Understanding startups – Dropmocks.com – Amazing photo sharing tool

The second start-up that I want to talk about in my series of blogs on start-ups is an interesting start-up called http://www.dropmocks.com/. This is a very simple photo sharing application. To share your photos, all you need to do is drag and drop the photos to the webpage and you get a link that you can then share with all your friends for free. All this can be done under 2 minutes! No registration or sign-up required! No advertisements! Now this is simplicity at its best.   Question now is how they will make money. I see the following options […]

3 reasons to start a successful startup

Any start-up which has gone on to become highly successful does fall under one of these criteria:   They found a solution to a problem everyone knew but no one had solved till then. They found a potential problem not known to the market till then and tried to solve it first They found ways to solve a known problem dramatically (5x times) better/faster/cheaper. There are a lot of start-ups which achieve decent success just by adding new functionality to an existing product/service as well. They thrive till the overall market grows and then inevitably stagnate for growth. The one’s […]

The Art of the Quick Phone Call

I have found the article on the art of the quick phone call by Mark Suster very interesting and helpful. I have had to sell to a lot of people on the phone and I have learnt from experience that the tips that Mark has listed work really well. Few more things that I would like to add to the list are: Summarize the discussion or decision in an email and share it with the caller. This will help clear mis-understandings upfront.  Pls share any pre-read that can help save time and provide back-ground information for the call at least a day ahead if possible or […]

Understanding Startups – D2O

Today, I came across an interesting start-up: D2O (as in Distribution 2.0). They have already been profiled in Headstart network and yourstory. The name sounds very interesting. The space is also very interesting. They are in the process to create a product agnostic distribution network which can distribute any product nationwide. They have started operations in Mumbai and are seeking to scale-up. My take on the start-up is as below. The most important aspect of any successful business is the business model. Let me try to put in my understanding of their business model: Value Proposition: Re-define conventional distribution networks […]