Reduce your product research costs through micro-testing
Microtesting is marketing a product online before spending much on research and development or inventory. The idea is to develop something with the minimum amount of features or information needed to gauge the marketability of a product online. That might mean mocking up a website with potential features and seeing how many visitors click on the item. It might also involve buying pay-per-click ads to see how easy it is to gain potential customers. Or it might mean selling a few products on a site like bidorbuy to see how well they perform before ordering in bulk from a wholesaler.What sets this approach apart from practices like using focus groups is that companies base product development decisions not just on what customers say they want but on how they vote with their wallets.
Start-up business factory shop.
Paul Graham's business school and investment fund, Y Combinator, has launched 145 companies -- for a lot less money than you would think.
Graham's start-up days are more than a full decade behind him, but he can't help recalling them with a shudder. "It's like talking to someone who went to war," Graham says. "It sucks to run a start-up." His company, Y Combinator, is a hybrid venture capital fund and business school that invests in, advises, and, literally, feeds 40 or so early-stage businesses a year. Investments are small -- less than $25,000 per company -- but Graham supplements the money with smart advice, introductions to later-stage investors, technical help, and a sense of community.
Graham encourages founders to spend all their energy on product development. In most cases, companies are expected to release a finished version of something -- whether it be a Broadband App or a photo-sharing widget -- before the three-month program is over. That's an incredibly short amount of time for a two- or three-person team. It requires that founders work more or less around the clock.
Y Combinator began as an experiment in angel investing, conducted during the summer of 2005. The pitch was straightforward: $6,000 for a company with one founder, $12,000 if the company had two founders, and $18,000 if the company had three. In exchange, Y Combinator would get roughly 6 percent in common stock.
Graham believes, deeply, that start-ups are the answer to the world's problems; that they are easy to make if you are determined enough and cheap enough; and that it's getting a lot easier to start one.
Graham's start-up days are more than a full decade behind him, but he can't help recalling them with a shudder. "It's like talking to someone who went to war," Graham says. "It sucks to run a start-up." His company, Y Combinator, is a hybrid venture capital fund and business school that invests in, advises, and, literally, feeds 40 or so early-stage businesses a year. Investments are small -- less than $25,000 per company -- but Graham supplements the money with smart advice, introductions to later-stage investors, technical help, and a sense of community.
Graham encourages founders to spend all their energy on product development. In most cases, companies are expected to release a finished version of something -- whether it be a Broadband App or a photo-sharing widget -- before the three-month program is over. That's an incredibly short amount of time for a two- or three-person team. It requires that founders work more or less around the clock.
Y Combinator began as an experiment in angel investing, conducted during the summer of 2005. The pitch was straightforward: $6,000 for a company with one founder, $12,000 if the company had two founders, and $18,000 if the company had three. In exchange, Y Combinator would get roughly 6 percent in common stock.
Graham believes, deeply, that start-ups are the answer to the world's problems; that they are easy to make if you are determined enough and cheap enough; and that it's getting a lot easier to start one.
Soweto Business Guide
If you are operating a small business is soweto you can't afford not to be in the Soweto Business Guide online directory, or you are missing a chance to be in the most comprehensive directory of businesses operating in Soweto, providing the public with immediate access to a variety of service providers. The is a problem though with many of the listed small businesses, No website. Soweto Business Guide is an online directory which means people using it are on the internet, the first thing they want to do as soon as they find your business in the directory is to look at your products or services suite online, get a website or set up a blog, having a web presence is critical.
Phonebooth Free gives small businesses
Bandwidth.com is launching phonebooth free for small businesses. Phonebooth Free gives small businesses, freelancers and independent professionals a way to have a professional-sounding phone system at no cost. While there are already Web-based voice applications designed for basic social use, Phonebooth Free provides 200 minutes per month of inbound calling plus the call-routing features, like an auto-attendant and support for multiple users, that small businesses and professionals need. If you are a virtual company, with employees who are on the go or working from home, there is no better phone solution than Phonebooth Free. South African small businesses can only hope for a similar system, this is a US based service currently.
Join the ecommerce revolution
Many small businesses are in the dark ages as far as ecommerce is concern, with many lacking a basic web presence as they consider setup cost prohibitive.
Facebook is now a community of over 300 million people, most of them well educated high living standard measure consumer group, and if you don't have a web presence you have no way of reaching them.
There is n o excuse for not being online. The easiest way is to register a blog, its FREE! checkout blogger for your-self. You can do a little customization by registering your domain name which could be your company name, name of your product or any fancy name you like, such as fancyname.co.za. Registering a domain name will cost a little once off payment, check the domain registration prices on SowetoBusiness.
There are many free online selling tools to go the whole fifteen yards and turn your blog into an ecommerce site with applications such as Setcom and Payfast, no monthly fees or setup cost.
Sowetobusiness offers free blog customization to domain registration clients, register your domain and send us a blog setup and customization request at sowetobuisness @gmail.com.
Facebook is now a community of over 300 million people, most of them well educated high living standard measure consumer group, and if you don't have a web presence you have no way of reaching them.
There is n o excuse for not being online. The easiest way is to register a blog, its FREE! checkout blogger for your-self. You can do a little customization by registering your domain name which could be your company name, name of your product or any fancy name you like, such as fancyname.co.za. Registering a domain name will cost a little once off payment, check the domain registration prices on SowetoBusiness.
There are many free online selling tools to go the whole fifteen yards and turn your blog into an ecommerce site with applications such as Setcom and Payfast, no monthly fees or setup cost.
Sowetobusiness offers free blog customization to domain registration clients, register your domain and send us a blog setup and customization request at sowetobuisness @gmail.com.
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