Posts Tagged ‘Business’

6 Things to Know Before Starting a Business

Posted on January 21st, 2012 • Filed under Learn • No Comments

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

An entrepreneur’s life can be a real roller coaster. Having started a few businesses in my career, I thought it would be useful to highlight some of the hard-won experience I’ve learned throughout the process — the kind of advice I wish I’d known when I started my first, or even second, business.

1. Don’t Underestimate a Business Plan

If you’re not seeking outside funding at the start, it’s tempting to forgo writing out a formal business plan. However, taking the time to write out your business plan, forecasts and marketing strategy is a particularly effective way to hone your vision. All planning should center around two essential questions: How is my business serving a particular need or pain point, and does this represent a major market opportunity?

In addition, don’t overlook the exit strategy at the beginning. Do you want your children to take over the company? Do you want to sell it? It’s critical to think about these questions from the start, as the building blocks of your company (such as legal structure) should vary depending on your preferred final outcome.

2. Don’t Get Stuck in the Past

My husband and I launched our first online legal document filing service in 1997, and then re-entered the market with our second company in 2009. While our previous experience certainly gave us a leg up the second time around, we soon realized the market landscape had changed dramatically since our first company. We had to stop dwelling on previous competitors, customer needs and service expectations and write a brand new playbook.

The marketplace and your business plan are living entities; they’re continually in flux. Whether it’s your first company or fifth in a given market, you’ve got to keep asking: What do we need to do today?

3. Don’t Hire Friends

I form bonds quickly and make fast friends with people around me. While I generally consider this a positive trait, it has created some difficult situations when running a business. At times I have been reluctant to let employees go even though I know it’s not a good fit. If things aren’t working out between an employee and startup, it’s time to put feelings aside and trust that the person will find a better situation elsewhere.

Unfortunately, I’ve also learned that people can let you down, ranging from laziness to fraud. I still believe that faith in people is a good thing. However, blind faith can bring trouble.

4. Don’t Dive in Without a Plan

Just like the business plan, it’s critical to think through any initiative you wish to launch. When you’re in the midst of startup fever, it’s easy to get wrapped up with every new idea. However, be careful of losing focus. Moving forward is critical for any startup, and constantly switching directions can impede this forward progress. With each new idea, step back and think how it fits into your company’s overall goal and vision, then create a plan for how to make it happen.

5. Don’t Fall Into a Discount Trap

At the beginning, too many young companies feel the pressure to heavily discount their prices in order to win business. While customer acquisition is important, attracting customers at unsustainable price levels will just result in a race to the bottom. After all, raising your prices on goods and certain services can be a tricky proposition. I’ve learned that you’re better off in the long run focusing on how to bring more value to customers, rather than simply slashing your prices.

6. Don’t Be Afraid to Fail

Soccer coach Sven-Goran Eriksson once said, “The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” An entrepreneur’s path is uncharted and sometimes a little bumpy. It’s easy to get stressed or downright panicked, but you cannot let fear prevent you from following your dreams. Think of it this way: the sooner you fail, the closer you are to discovering what works.

Conclusion

While you can’t guarantee the outcome of any new venture, you can stack the odds in your favor. These are six lessons I’ve learned over time and countless others are out there. If you’re open, you can gain wisdom from everything you try and gather insight from fellow entrepreneurs. What do you wish you knew when you started your first business?

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ineskoleva

More About: Business, features, mashable, open forum, small business whiteboard, Startups

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Google reportedly looking to get into the cable TV business

Posted on November 4th, 2011 • Filed under Learn • No Comments

Google “is considering a plan to offer paid cable-TV services to consumers,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Google recently hired former cable TV executive Jeremy Stern, who is reportedly leading talks with media companies. But a Google cable TV service is still only a possibility.

“Google has discussed distributing major TV channels from companies like Walt Disney Co., Time Warner Inc., and Discovery Communications Inc. as part of the video service, though the discussions were exploratory and no final decisions have been made,” the Journal wrote.

A cable service would be separate from the Google TV, which is comprised of software and hardware to stream YouTube and other Internet content to the television screen. Google has been known to bring numerous speculative projects to market, too, only to kill them off when they fail. We’re still waiting to hear what Google’s plans are for SageTV, which Google purchased for its DVR and Slingbox-like capabilities. But given Google’s reliance on advertising money, television could be an important market for the company after all. Still, competition will be robust; Apple, which already has its own Apple TV media streaming device, is rumored to be expanding its own push into the television market as well.

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Read the original post on Ars Technica

4 Tools for Building a Business Mobile App

Posted on September 3rd, 2011 • Filed under Learn • No Comments

In a world where there’s always “an app for that,” more small businesses see the value in creating their own mobile apps. The technical know-how necessary to develop an impressive app and the cost of hiring a professional developer, however, have discouraged the production of many would-be branded applications.

Affordable do-it-yourself alternatives give all companies — even those with minimal tech expertise — a way to create their own apps.

Even the code-illiterate can build passable apps using these four new platforms.

1. Bizness Apps

Bizness Apps focuses on industry-specific features. If you’re building an app for a restaurant, for instance, its builder might suggest that you add a menu and a specials feature. If you’re building an app for a gym, it might recommend a weekly workout planner.

It’s a difficult platform on which to customize beyond color choices, but it’s a tool that’s incredibly easy to use.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, HTML5

Price: $39 per month for the iPhone app plus $10 per month for an iPad, Android or HTML5 app.

2. Mobiflex

MobiFlex, while not the prettiest of the app creators, will integrate with back-end data sources and incorporates functions like the phone’s camera, speech recognition and GPS into its native apps.

There’s a better chance of creating and releasing a useful app with these features, but users also have a steeper learning curve than some of its competitors.

Platforms: Android and iOS

Price: A one-time setup fee of $99 plus a monthly fee of $25 for up to 50 users and two pages.

3. AppMakr

If your main objective for creating an app is to distribute content, AppMakr might be a good choice. Publishers such as The Atlantic and Harvard Business Review have made apps using the platform.

Other than adding content through multiple RSS feeds, uploading a photo gallery and sending push notifications, its code-free apps can’t do much. One appealing aspect for content creators, however, is the option to serve ads through several networks.

iSites, Swebapps and App Co offer similar approaches for content distribution apps.

Platforms: iOS

Price: Free

4. Red Foundry

Red Foundry offers options for the intermediate coder and newbie app builder alike. More advanced users can choose to design their apps with an xml-based coding system instead of using the startup’s template.

RSS feeds are the focus of the free version of the product’s point-and-click app builder, though it’s easy to add other extras like photo galleries, maps, social feed and commerce options like a Paypal donate button.

What’s most obviously distinct about the platform is its test-as-you go app,Viz. After you load the program onto your phone, you can use it to test your app as you build it.

The platform also makes widgets that show analytics, social activity and push notifications from your app that you can add to your desktop.

Platforms: iOS products

Price: Basic apps are free; more advanced options start at $39 per month.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, izusek

More About: appmakr, apps, Bizness Apps, MobiFlex, Red Foundry

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