Life as an Internet startup
Some few days ago I came through a post in one the groups I am that read: “Having a website doesn’t make you a startup“, Apparently this statement is so true, Ask someone what their startup does and you get redirected to their website, yes they are just, you taking a glimpse and read of they do will tell you more, The Website mirrors the live acts but let’s leave alone that, We have the Internet startups, everything is done online, virtual offices and meetings, Investments and acquisitions all online.
This leaves you wondering is this a right thing? Will the company grow? Can they be trusted if they have no offices? Take an example of a company that is fully dedicated to BOTS, what could be the need of this physical spaces and solutions? not that I’m advocation for no office space, but some freelance startups have really made it through and some really find it hard to make their way through, Leave alone making it through finding the Idea of creating an Internet startup is quite a hustle.
The Internet has many Ideas of which this means if you are clouded on the Internet then you have to be bounded by the rules, and this means you are so vulnerable to many anonymous thoughts on the pros and cons of how you should do it. The Internet is an Ecosystem on its own and you have to be careful of you die. Everyone online is an entrepreneur, just in different ways, others create memes, others create bots, others post items for sale, others create E-commerce sites, you can see it just depends on what you view and how you perceive your Internet audience: and the audience has to be kept active, the buyers need new items, companies need bots to ease functionalities.
Venturing into the Internet is facing an unknown enemy and an unknown battle, since you won’t know what to expect, maybe your review may go down in history like Snapdeal. The Internet is not the faint hearted, you will receive all kind of trolls and everything, mentioning some perks that come along with the internet and According to many sources, more than 90% (Ninety percent) of all Internet business start-ups end in failure within the first 120 (one hundred twenty) days. And that number is all too accurate: NINETY PERCENT! What really happens to the ten percent? what makes them succeed? For Africa, since us gaining capital for the Physical ventures perhaps we may decide to be the 10% since we can get noticed so quick online. Maybe!
It’s Quite a challenge, let’s take for instance the social media addicted entrepreneur, FaceBook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram calls f or duty each time you want to focus on your business, Yes a Meme is trending and you don’t want to miss the joy, so you postpone and join the troll caravan. That’s Time gone, you would have shared your business to a couple of personnel, and being a successful Entrepreneur calls for discipline. Anything that’s online doesn’t run on auto-pilot, you have to sleep late hustle the users and customers in a different timezone from your, you need to research make friends and being careful not of being spammed.
Running an online business, calls for the right mindset, you hit your refresh button each time you feel you arent working properly, The Internet is a cottage for laziness when not used wisely, check out the social influencers, a good example is Wikkly : a Nigerian startup that profiles social media influencers in different Categories of your choice From Tech to daily life to music to Beaty and Many more. This is a startup earning from the internet and also creating employment for those who use the internet with the right mindset.
The Internet just a physical workspace needs a business model, a business is a business, Don’t assume your game online, stack your cards well, You need to earn money, you need to attract investors, you need to be a solution provider, don’t count on your ” Go get it! fam we got your back ” It’s tricky they won’t support you to the very level you want. so strategize your model. You are your own boss and this is tricky for you also have the I will do it later right now I have something to do, it’s mine it won’t run, mindset. The Internet Startup has much to bear in mind, you have to be good socially, be good in the content creation and practice discipline online, Let’s not turn backs to the Internet startups and say ” It;s just another social scam,” They are part of the ecosystem.
Featured Image by Keenan Pepper/ Flickr Under CC BY 2.0 Licence.
