Last week spent two days at the Business Start Up show for the inspiration. Had low expectations as this was a free event, but it turned remarkably useful.
Fist of all, it reminded me that I am not as knowledgeable as I thought I was. For instance, everything I knew about Search Engine Optimisation has completely got outdated. In fact, if you do things which you did three years ago to boost the Google ratings of your website, you might be penalised and called names (Panda and Penguin). Something to consider once I set up my website.
Second, the presentations on legal protection and finance raising made me think about things I have not thought before.
- Crowdfunding is the way to go!
- Various mentorship programs and free sources of business information are the other things which I should definitely check out in the coming weeks
(NB: Rockstar mentoring + IP and Business Center).
Finally, it was just fun to hear from hard-working people who have already managed to get into the growth phase. I enjoyed the story of www.clippys.com, the apple jam company started from a private garden by a lady who had the guts to challenge EU on the subject of jam standards. Also loved the speech from www.nakedwines.com, the company which raises money from winelovers in exchange for discounted wine, and then spends some of this money working with wineproducers to improve the quality of their wine. Lovely concept, where the people paying for the wine also get the benefit of knowing more about wine producers. In fact, it is so social that the clients can chat with winemakers and then brag that they know them.
More importantly, this seems to be a winning business model in the current environment:
1) cut the intermediaries - direct supply from producers to end customers (like www.made.com);
2) ditch institutional investors or lenders - get money from the crowd (small contributions from public without giving equity away - how clever is that!)
3) hook customers on direct debit for continuous consumption (once the volumes are there, the cashflow problem is resolved once and for all) - just like www.graze.com concept
4) get immediate feedback for continuous improvement - direct communication between consumers and producers
5) get open, transparent and social, but without the pain of Facebook
This can be applied to anything which is consumed on a regular basis. This is too good not to try to copy.
(NB: Check out nakedwines website for inspiration. Might enjoy wine as well).
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