創業小故事 (3) - 從群眾中取得資金

This is a special case of “sell it before you build it”. The basic idea is simple: launch a crowdfunding campaign on platforms such as Kickstarter, IndieGoGo and RocketHub. Not only will you validate if customers want to buy your product, but you will also raise money.

有一個特別的案例，「在有產品之前先賣」。這基礎的概念是簡單的。取得群眾資金從平台 KickStarter, IndieGoGo 以及 RocketHub. 這不僅確認客戶要不要買你的產品，而是你能否募得資金。

And the benefits do not stop there. What you win in a successful crowdfunding campaign is a tribe of early adopters and raving fans. In this ReadWriteWeb article, Scott Steinberg advises to “embrace them and stay in constant contact. Not only are they likely to help you spread the word, but many times they’ll also offer to contribute to your business in other ways”.

然而，好處不僅止於這樣。你用什麼贏得群眾資金在早期的使用者與胡言亂語的粉絲所集中的一個部落。Scott Steinberg 建議擁抱他們同時保持緊密的聯繫。不僅只是他們可以幫助你散播關鍵字，而是他們將透過不同的方式對你的商業提供貢獻。

Of course, crowdfunding will not work for just any type of product. Most products seem to have a strong consumer focus, and a value that is easy to communicate. Just have a look at the Kickstarter’s 10 Biggest Success Stories.

當然，群眾資金將不僅是為了任一型態的產品工作。大部分的產品看起來像是強力聚焦在消費者上，有一個價值很簡單去溝通。可以看看 Kickstarter's 10 個最大的成功故事。

創業小故事 (2) - 門房 MVP

Concierge MVP(門房 MVP)

Instead of providing a product, you start with a manual service. But not just any service! The service should consist of exactly the same steps people would go through with your product.

不僅是提供產品，你開始提供一個手動的服務。然而不僅是服務，這服務應包含一個相同的步驟，人們可以和你的產品通過這個步驟。

Food on the table provides easy weekly recipe and grocery lists based on sales at your store. They need lots of stuff to make this work. A list of stores and groceries, weekly updates on sales, recipes, algorithms to match your preference to recipes to promotions…

Food on the table 提供一個簡單的每週收據和物品清單根據銷售給你的商店，他們需要很多的東西才能完成這個工作。商店及雜貨列表，每週根據銷售、食譜、演算法每週更新來吻合你的喜愛到收據到促銷。

It’s a lot. 這很多工作。

But the founders did not start by building all these assets. Again, from Riese’s book, we learn what happened.

但是創業者一開始並不建構所有的資產。再一次，從 Riese's 書中，我們學到發生了什麼事？

Before building anything, the two founders went to their local shop in Austin. They interviewed shoppers until they found one that was interested in their service.

在建構任何事之前，這兩個創業者跑道他們在 Austin 的地區型商店。他們採訪採購者直到找到一個對他們的服務感興趣的。

She got a concierge treatment. 她得到一個門房的待遇。

The CEO visited her every week. He came with a shopping list and selected recipes, carefully chosen based on (a) her preferences and (b) promotions in the local store. The list was updated on the spot based on her desires and feedback. Most importantly, the CEO would pick a check of $9.95 for this service.

這個老闆每週拜訪她。他帶著一串採購清單以及挑選過得食譜，小心的選擇建構在他的喜好及地區型商店的促銷。這清單基於顧客的喜好及回饋即時更新。更重要的，這 CEO 從這服務中收費 9.95 美金。

This was no way to get rich.

這是不可能致富的。

But each week, they would learn more about what it takes to make their product a success. They kept adding more customers to their weekly visits, until they couldn’t handle the load any more.

但每週，他們將學習到更多有關什麼促使他們的產品成功。他們保持每週增加拜訪更多的客戶，直到他們不能處理這些負擔。

Only then they started coding.

只有這樣他們才開始寫程式。

One week they start sending lists and recipes via e-mail. A next one they wrote a piece of software to parse promotional store lists. Eventually, they started taking payments online.

某週他們開始透過 e-mail 傳送清單及食譜。下一個他們寫一堆程式去解析促銷的商店清單。最後，他們開始線上收費。

Only after validating the basic product with customers of their initial store, they started adding stores, first in their region, to eventually grow into a nationwide business.

只有經過確認基本的產品和他們的初始商店的客戶，他們開始增加商店，首先在他們的區域，最後成長成為一個國際級商店。

創業小故事 (1) - 潘朵拉 MVP

 Zappos shoes 是最大的線上鞋子零售商，每年的銷售額超過 1 百萬美元，在期初的創業者開始一個潘朵拉似的產品，創業者並沒有大量的產品庫存也沒有投資在 e-emmerce 的後端系統。相反地，他去傳統的地區行鞋店。他請求這些鞋店老闆們的同意對這些鞋子照相並將他們放到網路上。一旦有訂單產生，他就去鞋店買下來，並將這些鞋子寄出去，靠自己手動處理所有商業的工作。

 心得：創業不見得要靠自己，臉皮厚一點，借力使力也是不錯得方法。