How to Fund a Startup: Recommended Reading

Probably one of the most straightforward crash courses on startup funding I’ve read, Paul Graham has written a must-read article on How to Fund a Startup. It’s a good twenty-minute read, but if you are an entrepreneur looking to or thinking about funding this article will be well worth your time. And other than rambling on, I’m going to simply point you in the right direction and leave you with a couple of my favorite snippets from How to Fund A Startup:

“Fear of failure is an extraordinarily powerful force. Usually it prevents people from starting things, but once you publish some definite ambition, it switches directions and starts working in your favor.”

“Competitors punch you in the jaw, but investors have you by the balls.”

Seth Godin: Man or Machine?

I started reading blogs on a daily basis about 6 months ago and I am amazed at how much information is available through the Blogosphere. Even though there is plenty of noise (aka crap) out there, I continually find myself reading more useful information from blogs than I do through any other source. Even while searching Google for random topics on ‘Whether to bootstrap or Fund’, ‘Angel Investing’, ‘Venture Capital’ or whatever, it seems that somehow I always find my way to a blog post. I can remember even a few years back when I’d be researching a topic, and find myself on Wikipedia or this or that.com, but now 75% of the information I find is through blogs.

Great there’s a lot of information on blogs, what’s your point?

Point is, that out of the hundreds of blog posts I’ve read, Seth Godin consistently posts the best blogs. (The keyword I want to impress here is “consistently”.) Full of information and value, I have yet to be disappointed, or left without having gained something from one of his posts. What blows my mind is that he posts new blogs everyday, sometimes twice a day! How does he do it?

Regardless, if you haven’t subscribed to Seth’s Blog yet, do it. If you call yourself an entrepreneur this stuff is mandatory reading.

Finding Online Business Ideas in Keyword Patterns

I just came across a thought-provoking blog post from SEOBook.com called ‘How Your Competitors Can Help You’ and wanted to share.

The article asks some important questions for someone thinking about building a new site or online business and how analysis of your potential competition can provide you with insights and advantages. However, section 5 “What Related Markets Exist?” is what really struck me.

Looking for your next online business opportunity? Try this out:

1. Pick a keyword that describes your target market: In this case “fitness”
2. Run a keyword search using Google Keyword Search
3. Look for patterns in the search results for closely related markets you can enter.

This is best described using the example from post:
“You might notice there are numerous searches for fitness locations i.e. a gym, a center, a club. So, instead of targeting fitness in terms of health, which would see you up against established health organizations and generalist publications, you might want to target the fitness center section of the market e.g. a comparison of gyms and centers.”

…Interesting no? Thanks ‘RyanD’ from SEOBook.com.

Don't Be the Best, Be Better than Some

As an entrepreneur I have noticed one thing about myself when weighing the viability of a new business opportunity. I begin to think about all the competition that is out there and get paralyzed answering the question of how it’s going to be better. For every business idea I have wholeheartedly pursued, there are a hundred that I haven’t taken action on because I couldn’t justify why my product or service was better than those that already existed.

What finally hit me was that there are so many successful businesses out there, that aren’t the best, some honestly aren’t even that good, yet somehow they manage to be successful in there own right. Likewise there are many entrepreneurs that are not as bright as you, with an idea that isn’t quite as good as yours, but they have done one thing better than you and that is to take action. They didn’t let the thought that their business might not be the best stop them from starting.

If this sounds like you then recognize it for what it is and take action towards pursuing your ideas. If you don’t, then you will continue to do nothing, because now they have the successful business, while you…well you have your 9 to 5 and an idea once ambitious, now a memory of what could have been.

Lesson Learned #2: If you are held back by the feeling that you, or your business idea, isn’t the “perfect” solution or doesn’t have the potential to be the biggest and best in its industry, remember you don’t have to be the best, only better than some.

A 4-Hour Workweek in 90 Days

Inspired by The 4-Hour Work Week, written by Timothy Ferriss, I have decided to set this as my next 3-month goal. A goal, that once achieved will have an extraordinary impact on my life, both as an entrepreneur and as an individual seeking freedom from the 9 to 5. After reading The 4-Hour Workweek about three months back, I fell in love with the idea that my time is more valuable than money. What has continued to bug me and has managed to stick in the forefront of my thoughts about this particular goal is that; one I know that it is possible, and two if achieved would have such a transforming effect on my lifestyle. So, here it is, my goal:

“Replace the $3,000 monthly income I need to support my current lifestyle, in the next 90 days, while working only 4 hours a week to maintain it.”

That’s $3,000 per month, $100 a day, working only 4 hours per week, in 90 Days.

Although I could just as easily set my monthly income goal to $5,000 or even $10,000 a month, which is also possible, it is not necessarily the point of this particular goal. It is not the money that I seek from its achievement, but the freedom. If you have read this far, you can see that I am making this goal a public announcement. From here, I invite anyone who happens to come across this post to join me, keep me accountable, or both would be great, and I plan to continue to post my progress as I pursue and achieve it. Thank you in advance for your support.

As a side-note: For ease of administration, given it is the 27th of January, the deadline for my achievement of this goal is 3 months from February 1st, making it May 1st.

Book Review: Internet Riches, by Scott Fox

Written for the Internet novice, Scott Fox does a good job laying the foundation for someone just getting into or thinking about starting an online business. Although Internet Riches seems to target the beginner audience, those with more intermediate experience will still find it both informative and helpful as a reference to the various aspects an entrepreneur faces from idea generation to launch.

THE UNLIMITED OPPORTUNITY OF THE INTERNET: Fox begins with a thorough introduction to the opportunities available online, discussing the advantages of choosing the Internet as your business medium over the traditional brick-and-mortar model. He breaks these opportunities into what he refers to as, the three “waves of internet millionaires”. The first wave, Efficiency, covers models that have used the inefficiencies and annoyances of everyday life as a catalyst for the increased convenience the Internet can provide. In second wave, Products, he shares a glimpse into the world of resale and the sale of invented or improved products. Finally we are introduced to Niches and the potential that even the most obscure topics and products can create.

DEVELOPING YOUR OWN E-BUSINESS MODEL: Using Fox’s ICICLE Formula (I+C+I+C+L=E shown below), we are guided through the evaluation of possible business ideas.

I: Your Interests & Ideas +
C: Customers in Target Market +
I: In Demand Products, Services or Information +
C: Competitive Advantage +
L: Leverage =
E: Your E-business Model

BUILDING YOUR INTERNET MILLIONAIRE E-BUSINESS: In this section of Internet Riches, Fox takes us through the steps of choosing a domain name, a hosting company, web designer, an e-commerce shopping cart versus an eBay model, and developing content for your site. In this section, Fox will also ask you to face tough questions regarding the viability of your business and help to put together an action plan to get started. Although, I do think Fox’s promise of the ability for anyone to “start a professional business online” for under $25 a month is pretty aggressive, he does drive the point home that it is possible to get started with little experience and a limited budget.

Finally, readers are briefed on INTERNET MARKETING SECRETS and LEGAL ISSUES AND ADMINISTRATION.

Scott Fox does a great job of covering all the bases that need be considered for entry-level entrepreneurs into the e-World of business. However, even though many practical tips are provided I would suggest those new to e-Business to continue their research beyond this book for more in-depth and updated information while pursuing their online ventures. Overall, I enjoyed Internet Riches as a resource to getting started but would recommend other books for more detailed and advanced information and strategies.

Looking for more info on Scott Fox's, Internet Riches

The Nature of Focus

Is it possible to focus on more than one thing at a time?

Here is an experiment for you. Look up after reading this paragraph and FOCUS on something across the room. Pick one thing to focus on, a clock, picture, anything. Bring your attention to the object. Bring it into focus. Now, keeping the object in focus, use your peripheral vision to see everything else. Notice anything?

What I want you to notice is that once the object you’ve picked is in focus and is holding your attention, nothing else in view is in perfect focus even though you can “see” and identify many other things. Not only is the peripheral view out of focus, it is impossible to bring another object into focus and attention while maintaining your focus and attention on the original object. Focus must shift between objects in order to become clear.

Cell phones, text messaging, email, Twitter, facebook, advertising, and daily deadlines are pushing and pulling to get our attention and focus every waking minute of everyday. As technology has gifted us with the ability to stay connected, we are challenged everyday in the ability to focus on the task at hand.

Lesson Learned #1: Take a hint from the experiment above on how we are hardwired and learn to manage and limit those things that compete for your attention. Because even nature demands that we focus on one thing at a time.

Losing My Virginity, Blogging…

This is it…the first blog I have ever posted. If you happen to be reading this, bear with me, remember we all have to start somewhere, and I’ll promise my posts will get better with time.

For a while now, I have been putting off starting a blog. Questioning whether or not I truly had anything worthwhile to say and if anyone would bother reading it. In realization that it doesn’t much matter what I write, if no one cares to read it I suppose I’ll be writing for myself. Hopefully however, my words will at some point be of use to some if I continue to commit myself to providing value in exchange for the time of my readers.

I look forward to getting feedback from anyone willing to leave it. Constructive criticism is welcomed, as I’m sure both I deserve it and that it will help me to become a better writer. So I thank those of you in advance for your feedback and thoughts on my posts.

Undoubtedly, in the future I will look back on this first blog with a bit of embarrassment for my humble beginnings. That said, I will leave you with my favorite quote:

“Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory, nor defeat.”

~ Theodore Roosevelt, 1899

Regards, Michael Bungartz