Gold vein startups (outside the box about business)

Start-ups can be compared with speedboats, which scurry between ocean liners (large companies) and go to those ports where the route is ordered to liners. Of course, the boat cannot cross the ocean, it really needs a large ship, but that, in turn, cannot enter a small port at the mouth of the river (serve small but promising niches), change course sharply and go to where it has not yet trod foot businessman. The main thing is that the startup has enough fuel to pass along the overgrown river channels to the virgin lakes, where you can turn around (make good money) before the ships get bigger.



The tendency to enlargement is not noticed now only by the blind. Retailers are growing, small stores are dying, or, if lucky, they are being sold larger. Companies in order to survive are combined into holdings. The statistics of startups, of which “shoots” only 2 out of ten show that it is easy to rush into the boiling flow of small business, but to swim out is not easy. Start-ups do not have “subcutaneous fat”, in the form of constant sales of old products, which can be used for development. There are not so many resources, both human and production, which are very necessary when creating a new product.
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However, startups have a huge advantage over large companies - it is the enthusiasm of employees and the speed of decision making. A startup in a short time can enter the market with something fundamentally new, when, like the sluggishness of corporations, and the load of previous products, prevents them from changing course and looking for new niches. This is what startups use.

A startup is a group of prospecting enthusiasts who follow untrodden paths, hoping to find a gold mine and be the first to remove the cream. This is the main advantage of startups - they are pioneers, and this has its own romance. I wrote in an article about financing startups about who investors give money to and who don't. These principles easily fall into the framework of an adventure novel.

Consider a startup as a risky, adventurous venture to find a gold mine. The founder of a startup somewhere read, looked or made conclusions that this vein is, and there is so much gold in it that is enough for everyone (he conducted a marketing analysis of the market). That this gold can be obtained, but so far no single prospectors have reached it, or cartels with bulldozers and excavators (there is an empty niche), so for now you need to keep everything secret and not tell at every corner what it is going to do. It would be nice to stake out a plot from the point of view of the law (get patents, registrations, etc.) so that you can sell it to the same corporations for a high price and protect yourself from their encroachments as soon as the case goes public.

Then he the founder realizes that he cannot get through to this gold alone, and begins to look for a team. The team should consist of the same adventurers as him, who are concerned about the process of the venture, and not too important money (at least for the first time). You can make an announcement similar to how Amundsen gave when he was looking for supporters for the march to the pole (I can not vouch for the accuracy of the text): " We need volunteers for a dangerous event, we may all perish, but if we get there, we will gain honor, fame and money " .

And it would be good to find a professional conductor who has already led other teams to gold, which greatly increases the chances of an expedition's success. True, these people ask a lot, but you can promise him a share of the production ( option ), because so far the initiator has nothing else. Of course, it would be good to talk to people who know how to organize such expeditions, to consult with professionals .

But we need money for equipment. Where to get? You can borrow from friends or take your own, which are set aside for a car, you can search for foreign investment. The initiator comes to a completely stranger who has money (a business angel) and begins to tell (holds a presentation) that he knows how to get to the gold mine, that it is there, but he needs equipment, horses, money to pay for guides, here is a paper, where everything is painted, what and how much is needed and how much the expedition will take time (here it is a business plan).

If a business angel believes that there is a gold mine (not necessarily really, you just need to believe), then he asks you to give him N% (to sell a stake in the company) of all that will be found. And if he is interested in himself, he will lead your expedition or help with equipment, which is also a very good option, which will allow you to save on initial investments. The expedition should be carried out fairly quickly, and the vein should be found in a limited time (the investor wants to recapture the money as quickly as possible), until other prospectors and large companies get there.

When the gold mine is found and the first nuggets are sold, it can be further developed industrially only with the help of heavy machinery. Therefore, when the expedition is completed, you need to either sell your plot and equip a new expedition, or buy excavators yourself and start commercial development (look for venture capital investments and go into medium and large business).

As is the case with the search for gold, not all expeditions end in success. Every year to find a gold mine becomes more difficult. In the near environment, everything is already dug up, and you need to go farther and farther, or try to excavate near the explored areas (to make tracing paper from someone else's project). At the same time, gold may not be in the place where the founders thought (complete failure), or it is too small (we move to zero). And, perhaps, there really is a gold mine that will enrich everyone who touches it, which is what all startup founders want: to find your gold mine.