Marketing For Nerds

Da: Is there a future for local startups?

“… Here is my advice to startups just starting to think about their product and target market * :

1. Think global as you create the business
2. Move to Silicon Valley
3. Create an original product: new and different
4. Do not create a copycat, unless your goal is only to get acquired
5. Try to raise funds from world-class VCs
6. Hire people from all nationalities as much as possible
7. Register your domain names in the key countries you are interested in (and the large ones you are not interested in)
8. Protect your brand Worldwide
9. Make a site that is language ready day one, even if you launch in English
10. gather an international community since day 1
11. Talk to the most active members of the community to help you understand their market and become evangelists there
12. Create an application that lets your community translate the site by themselves
13. Languages are not the same in all the countries they are spoken
14. Do not think that Europe is the U.K.
15. Manage costs properly
16. Never do a 50/50 deal with anyone
17. Do key partnerships with large local players
18. Never trust that if the partner is large your service will be a success
19. Create an international reseller program
20. Kill your local copycats
21. Buy your local copycats if you can’t kill them
22. Be very pragmatic
23. Do not apply any of this to Asia
24. Do not apply any of this to Russia
25. This advice only applies to Internet startups

* My experience extends only to Internet startups. Other young companies may find that much of this advice does not apply to them. …>>“