Workshop Entrepreneurship & Internet
March, 19, 2008
Ayman van Bregt

Agenda
- Being an internet entrepreneur
- Basic rules
- Finding a product or service
- Building a network
- Starting a company & financing
- Setting up a company structure
- Marketing & Sales

Basic rules

How to compete?
- Being competitive on:
- Pricing
- Design
- Innovation
- Marketing
- ….

Competitive marketing
- Marketing is about:
Making sales unnecessary. Marketing has as a goal to know
the customer so well that the product or service has such a
good fit that it sells itself.
“Peter Drucker”

Create a purple cow
- Marketing of products & services
are about creating purple cows:

Product life cycle
- Model of Rogers

Product life cycle
- Impact on PLC and changing environment

Product life cycle
- Problems in crossing the chasm:
- No clear advantage above existing solutions
- Difficult to implement within existing technology or current
behavior
- Difficult to use (for common people)
- High initial entry level
- Not visible in every day life

The secret of the Long Tail
- Businesses with distribution power can sell
a greater volume of otherwise hard to find
items at small volumes than of popular
items at large volumes.

The Long Tail

Finding a product or service

Finding a product or service
- Product development is about innovation
- Definition of innovation:
New change in:
• Product / service
• Marketing
• Technology / process
• Organisation
• The goal is a sustainable growth of your company

Finding a product or service
- Types of innovation:
- Product innovation
- Process innovation
- Market innovation

Finding a product or service
- Innovation graphically:
Change
Change
Change
Time Time Time
Development Incremental innovation Innovation

Finding a product or service
- Difference between research and innovation
• Research is changing money into knowledge
• Innovation is changing knowledge into money

Model of Ansoff
Proces and service Existing products New products
innovations
Product-
innovations
Existing markets Marketpenetration Product-
development
New markets Market- Diversification
development
Market- and organizational Highest risk
innovations

Model of Quinn
Flexibility and freedom of doing
Family Adhocratie
Internal focus External focus
Hiërarchie Market
Stability and manageability

Strategy of innovation
Gatekeeper
Gatekeeper
GO/NO GO Gatekeeper
GO/NO GO
GO/NO GO Gatekeeper
GO/NO GO
Concept Market testing Production
Generating development Product
optimization Commercialization
ideas and Distribution
prototyping
Detection of market needs Customer feedback on added value Tijd

Finding a product or service
- Online resources:
- eMarket services
- International trade offices
- EVD
- Chamber of Commerce
- Networking…

Building a network

Building a network
- Building a network is about:
- Start in your own environment
- Analyze your own network
- Values of doing business
- Set your goals
- What style do you like?
- Use tools online…

Social software

Social software
• Definition:
Software that facilitates interaction between people in the digital
world. The software helps creating virtual relations and communities.

Social Software
- Xing (previously called
OpenBC) started in
Germany
- Focussed on business
networking, generating
business and vacancies
- Over 4 million members
worldwide
- Exists since 2004

Social Software
- Linkedin is a US company
- Focussed on business
networking and vacancies
- Over 11 million members
- Exists since 2003

Starting a company & financing

Startup commandments
• Your idea isn't new. Pick an idea; at least 50 other people have
thought of it. Get over your stunning brilliance and realize that
execution matters more.
• Stealth startups suck. You're not working on the Manhattan Project,
Einstein. Get something out as quickly as possible and promote the
hell out of it.
• If you don't have scaling problems, you're not growing fast enough.
• If you're successful, people will try to take advantage of you. Hope
that you're in that position, and hope that you're smart enough to not
fall for it.
• People will tell you they know more than you do. If that's really the
case, you shouldn't be doing your startup.
• Your competition will inflate their numbers. Take any startup traffic
number and slash it in half. At least.

Startup commandments
• Perfection is the enemy of good enough. Leonardo could paint the
Mona Lisa only once. You can push a bug release every 5 minutes
because you were at least smart enough to do a web app.
• You don't need business development people. If you're successful,
companies will come to you. The deals will still be distractions and
not worth doing, but at least you're not spending any effort trying to
get them.
• You have to be wrong in the head to start a company. But we have
all the fun.
• Starting a company will teach you what it's like to be a manic
depressive. They, at least, can take medication.
• Your startup isn't succeeding? You have two options: go home with
your tail between your legs or do something about it. What's it going
to be?

Startup commandments
• If you don't pay attention to your competition, they will turn out to be
geniuses and will crush you. If you do pay attention to them, they
will turn out to be idiots and you will have wasted your time. Which
would you prefer?
• Startups are not a democracy. Want a democracy? Go run for class
president.
• More at www.startupping.com

Starting up & the market

Capital

Capital
The market of risk capital can be divided into 4 segments:
1. Type of money
2. Currency-speed
3. The risk factor
4. Size of the needed investment

Investment phases and needs
Line A: Fast growing company (ict)
Line B: Company with lots of research and development costs (biotech)
Line C: Average innovative company
Line D: Successful independent entrepreneur

Where to start?
• Getting investments:
• Investors / Venture capital (www.beursplein3.nl /
www.nebib.nl, www.eban.org)
• Subsidies:
Subsidieshop.nl
Senternovem.nl
Consultants at http://subsidie.pagina.nl
• Businessplan competitions
Newventure.nl
Livewire.nl

Setting up a company structure

Company structure
- Before starting:
- Why starting on the internet?
- What makes you different?
- Wat does your customer expect?

Company structure
- Business entity
- Legal
- Financial
- Administrative
- Technical
- Infrastructure
- Production & Marketing
- Processes
- Services
- Marketing & Sales

Business entity
- Starting at Chamber of Commerce & Tax Administration
- Legal (return policies (Return Merchandise Authorization))
- Financial (what payment systems)
- Administrative (what structure and processes)
- Technical
- Infrastructure (the integration of your business, custom or
standard)

Legal stuff
- RMA without explanation within 10 days
- Double opt-in
- Responsibility for content

Financial stuff
- iDeal
- PSP or on your own?

Technical stuff
- Outsourcing, yes or no?
- Custom or standard software?
- What about security?

Marketing & Sales

Marketing definition
- Marketing is about:
Making sales unnecessary. Marketing has as a goal to know
the customer so well that the product or service has such a
good fit that it sells itself.
“Peter Drucker”

Marketing is about:
- What does your customer expects to find on your site?
- What kind of content and design appeals to your target
audience?

Contact
• contact@ayman.nl
• www.ayman.nl/blog