It use to just take someone that was willing to work long hard hours and maybe some start up capital to build a truly profitable business. Whatever business the entrepreneur was going to go into they did not have to have 20 years of experience working in the industry, however in many cases that helped. I have a close friend who went to college and graduated with a business degree. Other than odd college jobs this friend did not have much of a resume. He knew one thing; he did not want to work for “the man”, and he was willing to work his butt of to make it happen. After much research he raised a small amount of capital and went into the fast food business. Today he has grown the business rather successfully. All this friend had was a passion and a good head on his shoulders.

The New Skill Set Needed

The above example is getting harder and harder with the move to the web. To launch even a basic business you often have to surround yourself with domain experts in all sorts of different niches. If you want to compete on the web. You need to hire a designer, web programmer, mobile programmer, sysadmin, web marketer, experts on understanding your market, and more. You can not just sit on a busy street count the people going by to understand your market. You can not just lease a space and open your doors. You have to surround yourself with domain experts that often are not cheap. So a good head on your shoulders and some start up capital turns into a bunch of people with good heads on their shoulders and tons of capital.

How Do We Solve The Problem?

The problem I want to solve; Is how do we move the world to the web but keep the “all you need is a dollar and a dream” way of business alive? I know there is not a simple answer and as the Facebook generation morphs into business people they will already be hitting the streets with a leg up on my generation and older generations, but I would like to find better ways to bridge the gap.

As a side note, I realize this is a very general topic. I realize there are many case studies of the web making live easy for first time entrepreneurs. However, looking around most of the successful web companies are started by people with tech backgrounds. I want to find better ways for non-tech people to start great businesses without tons of money.

Through my past client work, and now through my work with startups I am constantly running into people that want to reinvent the wheel. They want to start from the ground up as if there are no great ideas out there to steal. In the web world I am very very confident that if you are trying to build something there is an idea you can steal and make better. I think every project should start with finding an example to build from. I don’t believe in just trying to build something without a stolen idea as the foundation.

Also, this video reminds me of something else from my client work days. I had many clients approach me with a level of urgency, “If we do not get this product live in 30 days we have lost our window and someone will beat us to the market”. Apple, has beaten no one to market. In fact they are always the last ones to come to market. They sit back and wait and learn from everyone else then come to market with something better than everyone else.

I just watched the video below. This guy is dead on when it come to social media. Everyone that is interested in how the world is changing should watch this video.

People often approach me and want me to partner with them on getting their idea off the ground. If I am even interested in the idea I will outline what I can do for the company/product, I will outline what I think the idea person should do, and I will outline ownership of the idea/product/company. Nine times out of ten people will be floored that I want equal ownership or expect them to do work. I have heard more times than I would like “But there is value in the idea”. So many people have come to me with the concept of giving me like 10% of their company or product in exchange for me doing all the work. Business partnerships are more a function of risk. In a business partnership if there is not risk on both sides there is no partnership. This is called “skin in the game”.

Partnerships are based on two things; time & money! You got money, I got time; lets partner (risk on both sides). We can put a value to both and move forward. There is zero value in an idea. You do not get any extra ownership or less risk for coming up with an idea, so anyone reading this with that concept get over it now!! The value of your business/product is the money you have to build it and the talent/time you have to execute it.