Web Entrepreneurs and Startups

99 Designs - Best designs for any startup

2010-02-15T12:00:00.001-08:00

99 Designs - 99designs.com

I created my first logo and style guide at 99 designs.
Found it suitable for my not-so-deep pocket.
They designed logo and content management for me.
After many iterations, I got what I wanted!

Scalr - best provider of Cloud Computing - cheapest way to scale website traffic

2010-02-04T09:09:00.001-08:00

Scalr - scalr.com

I have worked with Amazon's cloud services.
And Scalr is among its best providers.
Running your website in cheaper than ever!

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Benefits of iPad for Entrepreneurs, Startups, and WE - the people

2010-01-28T08:24:00.000-08:00

iPad versus standard Notebook PCs

Apple today launched its tablet PC christened iPad. Although it is not a full fledged notebook PC, but how many would like to carry a full functional PC with them. ...geez... what am I saying? afterall we all need our word processor, presentation programs, graphic softwares, etc.

Relax. At the core of any PC is its Operating System. Imagine the freedom of choosing PC if the Operating System is web-based, like Google Chrome OS. So stop criticizing iPad for common notebook features.

Benefits of iPad for startups and entrepreneurs, particularly those related to online businesses

Here is a device we have always imagined - one which is slimmer, economic to own, has best-of-the-breed usability. Writing ideas, googleing on them, communicating our idea to co-founders, has never been easier.

Integrate with 140,000 existing iPad apps, and many more soon to be launched iPad applications, and you can give shape to your ideas, while on the move, say in a cab.

Developing Apps for iPad is a great opportunity for all creative earthlings.

Touch screen devices have always had the potential to be breeding ground for creativity. But we know their small size has been the real deterrent. Not anymore with this new child on the block - iPad.

iPad has proximity sensing device. Imagine yourself a logo designer strolling through a busy suburb, watching unrelated objects around and you suddenly visualize a theme. You can just clicks a picture of the scene, move fingers over the image to draw overlapping free hand sketch, attach some words to the snapshot, and saves it locally. When you reaches your home or pod in evening, you open the saved image and find yourself back in the street. without loosing any creative sparks.

Check this space for more on the Benefits of iPad.

Most common reasons for web startups to fail

2010-01-26T13:13:00.000-08:00

THE most common reasons for a web startup to fail these days are:

Lack of market research: "I thought that this may become the hottest social trend." is a common ass-u-me-uption people make these days.

Lack of differentiation. People had enough of Orkuts, Facebooks, and Twitters; Think something new. Do not start something because the space for it is hot these days or because similar other things are hot cakes today; start something which is really cool and people need it; and again the need should be read, based on market research.

Cloud computing and RESTful webservice for Entrepreneurs, Enterprise Application Integration, Insurance companies

2010-01-21T10:05:00.000-08:00

Cloud computing - silver lining for all we based applications.
Restful web service - enabler of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) over simple HTTP protocol.

Entrepreneurs can leverage Restful web service and Cloud Computing to provide economic, scalable, and robust services over internet. Restful web services bring better control and reporting for service providers and service consumers. An example is improved reporting / matrices of amount of data transferred over REST based channel.

Planning to start internet business - Feasibility of an idea

2010-01-20T02:32:00.000-08:00

Idea Sparks

Someday, somewhere you are sitting in the park, or talking to an acquaintance.

Suddenly you know you are thinking about some product or application.

This product or application, if it exists, would be just right for that moment.

You think it would be a cool thing to have.

Googling and Documenting

And for next few days you are going to be busy googling domain information available on that idea;and discussing it with friends.

You decide that you will make a website to realize that idea.

Next day you have a domain registered for that very website.

Now you have a list of document to prepare before you start implementing your web idea.

You start writing business plan (BP), create Marketing Research Document (MRD)

and / or Product Requirement Document (PRD).

Realization

Suddenly you feel you idea is not that new. May be you need a better implementation.

After more research, you find that starkly similar product / application / website already exists.

Then you try to differentiate yourself from what exists.

But now you are loosing steam to implement the idea.

I know what went wrong?

Does this sound familiar to you? I had this experience a couple of times.

After some thinking, I found something two things:

Ideas of such products / websites had one thing in common.They were nice to have; none of them actually fulfilled some need of somebody somewhere on Internet.
Other thing I found is that one should be very specific about is the target audience – geographic distribution, social segment, age, occupation, offline attitude, among others.

What do you feel about this? How do you decide if some idea is worth implementing?

Any program is only as good as it is useful. - Linus Torvalds

I found a good page for understanding various terms related to marketing your web product at http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/your-seo-market-place

Dogged ... foolish...

2010-01-13T07:37:00.000-08:00

Addressing the State of Your Mind

"I don't think that your idea will work"... more often than not you will hear this comment from friends with whom you discuss your CREATIVE idea for second time.

To some this rings death knell of their idea; for some this strengthen their resolve to do what they have started..

Absolutely-correct-thing-to-do might lie somewhere in between

But nothing is ever achieved without dogged passion.

"Business opportunities are like buses, there is always another one coming." - Richard Branson

How to create a great User Experience (UX)

2009-12-29T10:55:00.000-08:00

Points to remember about User Experience

1. User Experience is more than User Interface; it is totality.

2. It should also make the product desirable, and not just usable.

3. Experience is a middle path between user's needs and the business needs.

4. User Experience is an ongoing process; it should be improved continuously, based on feedback.

5. User Experience is how helpful the experience is; not how technologically advanced is it.

6. It need not be labor or time intensive; it should just make sense.

7. Product / graphic designing good UX may not be eazy; target users should be understood and not assumed.

8. Most important point is that User Experience is NOT JUST A CHOICE.

Branding tips for Entrepreneurs

2009-12-14T22:50:00.000-08:00

Branding your offering? Know these before you proceed:

1. Brand name should reflect positivity; making people feel good.
2. Focus on your specialty; be a niche player.
3. Use plain language/English. No jargon. Ask parents / friends what they understand by the name.
4. Distinguish your message; Try "opposite test".
5. Cascade the message in and out.
6. PR power is not attained by money power. Brands are made by what people say about a brand; not brand says about itself.
7. Be humane. Brand should associate like an individual, not as part of market.
8. Flow with the go. See what customers stick for you.