How to make a successful venture: Create a product that is not a model price suitable for sale

Lead: American tech http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/9610.html "> blog website readwriteweb commentator Lamigny Dalabiha (ramine Darabiha, Steve Branco, an associate professor at Stanford University and author of the four-step epiphany, was interviewed by Steve Blank. Mr Blanc argues that most successful startups do not use "lean Entrepreneurship" (Lean startup), whose goal is to quit when the time is ripe, rather than continue to grow.

The following are the main contents of the article:

Flex Startup is a flexible start-up company. Unlike lean startups, the primary goal of a flexible start-up is not to gain experience to create a sustainable business model, but rather to build a promising product. For example, a product may be a successful application or game. According to their assumptions, develop a product that is well received by the market and then quit when the time is ripe.

This is a lean development model that does not require long-term training of customers, focusing on product development. Blindtype, hipster and about.me are the latest examples. These products were purchased before they were launched. In the product development phase, flexible start-up companies and lean start-up companies have similarities, that is, must remain flexible. The difference is that lean startups will carry out analysis, follow user feedback, and prepare for the launch of next-generation products.

On the contrary, flexible startups do not. The goal of the lean start-up company is to find and create sustainable values, regardless of market conditions. Flexible startups are not, they focus on trends, exit at a time when the company's valuations are rising, and quickly recoup their investment.

Here are the five steps for a start-up to achieve a perfect exit:

The first step: find a simple idea

If your goal is to exit quickly, you should provide the MVP service experience as quickly as possible. This means looking for an idea that is easy to implement. Take Blindtype as an example, this software is mainly based on artificial intelligence, there is no need to pave. If the idea is simple, it means not only easy to accept, but also easy to sell: If the scope is limited, your application or technology may be easy to integrate to meet the needs of another company.

But too simple and not-so-prominent ideas are hard to sell. Also, if the plan doesn't work, you may be able to reuse some of the results to quickly propose new ideas, so you might want to have some versatility in your results. Ultimately, you should focus on creating ideas that you can use and reuse in your area of familiarity, so you don't need help from outsiders.

Step Two: Product development

At this stage, there is a similarity between the flexible start-up company and the lean start-up company, that is, it must remain flexible. The difference is that lean startups will carry out analysis, follow user feedback, and prepare for the launch of next-generation products. On the contrary, flexible startups do not. Development appears to have the most popular products under the framework. Because of some previous plans, you may have some results, or you can make it easier to work through open source components or data.

For example, services such as Launchrock or optimizely can help create a landing page. The same applies to payments, analytics, e-mail and many other services. Once you have the strength to do this, you have the energy to develop real applications, games, or services. Services such as cabana and Gamesalad can be developed with drag-and-drop applications. Using this tool to quickly develop meaningful products will never give people a poor sense of service. However, this affects the value of IP.

Step Three: Promote

Every start-up company needs PR, which is especially important for flexible startups. If people can't see the potential of a product, they won't buy it. The key is to give people a commitment to create value, to show the best side of creativity. So there's nothing wrong with hype, after all, movie trailers are always doing this. Question and Answer Service website hipster because the industry rumors that it is developing a wonderful service is sought after, users have to register in advance. Blindtype posted a video on YouTube to showcase its technology.

Although the hype is different from training long-term users, but also can be paid. One good way to attract attention is to have a way to compare. As the most downloaded application in a small country, it will bring the most traffic or the highest volume of content sold. If you invest a small amount of money, you can allow friends and family to buy products and buy the most popular apps in the future. Consider it an investment in some sort of search engine optimization (search Engine optimization).

Fourth step: Do not adjust the center of gravity

Most startups have not been successful. At this stage, you may be more cautious about the steps you take next. The key to the success of a flexible start-up is to make sure that you don't put all your eggs in one basket, diversify your investment as much as possible, and maximize your chances of success. As a venture capital: limited funds, bargaining chips are not many, but there are many research results and skills.

In this sense, lean startups are similar to focused investment strategies, and flexible startups are more of a diversified investment strategy for "wide net, for Harvest" (Spray and PRA). If the investment fails, what attitude will you face? Do you learn valuable lessons from failure? Ideally, you should be more frustrated and learn to develop more market-popular products.

Step Fifth: Achieving financing

If everything goes well, you may want to stick to your ideas, but keep in mind that turning a product that is only for niche development into a sustainable business is a risky move. At this point, you should seriously consider whether to develop into a lean start-up company. The good news is that the goal of a flexible start-up is to get the favor of venture capital, and the goal is to sell it for the right price and not to build sustainable business.

The problem is that flexible startups are also known for their herd mentality. Your ideas may be in line with the current popular trend, but quitting prematurely makes it impossible to be the foundation of a healthy business. After all, you haven't proven yourself before you quit. The other thing to consider is, do you want to turn your hobby into a complete career, recruiting and managing a team? Will you stick to the idea for a long time and perhaps devote more energy to it?