You’ve got an idea you’re certain is a winner, a plan to make money and the beginnings of what you are sure will be a future internet powerhouse. Inevitably while you sit crafting your plans you will start working out some figures for this new venture. So you start throwing around imaginary numbers. A certain number of people visit the site, so many sign up, another number purchase and then probably you do some calculations, a x b x c = You are going to be rich, rich, rich! (more…)

The world is rife with business opportunity, and nowhere more so than online. I often think of the web as something of a wild west frontier, awaiting anyone intrepid enough to stake out a claim. But to start an online venture you first need to have an idea of what you want to do. For many would-be entrepreneurs ideas are many and easy to come by, but not everyone feels this way.

Some time ago I met a very talented developer who was independent and industrious, more than capable of developing a brilliant web app. Despite wanting to start some sort of online business of his own, he was hamstrung, for he wasn’t sure what exactly to build. I remember being asked how I found so many different business ideas, and my on-the-spot reply went something like “uhm… they like, just pop into my head.” Not exactly a useful reply!

With a bit more thought and contemplation I’ve decided to catalogue some different methodologies for finding a business to get into. The post is split into five parts, each one detailing a different angle. (more…)

When one-time Apple evangelist turned entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki launched AllTop a year ago, I remember reading some pretty bad press. Headlines like Guy Kawasaki Launches AllTop. Wow, it’s Bad. and AllTop – A gimmick site with marketing flair aren’t exactly what one hopes to launch to.

When I myself visited the site I had the impression that it wasn’t as bad as some of the tech press made out, but it didn’t appear to be anything to write home about. If asked I would have summed up the site as a so-so idea with a decent execution and a famous founder. So I expected AllTop would go the way Guy’s other venture Trumors went – that is to a small but relatively successful end in a quiet acquisition.

In the intervening months however, I’ve been impressed to see the site growing and improving rather consistently. To this day AllTop is still not a site I personally use, nonetheless there does seem to be an audience for it, and Guy and his team have been doing a really good job of persistently pushing the site in the right direction. (more…)

One of the best sources of information on startups is the obscenely talented Paul Graham who has written a wealth of essays on the subject. If you read a lot of these though you start wondering if the only route into the world of web startups is to be a developer or computer engineer of some kind. When I think of top web entrepeneurs, people like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Page & Brin of Google, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Evan WIlliams of Twitter & Blogger all spring to mind. Even less-obvious founders like the internet media personality and Digg founder Kevin Rose actually began in computer science. So it all begs the question, if you’re not from a tech background do you even have a shot at starting a web startup?

Non-Technology Driven Startups

The first question to ask is, is your startup idea technology driven? Are you inventing new technical solutions to a problem? In the cases of all the founders I just mentioned the answer was yes. Facebook was a new way to manage social interaction, Google was a new way to search, Amazon was a new way to purchase, both Twitter and Blogger were new ways to communicate, and Digg was a new way to determine the relevance of news. They were all completely new technologies or applications of technologies.

But it would be a mistake to think that that is the only kind of web startup there is! (more…)

When you have a long journey ahead, sometimes it’s best not to think too much about it. You’re much better off just getting started.

For some weeks now I’ve been working on a large upgrade to our popular freelancing site FreelanceSwitch. The upgrade includes a complete overhaul of the design, some large changes to the functionality of the site and coordinating a few different sub-projects. It’s been taking a lot of time and energy and as I write this, we’re only half way there.

This morning I was reflecting that if I’d known quite how much work was involved in the upgrade, I think I might have been a little less ambitious. And in many ways that makes me glad that I didn’t know.

A bit young, a bit naive

Three years ago when starting Envato I wrote out a business plan for our fledgling enterprise. It wasn’t a particularly solid plan, at least it didn’t have any hard numbers, or organisational charts, or many of the other things I’ve since learnt are meant to be in business plans. But it did contain our strategy for how the business would grow, and to put it mildly, it was an ambitious plan. (more…)