In my post about the success of Sysomos (which was acquired by Marketwire earlier this week), I talked about how Sysomos benefited from great timing – having the right product at the right place at the right time. This, of course, is just one of the many ingredients that, along with a healthy dose of luck, have required for successful startups.
So, what else does an online startup need to make it?
1. Perhaps the biggest “ingredient” is having a service that meets a need in a new or different way. Too many startups are vanity projects that cater to someone’s personal interests or needs as opposed to the larger market. They fail because they serve a niche that is far too small to create a viable company.
2. The service must be easy to “get” what the startup is offering and why a potential user should care. In the multi-tasking, time-strapped world in which we live, startups have small windows of opportunity to capture someone’s attention.
If consumers fail to quickly understand the service is being offered, they’ll quickly move on. This means a startup needs messaging that is clear, well-articulated and user-friendly. I’m personally a big believer in the power of the demo video because many people will watch a video before reading even the most well-written text.
2. The service or product has to do the job well. This is something that should be a given but you’d be surprised by how many startups create mediocre or, worse, bad services. This includes startups that launch an alpha or beta that instantly disappoints. Even if the messaging is clear, a bad service will quickly kill any interest from consumers.
4. The service has to be intuitive and user-friendly. Any hurdles, or “grit”, will quickly kill any kind of traction. This starts from the registration process to how quickly someone can start using the service or product. People have little patience, and want a gentle learning curve so having a service that is intuitive and user-friendly.
5. Fanatical customer service is also a key ingredient, particularly in the early days when a service is still being developed. The ability to quickly and effectively deal with problems or issues and actively solicit suggestions and feedback can make a huge difference.
6. Identify and nurture your champions and evangelists. As much as great messaging, terrific customer service and being active within the social media community are must-dos, the real marketing magic happens when a user is so excited with a service that they enthusiastically and actively start telling anyone and everyone. By identifying and supporting these people, a startup can jump-start its marketing and sales efforts.
There are, of course, a lot of other variables that go into creating successful startups such as having terrific employees and, if required, financing, but the ones above are “low-hanging fruit”.
What do you think are the most important “ingredients” for a successful startup?
Mark,
Great list of ingredients.
Two issues from my perspective…
First, #2 seems to oppose the lean startup model. If you’re to believe Eric Ries and the gang, you shouldn’t be afraid to introduce a product that you know is sub-optimum, with the intent of improving through listening to your customers (part of 5 & 6 on your list). Or is simply a matter of setting the right expectations at launch?
Second, while I agree there needs to be an elegant simplicity in the concept & use of a new service/product in order to gain traction, you have to have something truly unique and disruptive to become a game changer and a big success. Andy Nulman, in his recent blog claimed “if people don’t understand, don’t agree with, don’t see the future in your idea…there’s a good chance that you may be onto something” http://ht.ly/247TW
In other words, create something that people don’t get when described, but need, and then make it so blatantly obvious to use that they get it, will use it, will share with others and eventually will ask why they didn’t think of that themselves. Piece of cake
Paul,
Thanks for the comment and insight. I had an interesting conversation with Sean Ellis after he presented at the meshU conference a couple of months ago. His take is services should be released before they’re fully baked because its the early users that provide valuable insight and feedback about what the service should offer and the features that it needs. I can see how this approach can be successful but startups need to be careful about putting something out there that isn’t ready for prime-time. The best example is Flock, which was released as an alpha only to be savaged. It’s a response that arguably Flock has never recovered from, even though the browser has improved significantly.
Mark
Spot on Mark! I especially like your first point, the ease of the internet contributes to this problem
I agree that you are taking a big risk inviting the masses to test your product before it’s fully baked. If you totally miss the mark, you may be put into the penalty box and never make it out.
I think the keys to the success of the lean startup approach are fast iteration and crystal clear communication with the user base. By setting the expectation that the product is in its formative stages, and that it will improve rapidly through the input of the users – and then rigorously follow through, you may be able to harness the feedback of the crowd and make it work.