Over the weekend, my latest post ran over at TechCrunch to help entrepreneurs, startups and businesses in general, focus on generating revenue and growing their business during this tumultuous and uncertain economic climate. It was time for something constructive, as the doom and gloom crowd have enjoyed far too much airtime. Bottom line, fear is pervasive, and while some fear is generally good for us, widespread panic is the catalyst for poor decision-making. Whether this post is rudimentary or it instills hope and direction, the point is that the business world needs more “halftime” speeches right now.
“Don’t worry about getting ahead, instead, just survive…Cutting deeper and quicker is the formula to survive.” – Sequoia Capital
There’s a distinct difference between survival and real world business and without continuous expert advice specific to the landscape and climate of each business ecosystem, many companies may unwittingly lock themselves in an isolated panic room instead of taking strategic steps to evolving and growing the business opportunity that exists today.
General advice is just that, general. One prevailing set of strategies and recommendations doesn’t apply to all.
In a conversation with veteran CEO and financier Steve Larsen, currently co-founder of Krugle, Inc., he advised, “Of course, don’t be stupid. Have enough cash to run your business, but I think the doom and gloom crowd are getting too much airtime. Look for opportunities. Difficult times are when they’ll most likely occur. When we’re at ‘steady state’ and things are normal, good opportunities are much harder to find with GREAT opportunities nearly impossible. It is during periods of tumult and transition when you can spot things that lead to the greatest returns – if you are alert. So be alert.”
In every recession, abundant opportunities are inherently rife. To simply believe that this is a generic time to step off of the playing field to warm benches or take a seat in the spectator bleachers in the hopes of emerging once again to readily have a shot at winning the game is illogical. Business, and customers, do not stop making decisions – they’re just more discerning during volatile economic climates. But make no mistake, if you choose to stop vying for customer attention, the world will move ahead – without you.
The spirit of entrepreneurialism is what drives all of us to innovate and excel. Economics aside, there is no better time than now to pursue and invest in that next big idea. This is your time to shine and we want to celebrate you, your vision and help you succeed.
Microsoft Startup Zone, in partnership with The TechSet (Stephanie Agresta and yours truly), is bringing together the tech innovators in Southern California to celebrate the launch of BizSpark, a new program for those who contribute to a dynamic ecosystem that helps startups flourish.
Join us at Beso in Hollywood for free hors d’oeuvres and drinks, and also the opportunity to network with some of the most influential technologists around. All attendees can participate in a “twitter raffle” to win an XBox 360 Elite.
If you’ve got a startup in Silicon Valley, or anywhere for that matter, chances are that you’ve heard of Ron Conway. The so-called “Godfather of Silicon Valley” has made over 20 investments in Web 2.0 companies such as Twitter, Digg, PBWiki, Seesmic, the list goes on and on.
Recently, Ron has been very vocal about his advice for startups in the downward economy recommending to his companies that they conserve cash and cut costs, even renegotiate all expenses, including rent.
We grabbed Ron for a quick interview at the Web 2.0 Summit last week to hear for ourselves so listen up!
Panic leads to the further declination and eradication of progress.
Yes the market is slipping.
Yes, the financial market is resetting.
But the U.S economy, actually, the global economy, is a yo-yo on an escalator. It might go up and down, but eventually, it’s always going up.
Those who do not proactively contribute to the economy’s escalation are taking away from its ability to instill confidence and rally support.
So instead of running into a cave, shaking your head in disbelief, crying aloud, or scaring the sh!t out of everyone, ask yourself, “what are you going to do about it?”
Entrepreneurs hear that directive clearly as, “cut expenses.”
But, which expenses do they cut?
Here’s a simple answer…Don’t cut or eliminate the expenses that strategically and cost effectively help you and your business engage customers and also the respective influencers who reach them and their social graph.
This is the time for entrepreneurs to realize that this is their opportunity to shine – especially if they have built something that businesses or real people can use to streamline their workflow or improve day-to-day routine.
In a down economy, tomorrow’s leaders are born today. It takes vision, focus, and a hyper-connected sense of what customers are looking for and where.
There is still valuable, helpful, and marketable innovation taking place today that people are willing to embrace.
Blindly cutting expenses for the sake of cutting expenses only fuels the hysteria.
VC’s, help educate the people running your investments on how to best navigate these rough waters.
Remember, any company that intentionally pulls itself from the radar screens of potential and existing customers will find itself on a direct path to the Dead Pool.
The question is, what are you going to do about it?
Brothers, and iLike founders Ali Partovi and Hadi Partovi are two pioneers who genuinely understand the potential of the social web to reshape the music industry. While old-school industry heavies have been doing their best to avoid the impending transformation, the Partovi brothers have embraced the opportunity presented and offered artists new ways to monetize and strengthen their brands through closer engagement with fans.
The brothers Partovi gave a clear and concise breakdown of how the shifting landscape in online music has diminished more traditional monetization opportunities, but at the same time created new, and potentially more lucrative ones. While physical record sales are tanking online record sales are growing, and new revenue streams are surfacing.
Downloads
The brothers highlighted emerging trends in the online music space that offer new opportunities. DRM-free music is one trend that they highlighted, sighting that the format allows for expanded innovation and the signal that labels are finally embracing technology.
Artists as Channels
Artists can now establish a deeper level of engagement, and additional monetization models by creating what they referred to as “direct to fan media channels” – artist channels that utilize blogs, video messages, live streaming performances and interviews to create personalized, syndicated streams that fans can tap into and share. Players in this space are channels like MySpace, iLike, Kyte, Nabbr and ReverbNation. Revenue can be generated from advertising as well as subscription models. As an example, the Partovi brothers sighted the band U2.
U2 has leveraged the iLike platform to create a space where their fans can feel more connected and engaged with the band, and it works! The band has nearly 3 million fans on iLike, versus just under 200,000 friends on MySpace. iLike offers a suite of tools to leverage the passion of fans and extend that passion out to their social circles on a variety of networks in addition to the main iLike site.
Live Performances
While album sales are taking a nose dive, ticket sales are at an all time high, and there is a clear path to monetization; sales of physical goods being more reliable than advertising or subscription models. Platforms like iLike, LiveNation and StubHub take advantage of social discovery, alerts and recommendation engines to help bands connect with their fans and fans connect with each other to generate awareness, excitement and attendance for live events.
Streaming
According to the brothers “streaming is the new downloading.” Sites like Pandora, LastFM/CBS, AOL, Video YouTube, Yahoo, Rhapsody, iMeem, MySpace and iLike all offer streaming music. Revenue opportunities in this space come from advertising and subscription models. New opportunities highlighted are mobile and syndication.
Announcing the iLike Music Platform
The brothers also announced the new iLike Music Platform, a developer platform that will allow anyone to add playlists and iLike functionality to their own websites and Facebook applications.
It’s refreshing to see the music industry finally starting to wake up and take notice, thanks to innovators like Hadi and Ali who recognized opportunities early and rose to the challenge. I like to think that the music industry is an early indicator of the direction other industries are heading in. Music makes the most sense as an early entrant as it’s main products can be produced, warehoused, sold and distributed entirely electronically. I think it’s time for other industries, including film and consumer goods to get an early jump on things and take heed to the lessons taught by the music industry.
