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The odds of starting the next million dollar website are slim. Everyone wants to do it, but only a few ever will. Yet if you really want to start the next million dollar website, what kind should you build?
Here are seven types of websites that have been proven as ways to make millions, if not billions, online. Read the rest of this entry »
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I found a great blog the other day called Inspiration Feed. It has a lot of awesome design and graphic content.
My favorite post so far is one called “50 Inspiring Entrepreneur Startup Quotes.” The post is incredible.
Following are 15 of my favorite quotes from this post. Make sure you check out Inspiration Feed to read the rest of the quotes.
Here you go:
Quote #1
“Stay self-funded as long as possible.”
-Garrett Camp, co-founder of StumbleUpon
Quote #2
“Forget about your competitors, just focus on your customers.”
-Jack Ma, lead founder of Alibaba
Quote #3
“Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.”
-Mark Cuban, co-founder of HDNet
Read the rest of this entry »
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In my last post I mentioned that listening to your customers is not a good innovation strategy. This may lead you to think that listening to your customers is a bad idea. Actually, that’s not the case.
Listening to your customers is very important, especially for incremental improvements. If you’ve already decided on a product, and you’re trying to improve it, getting feedback from customers is a good idea.
You can ask customers what they would improve about your product, or if there are any problems. For example, if you release a software product, you can ask if there are any bugs. If there are, you’ll want to fix those bugs as fast as you can. The best way to do that is to get feedback from your customers. You can do that by posting a big “FEEDBACK HERE” button on your website.
This is how you make incremental product improvements. In other words, this is how you tweak a product.
But if you want to make a leap in product innovation, listening to your customers is not the way to go. Read the rest of this entry »
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The first thing a marketer should do is listen to customers, right? If the goal is innovation, Mark Cuban says the answer is no.
In an April 2010 blog entry, Mr. Cuban wrote a post titled “Why You Should NEVER Listen to Your Customers.” He quoted Alan Kay who said that “the best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
This is consistent with two other innovative thinkers – Steve Jobs and Paul Graham. Here’s what they had to say: Read the rest of this entry »
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When you’re about to make a business decision, who should you go to for advice? People who will tell you what you want to hear, or people who will tell you what you need to hear? Based on a lesson from Warren Buffett, the third richest man in the world according to the Forbes list of billionaires, you may want to reconsider your strategy.
A recent McKinsey Quarterly article mentioned that Warren Buffett hires an advisor to talk him out of making business deals, and he compensates the adviser well only if the deal doesn’t go through. In other words, when Mr. Buffett is thinking about purchasing a company, he hires someone to do his best to convince him why buying the company is a bad idea. Not only does he pay the advisor to do this, he gives him a bonus if and only if the advisor talks him out of purchasing the company.
Why would Mr. Buffett do this? Read the rest of this entry »