One of the big challenges for first-time entrepreneurs targeting a new industry is getting enough credibility and visibility to have true business discussions with stakeholders. Prospects look for client referrals to purchase, but it’s impossible to get referrals without actual purchases. Many entrepreneurs fall prey
You can’t be everything for everyone. – Gary Swart, oDesk CEO It’s a common problem. Because entrepreneurs collect data on ten or fifteen problems during the problem interviews, and because a lot of these problems seem solvable, they try to fix two, three or more
This bottom up SaaS purchasing model makes it difficult for legacy systems to embrace and protect their “own turf ” when businesses are generating value from these smaller SaaS companies — all it needs is a credit card. – Peter Levine, Andreessen Horowitz Venture Partner
We already talked about how starting with domain or industry expertise can help reduce the risk of starting up. However, as Martin Ouellet, co-founder of Taleo demonstrated, sometimes not being an industry expert can help innovate and disrupt stagnant B2B industries. Taleo → Disrupting B2B
Startups are risky. As a founder, you decide the level of risk you’re willing to take. Startup founders with domain expertise (functional or industry expertise) and the skills to create quality solutions (solution expertise) can capitalize on business opportunities much faster than entrepreneurs with only
So… do you think you’re a problem-finder or a problem-solver? Not only is there a correlation between your ability to find problems and your long-term success, there’s also a relationship with the potential of your business endeavour. Problem Solver vs Problem Finder: Which One Are
For my first startup, Flagback, I partnered with a small software development firm and we hired a full-time developer to build the core product. We were four partners invested at very different levels working on a tool to help marketing agencies communicate on live websites
