Slashdot Mirror
Promising Markets for a Startup Company
Konstantinos asks: "So far, I have worked as an IT manager in various projects, but I am fed up with someone else getting all the money out of my work. So, I want to do something on my own. Obviously, I don't want to take on the big guys as I will not have the resources or the time to be antagonistic, and I have to go after something totally different. I have made a small market research, but I don't want to risk my hard-earned money on something that is destined to flop. I had some ideas about niche markets that IT hasn't really touched, like agriculture. In your opinion, which are the most promising markets, for a one/two person startup company to try and tackle? I know that there is a risk in everything, and I understand that the IT business is under a global crisis, but I also know that there are some markets (esp. niche markets) that haven't had a significant hit in revenue due to the crisis. I would like to try and hit those markets. I am not afraid of work and I know that I can do the job and do it well, if only I find what it is! Thanks for any help."
Have you ever thought of designing accounting software? There are a lot of companies out there that have accounting software, but need better features. They would be willing to drop what they have in an instant, if you could provide that.
Have you ever thought of designing software that would help people do better market research? I don't know what would be needed, but it seems to me that there are too many workers fighting for the same jobs, and not enough workers filling other jobs. I realize that education plays a big part, but it's obvious that people aren't thinking hard enough about meeting demands.
testing out my trending skills
- Must have a memory card as primary source. Networking optional. Given the potential audience for the thing, it's must more likely that they will have access to a digital camera (such as an uncle who comes by on christmas to take pictures) than a network source (who wants a picture frame that ties up the phone line?)
- Simple battery source w/AC backup. Normally the thing should plug into the wall, like when it is standing up on the mantle. But you should be able eto take it down and sit it in your lap when people come over and you want to walk through it like an album.
- No syncing or USB. Why? Make it a straight player. Put the card in, play the pictures. Done. Change the card, change the pictures.
- The whole thing can be operated with three buttons, BACK, PAUSE/PLAY, and NEXT. Normally it runs in random slide show mode, unless you hit PAUSE to freeze the picture you like. You can then hit BACK/NEXT to move around like pages of an album. Press PAUSE/PLAY again to return to slide show mode.
- That's IT for options. Sure, you could add stuff like deleting pictures from the card, or adding captions, or doing random swipe transitions between pictures. But if it pushes the price point too high, no one will care. You could do all those things with a computer and THEN give the flash card to gramma to put on the mantle.
Get the price point down under $150 and you'd sell a million of em. Grammie won't necessarily buy one but Uncle Bill with the digital camera will get her one for Christmas, and he'll also get his wife one so that she can see the pictures in the living room instead of on the computer, and they'll send one to their boy Tommy off at college (who will load his up with porn and take it to classes when he is bored)...If you actually do it, send me a couple of free ones for Grammie and Uncle Bill.
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
Little story: when we were shopping for Christmas decorations I was appaled at the sorry state and poor quality of the goods available at various home improvement stores. Most of the joints online were just "Christmas" suppliers that 2 months ago were "Halloween" suppliers. It's hard to get at the companies who supply THEM,and if we could talk to them we could have probably gotten exactly what we needed instead of compromising, buying crap from Target.
There should be a forum where goods like that are rented, traded, and so is labor by contracters and designers. There should representation for residential and commercial products. For large jobs, people could make bids on packages by local contractors.
I don't think these kind of things are handled exclusively by one "market", and are often offshoots of hospitality, catering, appliance and home furnishing businesses.
These kind of things need to be brough together in some fashion so people can see all the options they have for doing elaborate rennovations or decorating for events.
Just an idea.
Black holes are where the Matrix raised SIGFPE
but unfortunately the margins of this page are too small to contain it.
Seriously, why should anyone part with their money to pay you? Because (a) you know things they don't know or (b) are willing and able to do things they don't want to.
This means that if you are going to start a business you are most likely to have success with one based on your experience and knowledge, not some idea handed to you out of the blue. If you do something in your job, and have figured out how to do it better than most, then this would be a good thing to sell. There are exceptions of course; there may be some new surefire business schemes for the individual entrepreneur, but I sure as hell am not giving away any of my secrets.
Finally a word to the wise. Businesses run on their relationships. They way you get a bunch a work that becomes your dinner ticket and unassailable by competition is that you have customers that believe in you and like working with you. Therefore as a small businessman, your success depends more than anything else on your ability to deal with people, to inspire confidence and good feelings. If you don't envision stroking the customer as part of your job, then you should work for somebody else, probably as a large an outfit as you can find.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
It could just be that the editors thought they could get a good laugh from the mauling that they knew would be handed out, couldn't it?
I hereby inform you that I have NOT been required to provide any decryption keys.