Tag Archives: startup

Scratching for Seed Funding

Our focus for this week is primarily to start making door-to-door knocks to everyone we know and calls to our six different second-uncles in order to raise a seemingly measly amount (I’ll verify if that was the case in our Weekly Report on Saturday) of money to get operations running.

This money will be used to pay for our: website hosting, web  domain, various documentation and the many trips we need to make in and out of the city to attend meetings. Seems like it shouldn’t be a hard task. Except that our team is made up of 3-people. Two of which are still students at the University of Johannesburg, so we have no real income. Furthermore, we have almost 5% support from our parents- so it’s all on us.

At first glance, the task seemed to be a hard one. But once I started breaking down the costs of all the things we NEED, I realised that the costs wouldn’t be  as much as I had initially thought. Still I had a problem: I don’t know of anyone that could be willing to give me that kind of cash within the next 7-days. So I started jotting-down a list of people that I knew would want to assist us. This brought about a list of like 4 people. Instead of trying to get the whole amount from one person, I decided to divide the costs by the 4 people I know. The amount that came up was, as you might imagine, far more “askable”.

And the scratching begins…

Weekly Report

This week has been about trying to work out milestones along the way in order for us to always have an accomplishment celebrated at the end of the weeks. This will help in the boosting of team morale and it’ll also certainly help dramatically increase productivity.

tweakyourbiz.com

Hit that Target Market right on the spot

The biggest step towards product improvement and (more specifically) the improvement of our  marketing strategies was the emphasis of not only identifiying a niche market but realizing the importance of having a niche market for us to focus our beta testing and customer relations on.
The change should have been a no-brainer really… If you want to get investors interested in your product, you need to make sure that it has proven Market value. In other words (quite simply): do the people want your product? Only then can the questions about investments arise.

In a world where society develops a need every 3-months, you need to categorize what your product is- to the lives of your “consumers”. Is it used for enjoyment? Are you planning to improve your customer’s quality of life by instilling more fun into their day? If this is what your product is built to do then your priorities lie on delivery and coolness. Is your product easy to use? Can you deliver quick and valuable uprades? Is your product of high quality? Is your product cool ?

On the other hand if your product is like ZooLoo, your product is built to assist/aid the customer in doing something that they consider more of a need than just something they’ll use in their spare time. Our product is built to satisfy a need, make it easier for people to achieve that need and offer the best experience for the client to do so. In this case, our main focus is then: making sure that the service works and making sure that the product is easy to use- for the specific target market (the niche).
The beauty in focusing all of your efforts into a particular target market is that you are then able to build the product primarily and essentially for that niche. Meaning that you forget and abandon any other perspective other than that of your niche user. Making your job a hell of a lot easier, because you begin to understand that that is the only perspective that really matters (Digg is the perfect example of how it could go wrong if you think otherwise.) . It is the perspective of who you are building the product for. So instead of focusing a lot of effort; time and funding into making your product universal, you simply make a product that works and  can be used by your niche market. This makes it so much easier when it comes to satisfying your customers. The comments, the suggestions and the overall feedback is coming from a set niche of people making it easier to understand and easier to satisfy their concerns and product needs.
Having 1000 very satisfied and loyal customers is better than having 10 000 unnsatisfied customers who are only using your product because they have no other choice- this type of customer is of little value. This customer won’t be prepared to give -up 10-minutes of their lives to give you valuable feedback, this customer won’t be willin to tolerate a 3-minute upgrade download and even more importantly- this customer won’t be willin to start payin for your “premium” version nor will they be willin to tolerate the ads on your site. Making it uber hard for you to monetize.

Investors know this and they appreciate this.

Focus on finding and satisfying that niche market.

They’re the only people that matter.

Building The Perfect Machine

The Hustle is a long and hard road. A road that, according to the stats, you are going to fail. Face it: Not every idea is going to matter to everyone. We all come up with ideas at least every day. Some of these include producing the perfect drug using the combination of cocaine, cannabis and caffeine to imitate NZT (from the movie Limitless ) or more recently: an app that will determine how white your urine is so as to tell you how healthy you are. So not all of these ideas will bear the heat of the every blazing sun that is: Everyone But You. But it isn’t so dark out there at all, nearly everything can be monetized! People have managed to monetize blogs on absolutely nothing (The Minimalists– P.S I follow this blog, perfect way of life) or even monetized games aimed at allowing you to kill aves with the simple slide of your thumb (Angrybirds – This game is too addictive).

Ridiculous. So yes, it is one hell of a war out there! People, even your closest peers, will knock your ideas. Break you down piece by piece. So you definitely need to have a QOSHA state of mind to truly succeed.

Q- Always develop Quality products

O- Observe the moves of all of those around you (in your field, your competition)

S- Serve the user, not the dollar

H- Have the biggest chunk of Hope in your pocket at all times… you gonna need it.

A- Ambition is fuel. Ambition is key.Ambition is Everything.

 

Part of this comes down to developing “the perfect machine”. Through this war with the Startup Cosmos you need to make sure that your are well equipped for battle. This means: having a good army, with a smart leader, a strong leader and a leader that is aways one step ahead of EVERYONE.

Oh yes, that’s what I’m talking about… The Machine. A lot of entrepreneurs get so caught up in trying to work as hard as they can but then they forget that the goal is actually to work- SMARTER. That’s what it means to be a smart leader.

You need to manage your team in such a way that everyone works well and is equipped to do so at all times. And that’s when management genius strategies such as The Lean Startup come in handy. You, as the leader, need to make sure that you buy these books and constantly inform yourself about easier, smarter and more efficient ways of structuring and managing your team. This is what it means to always be one step ahead of everyone.

To get through all of the trials in the journey to startup success, you need to always be one top of your game- the health game. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m kind of a health junkie. A vegetarian. I believe in the I’tal Diet as it promotes consuming food that is beneficial to your health. To have enough energy and strength to weather the storm, you’ll need to make sure that you eat properly. This doesn’t necessarily mean becoming vegetarian (although I do recommend it), it means making sure that you eat non-toxic foods. Green Tea has become, for me, the perfect medicine for always being on top of my game. A cup in the morning will give me the strength to go through the day behind my desk in the office. And a cup in the evening will give me a boost to start doing the work I actually love- Zooloo. Exercise also plays a large role in building the perfect machine. You have to keep your body in shape so that you can burn that midnight oil without having to rely on any energy supplements or high caffeine products that will prove bad for you in the end.

“Exercise assists in the reduction and management of stress, a condition common in the workplace. It causes an increase in energy levels, and improves health related quality of life. Still on an individual level, exercise enhances self-concept, self-estee

The beauty in building and feeding the machine is that you become more confident, vibrant and far more on your toes and on top of your game. This is what you need in order to always perform at your level best.

The Hustle needs you to always be energetic and driven. The Hustle requires that you have The Perfect Machine.

@TheCalm101

3 Qualities Angel Investors Look for in Entrepreneur

This is a quality video about what Angel Investor’s look for in entrepreneurs.

I found that unlike a lot of the web videos these days are filled with sort of, half baked ideas of how the world should be and how because of this perception- this is what entrepreneurs look for in entrepreneurs… This insert actually evades these vague concepts and gets the opinion and view of someone who actually has commendable experience in the field and is speaking purely from just that. Facts.

Get this info in:
It’s some good shit.

#LearnAndBurn

My Minimalist Bedroom

The Wardrobe

This is my new wardrobe. It has only the clothes that I need. So I definitely don’t have any shorts or boxers  hanging around- It’s winter out here.

The Books- Education

I have some of the books that I have recently read on the top shelf of the wardrobe. I often need to refer back to some quotes or even some incomplete thoughts.

Minimalist Bed Set-up

The whole set-up of my bed, reading chair and night-stand makes me focus on my sleeping. The reading chair is specifically there to allow me to do some blogging and reading before hitting the sack. This all makes the focus of the whole section more concentrated on my sleep. Being a striving entrepreneur, my hours of sleep are very limited thus however limited they are- they need to be as valuable as possible.

This is all that exists in my room. Having adopted this new lifestyle, productivity has become the name of my day-to-day game. As soon as you begin to extract all the things that don’t matter from your bedroom and ultimately- your life, you also start to focus most if not all of your attention on your goals. The chances of you reading a book in a white room with absolutely nothing but the book in there are far higher than if you had a lot of “junk” (all that is detrimental to your success) in there to distract you from your goal.

Follow us @ZooLooConcepts

(PEEP: an updated 2013 version of My Minimalist Room later this week)

Startup Advice from Mark Zuckerburg

This is an interview in 2011 that Mark had at Startup School. He explains the “early days” section of the interview very well, dispelling many rumours about the beginning stages of Facebook- mostly caused by the 2010 motion picture ‘The Social Network’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB95KLmpLR4).

He talks about an issue that I’ve been covering during the course of this week. Finding the team: what organisational elements should exist, who should your team consist of and the importance of a common vision within the team and knowing how and what to do to achieve the vision.

These above points are validly addressed in the attached clip.
Hope this helps you.

Follow us @ZooLooConcepts

How To Find Your First Employees

 

As I mentioned earlier, this week will be dedicated to finding enough resources from the web in order for us to determine how to construct the perfect team for our various startups, right? I find it quite interesting that Jay Adelson mentioned that the team members at first need to be “Jack of all traits and Master none”.

This view mad me think about how, as entrepreneurs, we often try to over think who we should get on the various projects. We ask: is he qualified enough to give me the right advice? Can I trust this person or will they just end up stealing my ideas and making them better? Although leading towards paranoia; these concerns are justified by the fact that our startups are essentially our lives. If we want the start up to work- we ave to eat and live our startup. If, like me, you have an entrepreneurial state of mind- you begin to make certain projections that excite you and make the Idea/Concept that much more valuable in your life.

 

I had a meeting on Monday with a couple of partners that I have for another startup I’m involved in and one that I plan on investing greatly on. Before me, I saw a group of very ambitious and intelligent set of young men. This for me is all you need from a team. A bit of hunger and some natural ability. These two traits ensure that your team can put in the long hours where their needed and also be able think on their feet when things go slightly out of plan (as they normally do with young startups). I use the term “a bit of hunger” because I’ve realised that no one’s going to want your startup to be successful as much you do. As entrepreneurs, our lives revolve around the idea that this new business, is our key to economic emancipation, recognition etc. So we have to compensate this lack of natural commitment to our startup  by using our basic understanding of certain existing human dynamics.

Jay Adelson mentioned one of the human dynamics: incentive. By offering the early members of your team parts of the company as opposed to just the usual underpaid salary, you create a need/ incentive for their hard work. They feel more like a part of the startup then just being the “help” thus increasing their propensity to deliver great work.