The 2010 startup : Lean & Real

As a serial entrepreneur, I’ve already had quite a few experiences in creating, funding, scaling and selling (or failing or stopping) businesses. A few very interesting trends have been emerging over the past few months and which got quite popular within my fellow entrepreneur’s minds:

• the “Lean” start-up. Basically the idea is that in 2010 you should be able to start up any Internet-based business with a super-low seed financing (typically a few kUSD). Use subcontractors in low-cost countries (rent-a-coder, odesk…) get a talented freelance web-designer and get started ! Release early (if you’re happy with your release then you took too long) and start making the buzz.
• Focus on less features but do them better than the competition. Steve Jobs demonstrated that it’s not the number of features that matter on the mass market, it’s the ease of use and understandability of the solution.
• Make a real business. Make a business where you have customers ready to pay for the service. Freemium is usually the way. Forget about the advertisement (limit it to the free part of your website) and focus on the transformation rate between free and paying customers. Make your business recurring, it really helps !
• Find a large enough market for your service, if Europe is too hard to address (# languages, payments methods, laws…) just move !
• Organize the buzz in your industry, blog be present and become a referent in your business. Find where the journalists look for their info in your area and make sure your messages are there visible to them. Forgen about making PRs, it’s old-fashioned, instead enroll the influential writers as advocates of your business.
• Get venture money only when you have created enough value and have enough figures proving that you will be able to translate marketing investments into new users and recurring money. If you can get profitable and that your business lets your live super-well, do not get venture money at all, and focus on getting that “4-hour workweek” dream. The moment you get venture, you’ll have to find an exit strategy in the next 3 to 5 years with a 10x return – it really limits your options for the future.