How to create a company with a short history of operating activities
In general, no one wants to create a company with a short operating activity, right? No not like this. Judging by Wikipedia, this is just the definition of the word "startup." And they all run today. This is probably why this term has completely discredited itself since the beginning of 2011 (it began to discredit itself even earlier, but if before 2011 it could still be pronounced in a decent society, now it is somehow awkward - six months later when pronouncing this word in a decent society will laugh out loud).
So, under the heading "I am promoting" I want you to present your company with a short history of operating activities. A year has passed since the launch of our project JJC.Ru. I will share some experience, maybe someone it will come in handy. Although strongly doubt it.
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They write in smart books: go to the project if you are interested in it. And they write: give birth to original ideas. And also write: die for your project. With the latter, I seem to have gone too far - nobody writes like that, but this, in general, is unimportant. I was initially not interested in the project. There was no original idea in it. Dying for the project did not want to. It was all very casual and banal. The Internet guru and just a very smart man Herman Klimenko podnachival me a couple of months - let's do the portal on foreign real estate. Say, the topic is interesting, anything fit for the future. In short, he pressed me to the wall. It was impossible to unlock further, I agreed. He gave me to work launched a couple of months ago, the site - domain + bare engine. The site was already in the index, had a search and a half people. So I became - I promise not to swear anymore! - a startup.
A few words about yourself. This, in general, is not very important, but it is interesting to understand the economics of the project. By this time I was the owner of this SEO-agency, we were engaged in such a difficult and not to say to a very high-marginal matter, as traffic promotion sites . To make it clear, traffic promotion is not when you have a name, like, for example, a well-known SEO guru, whose last name begins on A, but ends in Shmanov, and you can sell reports for big or very big money. Well, or at the very least - for a very, very, very big money. Traffic promotion is when you put in a fig to someone else’s site, and you earn crumbs, because there are a lot of project costs, and there are no aeroflots and gas companies in customers. The staff was (well, in general, and now there are) copywriters, seo-analysts, seo-optimizers and managers working with clients. They grew on the sly, did not take out much money (and did not row them with shovels), spent on development. In short, earned hard, labor money. I gathered everyone in the office, said - we are doing our project. People scratched their heads, tried to pick them up (it’s clear who wants to take on extra work, and even for free), but they realized that there were no options. Began to work.
The tasks of the project were very ordinary. The task at least: start making money as quickly as possible. The task of the medium: to break everyone in the market of foreign real estate to shreds. The maximum task: to create robots and plant them instead of themselves to engage in the development of the project. What about a business plan? I have not written a business plan so far.
In business literature they usually write: agree on everything ashore. In the open swimming it will be extremely difficult to do this. We agreed with Herman simply: he gives me a programmer, helps me with a context at the start, gives me the reins and lets us float free. We swim out - well. Do not swim out - themselves to blame. With me - content, again content, again content and search promotion.
Everything was simple. We attracted the first round of investment - $ 3 million. Then the second round - 12.4 million dollars. Then the third round. Then we went to an IPO - and with this money we decided to launch.
Joke.
Money, in general, was not at the start. Not that they were not at all, and was not for this project. It was dumb to invest: it will turn out - it will not work, but nafig. Ask Hermann - well, honestly, conscience would not allow. On the other hand, why should the budget? What is he for? The budget, in general, is needed to enter the market and marketing. We, in fact, could do all the work on default. For that, I had everything. Yes, I already wrote about this in my first post on Habré, I repeat once again. You yourself should support the project team, the investor is not interested. If you are not an Islet, of course (and you are not an Islet). And if you want to get an investment for the content of the team, then you probably need to hang out in Cambridge and standfords for some time, work in Silicon, and get connections there. I think finding a way to contain a team is less time consuming than all of the above.
To guard against attacking the standard rake from the position of such a guru is a pleasant thing. But ineffective. All the same, each topic will have its own rake, and all of them should just be stepped on - in order. The first thing we started to do was change the design. The engine was standard, for a couple of hundred dollars, respectively, the default skin and all the other delights. We shoveled it a bit, increased the functionality and made a redesign. Then they realized that the functionality was not enough for us, and they began to gradually increase it. This process goes on constantly. And in general, I learned the first lesson: whenever you do a redesign, it will not be on time anyway, and soon - if the project grows and develops functionally - new information blocks will appear that will need to be inserted into the already existing ones patterns. Now I take this philosophically. You just need to redesign periodically. And come to terms with the fact that in a couple of months you will need to wedge something into the existing layouts.
My second rake. In the fall we went first traffic. Together with the context allocated for us, we reached quite decent indicators for the subject (in the TOP-10 in the supercompetitive market), and it became clear that we do not know what to do with this traffic, how to monetize it. Traf, I note, went quality. From the very beginning, Pageview was one of the best on the market (and still remains so). And most importantly - the real deal went between real estate buyers and realtors, who published ads on the site (I will not go into details, as we tracked it, but we know about it absolutely for sure). So, there was a question of monetization.
There were several models here. It was possible to develop a classic portal on the advertising model, but it is clear that you can earn more if you get into the market itself. In general, this dilemma remained unresolved throughout the winter, and all spring, and even all summer. It is clear that the loss of time is easy to develop.
Finally, the third rake, through which it was necessary to pass, gave birth to the next maxim in me - the revaluation of my own forces threatens to collapse. There are no absolutely free niches on the Internet today. Do not underestimate the market. Do not overestimate yourself. Nothing to build by the idea. Only daily hard work on micron brings you closer to your goal. Goals? Did I say goals? I made a reservation. Because there is no goal. There is a way. You just need to embark on this path, or rather even - to harness. Like a draft horse. And drag this cart. Doing every day at least something that improves the project.
A year later, we have double indicators. On the one hand, they are small - just over a thousand people a day. Probably a year ago I would not be enough. On the other hand, today I look at the market differently. I understand that this is really a very tough, very competitive market. In which very non-weak budgets are invested. But we have come a long way. The market leader is still very, very far away, but there are, in general, few websites left; they can all be counted on the fingers of one hand. And you know, let it not sound modest, none of them are terrible to us.
We did not have enough funds for the project. We are the whole Texterra team, besides the project, we are still forced to do our main work (internet marketing) in order to pay our salaries and feed our families. And this, as it turned out, is quite possible.
Do I like to do it today? Is the project interesting to me? I never in my life thought that I would be interested in real estate, especially foreign. But there was no other way out. We came to someone else's clearing. We had advantages, but there were also very significant drawbacks - the lack of sufficient competence in the realtor sphere, in the relationship of a real estate agent and a buyer. In this, we, too, have already gone a noticeable way, and it’s just a shame not to go further.
This, by the way, is my second post on Habré, the first was "The best in 24 hours." Let's continue in the same vein. I need your opinions on the project. Any opinions. According to the functional design. More opinions - good and different.
And a separate line, I thank Herman Sergeyevich for having involved me in this undertaking.
Well, something like this.
So, under the heading "I am promoting" I want you to present your company with a short history of operating activities. A year has passed since the launch of our project JJC.Ru. I will share some experience, maybe someone it will come in handy. Although strongly doubt it.
Project idea
')
They write in smart books: go to the project if you are interested in it. And they write: give birth to original ideas. And also write: die for your project. With the latter, I seem to have gone too far - nobody writes like that, but this, in general, is unimportant. I was initially not interested in the project. There was no original idea in it. Dying for the project did not want to. It was all very casual and banal. The Internet guru and just a very smart man Herman Klimenko podnachival me a couple of months - let's do the portal on foreign real estate. Say, the topic is interesting, anything fit for the future. In short, he pressed me to the wall. It was impossible to unlock further, I agreed. He gave me to work launched a couple of months ago, the site - domain + bare engine. The site was already in the index, had a search and a half people. So I became - I promise not to swear anymore! - a startup.
Retreat
A few words about yourself. This, in general, is not very important, but it is interesting to understand the economics of the project. By this time I was the owner of this SEO-agency, we were engaged in such a difficult and not to say to a very high-marginal matter, as traffic promotion sites . To make it clear, traffic promotion is not when you have a name, like, for example, a well-known SEO guru, whose last name begins on A, but ends in Shmanov, and you can sell reports for big or very big money. Well, or at the very least - for a very, very, very big money. Traffic promotion is when you put in a fig to someone else’s site, and you earn crumbs, because there are a lot of project costs, and there are no aeroflots and gas companies in customers. The staff was (well, in general, and now there are) copywriters, seo-analysts, seo-optimizers and managers working with clients. They grew on the sly, did not take out much money (and did not row them with shovels), spent on development. In short, earned hard, labor money. I gathered everyone in the office, said - we are doing our project. People scratched their heads, tried to pick them up (it’s clear who wants to take on extra work, and even for free), but they realized that there were no options. Began to work.
Project tasks and business plan development
The tasks of the project were very ordinary. The task at least: start making money as quickly as possible. The task of the medium: to break everyone in the market of foreign real estate to shreds. The maximum task: to create robots and plant them instead of themselves to engage in the development of the project. What about a business plan? I have not written a business plan so far.
Project Roles
In business literature they usually write: agree on everything ashore. In the open swimming it will be extremely difficult to do this. We agreed with Herman simply: he gives me a programmer, helps me with a context at the start, gives me the reins and lets us float free. We swim out - well. Do not swim out - themselves to blame. With me - content, again content, again content and search promotion.
Project's budget
Everything was simple. We attracted the first round of investment - $ 3 million. Then the second round - 12.4 million dollars. Then the third round. Then we went to an IPO - and with this money we decided to launch.
Joke.
Money, in general, was not at the start. Not that they were not at all, and was not for this project. It was dumb to invest: it will turn out - it will not work, but nafig. Ask Hermann - well, honestly, conscience would not allow. On the other hand, why should the budget? What is he for? The budget, in general, is needed to enter the market and marketing. We, in fact, could do all the work on default. For that, I had everything. Yes, I already wrote about this in my first post on Habré, I repeat once again. You yourself should support the project team, the investor is not interested. If you are not an Islet, of course (and you are not an Islet). And if you want to get an investment for the content of the team, then you probably need to hang out in Cambridge and standfords for some time, work in Silicon, and get connections there. I think finding a way to contain a team is less time consuming than all of the above.
Standard rake
To guard against attacking the standard rake from the position of such a guru is a pleasant thing. But ineffective. All the same, each topic will have its own rake, and all of them should just be stepped on - in order. The first thing we started to do was change the design. The engine was standard, for a couple of hundred dollars, respectively, the default skin and all the other delights. We shoveled it a bit, increased the functionality and made a redesign. Then they realized that the functionality was not enough for us, and they began to gradually increase it. This process goes on constantly. And in general, I learned the first lesson: whenever you do a redesign, it will not be on time anyway, and soon - if the project grows and develops functionally - new information blocks will appear that will need to be inserted into the already existing ones patterns. Now I take this philosophically. You just need to redesign periodically. And come to terms with the fact that in a couple of months you will need to wedge something into the existing layouts.
My second rake. In the fall we went first traffic. Together with the context allocated for us, we reached quite decent indicators for the subject (in the TOP-10 in the supercompetitive market), and it became clear that we do not know what to do with this traffic, how to monetize it. Traf, I note, went quality. From the very beginning, Pageview was one of the best on the market (and still remains so). And most importantly - the real deal went between real estate buyers and realtors, who published ads on the site (I will not go into details, as we tracked it, but we know about it absolutely for sure). So, there was a question of monetization.
There were several models here. It was possible to develop a classic portal on the advertising model, but it is clear that you can earn more if you get into the market itself. In general, this dilemma remained unresolved throughout the winter, and all spring, and even all summer. It is clear that the loss of time is easy to develop.
Finally, the third rake, through which it was necessary to pass, gave birth to the next maxim in me - the revaluation of my own forces threatens to collapse. There are no absolutely free niches on the Internet today. Do not underestimate the market. Do not overestimate yourself. Nothing to build by the idea. Only daily hard work on micron brings you closer to your goal. Goals? Did I say goals? I made a reservation. Because there is no goal. There is a way. You just need to embark on this path, or rather even - to harness. Like a draft horse. And drag this cart. Doing every day at least something that improves the project.
Results
A year later, we have double indicators. On the one hand, they are small - just over a thousand people a day. Probably a year ago I would not be enough. On the other hand, today I look at the market differently. I understand that this is really a very tough, very competitive market. In which very non-weak budgets are invested. But we have come a long way. The market leader is still very, very far away, but there are, in general, few websites left; they can all be counted on the fingers of one hand. And you know, let it not sound modest, none of them are terrible to us.
We did not have enough funds for the project. We are the whole Texterra team, besides the project, we are still forced to do our main work (internet marketing) in order to pay our salaries and feed our families. And this, as it turned out, is quite possible.
Do I like to do it today? Is the project interesting to me? I never in my life thought that I would be interested in real estate, especially foreign. But there was no other way out. We came to someone else's clearing. We had advantages, but there were also very significant drawbacks - the lack of sufficient competence in the realtor sphere, in the relationship of a real estate agent and a buyer. In this, we, too, have already gone a noticeable way, and it’s just a shame not to go further.
As a conclusion
This, by the way, is my second post on Habré, the first was "The best in 24 hours." Let's continue in the same vein. I need your opinions on the project. Any opinions. According to the functional design. More opinions - good and different.
And a separate line, I thank Herman Sergeyevich for having involved me in this undertaking.
Well, something like this.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/125685/
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