photo credit: Mzelle Biscotte

All of us know that face-to-face interactions though preferable, are not always possible. Therefore one goes for ‘email pitching’ – the written form of pitch.Investors are overloaded with a huge array of emails and to get their attention you should craft your email in such a way that you hold the interest of the reader.

Be sure that you make the same effort with an e-mail that you would in a face-to-face meeting. E-mail pitches should be formal and professional.

Below are some tips for writing a pitch letter via email;

1. Understand your audience and make sure you know who the recipient is

2. Include pictures and images to make it more visually attractive. Don’t forget file size limitations though

3. Have a signature with all possible information – email, Twitter account, Skype name etc.

4. Be precise in your emails. Emphasize on meeting up and follow up comments. 

For more insight to this matter, have a look at this post on RWW.

attachments like resumes and press releases are sometimes appropriate; you should give a quick introduction to yourself at the beginning of an email.

 

photo credit: C.P.Storm

A heated debate is taking place around Foursquare considering a sale to Yahoo. It is believed that Foursquare is in the midst of an aggressive courtship on behalf of Yahoo, who is willing to pay as much as $125 million for the year old startup. Some are freaking out asking Foursquare ‘not to sell’ and the gurus are speculating that Foursquare is trying to push its valuation higher than what Yahoo is offering. What Foursquare does, only time with tell, but this has definitely made me think about ‘exit strategies’ for startups and the importance of having one.

When you are starting up or as you form strategies and plans to grow your startup, you need to think about an exit strategy. Will you establish a lifestyle business that generates income without plans of selling it in the future, or will you build equity in a business that you will convert into cash? Depending on your goal, the business you choose and the way you decide to grow it should be aligned with the end-game objectives. The common exit strategies are; sale, mergers, IPO, buyout or liquidation of assets.

Some may not find laying too much importance of exit strategies as correct, arguing that you will never want to build something by always having a motive of leaving. But whether you want to move on to you next entrepreneurship venture or whether you stick to a business plan for a long time, it is important to have a succession plan in place for your startup.

We suggest you read this post at ReadWriteWeb for more information.

While the idea of an exit strategy might sound negative, crafting one can help you plan how to make the most out of a good situation, not simply escape a bad one

photo credit: nosha

I came across a great post written by Dharmesh Shah recently where he described the most luring categories startup founders are attracted to. Following is the list of applications he lists as the ‘most attractive’ for startups;

1.Project Management / Time Tracking / Bug Tracing – Neat Web 2.0 application development for better organizing and tracking. Basecamp anyone?

2.Social Networking Websites – Recognize your specialization or area of interest and launch a social networking website with that theme.

3.Social Voting/Reviews – Websites to rate or review food, restaurants, wines or anything.

4.Discussion Forums

5.Aggregation/Filter Websites – Applications to bookmark/filter excess information

6.Content Management – Mashable or TechCrunch

7.Dating and Match-Making

8.Music/Events Location Application

9.Video/Photo/Bookmarking/Sharing

10.Personal Information Management

Can startups be more innovative?

For any kind of design or development for the concepts mentioned above, feel free to get in touch with us at Vinfotech.

photo credit: rintakumpu

The whole idea of registering a business sounds more obligatory than important? If your answer to the question is yes, then its time to change your outlook and here is why:

The process of registration compels you to think about the basic issues that are included in your business plan. Don’t mistake the registration process to be a formal obligation and avoid rushing into it. Matters such as trademark disputes, legal snags, costly name changes or tax problems may come up later if you don’t take registering your startup seriously. Be inquisitive, work around it and give your 100 percent when it comes to registering any business.

A few points to keep in mind;

1. Beware of trademark issues – will somebody sue you for using that name? Check availability of domain names, consult registries etc.

2. Choose your structure – you need to declare your business/startup in form of an entity (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation or limited liability company)

3. Obtain Tax ids

4. File registration/Permits – The government will keep a track of businesses and tax through this. You need to pay fee and fulfill certain jurisdiction procedures.

5. Some businesses have additional requirements like planning, regulatory agencies or professional agencies.

Try adding value to the venture buy researching all around the process.

For more detail on this matter, we suggest you visit this post

photo credit: h.koppdelaney

Here is a list of a few myths all startup founders and entrepreneurs are blinded by (and which certainly aren’t close to being true);

1.You NEED to fail before you succeed

It is true that many startup face failures before they actually taste success but that isn’t the case always. And instead of saying “you need to fail before you succeed”, something like “learn from your mistakes” will fit in better, and there is a huge difference between the two. If you don’t learn from your mistakes, you’re bound to fail and repeat them but every startup doesn’t have to fail before you succeed. If you start believing that you have to fail before you succeed, you will have a very negative mindset which can be dangerous for optimistic and passionate entrepreneurs.

2.You Need Millions in Funding to Startup

You need millions of dollars in funding to scale and grow, not to start a new venture. Kevin Rose (Founder of Digg) spent only $2000 to start Digg. He took is first round of funding almost a year and a half later. The cost of starting/running a small business is lower than it has ever been. Bootstrap for as long as you can, and seek funding when you need it and work hard.

3.Only concentrating on “Profit Margins”

Startups make a huge mistake by concentrating on profit margin and percentages as an indicator of how well they are doing. These aren’t correct barometers to measure the health of a startup at an early age. Indicators such as conversion, retention, referral and Revenue should be used at this stage. Keep your revenue high, costs low and track them separately.

4.Branding isn’t important

“Brand building isn’t important at this stage” – Wrong. Branding is fundamental and many startups take this issue for granted expecting it to develop on its own, but sadly it doesn’t. The market is extremely competitive and it’s these small branding efforts that will make you stand out. Branding isn’t just about your name and logo, it’s about the overall experience, the overall tone of voice by every single user you have. Initiate branding activities when starting up, and watch it grow and develop.

5.Location determines success

No, you don’t need to be in the valley to be successful. It’s true that being in a ‘conducive environment’ might help but location should never handicap you. Many tech companies are now flourishing from EU, UK, India and China etc. and there have been huge successes in the last 2 years or so. If you have the infrastructure, talent, passion and audience – then location shouldn’t hamper you in anyway.

For more insight on the topic, we suggest you read this post at Carsonified

Some of the most successful seed-stage companies like YCombinator put very little money into a business (around $20,000) initially because you don’t NEED any more than that

photo credit: wili_hybrid

The task of naming a startup may sound easy, but believe me; it requires a lot of thought and brainstorming.

What’s in a startups name? Everything – the branding and marketing stems from the name. It is not only important but crucial for a startup’s success.

Compare Lycos and Vidoop with Brightmail and Paypal - the latter clearly standout and are easy to pronounce and remember. You can notice the difference yourself. Looking at many successful brands today, there are two things we can find in common;

1.The name relates to what the company actually does. It establishes (a direct or indirect) an association between the brand and product/services of the company

2.The name is not ‘literally’ related to the product/service but it creates a differentiating characteristic or feeling

Other points to be kept in mind when naming a startup:

•A name that can be remembered easily

•Refrain from being too creative with the names

•Think about acronyms (like AT & T for American Telephone and Telegraph, Inc.)

•Do not trade on existing business names (using parts of other well-known brands)

•It should be scalable (think long term growth)

There is a great post on ReadWriteWeb where it talks about naming of mint.com.

Patzer and Mint went through this very process themselves, first purchasing mymint.com at roughly $3,000 before inking a deal with the owner of mint.com

photo credit: alexanderdrachmann

It is easy to glamorize the life of an entrepreneur – but what isn’t easy is to imagine all the difficulties that come along. However, without a doubt the benefits of being a startup entrepreneur outweigh all the problems.

There are millions of people every year who step forward and take a plunge and start their first ventures. So should you take the plunge as well? As a potential entrepreneur, it’s the ‘gut’ feeling of succeeding that is important. There are strong internal drivers that compel us to startup our own venture.

Yes we have the idea, motivation and zeal, but do we really have everything needed to be successful startup entrepreneur?

Take this 2 minute test (Isenberg Entrepreneur Test) and find out. Simply answer yes or no to the questions and be honest (to yourself):

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/02/should_you_be_an_entrepreneur.html

I am sure Zuckerberg, Larry Page & Steve Jobs will score well in the quiz 

"I want to get rich" is not on the list either. All else being equal (and all else is rarely equal in the real world), on the average, people who set up their own businesses don't make more money, although a few do succeed in grabbing the brass ring.

photo credit: Joshua Rappeneker

None of us are unaware about the economic downturn and how it has affected businesses – small or big. You have the idea, drive, creativity, plan and resources to launch a startup but there are certain aspects you should be careful about when launching a startup in the midst of the recession.

Focus, discipline and building value – three tips for Startup launches and the rest follows. Seth Godin, (the Marketing Guru and founder of Squidoo) in an interview with Mashable gives more light on this matter. Here is what he had to say:

http://mashable.com/2009/02/04/seth-godin-advice-for-startups/

Understand that in a down economy, not only is there less money for people to spend on you, but you have to spend less money to make stuff that’s worthwhile.

photo credit: hughelectronic

A business plan, in its simplest form, defines where you want your startup to be within a certain period of time and how you plan on getting there. A business plan is as important for launching your startup as blueprints are for building your house.

Diligent research (online or libraries) can help you answer questions about pricing structure, sales, funding and other issues you might come across in the planning process. One interesting thing you’ll notice is that while writing a business plan you will confront important issues you might not otherwise think of.

One important suggestion we would like to give all startup owners is that “write your business plan” yourself and avoid outsourcing it to specialists. The process of writing a business plan is much more important than the final document. You can either use software such as Business Plan Pro or make a structured business plan with a proper format.

Various types of people may read your business plan – your bank manager, business advisory organizations, alternative providers of finance or even friends and work colleagues who will be running the business and using your plan on a daily basis. Therefore, make sure that your plan is exhaustive, clear and well structured for everyone to understand.

You can also have a look of the following articles:

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_important_is_my_business_plan.html
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-inbox12-2010jan12,0,1591095.story

photo credit: Spencer E Holtaway

My definition of a ‘startup’ was quite clear until recently when I saw Facebook being awarded the ‘Best Overall Startup of the Year’ by TechCrunch.  Yes all of us love Facebook and Zuckerberg (CEO of Facebook) but will you categorize Facebook as a Startup? The Crunchies awards have raised a debate and questions like what is a startup and when does a company stop being a startup have started gaining heat.

These are the exact questions that came into my mind as well – when does a startup 'stop being a startup' and becomes a business/company. What criteria’s define a startup?

Is it defined by:

1.    Time? – the number of years into existence
2.    Valuation? – post billion dollars you’re not a startup?
3.    Staff size? – the number of employees
4.    Profitability?
5.    Traffic? (probably number of views per month)

If we talk about Facebook; it has been into existence for five years, 500+ million dollar funded ‘company’ and a staff of around 1000 employees.(Source: Crunchbase)  I wouldn’t classify Facebook as a startup considering these points.

A startup starts with the intent to build X. Once they build X, they become a business that sustains and grows X (Facebook falls exactly in this category of sustaining and growing its product).

X may be a product, a service or may be a new approach to an existing problem. Once they move from the first stage of building to having to sustain it, it becomes a business (and doesn’t remain a startup).

Fore more information on this topic you can check:

http://bx.businessweek.com/facebook/view?url=http%3A%2F%2Frashmisinha.com%2F2010%2F01%2F09%2Fwhat-is-a-startup-is-facebook-still-one%2F

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/10/congratulations-to-the-crunchies-winners-facebook-takes-top-prize-for-second-year/

Facebook is a revolution in the social networking and Web 2.0 world but it cannot be categorized as a startup (not anymore). TechCrunch could probably rename the award as ‘The Best Overall (Web/Software) Product’.