CONTRIBUTED BY:
GUEST WRITER
Before getting your e-business off the ground, it's worthwhile
to see why so many dotcoms have fallen by the wayside. Here are the top 5
reasons:
1. Bad balance-sheet math. At no
point did the companies that crashed and burned generate financial statements
that indicated any reasonable relationship between income and expenses. Too
many startups have simply spent money before they earned it. You need to
recognize that you have to crawl before you can walk and then take small, baby
steps. Yes, you may need a good team around you, but they need to believe in
the business and understand that there will be some lean years.
That being said, you don't need the ritzy office, the
high-powered law firm or the overpriced consultants. With all sorts of
financial software programs on the market, you should be able to keep your
expenses in some kind of rational alignment with your income. Hint: Do the math
from day one, and never stop doing it until you've earned enough to have
accountants and financial analysts doing it for you. And you should still
double-check what they do regularly.
2. No revenue model. The core question for dotcom
startups is "What is your revenue model?" This is shorthand for
"How do you envision bringing in income? What will your revenue streams
be? How do you expect to make a profit?" Potential investors will ask
this, as will would-be employees, partners and anybody considering a financial
future with your dotcom.
In the early years of dotcoms, entrepreneurs could get away with
a lot of vaguely explained responses that involved a mix of advertising dollars
and ecommerce, and in most cases, the answer was accepted. It was a mistake
because, as the failed dotcoms proved, nobody had ever really put flesh on the
revenue models. Today, despite the fact that investors are savvier, simple
business logic prevails. You need a clearly defined source of revenue. In most
cases, you'll actually need more than one revenue stream before you can launch
your business website.
3. No clearly defined exit strategy. Every
well-conceived business startup comes equipped with an exit strategy for
investors. An exit strategy is how investors will get their money out of the
business, and when. Founders with hands-on roles in the business should also
have a plan for getting out (selling, passing it on to your family, etc.), but
angels, venture capitalists and such want to know how and when they'll see a
return on their investment.
What are your possible exit strategies?
1. Going public: a prime choice for many dotcoms
2. Getting acquired by a bigger fish
3. Bringing in new investors to buy out others
2. Getting acquired by a bigger fish
3. Bringing in new investors to buy out others
There's no saying which exit strategy is best, but what can be
said is that no CEO needs anxious investors calling every few minutes to ask
when they might cash out. And that happens all too often when there's been a
lack of clarity--even realism--about the investment. This means that in early
talks with investors (even if it's your folks who put up the money), you need
to be honest about how you see them getting their money back and when. Be as
realistic and conservative in your estimates as possible.
4. Having no marketing plan. Too
many dotcom businesses started with great ideas, terrific products or services,
and the mistaken notion that if they built the website, visitors would simply
appear. Brick-and-mortar businesses base a lot of their future dreams of
success on the old adage "location, location, location." For a
retailer, being in the right location would generate foot traffic and that
could make the difference between success and failure.
Websites, too, need to generate visitors who will hopefully be
converted to customers. Marketing is essential, and it must be well conceived
and implemented even before you launch your site.
5. Being blinded by technology. You
need technology for your online business to exist. But technology cannot, and
will not, handle all your concerns. It's a tool with which you run your
business, not the brain trust behind your company. Too many e-business owners
are so overwhelmed by the possibilities of technology that they forget there's
always a human element to business that even the best technology cannot
replace.
The sad fact about many failed dotcoms is that they could have
been successful, maybe not on the lavish scale hoped for by the founders but
profitable nonetheless. And they blew it by forgetting that in the end,
business is business and it requires sound financial planning, marketing, and
products or services plus excellent customer service. While it might be fun to
appear on the cover of a magazine, it's ultimately more fun to be on top of a
steady stream of black ink--and it's no fun at all to manage a business that's
dripping red ink.
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