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	<title>Matt Collins</title>
	
	<link>http://www.mattcollins.net</link>
	<description>Thoughts on Building Web Businesses</description>
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		<title>How to Build a Successful Startup – an Interview with David Tisch of TechStars</title>
		<link>http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/02/how-to-build-a-successful-startup-an-interview-with-david-tisch-of-techstars</link>
		<comments>http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/02/how-to-build-a-successful-startup-an-interview-with-david-tisch-of-techstars#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:08:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.mattcollins.net/?p=1613</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s 11.38pm as I&#8217;m starting to write this, so I&#8217;ll keep it brief. The latest startup interview from Grovo came out today. It&#8217;s with David Tisch who runs the TechStars incubator in New York. David sees lots of startups from an early stage, so has an interesting vantage point on things. Here&#8217;s a quick rundown [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/02/how-to-build-a-successful-startup-an-interview-with-david-tisch-of-techstars/screen-shot-2012-02-01-at-22-29-00" rel="attachment wp-att-1614"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1614" title="David Tisch" src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Screen-shot-2012-02-01-at-22.29.00.png" alt="" width="451" height="320" /></a></p>
<p>It&#8217;s 11.38pm as I&#8217;m starting to write this, so I&#8217;ll keep it brief.</p>
<p>The latest startup interview from Grovo came out today. It&#8217;s with <a href="http://www.davidtisch.com/">David Tisch</a> who runs the <a href="http://www.techstars.com/">TechStars</a> incubator in New York.</p>
<p>David sees lots of startups from an early stage, so has an interesting vantage point on things.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a quick rundown of the more actionable highlights from what he had to say&#8230;</p>
<h3>Founder/product or founder/market fit</h3>
<p>This is one of the things David looks for when selecting startups for TechStars. You need at least one of the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>Direct experience of a pain point in the space</li>
<li>A thesis on the space (how the status quo is broken and how things will look in the future)</li>
<li>A network within the space that gives you an unfair advantage over other people</li>
</ol>
<p>The actionable takeaway is this: when choosing a business to start, find one where you have at least one (preferably two or three) of the advantages above.</p>
<p>Personally, I agree with 1 &amp; 3, but I&#8217;m not sure about the existence of a thesis on the space as a useful indicator of &#8216;fit&#8217;. For example, I have a thesis about the future shape of the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK but as I&#8217;ve never worked in that sector, it&#8217;s very likely my thesis is wrong in important ways.</p>
<h3>Storytelling</h3>
<p>David argues that storytelling is the number one skill you need to learn as an entrepreneur. You need to be able to express your story in an exciting and engaging way. e.g. why are you doing this, what hiccups and successes have you encountered along the way. This isn&#8217;t just important when speaking to investors (like David) but to everyone: journalists, customers, potential hires, etc.</p>
<h3>Marketing</h3>
<p>As a startup, David recommends experimenting wildly and widely with your marketing (at least, I think he&#8217;s talking about marketing when he mentions this). Test as many things as you can and see what sticks.</p>
<p>I&#8217;d agree broadly with that. Though in reality, limited time and money generally mean you have to be selective and prioritise testing the handful of marketing techniques you think are likely to work best. This is one area where I think experience can be very valuable.</p>
<hr />
<p>The rest of the interview is more focused on TechStars and New York. You can see it all <a href="http://www.grovo.com/experts/david-tisch/building-a-successful-startup/">here</a>.</p>
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		<title>How to Publish and Sell by Email – an Interview with Ben Lerer of Thrillist</title>
		<link>http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/01/how-to-publish-and-sell-by-email-an-interview-with-ben-lerer-of-thrillist</link>
		<comments>http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/01/how-to-publish-and-sell-by-email-an-interview-with-ben-lerer-of-thrillist#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:56:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[E-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.mattcollins.net/?p=1586</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I told you about an interesting interview with the Bonobos founder last week on a site called Grovo. Well, Grovo&#8217;s next interview with a founder of a successful Internet company is now available and it&#8217;s another good one. This week&#8217;s interview is with Ben Lerer, the co-founder and CEO of Thrillist, a daily email city [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/01/how-to-publish-and-sell-by-email-an-interview-with-ben-lerer-of-thrillist/screen-shot-2012-01-26-at-01-13-08" rel="attachment wp-att-1588"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1588" title="Screen shot 2012-01-26 at 01.13.08" src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Screen-shot-2012-01-26-at-01.13.08.png" alt="" width="431" height="349" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/01/how-to-build-a-fashion-brand-online">I told you about an interesting interview with the Bonobos founder last week</a> on a site called Grovo. Well, Grovo&#8217;s next interview with a founder of a successful Internet company is now available and it&#8217;s another good one.</p>
<p>This week&#8217;s interview is with Ben Lerer, the co-founder and CEO of <a href="http://thrillist.com/">Thrillist</a>, a daily email city guide with over three million subscribers. Thrillist also owns <a href="https://www.jackthreads.com/">JackThreads</a>, a members-only online retailer, and <a href="http://rewards.thrillist.com/">Thrillist Rewards</a>, a &#8216;localised commerce business&#8217;.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s interesting to hear Ben&#8217;s perspective on his large, email-centric businesses.</p>
<p>A few key points for me were:</p>
<ul>
<li>For Thrillist, the daily emails are the full content; for JackThreads they&#8217;re about merchandising &#8211; showing people a curated set of products that they will hopefully go and buy on the site.</li>
<li>Currently, everyone gets the same emails. Over the next year, they&#8217;re planning to start personalising the JackThreads emails so the stuff you&#8217;re shown will tend to be more of the things you&#8217;ve indicated an interest in (I&#8217;m assuming this&#8217;ll be based on actions like clicks and purchases.)</li>
<li>Ben sees fast iteration as key. Over time they&#8217;ve become better at the try / monitor effectiveness / make changes cycle.</li>
<li>Building a brand online is about: knowing who your audience is, being consistent, and being authentic. They use an honest, slightly irreverent tone.</li>
<li>Over time, they&#8217;ve moved away from building &#8216;what Ben wants&#8217; to letting the data drive things.</li>
<li>Having this kind of data-driven approach is important.</li>
<li>With the e-commerce business, the numbers are very specific (sales, profits, etc.); with the publishing business, they&#8217;re fuzzier.</li>
</ul>
<p>The interview is <a href="http://www.grovo.com/experts/ben-lerer/building-thrillist/">here</a>.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve enjoyed this interview series so far, so I&#8217;ll be continue to follow it. If there&#8217;s an interview I think is particularly good, I&#8217;ll share my thoughts about it with you here.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Google AdWords Fooled by Scammers</title>
		<link>http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/01/google-adwords-continues-to-allow-scammers</link>
		<comments>http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/01/google-adwords-continues-to-allow-scammers#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:42:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Other]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.mattcollins.net/?p=1546</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Google AdWords has revenues of $30 billion or so a year. With that sort of money involved, you might think the AdWords ad review system would be pretty good. It seems it could still do with a bit of work. One group of scammers has been fooling Google for at least 6 weeks now. I [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Google AdWords has <a href="http://investor.google.com/earnings/2011/Q4_google_earnings.html">revenues of $30 billion or so a year</a>. With that sort of money involved, you might think the AdWords ad review system would be pretty good.</p>
<p>It seems it could still do with a bit of work.</p>
<p>One group of scammers has been fooling Google for at least 6 weeks now.</p>
<p>I first noticed their ads on new year&#8217;s eve. They were <a href="http://www.blogstorm.co.uk/clever-fake-new-years-day-ppc-ads-using-dailymail-co-uk-as-display-url/">tricking Google into running ads that looked to be for the Daily Mail</a>. When clicked, the ads took you to a page that tried to trick you into buying an overpriced subscription. I later discovered (<a href="http://www.vertical-leap.co.uk/blog/when-display-and-destination-ads-dont-match/">here</a>) that the scam ads had been running at least since 12th December 2011.</p>
<p>Incredibly, the scammers are still getting away with it. The latest ad I&#8217;ve spotted appears if you search Google.co.uk for &#8220;anti-ageing cream&#8221;. Now the ad claims to be for iVillage:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/01/google-adwords-continues-to-allow-scammers/screen-shot-2012-01-24-at-22-29-11-1-2" rel="attachment wp-att-1548"><img class="alignnone  wp-image-1548" title="Scammers advertising on Google AdWords" src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Screen-shot-2012-01-24-at-22.29.11-11.png" alt="" width="486" height="342" /></a></p>
<p>Rather than take you to iVillage, though, the ad takes you to the same scammy landing page as with the previous &#8216;Daily Mail&#8217; ads (though on a different domain now).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/01/google-adwords-continues-to-allow-scammers/screen-shot-2012-01-24-at-22-31-37" rel="attachment wp-att-1549"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1549" title="Screen shot 2012-01-24 at 22.31.37" src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Screen-shot-2012-01-24-at-22.31.37-300x213.png" alt="" width="300" height="213" /></a></p>
<p>This kind of thing makes my blood boil.</p>
<p>These scammers are, sadly, <a href="http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3475221">conning a lot of people out of money</a>.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve reported the ads to the Google AdWords team, so hopefully they&#8217;ll stop them soon.</p>
<p><em><br />
</em></p>
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		<title>How to Build a Fashion Brand Online (According to Bonobos)</title>
		<link>http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/01/how-to-build-a-fashion-brand-online</link>
		<comments>http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/01/how-to-build-a-fashion-brand-online#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:46:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[E-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.mattcollins.net/?p=1485</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I came across an online education website called Grovo this evening. Perhaps you&#8217;ve heard of it already? Grovo has lined up a series of what promise to be interesting interviews with successful figures in the world of online business. Their first interview (and only one for now) is with Andy Dunn, one of the co-founders [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/01/how-to-build-a-fashion-brand-online/screen-shot-2012-01-19-at-21-34-37" rel="attachment wp-att-1490"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1490" title="Andy Dunn" src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Screen-shot-2012-01-19-at-21.34.37-300x175.png" alt="" width="300" height="175" /></a></p>
<p>I came across an online education website called <a href="http://www.grovo.com/">Grovo</a> this evening. Perhaps you&#8217;ve heard of it already?</p>
<p>Grovo has lined up a <a href="http://www.grovo.com/experts">series</a> of what promise to be interesting interviews with successful figures in the world of online business. Their first <a href="http://www.grovo.com/experts/andy-dunn/vertical-retail-and-social-media/">interview</a> (and only one for now) is with Andy Dunn, one of the co-founders of Bonobos which is a very successful men&#8217;s fashion brand in the US that was launched via the web.</p>
<p>In the interview, Andy offers some fascinating advice about doing the kind of vertically-integrated retail that has worked for Bonobos. He sees personalisation and curation being extremely important trends that will improve the online shopping experience.</p>
<p>In case you don&#8217;t have time to watch it, here are my notes:</p>
<h3>Building a Brand Online</h3>
<p>Four keys:</p>
<ol>
<li>Aggregate customer service to one point and staff that well (the &#8220;Zappos model&#8221;).</li>
<li>Have a high-quality product.</li>
<li>Vertically integrate so that you look after sourcing, design and merchandising.</li>
<li>Get great at brand story-telling.</li>
</ol>
<h3>Customer Acquisition</h3>
<p>Early phase: use word-of-mouth, editorial/PR and direct-selling; get up to a run-rate of $1 million to $2 million (!)</p>
<p>Growth phase: multi-channel (test everything and use what works best). Requires:</p>
<ol>
<li>Culture of analytics and experimentation</li>
<li>Money to run the tests</li>
<li>Understanding of your customer lifetime value (LTV)</li>
</ol>
<h3>Differentiation</h3>
<ul>
<li>Bonobos have differentiated through their vertical integration into design (starting with better-fitting men&#8217;s trousers, now expanding into other garments).</li>
<li>They focus on serving a specific demographic really well: 25-50 year-old active, urban, professional males.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Leveraging Social Media</h3>
<ul>
<li>Have a conversation (don&#8217;t just talk at people)</li>
<li>Use social media as a channel for real-time customer feedback</li>
<li>Be hugely responsive on social media</li>
<li>Use social media to let customers and your team connect on a human level (e.g. Bonobos ran a poll to ask customers to vote on which Bonobos team member had the best Halloween costume)</li>
</ul>
<h3>Evolution of Commerce</h3>
<ul>
<li>Think of the online experience as a bundle of product and service.</li>
<li>Be a great storyteller.</li>
</ul>
<h3></h3>
<p>I love what Bonobos have managed to do and I think there&#8217;s lots to learn from their success.</p>
<p>Grovo have done a great job with this interview, so I&#8217;m looking forward to checking back with them soon.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll keep you posted here with any interesting notes.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>How Google Suspended My AdWords Account Forever (With No Warning)</title>
		<link>http://www.mattcollins.net/2011/12/google-adwords-suspended</link>
		<comments>http://www.mattcollins.net/2011/12/google-adwords-suspended#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:04:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.mattcollins.net/?p=1223</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I want to like Google. They have all those free services: search, Gmail, Analytics&#8230; what&#8217;s not to like with those? And I&#8217;ve been a customer of Google&#8217;s for a long time, too &#8211; spending money on their AdWords ads since February 2007. Google does a lot of good things and I&#8217;m sure most people who work [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a title="Stay Classy Mr. Top Hat" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59686084@N08/6644432391/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7017/6644432391_3f95552b7a.jpg" alt="Stay Classy Mr. Top Hat" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></p>
<p>I <em>want</em> to like Google.</p>
<p>They have all those free services: search, Gmail, Analytics&#8230; what&#8217;s not to like with those?</p>
<p>And I&#8217;ve been a customer of Google&#8217;s for a long time, too &#8211; spending money on their AdWords ads since February 2007.</p>
<p>Google does a lot of good things and I&#8217;m sure most people who work at Google are good people.</p>
<p>But the way Google&#8217;s UK &amp; Ireland AdWords team has treated me in the last 4 weeks has made me realise that all is not well at Google. In fact, it&#8217;s very dangerous to rely on them in any way.</p>
<h3>Google Permanently Suspend My Account With No Warning</h3>
<p>Four weeks ago, I&#8217;d created two AdWords ads. They&#8217;d been shown a grand total of zero times.</p>
<p>Then I realised the ads might both be in violation of Google&#8217;s ad policy. Not wanting to violate that policy and preferring to play it safe, I cancelled one of the campaigns. And I tried to cancel the other one.</p>
<p>I didn&#8217;t intend to break Google&#8217;s rules. I made an innocent mistake and tried to correct it as soon as I could.</p>
<p>At this point, I assume Google looked at my ads and decided they did indeed violate their policy.</p>
<p>Fair enough. <em>[though I've subsequently reviewed their policy and can't see any way the ads were in violation. From what I gather, Google AdWords penalise anything that looks like affiliate marketing, though don't make this at all clear in any AdWords policy documentation I've managed to find.]</em></p>
<p>Next, though, instead of alerting me to the fact that my ads were against their policy and not running them, Google decided the appropriate course of action was to <em><strong>permanently suspend me from using Adwords. Forever.</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>What?!!</strong></p>
<p>&#8220;Not to worry,&#8221; I thought. &#8220;Those folk at Google are smart and reasonable. When they hear what&#8217;s happened, they&#8217;ll realise a permanent ban was a bit heavy-handed and re-enable my account.&#8221;</p>
<h3>I Try to Contact Google, but am Ignored</h3>
<p>So over the course of the next several weeks I politely tried to reach out to Google&#8217;s UK &amp; Ireland AdWords team.</p>
<p>I called them. I wrote to them. I wrote again. And again. In return, when they did reply, all they did was to send me template emails that completely failed to address any points I&#8217;d tried to raise.</p>
<p>I did speak to an AdWords customer support person on the phone at one point. They were friendly enough, but their only authority seemed to be to pass on a message to someone else. Nevertheless, I hoped this might do some good. A few days passed. Then I received it &#8230; yet another template email. Grr.</p>
<p>I filled out their online complaint form, asking for a more human interaction. Again, nothing but a template reply.</p>
<p>Google refused to engage with me in any meaningful way.</p>
<p>Charming, Google. Truly charming.</p>
<h3>Barred from Accessing 91% of UK Search Traffic</h3>
<p>Google have now barred me from accessing 91% of the UK&#8217;s search traffic with paid search. And they don&#8217;t bother to even properly respond to my queries about it. Great.</p>
<p>I used to test lots of business ideas by running small Google search ad campaigns. Now I can&#8217;t.</p>
<p>Google&#8217;s UK and Ireland AdWords has refused to discuss why they&#8217;ve taken this action. I suppose this is always a risk when a company has the kind of dangerously dominant (*cough* monopolistic *cough*) market share that Google currently enjoys.</p>
<p>I know there are good people at Google; people who want to do the right thing. Sadly, Google&#8217;s policies no longer seem to be letting them do that. Now when I call customer support, the people I speak with tell me that there is nothing they can do: the policy people have spoken and they must be right. It&#8217;s like some kind of Orwellian nightmare in there, with policies in charge rather than people.</p>
<h3>Google Favour Large Businesses Over Small Advertisers</h3>
<p>What&#8217;s especially galling about this is that <em>Google don&#8217;t treat everyone the same way</em>.</p>
<p>Google treat larger customers with more respect.</p>
<p>I used to work for a company that was (and still is) an extremely large AdWords buyer. When <em>they</em> screw up, it&#8217;s a different story. A quick word with their account manager and Google turn a blind eye. Their account isn&#8217;t suspended. They don&#8217;t have to wait days for a response. And they don&#8217;t have to put up with condescending template emails.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s the small guy that gets the raw deal. It&#8217;s the small guy who gets penalised for an innocent mistake, then ignored by Google.</p>
<h3>What Next?</h3>
<p>If you work for Google: we both know your organisation can be better than this. Let&#8217;s sort this out. You can contact me <a href="http://www.mattcollins.net/contact">here</a>.</p>
<p>If you don&#8217;t work for Google, please warn your friend about the reality of AdWords:</p>
<p><strong>Your AdWords account may be shut down permanently at Google&#8217;s discretion at any moment without any warning or explanation and with no way of speaking to Google about the decision</strong>.</p>
<p>Do you really want to be at the mercy of an organisation that treats its paying customers like that?</p>
<h3>Further Reading</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.seobook.com/google-affiliate-marketing-infographic">Google&#8217;s Love/Hate Relationship with Affiliates</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork/">Google&#8217;s Affiliate Network</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.mattcollins.net/2012/01/google-adwords-continues-to-allow-scammers">Google Adwords Fooled by Scammers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/compliance/2011/08/26/google-pays-record-500m-doj-fine-over-drugs-ads-40093777/">Google Pays Record $500m DoJ Fine Over Drugs Ads</a></li>
</ul>
<div></div>
<p><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="airinnajera" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59686084@N08/6644432391/" target="_blank">airinnajera<br />
</a></p>
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		<title>The Rise of Subscription (Cheese) E-Commerce</title>
		<link>http://www.mattcollins.net/2011/12/subscription-cheese-ecommerce</link>
		<comments>http://www.mattcollins.net/2011/12/subscription-cheese-ecommerce#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:04:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Subscriptions]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.mattcollins.net/?p=1231</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There&#8217;s been a lot of interest in the subscription e-commerce business model lately. It&#8217;s a model that I think is particularly powerful. Getting Someone to Buy is Hard Anyone who has run an e-commerce website will tell you that getting a website visitor to buy something is hard. Think about what&#8217;s involved: First, you have [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a title="Cheeseboard and cheeseknife and cheeses" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/60179301@N00/5317123675/" target="_blank"><img style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-width: 0px;" title="Cheese Selection" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5168/5317123675_3afbf3d5c8.jpg" alt="Cheeseboard and cheeseknife and cheeses" width="500" height="331" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></p>
<p>There&#8217;s been a lot of interest in the subscription e-commerce business model lately. It&#8217;s a model that I think is particularly powerful.</p>
<h3>Getting Someone to Buy is Hard</h3>
<p>Anyone who has run an e-commerce website will tell you that getting a website visitor to buy something is hard.</p>
<p>Think about what&#8217;s involved:</p>
<p>First, you have to get them to your site (often no easy feat in itself).</p>
<p>Next, you need to explain your product and service in a clear and compelling way.</p>
<p>Then, you must reassure them that your website is a safe place to buy something.</p>
<p>Even if they&#8217;ve stayed with you this far (and most won&#8217;t have), there&#8217;s still a good chance they&#8217;ll abandon their purchase part-way through, leaving you in the dark about why &#8211; perhaps their friend just called; maybe they fired up Amazon to see if they could get your product cheaper elsewhere, then got side-tracked into buying the latest DVD boxed set; or they might have just changed their mind.</p>
<p>Put all this together and you can appreciate why, on average, only about 2% of visits to a typical e-commerce website result in a purchase.</p>
<h3>Subscriptions to the Rescue!</h3>
<p>Subscriptions are powerful because, with them, you only have to get each customer through that difficult funnel once. Then it&#8217;s up to you to provide a wonderful service. As long as you do, your customer will, more often than not, remain subscribed.</p>
<h3>Six UK Cheese Retailers can&#8217;t be Wrong</h3>
<p>What&#8217;s that? You don&#8217;t believe me that subscriptions are powerful?</p>
<p>It turns out I&#8217;m not the only person to be keen on subscriptions. UK cheese retailers seem to be particular fans. Incredibly, there are now at least six subscription e-commerce cheese services in the UK alone:</p>
<p><strong>1. Pong</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.pongcheese.co.uk/shop/special-selections"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1233" title="Pong" src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Screen-shot-2011-12-20-at-18.00.32-300x123.png" alt="" width="300" height="123" /></a></p>
<p><strong>2. Norbiton Fine Cheese Co.</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.norbitoncheese.co.uk/stock/cheeseselection.aspx"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1234" title="Norbiton Cheese" src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Screen-shot-2011-12-20-at-18.02.42.png" alt="" width="210" height="139" /></a></p>
<p><strong>3. The Cheese Yard</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.thecheeseyard.com/cheese-store/cheese-club"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1235" title="The Cheese Yard" src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Screen-shot-2011-12-20-at-18.03.00.png" alt="" width="225" height="119" /></a></p>
<p><strong>4. The Cheese Gig</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.thecheesegig.com/rw_shop/ShopViewCat.php?&amp;dx=1&amp;ob=3&amp;new_cat=309"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1240" title="The Cheese Gig" src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Screen-shot-2011-12-20-at-18.07.46.png" alt="" width="154" height="38" /></a></p>
<p><strong>5. The Corbridge Larder</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.corbridgelarder.co.uk/index.php/deli/cheese-subscription-1.html"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1247" title="The Corbridge Larder" src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Screen-shot-2011-12-20-at-18.22.50.png" alt="" width="209" height="96" /></a></p>
<p><strong>6. The Cheese Shed</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.thecheeseshed.com/products/cheese-gifts/vouchers-subscriptions/item/cheese-subscriptions"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1239" title="The Cheese Shed" src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Screen-shot-2011-12-20-at-18.03.59-300x76.png" alt="" width="300" height="76" /></a></p>
<h3>What could You Sell by Subscription?</h3>
<p>I&#8217;ll be interested to see where this trend of subscription e-commerce goes over the next year or two. With the emergence of technology making it ever easier to launch subscription e-commerce services, I expect lots more things to be tried. Who knows&#8230; perhaps there&#8217;ll even be more cheese subscriptions on offer.</p>
<p>What do you think about the recent interest in subscription e-commerce? How far will it go? And what would you like to see sold by subscription?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="Ben Sutherland" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/60179301@N00/5317123675/" target="_blank">Ben Sutherland</a></p>
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		<title>Startups: 23 Ways to Save Money Without Cutting Corners</title>
		<link>http://www.mattcollins.net/2011/11/startup-frugality</link>
		<comments>http://www.mattcollins.net/2011/11/startup-frugality#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:02:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.mattcollins.net/?p=793</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You&#8217;ve started your business, but money&#8217;s tight. You haven&#8217;t got much cash to play with. Here are 23 tactics you can use to be frugal and save money: 1. Use Lean Startup Methodology photo credit: quinet Make sure you&#8217;re building something people want and will pay for. Don&#8217;t spend time and money building it before trying [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You&#8217;ve started your business, but money&#8217;s tight. You haven&#8217;t got much cash to play with.</p>
<p>Here are 23 tactics you can use to be frugal and save money:</p>
<h3>1. Use <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_Startup">Lean Startup</a> Methodology</h3>
<p><strong></strong><a title="Red-eyed fly" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/91994044@N00/6145830137/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6167/6145830137_b1c4f7d954.jpg" alt="Red-eyed fly" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="quinet" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/91994044@N00/6145830137/" target="_blank">quinet</a></small></p>
<p><small></small>Make sure you&#8217;re building something people want and will pay for. Don&#8217;t spend time and money building it before trying to find out. Talk to them first and make sure you understand the problem you&#8217;re trying to solve.</p>
<p>This is one of those things that sounds obvious, but that most people only really learn too late. Read more <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_Startup">here</a>.</p>
<h3>2. Use Quick and Dirty Prototypes</h3>
<p><a title="Final Countdown!" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38869431@N00/6355360215/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6054/6355360215_dda90b6aee.jpg" alt="Final Countdown!" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="juhansonin" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38869431@N00/6355360215/" target="_blank">juhansonin</a></small></p>
<p><small></small>As part of the Lean Startup ideas above, test out your ideas and assumptions with potential customers. Consider using Powerpoint slides to describe your &#8216;product&#8217; before you build it.</p>
<h3>3. Build a Minimum Viable Product, Nothing More</h3>
<p><a title="Paperclip Trebuchet" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/81719291@N00/158654009/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/69/158654009_2d0e7243d1.jpg" alt="Paperclip Trebuchet" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution-ShareAlike License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="robad0b" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/81719291@N00/158654009/" target="_blank">robad0b</a></small></p>
<p><small></small>To start with, build a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product">minimum viable product</a> (MVP) &#8212; be ruthless about leaving out everything that you possibly can.</p>
<h3>4. Keep it Simple</h3>
<p><a title="" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58871905@N03/6395779267/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6118/6395779267_615c570c93.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="dno1967b" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58871905@N03/6395779267/" target="_blank">dno1967b</a></small></p>
<p>The fewer the features you try to build and the simpler you can keep your business, the faster you can move and the cheaper it&#8217;ll be to run.</p>
<h3>5. Don&#8217;t Hire Until You Have To</h3>
<p><a title="kors oversized" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/9248805@N04/6363787731/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6091/6363787731_348ac5cabd.jpg" alt="kors oversized" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution-ShareAlike License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="Idhren" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/9248805@N04/6363787731/" target="_blank">Idhren</a></small></p>
<p>Don&#8217;t hire too soon. Only do so when you and your cofounders really cannot manage any more.</p>
<h3>6. Make Use of Interns</h3>
<p><a title="Whitney" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/39707801@N00/6231554301/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6230/6231554301_e50583cb9c.jpg" alt="Whitney" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution-ShareAlike License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="avhell" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/39707801@N00/6231554301/" target="_blank">avhell</a></small></p>
<p>A job in a startup can be exciting and provide great experience with plenty of responsibility. Offer a great learning opportunity and, especially in a tough economy, you can get smart people for free.</p>
<h3>7. Get Cheap Help from Business School Students</h3>
<p><a title="Dunedin Internship 2011" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21218849@N03/6167249499/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6161/6167249499_e86c1ebf91.jpg" alt="Dunedin Internship 2011" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="Samuel Mann" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21218849@N03/6167249499/" target="_blank">Samuel Mann</a></small></p>
<p>Business school students are often keen to apply what they&#8217;re learning to real-world companies and may be willing to do projects for you for free or very cheaply.</p>
<h3>8. Get Free Help from Local Universities</h3>
<p><a title="Travels in China" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21187388@N06/6379452695/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6226/6379452695_97e5673c4e.jpg" alt="Travels in China" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="University of the Fraser Valley" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21187388@N06/6379452695/" target="_blank">University of the Fraser Valley</a></small></p>
<p>Universities are keen for their students and staff to get involved with industry. Some offer schemes where they&#8217;ll do projects for businesses either for free or for very subsidised rates.</p>
<h3>9. Hire Talent Over Experience</h3>
<p><a title="Sonrisa Colgate" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33166549@N05/5449989874/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5255/5449989874_2cd98ddf85.jpg" alt="Sonrisa Colgate" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="americanistadechiapas" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33166549@N05/5449989874/" target="_blank">americanistadechiapas</a></small></p>
<p>Aim to hire people with talent who haven&#8217;t yet got the experience to command high salaries or rates.</p>
<h3>10. Use Google Apps (Free Edition)</h3>
<p><a title="Google" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/53326337@N00/5847201183/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3461/5847201183_cee79eaacd.jpg" alt="Google" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution-ShareAlike License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="quinn.anya" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/53326337@N00/5847201183/" target="_blank">quinn.anya</a></small></p>
<p>If you have 10 or fewer employees you can use <a href="http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html">Google Apps Free Edition</a> for your email and intranet.</p>
<h3>11. Join Microsoft BizSpark</h3>
<p><a title="Microsoft Partner Day" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/46411239@N05/6394320455/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7162/6394320455_b2006bbc98.jpg" alt="Microsoft Partner Day" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="Microsoft Sweden" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/46411239@N05/6394320455/" target="_blank">Microsoft Sweden</a></small></p>
<p>Microsoft&#8217;s <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/">BizSpark</a> programme supports startups in a variety of ways. An important one is that they&#8217;ll give you access to free Microsoft software (Windows, Office, etc.)</p>
<h3>12. Use Free Trials</h3>
<p><a title="Beer snobs" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/78341140@N00/6245796582/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6110/6245796582_c62021cd9d.jpg" alt="Beer snobs" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="waitscm" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/78341140@N00/6245796582/" target="_blank">waitscm</a></small></p>
<p>There are lots of web-based tools that can be handy for different things during your startup&#8217;s life &#8212; market research, website load testing, keyword analysis, and more. Often you can get a free trial of these tools, and the trial period can be long enough to get a lot of value. Later, when your business grows, come back and invest in a paid subscription.</p>
<h3>13. Get to Know Your Customers Even Better</h3>
<p><a title="Two business men chatting, Pia Gioielli jewelers lion sign, a waiter from Pedro &amp; Lola restaurant, set tables, palm tree, customers, Machado Square, Centro Historico, Sinaloa, Mexico" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/71401718@N00/6355836319/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6094/6355836319_bd52002ae7.jpg" alt="Two business men chatting, Pia Gioielli jewelers lion sign, a waiter from Pedro &amp; Lola restaurant, set tables, palm tree, customers, Machado Square, Centro Historico, Sinaloa, Mexico" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="Wonderlane" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/71401718@N00/6355836319/" target="_blank">Wonderlane</a></small></p>
<p>You can&#8217;t get to know your customers too well. The better you understand them, the more effective your paid marketing will be and the less you&#8217;ll need to spend to get the same results.</p>
<h3>14. Set Up Reciprocal Marketing Deals with Related Businesses</h3>
<p><a title="Meeting with Andrzej Poczobut 06" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38246185@N08/6191037937/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6173/6191037937_004a7d92e3.jpg" alt="Meeting with Andrzej Poczobut 06" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution-NoDerivs License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="PolandMFA" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38246185@N08/6191037937/" target="_blank">PolandMFA</a></small></p>
<p>Find a business that targets a similar demographic. Promote their business to your followers in return for them promoting your business to their followers.</p>
<h3>15. Set Up Revenue-Sharing Deals</h3>
<p><a title="Half and half" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50251125@N08/6303643943/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6211/6303643943_d6a4ef4bff.jpg" alt="Half and half" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution-NoDerivs License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="Rya Pie" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50251125@N08/6303643943/" target="_blank">Rya Pie</a></small></p>
<p>Instead of paying up-front, negotiate with publishers to market your business in return for a cut of the profits they bring you.</p>
<h3>16. A/B Test Continually</h3>
<p><a title="Talking Logistics" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29143375@N05/4664218990/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4664218990_57d20eef12.jpg" alt="Talking Logistics" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution-NoDerivs License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="Gamma-Ray Productions" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29143375@N05/4664218990/" target="_blank">Gamma-Ray Productions</a></small></p>
<p>A/B testing can improve the effectiveness of the key conversion funnels of your business. Many small, incremental improvements over time can translate to a huge improvement in the long run.</p>
<h3>17. Do Your Own PR</h3>
<p><a title="prensa" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44048553@N03/6364237471/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6091/6364237471_7b32d2c458.jpg" alt="prensa" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="Gonmi" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44048553@N03/6364237471/" target="_blank">Gonmi</a></small></p>
<p>Instead of hiring a PR consultant or agency, do your own PR. Journalists prefer to hear from founders anyway. If you&#8217;re based in the US, subscribe to <a href="http://www.helpareporter.com/">Help a Reporter Out</a> (HARO) to connect with journalists writing relevant stories.</p>
<h3>18. Hire Freelancers Over Agencies</h3>
<p><a title="_DSC0149" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31416379@N00/6094596187/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6187/6094596187_eb90fdc431.jpg" alt="_DSC0149" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution-NoDerivs License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="banditob" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31416379@N00/6094596187/" target="_blank">banditob</a></small></p>
<p>Save money by hiring freelancers instead of agencies. Freelancers typically have lower overheads than agencies and can be more flexible about the rates they charge and the way they work.</p>
<h3>19. Attend Local Industry Events to Get Free Advice from Experts</h3>
<p><a title="Women 2.0 Startup Weekend San Francisco 2011" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28694005@N07/6368226103/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6105/6368226103_dcab9a2878.jpg" alt="Women 2.0 Startup Weekend San Francisco 2011" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution-ShareAlike License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="adria.richards" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28694005@N07/6368226103/" target="_blank">adria.richards</a></small></p>
<p>If you live in a major city there are probably events where you can find experts in different areas. Don&#8217;t abuse it, but you&#8217;ll often find people willing to give you some free advice over a couple of drinks. Some events are more structured and directly tailored to startups, for example <a href="http://bootlaw.com/">BootLaw</a> in London is a great way to learn about law related to startups.</p>
<h3>20. Work From Home</h3>
<p><a title="New display is BIG" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58442690@N00/6357901779/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6113/6357901779_404f6159ae.jpg" alt="New display is BIG" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution-NoDerivs License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="Iain Farrell" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58442690@N00/6357901779/" target="_blank">Iain Farrell</a></small></p>
<p>If it&#8217;s just you when you&#8217;re starting out, work from home. Save the money you&#8217;d otherwise be spending on rent.</p>
<h3>21. Ask Suppliers What Special Deal You Can Get</h3>
<p><a title="Bad maths" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/18094879@N00/6363183821/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6052/6363183821_dc463926a3.jpg" alt="Bad maths" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution-NoDerivs License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="Danny Nicholson" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/18094879@N00/6363183821/" target="_blank">Danny Nicholson</a></small></p>
<p>If you don&#8217;t ask, you won&#8217;t get. Being a young company is a great reason to ask for special deals. You won&#8217;t always get them, but it doesn&#8217;t hurt to ask.</p>
<h3>22. Keep Tight Control of Spending</h3>
<p><a title="P1130203" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11946105@N08/5871437920/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5156/5871437920_326c390453.jpg" alt="P1130203" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="sovietmole" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11946105@N08/5871437920/" target="_blank">sovietmole</a></small></p>
<p>Consider having just one credit card for the company so that all the money goes through one person with an overview of the company&#8217;s finances.</p>
<h3>23. Champion Frugality</h3>
<p><a title="Paola Longoria, medalla de Oro" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33166549@N05/6367018865/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6056/6367018865_b3ffe5fc20.jpg" alt="Paola Longoria, medalla de Oro" border="0" /></a><br />
<small><a title="Attribution License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="americanistadechiapas" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33166549@N05/6367018865/" target="_blank">americanistadechiapas</a></small></p>
<p>Lead by example and cultivate a culture of frugality within the company. Make it clear that a frugal attitude is valued.</p>
<p>(Thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/julianhearn">Julian Hearn</a> for tips 18 &amp; 20.)</p>
<p><em>Did you find this useful? If so, please retweet it now:</em></p>
<p><a class="twitter-share-button" href="https://twitter.com/share" data-count="horizontal" data-via="RealMattCollins">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></p>
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		<title>7 Reasons to Start a Business Instead of Doing an MBA</title>
		<link>http://www.mattcollins.net/2011/08/7-reasons-to-start-a-business-instead-of-doing-an-mba</link>
		<comments>http://www.mattcollins.net/2011/08/7-reasons-to-start-a-business-instead-of-doing-an-mba#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:41:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.mattcollins.net/?p=657</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[People sometimes ask me if I&#8217;ve found having an MBA helpful in starting businesses. So is it? If you&#8217;re thinking of starting a business, here are seven reasons why you might not want to do an MBA first: MBA Costs are Potential Startup Capital: Doing an MBA is expensive. If you&#8217;ll be putting your own money [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2011/03/24/funny-pictures-meme-cats-business-cat-quits/?utm_source=embed&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=sharewidget"><img class="event-item-lol-image" title="Funny Pictures - Business Cat" src="http://chzmemebase.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/memes-business-cat-take-this-job.jpg" alt="Funny Pictures - Business Cat" width="500px" height="500px" /></a></p>
<p>People sometimes ask me if I&#8217;ve found having an MBA helpful in starting businesses.</p>
<p>So is it?</p>
<p>If <em>you&#8217;re</em> thinking of starting a business, here are seven reasons why you might <strong>not</strong> want to do an MBA first:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>MBA Costs are Potential Startup Capital</strong>: Doing an MBA is expensive. If you&#8217;ll be putting your own money towards it, you might want to use that money as capital for your business instead. Even if you lose it all, what you learn by having a go may well be an even better education.</li>
<li><strong>Drive is Important</strong>: If you&#8217;re itching to start a business, that&#8217;s a good sign! Entrepreneurship takes passion and energy. You may have the hunger now and less of it later.</li>
<li><strong>Timing is Important</strong>: A large part of successful business is good timing. If you&#8217;ve got an idea and you know the time is right for it now, waiting may not be a good move.</li>
<li><strong>MBA Students May Not be the Right Partners</strong>: MBA students can be smart and analytical, but they&#8217;ve often grown used to corporate environments where lots of day-to-day chores are done for them. In small businesses, you need people who&#8217;ll pitch in and get their hands dirty. That&#8217;s not always a good fit. So your prospective fellow MBA students <em>may</em> not necessarily be the best people to team up with. (It depends what sort of business you&#8217;re looking to build.)</li>
<li><strong>Learning Isn&#8217;t Doing</strong>: The stuff you learn during an MBA is interesting, but it&#8217;s always going to be more theoretical than practical. There&#8217;s nothing like doing something for real to <em>really</em> learn about it.</li>
<li><strong>Large Companies are not Small Companies</strong>: The truth is, most MBA courses are geared mainly towards producing executives for large companies, management consultancies and investment banks. Learning about complicated financial modelling and the challenges of large companies can be great fun, but it&#8217;s also a far cry from the implementation skills you need when running a small company.</li>
<li><strong>Employer Lock-In</strong>: If your employer is willing to fund your MBA, lucky you. Many people would envy your position. But beware: ultimately, your time is what matters the most. Think carefully before you get into a situation where you have to work for a company for a certain period of time after your MBA. You&#8217;ll be postponing your foray into entrepreneurship even further.</li>
</ol>
<p>There are, of course, good reasons to do an MBA, too. For me personally, I think having an MBA <em>has</em> been useful. I&#8217;ll say more about that in a future post.</p>
<p>How about you? Are you thinking of doing an MBA? How are you weighing up this question?</p>
<p>Or have you done an MBA already? What advice would you give to someone following in your footsteps?</p>
<p>Leave a comment. I&#8217;d love to hear your thoughts.</p>
<p><a title="Attribution-ShareAlike License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="mark.hogan" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/48418364@N00/5992698987/" target="_blank">mark.hogan</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>85 Great Resources for London Startups</title>
		<link>http://www.mattcollins.net/2011/08/85-great-resources-for-london-startups</link>
		<comments>http://www.mattcollins.net/2011/08/85-great-resources-for-london-startups#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:07:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.mattcollins.net/?p=706</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you&#8217;re setting up a web-based business in London, there are lots of resources that can come in handy once you know about them. I thought I&#8217;d share some of my favourites here in case there a few you don&#8217;t yet know about. This is a selection of everything from interesting events to attend and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a title="Time" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49691320@N06/5594781960/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5269/5594781960_d9b483161b.jpg" alt="Time" border="0" /></a></p>
<p>If you&#8217;re setting up a web-based business in London, there are lots of resources that can come in handy once you know about them. I thought I&#8217;d share some of my favourites here in case there a few you don&#8217;t yet know about.</p>
<p>This is a selection of everything from interesting events to attend and good books to read through to tools to boost your effectiveness. Some of them will only be useful if you&#8217;re based in London or often visit here; the others are more widely applicable:</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://bootlaw.com/">BootLaw</a> - free events where you can get your legal questions answered (and be entertained, too!)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/">Microsoft BizSpark</a> - startup community offering free Microsoft software</li>
<li><a href="http://www.meetup.com/drinktank/">DrinkTank</a> &#8211; drink beer with startup founders and occasional investors</li>
<li><a href="http://launch48.com/">Launch48</a> &#8211; meet potential co-founders and try to start a business in a weekend</li>
<li><a href="http://london.startupweekend.org/">Startup Weekend</a> - meet potential co-founders and try to start another business in a weekend</li>
<li><a href="http://www.meetup.com/minibar/">Minibar</a> &#8211; see entrepreneurs pitch their startups while you drink free beer</li>
<li><a href="http://london-entrepreneurship.com/">London Business School Entrepreneurial Leadership Lectures</a> - hear experienced founders talk</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/">UK Business Forums</a> &#8211; get nuts and bolts advice from owners of small businesses</li>
<li><a href="http://seedsummit.org/legal-docs/">SeedSummit Term Sheets</a> - see how the investment terms you&#8217;ve been offered stack up against &#8216;standard&#8217; ones (also, see <a href="http://www.bbaa.org.uk/node/104">here</a>)</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/oaLVNU">Don&#8217;t Make Me Think</a> - learn how to make your website easier to use</li>
<li><a href="http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/?partner=CCTNIS">Visual Website Optimizer</a> - run A/B tests easily and get more from your website</li>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html">Google Apps (free edition)</a> - host up to 10 email accounts for free</li>
<li><a href="http://ajaxwhois.com/">Ajax Whois</a> - quickly check whether domain names are available</li>
<li><a href="http://eepurl.com/eNqqY">MailChimp</a> &#8211; send mass emails and track what happens to them (and get UI inspiration!)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/lessons-learnt-viral-marketing/">Viral Marketing</a> - a nice article on the Maths behind viral marketing</li>
<li><a href="http://www.performable.com/buttons/">Super Conversion Button</a> &#8211; create good call-to-action web buttons</li>
<li><a href="http://loadimpact.com/">Load Impact</a> &#8211; easily run load tests on your website</li>
<li><a href="http://www.linode.com/?r=ed14bbb2e4c24448987736f858f3264a6844dae8">Linode</a> - get cheap, reliable hosting in UK or US data centres (but set the servers up yourself)</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/oA16Fe">Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords</a> &#8211; learn how to run Adwords campaigns</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/pZM4hz">Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion</a> - understand how to nudge people into doing what you want</li>
<li><a href="http://eu.techcrunch.com/">TechCrunch Europe</a> - read the European bit of the blog that every startup person reads</li>
<li><a href="http://fiverr.com">Fiverr</a> &#8211; get small tasks done for $5 (try this out for fun at the very least!)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.pingdom.com/">Pingdom</a> - get an alert if your website goes down while you&#8217;re at Minibar drinking beer</li>
<li><a href="http://theleanstartup.com/">Lean Startup</a> &#8211; methodology to help figure out whether you&#8217;re starting the right business</li>
<li><a href="http://mixergy.com/">Mixergy</a> - learn from interviews with successful entrepreneurs</li>
<li><a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/">Hacker News</a> - read what techie startup people are finding interesting at the moment</li>
<li><a href="http://www.meetup.com/HNLondon/">Hacker News London</a> - meet techie startup people in the flesh. Drink beer with them</li>
<li><a href="http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/">Business Link</a> &#8211; find official government information about business regulations</li>
<li><a href="http://wordpress.org/">WordPress</a> &#8211; build all sorts of websites quickly and cheaply (definitely <em>not</em> just for blogs)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.woothemes.com/amember/go.php?r=38920&amp;i=l0">Woothemes</a> &#8211; get a great-looking theme for your website</li>
<li><a href="http://getclicky.com/66453042">Clicky</a> &#8211; get realtime analytics for your website (and impress your co-founders with their very cool &#8216;big-screen&#8217; display)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/">SurveyMonkey</a> &#8211; run surveys easily</li>
<li><a href="http://sendgrid.com/">SendGrid</a> &#8211; make sure your emails get delivered</li>
<li><a href="http://www.techhub.com/">TechHub</a> &#8211; work surrounded by fellow entrepreneurs at this startup-centric office space</li>
<li><a href="http://www.opensoho.com/">OpenSoho</a> &#8211; have drinks with startup and digital media folks</li>
<li><a href="http://www.facebookgarage.org.uk/">Facebook Developer Garage</a> &#8211; find out the latest goings-on in the world of Facebook</li>
<li><a href="http://momolo.org/">Mobile Monday London</a> - find out the latest goings-on in the world of mobile</li>
<li><a href="http://lrug.org/">LRUG</a> -meet smart Ruby developers and learn clever coding tips and techniques</li>
<li><a href="http://www.moo.com/share/d6xtty">Moo</a> &#8211; order yourself some cute mini business cards</li>
<li><a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/">TweetDeck</a> &#8211; track lots of things at once on Twitter</li>
<li><a href="http://www.magentocommerce.com/">Magento</a> &#8211; set up a powerful e-commerce website</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/">Bit.ly</a> &#8211; see how many times people click on the links you share</li>
<li><a href="http://starbucks.co.uk/">Starbucks</a> &#8211; get fairly reliable free wifi almost anywhere in London</li>
<li><a href="http://www.lepainquotidien.co.uk/">Le Pain Quotidien</a> &#8211; hang out in a nice cafe environment with free wifi</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bl.uk/bipc/">British Library Business &amp; IP Centre</a> &#8211; get free access to market research reports</li>
<li><a href="http://www.out-law.com/">Out-law.com</a> &#8211; find legal information about IT and e-commerce</li>
<li><a href="http://99designs.com/">99designs</a> &#8211; get a logo designed</li>
<li><a href="http://seedsummit.org/">SeedSummit</a> - find seed investors</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/nthJWD">The E-myth Revisited</a> &#8211; learn why you should create a system</li>
<li><a href="http://www.sethgodin.com/">Seth Godin</a> &#8211; learn why you should forget your system</li>
<li><a href="http://gettingreal.37signals.com/">Getting Real</a> &#8211; read how to build web apps faster and more easily</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/qMrXNG">The Ultimate Sales Machine</a> &#8211; read ideas about how to sell more effectively</li>
<li><a href="http://www.appsumo.com/?r=B0AG">Appsumo</a> &#8211; save money on stuff for your startup</li>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com/alerts">Google Alerts</a> &#8211; find out whenever someone mentions your startup online</li>
<li><a href="http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors">SEOMoz Search Ranking Factors</a> &#8211; learn what&#8217;s important for appearing high up in search engine results</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/pXIzSq">The Four Steps to the Epiphany</a> &#8211; read the original bible of the Lean Startup movement</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/n3yl4v">The Entrepreneur&#8217;s Guide to Customer Development</a> - read the cheat-sheet version of the Lean Startup bible</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/oKsxdq">Ogilvy on Advertising</a> &#8211; understand advertising better</li>
<li><a href="https://plus.google.com/100469016644210248087">Google+</a> - is it going to be big? I think so. How about you? <a href="https://plus.google.com/100469016644210248087">Add me now anyway</a> and say &#8216;hi&#8217; :-)</li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/realmattcollins">Twitter</a> &#8211; it&#8217;s big already. Click this button to start following me: <a class="twitter-follow-button" href="https://twitter.com/realmattcollins" data-show-count="true" data-lang="en" data-show-screen-name="false">Follow @realmattcollins</a><br />
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<li><a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html">Paul Graham&#8217;s Essays</a> &#8211; pick up entrepreneurial wisdom from the guy behind Y-Combinator</li>
<li><a href="http://andrewchenblog.com/">Futuristic Play</a> &#8211; learn more about online marketing</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.asmartbear.com/">A Smart Bear</a> &#8211; absorb entrepreneurial wisdom from an experienced founder</li>
<li><a href="https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/KeywordToolExternal ">Adwords Keyword Tool</a> &#8211; find out how many people are searching for something</li>
<li><a href="http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-3252785-10713612">oDesk</a> &#8211; hire people on the other side of the world</li>
<li><a title="Picky Domains" href="http://bit.ly/pickydomains">PickyDomains</a> &#8211; challenge people to find you a great domain name or slogan</li>
<li><a href="http://www.enternships.com/">Enternships</a> &#8211; hire entrepreneurially-minded interns</li>
<li><a href="http://www.seedcamp.com/">Seedcamp</a> &#8211; get money and coaching in return for a share in your business</li>
<li><a href="http://www.usertesting.com/">UserTesting</a> - find out whether anyone can use your website</li>
<li><a href="http://www.psd2html.com/">PSD2HTML</a> - convert that slick PSD your designer created into CSS and HTML</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/sedouk">Sedo</a> &#8211; buy a decent domain name</li>
<li><a href="http://www.virtualbox.org/">VirtualBox</a> &#8211; run a virtual Windows machine so you can test old and annoying versions of IE, even if you have a new and shiny Mac</li>
<li><a href="http://db.tt/NOvJo8X">Dropbox</a> &#8211; share documents with your co-founders</li>
<li><a href="http://docs.google.com/">Google Docs</a> &#8211; share documents with your co-founders and edit them together</li>
<li><a href="http://www.producttank.com/">ProductTank</a> &#8211; hobnob with product managers</li>
<li><a href="http://startupdigest.com/london-startup/">London Startup Digest</a> &#8211; get a curated email of London&#8217;s startup-related goings-on</li>
<li><a href="http://www.sicamp.org/si-camp-uk/">Social Innovation Camp</a> &#8211; do something good with your talents</li>
<li><a href="http://reports.toastmasters.org/findaclub/searchresults.cfm?Country=United%20Kingdom&amp;State=England&amp;City=London">Toastmasters</a> &#8211; become more confident talking in front of an audience</li>
<li><a href="http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/gsdDetail?itemId=1081834978">Enterprise Finance Guarantee</a> - get backing from the government to help you get a loan</li>
<li><a href="http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/">The Gary Halbert Letter</a> - improve your copywriting</li>
<li><a href="http://patterntap.com/">PatternTap</a> &#8211; web UI design patterns</li>
<li><a href="http://www.innovateuk.org/">Technology Strategy Board</a> &#8211; enter funding competitions and apply for grants</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theequitykicker.com/">The Equity Kicker</a> &#8211; read views from Nic Brisbourne, a London VC</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/apply/">Dragon&#8217;s Den</a> - entertain your friends and family by pitching your business on TV</li>
<li><a href="http://www.meetup.com/londonocc/">OpenCoffee</a> - attend weekly coffee meetups and mingle with budding entrepreneurs</li>
</ol>
<p>I hope that&#8217;s helped you discover at least a few new things that will come in handy.</p>
<p><em>Did you find this useful? If so, please retweet it now:</em></p>
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<p><a title="Attribution-NoDerivs License" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/plugins/photo-dropper/images/cc.png" alt="Creative Commons License" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.photodropper.com/photos/" target="_blank">photo</a> credit: <a title="Lillais.Burke" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49691320@N06/5594781960/" target="_blank">Lillais.Burke</a></p>
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		<title>Boudoir Privé – Beauty Boxes by Subscription</title>
		<link>http://www.mattcollins.net/2011/07/boudoir-prive-beauty-boxes-by-subscription</link>
		<comments>http://www.mattcollins.net/2011/07/boudoir-prive-beauty-boxes-by-subscription#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jul 2011 23:19:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Projects & Experiments]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.mattcollins.net/?p=628</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve recently launched a new subscription e-commerce business and it turns out we&#8217;re in a hot space again (as we were with DealBunch and the daily deal phenomenon last year)&#8230; Boudoir Privé is all about meeting the desire that a lot of women have for beauty products. Each month, we send out luxury &#8216;beauty boxes&#8217; with [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.mattcollins.net/2011/07/boudoir-prive-beauty-boxes-by-subscription/boxes" rel="attachment wp-att-629"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-629" title="Boudoir Privé Beauty Boxes" src="http://www.mattcollins.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/boxes.jpg" alt="Two pink boxes with the Boudoir Privé logo" width="180" height="128" /></a>I&#8217;ve recently launched a new subscription e-commerce business and it turns out we&#8217;re in a hot space again (as we were with <a href="http://www.mattcollins.net/2010/02/group-buying-deals-for-london">DealBunch</a> and the daily deal phenomenon last year)&#8230;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.boudoirprive.co.uk">Boudoir Privé</a> is all about meeting the desire that a lot of women have for beauty products. Each month, we send out luxury &#8216;beauty boxes&#8217; with 5 or 6 deluxe-size samples of everything from makeup to skincare. It&#8217;s a way for people to try out expensive and high-end products to figure out which ones work best for their personal needs.</p>
<p>Each product comes from a different brand and, for the brands we work with, it&#8217;s a great way to get their products into people&#8217;s homes and to reach a key, influential group of customers who are both passionate about beauty and active in social media.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m happy to say we&#8217;ve had a great uptake since our launch. Only about 12 hours after the public launch of our website, all our August boxes had already been snapped up.</p>
<p>If you or someone you know would like to get hold of one of our September boxes, then don&#8217;t miss out! Take this tip from me: <a href="http://signup.boudoirprive.co.uk">sign up here now</a> and we&#8217;ll let you know when the September boxes go on sale.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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