Analyzing a Startup Concept jkhaner The Problem Does

Analyzing a Startup Concept jkhaner

The Problem • Does this product solve a problem for people or businesses? • How significant is the problem in scale or importance? • How much will people pay to solve it?

The Clarity • Does the market need to be educated on the product, need, or use? • Are the key features clear and valuable? • Are the key benefits clear and valuable? • Is the problem widely recognized—do people know the problem exists?

The Money • Is this a billion dollar concept? • If not what makes this a compelling investment opportunity? • Does it have a substantial total potential market and/or a large accessible or immediate market? Watts. App sold to Facebook for $19 Billion

The Hooks • • Is it a trendy area of investment? Is there a compelling exit strategy? Does it have a compelling story? Is there an appealing trend forming in the marketplace?

The Goodwill • Will it make a social impact or address a social need that will make a compelling story? • Does it address an environmental or sustainability concern?

The Niche • Is there something that distinguishes the brand within the marketplace? Does the product/service differentiate itself in features and benefits?

The People • Does the team make sense? Do they know their business? Any worthwhile advisors or investors with connections? Anthony Michael "Tony" Fadell (born March 22, 1969) is a Lebanese-American inventor, designer, entrepreneur, and angel investor. He served as the Senior Vice President of the i. Pod Division at Apple Inc. , from March 2006 to November 2008 and is known as "one of the fathers of the i. Pod"[1] for his work on the first generations of Apple's music player. In May 2010, he founded Nest Labs, which announced its first product, the Nest Learning Thermostat, in October 2011. [2] Nest was acquired by Google in January 2014 for $3. 2 B. [3]Since early 2015, he has been leading the Google Glass division.

The Kill Points • How much do you rate the risk levels for the company? • Are there any red flags? • Is there anything better? • Can it be stolen? • Are there technology concerns? • Any liability issues? • Are there people concerns?

• Kozmo • Billed by as “the shining example of a good idea gone bad”, Kozmo actually shocked many people by failing. The idea was to let city dwellers order late-night impulse items like movies and snacks that would be delivered free in an hour. It was a big hit with its target market, but before long, Kozmo became a victim of its own success. The very thing that made it appealing – free, fast delivery – made the business model unsustainable. It was simply not possible to deliver items that cheap for free and still turn a profit. By the time Kozmo began charging for delivery it was already too late, and the $280 million in funding was lost when the company closed its doors in March, 2001.

• Pets. com’s talking sock puppet mascot was intriguing enough to be featured in parades and Super Bowl commercials, but it didn’t give anyone incentive to buy their pet food on the Internet. Part of the problem was waiting for your order to be shipped. As C/Net aptly observes, “after they ordered kitty litter, a customer had to wait a few days to actually get it. And let’s face it, when you need kitty litter, you need kitty litter. ” Pets. com dug themselves into an even deeper hole by offering huge shipping discounts to entice people to order. This negated the value of the few orders people did place, as even those were not ultimately profitable. In spite of these obvious red flags, Pets. com managed to raise $82. 5 million in a February, 2000 IPO. Not surprisingly, though, the company collapsed a mere nine months later.

• Flooz is a textbook example of a startup was pretty much doomed from the start. The idea was to create an alternative online-only currency (Flooz) that people would use instead of their credit cards. Once you acquired a hoard of Flooz, you were then free to use it at any number of retailers who had agreed, in advance, to accept it. There was only one problem. No one bothered to ask why someone would use a totally new and unproven currency instead of credit cards or gift cards, which were backed by trusted merchants. No one asking didn’t stop customers from answering, however, as lack of demand for Flooz plunged the company into bankruptcy in 2001. Apparently, dazzling TV commercials featuring Whoopi Goldberg couldn’t stop an astounding $35 million in venture money from being squandered.