If you were given $50 and are asked to multiply that money, what would you do? Would you buy $50 worth of things and try to sell them more (in line with buy low, sell high mindset) or would you spend it all on penny stocks and hope one of the stocks will give a huge return? Or maybe throw a party and invite friends and strangers to attend and hope that you will break even? And how much would you think you would make from this challenge? |
Many may think a $5 seed start-up is barely anything and this was the message the professor was trying to convey: You don't need money to be massively successful. In this assignment, some of the most successful groups were able to start up mini ventures based on supply and demands and made up to $600 during their two hours. Their ventures varied from restaurant reservation trading service to bicycle tire testing and pumping station and even selling their 3 minute presentation time to an advertiser who wanted to advertise to their art class. Even more fascinating was that these were design students not MBA students.
There is a lot that can be learned from this story, that when you turn your focus away from what little you have and allow your imagination to soar, you just may come up with something that can surpass all expectations. In this story, those students were more focused on opportunities and needs and mould themselves around to provide a solution. They didn't start off with a product or service and start selling, they just walked around and noticed needs and started providing solutions to these needs.
There is an acronym, FANAFIt, and it means Find A Need And Fill It. If startups want to be successful, they need to be on the look out for needs and pains in the community and provide solutions to those needs. People are tired of being sold items they don't need, they want solutions not products.
Edward is a Digital Communications Specialist during the day and startup Growth Hacker by night. Edward is fascinated about the tech industry and how it has positively changed millions of lives through innovation and distribution. Coming from a scientific background, Edward's curiosity drives him to explore, dissect and find out why certain startups were able to grow and why others failed. A strong advocate of Lean Startup methodology and Optimization, Edward believe that experimentation and validation is the key to growth.