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AlwaysOn: The Roizen
Report
Oversee.net: Perfect Startup Aerodynamics
The startup
game is often one of
aerodynamics and
drag. The number of
factors working against a new company is almost
infinite, and most companies are unable to ever
really achieve lift-off. Beating “startup drag”
takes nearly perfect aerodynamics: a beautifully
designed product, brilliant marketing, financial
acumen, the whole shebang—all in concert and
accompanied by great timing (and a bit of luck).
It’s tough to think of a substantial Internet
company that didn’t have a pretty sleek and
aerodynamic concept at the start. Google (search),
eBay (online markets) and Amazon (online shopping)
were all elegantly designed and implemented.
To get the
aerodynamics right, almost all startups require a
combination of time, money, and experience.
Normally, getting off the ground takes an excess of
at least one of those ingredients. Investment
capital for rapid expansion can be a surrogate for
time spent slowly building a business through
operations—just as experience can be a surrogate for
money, allowing the company to skip wasteful steps
on the learning curve, and so on.
See the rest of this column at AlwaysOn
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