Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Upscaling and Scaling Business Ideas – Jeff Bezos takes Amazon from Online Bookstore to Global Dominance

Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders – Episode 4



This video is part of my series - Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders, learn more by visiting https://bit.ly/3hExYJX


Congratulations, your market testing worked and you were able to find customers, or at least one customer. Your beta test was successful and you are confident that you are ready for more. What do you do when you start getting customers or users? I recommend you do some scaling or upscaling. 

Quick clarification, I have seen the terms scaling and upscaling used interchangeably in the startup world. For our purposes, we will use the term scaling to mean taking the actions necessary to grow your customer base. We will use the term upscaling to mean improving the quality of your business.

Market testing is performing activities designed to prove or disprove that there is a market for your business idea. We did a limited amount of market testing during our beta testing. Now that you have proven you can find a service 1-2 customers, let’s see what happens when you try to do handle 10, 12, 14 customers/users. This is scaling your business. 

I call this mini-scaling, since we are probably not ready to handle thousands of customers/users yet. Let’s put the business processes, system, and the business idea you have built under some pressure. Do you do it all yourself? Can your team handle it? Do you need to hire employees or contractors? Do you need another location or more space? Can you use technology to help smooth the transition? Do you need other financial assets? Upscaling your business is the goal. 

One of the things you will learn very quickly is that there is a difference between serving one customer vs. serving 10 customers vs. 100 customers. It can change almost everything about your business processes.

Jeff Bezos started Amazon started as a bookseller in 1994, and later scaled by first adding things like home appliances and video games. Today the online retailer sells almost anything.  

Amazon also upscaled by offering online customers much more than just products. Jeff Bezos initially stayed away from carrying inventory. Today, the online marketplace own warehouses full of inventory. Amazon also offers entrepreneurs the ability to sell their products through their website. In 2006 Amazon started offering order fulfillment services. Today, Amazon is one of the largest companies in the world

You need to think the same way to create your billion-dollar company. Scaling and upscaling are not just one-time things. They both need to become part of your culture and ongoing growth strategy.



Are you looking for funding for an idea or business, send us your stuff and we will take a look, Funding@OmegaSeedFund.com

Are you interested in investing time or money into any of our businesses, info@omegaseedfund.com

Are you interested in promoting your product or service to our audience, contact Opportunities@OmegaSeedFund.com


Disclaimer: This is only for informational and discussion purposes. This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax




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Previous Post - Beta Test Your Business Idea, How Entrepreneurs Market and Prove Business Ideas Before Claiming They Have Discovered the Next Uber - Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders – Episode 3

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Thursday, May 20, 2021

Are You Tired Of Working for Other People on Their Terms? Have You Dreamed of Designing the Lifestyle That Is Right for You? Here Is Your Chance.




This video is part of my series - Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders, learn more by visiting https://bit.ly/3hExYJX


Are You Tired Of Working for Other People on Their Terms? 

Have You Dreamed of Designing the Lifestyle That Is Right for You? 

Here Is Your Chance.

Register today so you don't miss out, https://bit.ly/343KXwB



Featured Opportunities 

Please email Opportunities@omegaaccelerator.com, if any of the following opportunities interest you. We have opportunities for novices, experienced entrepreneurs, and seasoned angel investors. 

-Work when you want

-Work where you want

-Work on what you want 


We recommend you email us immediately because opportunities are often allocated on a first come, first serve basis. Register today so you don't miss future opportunities, https://bit.ly/343KXwB


Healthcare Society Relaunch 

We are looking for an advisor to manage the relaunch of our physician society that helps physicians start, grow, and sell their medical practices. The ideal advisor will have experience advising healthcare administrators and physician entrepreneurs. A large network of healthcare professionals will also be helpful. $75-$125 per hour plus incentives. 


Cybersecurity Startup Founding Team

We are forming a startup team to launch a cybersecurity business. We are looking for founders to fill the following roles. $5,000-$25,000 investment and 10-20 hours per week required, flexible schedule,100% remote. $100,000-150,000 annual compensation plus incentives. Compensation begins after seed-round is complete. 

-IT and Cybersecurity - Identity protection 

-Digital Marketing - Website, social media, direct email  

-Fundraising - Seed-round and Series A

-Sales - Strategic partnerships and direct to consumer


Roles for First-Time Startup Advisors 

Are you eager to work with early-stage businesses, but lack the knowledge and experience necessary to advise startups? We can help. We have roles suited for novice startup advisors that need experience. Although these projects are unpaid, these projects should help you earn the knowledge and experience you need. You may even earn paid consulting engagements by showing your talents working in these roles. 

-Funding Marketing Assistant - Help us identify and apply for funding from relevant funding sources. 


-Technology Applications Assistant - Help us identify, test, and implement technology solutions for various purposes.


Please register today so you you never miss another opportunity, https://bit.ly/343KXwB 


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Disclaimer: This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering legal, investment, tax, or medical advice.


Tuesday, May 18, 2021

How Entrepreneurs Beta Test a Business Idea, Proving You Found the Next Uber

Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders – Episode 3



This video is part of my series - Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders, learn more by visiting https://bit.ly/3hExYJX


After you have your business idea and your sales pitch in place, the next step for an entrepreneur is to understand how to beta test his/her business idea. Before you can build a billion or trillion dollar empire, you might want to start with one sale.

Beta testing is a round of testing releasing your business to a wide audience. The objective is to uncover problems and issues in a controlled setting. This term beta testing is typically used in SAAS, Software as a Service, companies, but it can be applied to any business startup.

Start talking to people as soon as possible. Friends, family, and coworkers are a great starting point. What do they like? What do they not like? Personally, I have found the best way to beta test an idea is to go out there and actually try to sell it. The best way to see if there is a market for your business is to see if strangers will pay you for it. I recommend you do this under very controlled conditions in order to minimize exposing the potential problems of your business to a limited number of people. 

If you cannot sell it, you need to expand your beta test or consider pivoting. You will save a lot of time, energy, and aggravations if you can discover this as early as possible. That is why I do this early and often.

What do you do if people do buy your product or service? Congratulations, this is a good thing! It means you are on to something. Try to fulfill the order. Do not worry about making money yet. Work on fulfilling the order. Profitability comes with growth and economies of scale. 
 
You may be thinking, “I can’t do fulfill the order, I am working on an app.” I would argue almost any business beta test their concept, even SAAS companies before their software is fully developed. For example, Take Uber before their app was developed. You can place ads and hire a bunch of uber drivers to drive people from place-to-place in their cars. You can also solicit customers that need rides through ads, networking, cold calls. Is this efficient? No. Will this be profitable? Probably not. Will this give you an idea of demand and identify some future problems? Definitely! 

There is no downside when an entrepreneur beta tests their business idea. If you find out that nobody wants what you are selling, than you can pivot into something better. You also save a lot of time, energy, and aggravation down the road. 

If you succeed, then you can leverage your beta test into moving forward with confidence. You also have data validating your business to potential investors. 



Are you looking for funding for an idea or business, send us your stuff and we will take a look, Funding@OmegaSeedFund.com

Are you interested in investing time or money into any of our businesses, info@omegaseedfund.com

Are you interested in promoting your product or service to our audience, contact Opportunities@OmegaSeedFund.com


Disclaimer: This is only for informational and discussion purposes. This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice. 



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Previous Post - Building a powerful elevator pitch - How Steve Jobs Stole John Sculley From Pepsi During the Early Days of Apple - Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders – Episode 2

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Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Building a powerful elevator pitch - How Steve Jobs' Stole John Sculley From Pepsi During the Early Days of Apple

Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders – Episode 2


This video is part of my series - Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders, learn more by visiting https://bit.ly/3hExYJX


After you pick the business idea you want to explore, it is time to go to work. The next step is for an entrepreneur is to build an elevator pitch. What is an elevator pitch?

An elevator pitch is a short, concise way of describing your business to outsiders who have no idea about you or your business. It is a prepared mini-speech designed to spark interest in potential investors, customers, and employees. A good elevator pitch is succinct, intriguing, and memorable. A great elevator pitch makes your listener want to learn more. An amazing elevator pitch makes your listener drop everything and join you. More on this later.


Imagine you are riding in an elevator with someone for 30-60 seconds. Can you describe your business idea to that person before the elevator ride is over? I recommend you hit as many of these elements as possible. 
-Who you are
-Business name and tagline
-What you are doing
-Value proposition 
-Why you are doing it 
-Why others should care about it
-Where you will do this
-When this will happen
-How you are doing it
-Your ask(s), maximum of 3 
  
Perfecting your elevator pitch takes time and will likely change, especially if you have not finalized your business idea. At this stage, I definitely think it is beneficial to leave room for flexibility and pivoting. The earlier you work out the kinks of your business idea the better. Changes down the road typically cost more time, money, and effort. 

I have one more quick suggestion for all of you entrepreneurs out there. It is easy for thoughts to change or even slip away if you keep them in your head. This will not happen if you write them down. Document all your thoughts about your business idea in a journal, or even better on your Smartphone. Then you can revisit your thoughts, and document potential changes or ideas, so you can create the perfect elevator pitch for your billion-dollar idea.   

Would you like a little more convincing about the importance of an elevator pitch? Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, made one of the more famous elevator pitches to John Sculley of Pepsi.

Back in 1983, John Sculley was the president of Pepsi. He was a very highly paid executive sitting atop of one of PepsiCo's most important divisions, and the youngest president in Pepsi's history.

Sculley had dedicated his career to Pepsi, and was widely believed to be a serious contender to become PepsiCo's chairman one day. Sculley constantly turned down offers from other companies. Then Steve Jobs reached him.

Apple was looking for a CEO. Steve Jobs needed someone to run the company while he focused on product development. Although Sculley was intrigued by Apple's rise to become a Fortune 500 company in only six years, he said he was not interested.

Sculley eventually agreed to meet Jobs. Initially, he was taken aback by how young he was. Steve was only 27, but he and Sculley had a lot in common. Both were detail-oriented perfectionists, and both liked to build companies.

However, Sculley was shocked by Apple's headquarters. It looked like the branch office of an insurance company. Completely unimpressive. Sculley also noticed he was the only person wearing a suit, as all the Apple employees were dressed less formally than the maintenance staff at Pepsi.

Jobs told Sculley that Apple was going to be the most important computer company in the world because it was going to put the technological power of corporations into the hands of the individual.

Sculley was impressed with Jobs. Jobs was fascinated by Pepsi's marketing. However, at the end of the meeting, Sculley reiterated that he was not interested in leaving Pepsi. 

Jobs persisted. Eventually, Jobs had one more opportunity to pitch Sculley. During the pitch, Jobs looked Sculley in the eyes and said, "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?"

That challenge hit Sculley like a fist in the stomach. That one sentence that haunted him. It gnawed at Sculley. It would not let him sleep. It was so powerful, it finally convinced him to leave Pepsi behind and join Apple. Today, that elevator pitch is considered one of the best elevator pitches in history.



Are you looking for funding for an idea or business, send us your stuff and we will take a look, Funding@OmegaSeedFund.com

Are you interested in investing time or money into any of our businesses, info@omegaseedfund.com

Are you interested in promoting your product or service to our audience, contact Opportunities@OmegaSeedFund.com


Disclaimer: This is only for informational and discussion purposes. This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice. 



Want More?


Previous Post - What Kind of Business Should You Start? – How Mark Zuckerberg Pivoted From Rating Hotness to Facebook- Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders – Episode 1

 

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

What Kind of Business Should You Start? – How Mark Zuckerberg Pivoted From Rating Hotness to Facebook

Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders – Episode 1




This video is part of my series - Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders, learn more by visiting https://bit.ly/3hExYJX


When it comes to brainstorming startup ideas, new entrepreneurs and even seasoned ones scratch their heads in confusion. Living in the information age, you can scan the current market and see countless new business ideas. With so many options out there, how do you know which one is right for you?

The key here is to start something, anything, because you will see many changes along the way e.g. pivots. Even Facebook did not start as Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg did not start off thinking he was going to create the biggest social network in the world. Instead, it all began with developing “FaceMash,” a program where students from Harvard would connect and rate each other based on their “hotness.” 

To make FaceMash work, Mark breached the privacy of students on campus, which landed him in some hot water with the administration board. He took down the website and apologized. Then he took a different direction and created Facebook the following year.

Remember, your business starts with you. Explore options, talk to people, and see how it goes. It will help you learn what works and what doesn’t, This should open your eyes to the best ideas. Happy hunting!



Are you looking for funding for an idea or business, send us your stuff and we will take a look, Funding@OmegaSeedFund.com

Are you interested in investing time or money into any of our businesses, info@omegaseedfund.com

Are you interested in promoting your product or service to our audience, contact Opportunities@OmegaSeedFund.com


Disclaimer: This is only for informational and discussion purposes. This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice.