Hi
On top of Mikes email I feel the government already does heaps to help business' get started. business.gov.au has amazing array of templates and guides on how to start a business. Registering for an ABN is easy, and online activity statements make life a lot easier. Than there is all of the services which provide you with information on how to break into overseas markets. If you take some time to visit the governments' various sites you will be amazed at how much they do for you. Our wonderful ABC (gov funded) has shows like The New Inventors. This show helps people get exposure who have truely created innovative products. Yet Another Online Tool is normally not that innovative. I am sorry guys but I see a lot of tools, especially ones from myself which after a few weeks the novality wears off. While you may have spent a lot of time on it, did you really consider if it is something people would be willing to pay for? What market research did you do? I know I haven't in the past so I am constantly playing catch-up. The problem I find with a lot people is that they are looking to get rich building simple online tools. With the exception of a few, like Twitter, you need to have a solid business model and provide people with a service they are willing to pay for. I always think back to traditional businesses which have lasted the test of time and the thing that stands out is that they provide a service which has a personal touch and takes time to deliver. While there is the Googles and FaceBooks of the world they are rare. However you consider the bricks and mortar stores they presonally interact with their customers. Companies like SalesForce.com repersent that half-way between online and bricks and mortar. SF call you, talk to you, and help you. I have to admit it looks great the prospect of having the next big thing. Just think in a year you could be a billionair. This is very unlikely. Why not put your efforts into helping other people and charge for that? Okay you wont be creating the next YouTube but were you really anyway? Why not do something which fills a hole in the services business? Hell there could be a market in the Eastern Suburbs to clean people's dog's blow. I doubt it but there could be. Or create an online tool which allows people to send all their tax stuff online to an accountant. Design a tool for a process which is normally done offline and costs a lot to. What I propose everyone should do: Write a business plan, detail how the hell you are going to make money Stop asking for hand-outs - VCs or gov - if you have a solid business model then the bank will lend you money Focus on improving the world - Start a consulting company doing Green Computing, teach people how to cook healthy, transform the way houses are built etc Sell solutions not concepts Have something tangable and personnal Forget get rich fast and focus on wealth creation (even if it is rapid) This whole concept that online advertising can work is very rare. I find it is an undeveloped, and inmature model, especially when you compare it to traditional media. When I say it is inmature I don't mean that it is not smart. It is quite the opposite, online advertising is very targetted. It is inmature in the sense it is very cheap, it is saturated (think of a telecast without ads than the first ad appears, it is a lot more memorable), and it is annoying. Yes annoying, TV and radio ads are structured, they occur in regulated bursts. While they interupt what you are doing, they don't stop you. All in all > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:08:25 +1100 > Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Govt pledges $83M to save tech innovators > > > Wow. That's great. Now if only we were a car industry producing vehicles > people don't want to buy in a market too small to achieve economies of scale > owned by parent companies who'll repatriate $AU from taxpayers back to their > own struggling head offices, we might actually have an industry strategy and > some decent funding approaching the billions the car industry got handed out > AFTER the productivity commission reported that it was a shocking waste. > > With a different perspective and some actual leadership , perhaps we could > transition our economy ahead of the information revolution we're in the > middle of... > > The more I hear about how this so-called Innovation department works, the > more concerned I get for our industry which represents one of the few bright > opportunities for our country. > > If you haven't already seen it, read > http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/opinion/perspectives/backwards-from-the-backwater/2009/02/16/1234632734542.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1. > > > Geoff > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of bengrubb > Sent: Wednesday, 18 March 2009 2:30 PM > To: Silicon Beach Australia > Subject: [SiliconBeach] Govt pledges $83M to save tech innovators > > > THE Rudd government will inject up to $83 million into the local > venture capital pipeline as a stop gap measure to try and prevent > promising tech companies going under due to the global financial > crisis. > > http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,,25205179-5013040,00.html?from=public_rss > > > > _________________________________________________________________ Looking for a place to manage all your online stuff? 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