5 tips for startups and entrepreneurs

Startups! Want to be innovative? Go back to the garage! This is the slogan proposed by venture capitalists during the Dow Jones VentureWire Technology Showcase , which was recently held in Redwood City, California.

In the midst of one of the worst global economic crises, investors are very optimistic and believe that in order to survive the current storm and succeed, today's entrepreneurs should change their thinking and go back to the basics: “go back to the garage” and then, with due creativity and hard work, success is guaranteed.

Analyst of Citi, the largest commercial banking corporation, Mark Makhaney (Mark Mahaney) explained that new opportunities are opening up for entrepreneurs on the world market today - the main thing is to have a desire to find them. In the late 90s, when the market was terrible and things did not matter, one company was able to successfully overcome all the trials. This company is eBay (EBAY), in the fall of 1998 it entered IPO. "Now the bar is raised excessively high, but this does not mean that no one can overcome it."
')
Even now, in times of recession, William Tai of Charles River Ventures expects the emergence of new companies that will appear in the portfolio of venture funds. “If you look at the profitability of investments in venture capital funds that were made during the economic downturn, you will find that they provided the highest profitability. Companies that today create their own business strategy have fewer competitors, can turn to large markets and hire more qualified professionals for less money. ”

5 tips for startups and entrepreneurs:

1. Do not focus on growth; focus on solvency.
   David Cowan, Bessemer Venture Partners, encourages companies to move towards saving cash, rather than striving for growth. “Spend less time worrying about what competitors will do in terms of expanding functionality, this will not be your main problem, because competitors will have the same difficulty in terms of growth,” he says. "Move to maintaining sustainable solvency."
2. Work on monetization of social networks.
   According to Mark Mahanei, he himself sees the prospects in social networks. “No one has yet figured out how to monetize social networks, but someone will do it sometime — I'm absolutely sure of that.”
3. Do not create new commitments, look for new perspectives on the mobile technology market.
   David Cowan also recommends avoiding new commitments and suggests making money by exploring new ways to use the media. Having taken the iPhone, he played several tunes for the audience using the new Ocarina music software application. "Six people have developed this innovative player and this application has already been sold by several tens of thousands." This is just one of the ideas; There are many creative ways to use the Internet and mobile phones.
4. Proceed with decisive action while reducing competition.
   William Tai sees an opportunity in moving forward and is very enthusiastic about Internet technology, mobile phones and the use of free software. “Everything grows and develops faster when a product enters this environment,” he says. “You would have 20-50 competitors in the market conditions several years ago; today you have fewer rivals and a great opportunity to prove yourself. ”
5. Look to the virtual world and be prepared for the fact that your company will grow only in 7-8 years.
   Basil Horangic from North Bridge Venture Partners believes that the number of companies working on social networks, virtual spaces and the monetization of virtual goods has increased dramatically today. “Now there are a lot of innovations in these areas.” - he says and advises start-ups that plan to sell their company over time, to have patience, because from the moment of the creation of the company to its IPO, as practice has shown, about 7-8 years pass .

Pictured: Page and Brin in a garage rented from Susan Wojcicki, 232 Santa Margherita Ave, Menlo Park, California.

If a simple garage was good enough for Larry Page (Larry Page) and Sergey Brin (Sergey Brin) to start creating a huge Google search engine, then it is also suitable for new startups trying to develop their project at a time when the advantages are not on their side. So the advice of the day? Stop paying $ 5 for a latte, invest in a simple coffee machine and start innovating.

Author translation: Elena Plotnikova. The translation was commissioned by webew.ru and first published on webew: 5 tips for startups and entrepreneurs .