image, but still: will your model look more like an e-generator or free-lance.ru?
- Let me just say that our model will be similar to many projects and will be completely different at the same time. We do not repel from other people's concepts and approaches and do not copy them - we are not afraid to create our own, introducing some kind of innovation.
- Are there any competitors in your niche?
- Our project is complex. It includes many services and solves several problems at once with representatives of the target audience. At the moment there are separate resources that solve only a certain range of tasks. We offer a range of services under one brand, so that most of the tasks users can solve in one place.
In general, we are unique in its kind. But, nevertheless, with a stretch of competitors can be called many. Just despite the sufficient narrowness, we absorb a lot. We can easily say that to a certain extent our competitors are such companies as “Runner”, “Yandex”, etc.
- Service will be focused on the Russian audience?
- According to our development plan, at the first stage we will focus on the Russian audience, and, if we achieve certain results, we will go to Europe. I think it’s too early to think about America, although there is no such service there.
- What effect have you managed to extract from a startup blog?
- Incredible effect! At first, when I spent a few days creating it, the guys from the team said that I was so enthusiastic about this work.
But less than a week, how people began to write to us, wishing to exchange experience, communicate and even cooperate. And, after some time, we started receiving letters from investors who visited the blog and were interested in the project and the team. At the moment we are negotiating with them and we see real prospects in cooperation. On the course of these negotiations, of course, we will continue to write on our blog.
- The personnel question is finally resolved?
- Depending on the way we will go further. In any case, those whom we have gathered will remain with us. If we manage to attract investments, we plan to hire a dozen people for specific functions. Now we only have the backbone - a manager, programmers, designer, SEO, and a couple of authors.
- Plans to launch the beta by September are saved?
- Of course. This is a matter of principle.
- If the startup still does not take place (I knock on the tree) - will you find the strength to admit this to yourself?
- Yes. In general, it is sometimes very difficult to see your mistakes, and, especially, to admit to yourself that. But, as it seems to us, we have learned to do it. At least, all the conclusions, even the most negative, we have always been aware of and voiced. For example, one of them is that it was a mistake to look for money for an idea without a prototype.
- The guys from bros.su also started with active blog updates, and then subsided. Do you see the same infrequent blog update - what is the reason?
- We try to evenly distribute our enthusiasm. To restrain excitement at the initial stage, so that the fuse will suffice for the longest possible time. The blog is updated exactly once a week - we believe this is the right balance: and not bother the reader with daily discussions and news about minor events, and provide high-quality and useful information that can constantly maintain interest in the project.
By the way, after the 13th day in the blog will open a new branch on the technical side.
- Why start a blog, if you still need to keep a secret - you can't keep the excitement for a long time?
- Starting a blog, we wanted to draw attention not to the essence of the project, but to a startup as a special undertaking of young and energetic people. We want to share our experience, to tell about the features of the pitfalls in this work. Pay attention to the same bros.su - a very interesting blog, all posts are more than informative, but in the comments we see that the lion’s share is made up of talk about the idea of ​​the project and its viability. Of course, this is also important, but not quite what we are striving for.
As I said, thanks to the blog, we have established many useful contacts. People offer their help in the development, testing. We do not so much promote our project as we gain ourselves by communicating with interesting and necessary people.
- You follow other Russian startups in the spirit of web 2.0 - which development model do you like?
- Yes, we try to keep abreast of events occurring in this area. Attracted, of course, recently, the noise around the success of vkontakte.ru. I hope its author will be able to monetize their traffic. The fate of “Mamba” is also interesting. That bright example when intelligent people made an excellent project from a banal idea and achieved success.
Of course, interesting are also relatively young startups - habrahabr, news2, toodoo and others. Sure, they have excellent prospects.
- Do you communicate with other startups?
- Through our blog and at a meeting organized by the “Living Ideas” project, we met a few guys who are working on their projects. In the future, we plan to maintain contact with them and communicate closely.
- The fact that start-ups are launched at 3 per month - does this not cool the demand, do you think?
- I am sure there will be enough space for everyone (smiles). In general, it’s about the startup level. A couple of years from now, answer me the question: “How many startups, in terms of level like ours, are released per year?”.
- Is this a prerequisite for inflating a new bubble?
- Not everyone will burst together, as in 2000, but separately. Those who can not offer an effective scheme of earning on services, apparently, will have to disappear or, if a significant audience is attracted, count on a deal with a strategic investor. And he, in turn, will be interested in the project only if he is able, if not directly, then indirectly, to bring the company a profit.
The business model will be the tool of “natural selection” that can distinguish a group of successful projects from a huge number of projects.
Our advice to all startups is to first determine what people need, then how they are going to make money on it. Then compare this with costs, and if the gain is not multiple, it is better to think it over once again.
Returning to the issue of negotiations with the investor, they helped us to take a fresh look at the project, to calculate all the nuances. And, it is necessary to recognize that the structure has changed dramatically in comparison with the original one. And if we started development right away, then a startup would be completely different.
Source toodoo.ru
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/10755/
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