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Ideas For Your Next Tech Startup
prostoalex writes "Business 2.0 magazine enumerates tech ideas that venture capitalists are currently interested in, listing the amounts they have ready to invest." From the article:"A column that appeared on Business2.com the next day described the company Armstrong envisioned and his wish list of criteria. Those who thought they had the right stuff could send Armstrong a business plan. A few weeks later, Armstrong had a new gripe: He'd received more than 20 solid plans and couldn't decide which of three finalists he wanted to fund -- not just for $1 million, but for as much as $5 million. He has since winnowed the list down to two.
That got us thinking. Why not ask dozens of VCs a tantalizing (but often unasked) question: What types of ideas would you fund tomorrow if the right pitch landed on your doorstep? After a few weeks of trolling Sand Hill Road and beyond, we got 11 leading venture firms to spill their most promising business ideas -- and to pony up $50 million in funding to the entrepreneurs who can pull them off. "
Three words:
:)
:)
Mitac Mio A701.
I want one.
It also does GPS.
For competitive reasons, I don't want to post this with my real name, but this is a real post from a real guy in the SlashDot community. I've been here for a while (id in the 4x,xxx range).
Anyways, I started a company by raising US $500,000 through friends and family. I used to be the CTO of an Internet company and decided to start my own company on the Internet but in a different field. I am a techie and an entrepreneur and definitely a geek. Let's put it this way, even today, I write the majority of the software (though I have other developers too).
The best advice I can give is to watch your cash flow. I was personally horrified by the stories of $200,000 per month burn rates. I actually had a lot of personal wealth (from my last venture) but still ran out of my basement until I needed more space. The US $500,000 lasted us for 2.5 years (not 2.5 months like some companies) after which we raised another $250,000. But we actually had a viable business already with the $500,000 spend. We raised another $250 K to speed up the marketing that we had already proven to know that if we spent X we would get X times 2 back in less than a year. This was based on hard numbers.
Anyways, I only gave away about 25% of the company to do it, and the company is probably worth about $20 million today and our earnings are growing faster each month.
We are in the very competitive website builder arena but are one of the top sites in the field. Our focus has been on ease of use first and then secondly on feature set.
Anyways, I'm mentioning this because I wanted to give those of you who want to start a business hope.
The absolute worst thing you can do is get into the high-tech business without a model for making money. Pure research or cool ideas are fun but don't bring home the bacon. Remember your market is business people so focus your business plan on how the tech brings in profit. Now how cool the tech is and hence there ought to be profit.
Good luck.
Do you really think these guys would give their really choice ideas for free?
who even has his own FAQ written by the real AI community to stop the nonsense he spouts from giving AI research a bad name
keep flipping burgers Murray, you will get further in life
I have had grandiose ideas to build the next "killer app" for 25 years. I have over-engineered all sorts of wacky ideas that never turned into much. I wanted the 200% growth rate per month or whatever took Gates and Ellison to the top.
Then I struck onto the formula that pays me a couple hundred thousand a year, is helping to fund well-paid jobs for people I have hired, and is growing at a 30% per year rate. Not rocket surgery, just a real simple formula that pays really well (from my perspective), and looks like it will work for some time.
Pick a simple idea (almost brain-dead idea) that no one is doing very well, but that solves a specific business problem. Something that can be coded in 200 hours or less. Something with about 5000 - 50,000 prospective buyers (not hundreds of millions, not tens). Build your software product simple, but well. One feature really well.
If the idea doesn't seem stupid to you, the smart geek, then it's not simple enough. It should be one of those "yawn, anyone can do this" idea. The key is, anyone can do it, no one IS doing it. If the idea doesn't seem stupidly simple, simplify it more.
Practically give away the first one. Market the hell out of it. Aim for ten reference sites (at *give-away* prices), while you improve the product (based on client feedback).
It's amazing when you share this process with your prospect, how open they are to the idea! "We are just getting into the business, and we are investing in market share, practically giving away the first few, just to get customer feedback and references". Everyone wants a freebie, and wants to somehow be part of a successful up-start.
We charged "one dollar" to one client, "just so we can call you a customer". People will want to put it in "next year's budget" - we give it to them this year (for $1), under the "gentleman's agreement" that it will be budgeted next year, and purchased if it's any good. Allow your marketing person total freedom in pricing the first ten - incented only on how fast he can get ten "sold". The key is reference-able accounts.
After ten, price it "to sell" initially (in the under $5000 price range, more like $2000 or $3000 annual fee - you know.. license + installation + annual maintenance). You can raise your prices later, when you have thousands of coder-hours into it. Explain that you're in it for the long haul and plan to expand the solution as others buy.
Hire a good marketing person and build your base. Once you have ten people at give-away prices, the next ten are "easy" at $6K one-time or 3K annual prices. The next 50 are real easy.
Soon you have 300+ customers at $3K+ annual. There's your first million (annual).
Rinse, Repeat.
No you won't be on the cover of Business Week anytime soon, but you'll get out of the "dream world" of building the next Google, and get into the fun world of making a few bucks, providing jobs for other people, and having fun when you want to. I love knowing that our team is making some good bucks. 25% of my small company (more than 10, less than 20 people) are making 6-figures per year, and they are allowing me to do fairly well, too. 6-figures in middle America isn't bad scratch. No, they're not Microsoft Millionaires, but they aren't complaining either.
It worked for me. It's bullet #3 in the infamous formula:
1. blah blah
2. blah blah
3. ???
4. Profit!
No genius here.. but I'd be glad to answer any publicly posted questions on this.