VCs warn entrepreneurs: Products > Strategies > Business models

Intermediary transaction http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/6858.html ">seo diagnose Taobao guest cloud host technology Hall

Lead: Frede Wilson, a venture capitalist, wrote in Sunday that thinking about business models before deciding on a business strategy was the easiest thing for entrepreneurs to make. The right priority should be the product > Strategy > Business model, which is to find the right product, then define the strategy, and finally consider the business model.

The following is the full text of the article:

As I see it, one of the most common mistakes that entrepreneurs make is the impatience to consider business models before they are finalized. I think the right step should be to do a good job of the product first, then determine the business strategy, the last is to find a business model.

A good product means finding a product that fits the market. Of course, a good product is not necessarily new, but find a suitable entry point, let the market accept your products, and even expect to get more from your product. In different areas, such as consumer, SaaS, infrastructure, and hardware, the situation may be different, but at any time, the entrepreneur first needs to find the right market for the product. The author believes that the search for business models in the first place, for the company's business may be the worst decision.

When you find the right product market and start thinking about business models, I recommend taking a step back and working with your start-up team (including investors) to find a clear and good business strategy for your business. Good investors can help you a lot at this stage. When I interviewed Doerr yesterday, John Doerr, he talked about a number of corporate strategies, including Intel, Amazon and Google. Good venture capitalists have strategic minds, and they have witnessed many successes and failures. They should be an important partner in your research into your business strategy. This is what I like to do with entrepreneurs as an investor.

I remember Twitter in the 2009, when the service basically found the right product market, and then the team began to focus on the business model. At that time, many possible business models were explored, such as paid accounts, subscriptions, data services, and many other fanciful ideas. And just then, Evan (Ev Williams) proposed a business strategy to "make Twitter the information network that people find interesting content." As a result, Twitter has become a service for the entire network, meaning to introduce as much information as possible and as many users as possible. As a result, Twitter has found its own business model, free for everyone and open to all visitors. Twitter complies well with product > Strategy > Business model priorities.

I also found that many of the company's revenue model, and the product line of the strategic direction of a good fit. Sometimes some companies don't even have a clear strategic direction. This leads to a lot of waste of resources in the process of team building and user accumulation, and does not bring any value to the business. We regret to see that some companies have deviated from their entrepreneurial intent because of such mistakes.

But such errors are usually not fatal, and finding the right product market is truly fatal. Therefore, the wrong path in the strategic or business model can be corrected, except that such error-correcting processes are always accompanied by exceptional pain and high costs, and sometimes even destabilize the entire management.

Therefore, the author's proposal is to find the right product market entry point, and determine a clear, sensible business strategy, do not rush to come to the business model. Following the right steps and priorities will make your entrepreneurial path less effective. (Zhu Fei)