If there is one trend that did change the shape of the entrepreneurial ecosystem these last few years it has been the lean start-up movement. The concept is straightforward: It’s the philosophy that you should validate your initial ideas (assumptions) with real-life data before you invest more time and money in your project. The premise […]
Business Angels or Crowdfunding? How About a Crowd of Angels?
We are increasingly consulted whether it would be better for start-ups to assemble financial resources through crowdfunding (e.g. Kickstarter) or through angel investors, and how to sequence each funding mode (i.e. what should come first). However, an alternative route is to combine both modes by attracting financing through a ‘crowd’ of angels, or ‘equity based […]
What Mistakes Are Killing Your Startup? #4 Confusing an Accessible Market with a Potential One
When meeting with entrepreneurs and evaluating the market size for the opportunity they are pursuing, I often see the same mistake: a confusion of the accessible market with the potential market. How many times have I come across this lie (as well as others….): “our market will give us $50,000 million in 2017 – look […]
What Mistakes Are Killing Your Startup? #3 Marginal Niche
What is a niche product? It is a good or service with features that appeal to a particular market subgroup. A typical niche product can be easily distinguished from other products, and it will also be produced and sold for specialized uses within its corresponding niche market. It sounds great…so why is that an issue […]
What Mistakes Are Killing Your Startup? #2 Bad Location
Starting a company in Abdijan (a yearly destination of mine) is a far cry from doing so in Barcelona (my home city) or San Francisco. It sounds obvious…and it is! I’ve identified four major reasons for this: Talent Talent is unevenly distributed geographically. There are clusters of entrepreneurship and innovation that are more attractive than […]
