If you're on your way to starting a business, after the idea itself, one of the first things you'll be thinking about is what you'll call it - its distinct name. Soon after, you'll have to nail the business model - and Paul Spence, founder of iwantmyname.com, has answers for you on both counts. He joined the Startup Grind Auckland audience to share some of his biggest takeaways in building a company, team, and client base.
From our hour-long conversation, we picked the biggest takeaways to help you build your venture, from name to company culture.
Find the Business Model & Carve Our Your Market
Innovative ideas that change the world are great - but they are few and far between. If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur you shouldn’t be afraid to pick a proven business model and a strong differentiator.
Domain name registrars were not a new idea, but Paul and the team recognized a model into which they could launch a business, then improve the service so much they could carve out a percentage of the market.
Build for Best Customer Experience
When you can’t afford big ad spend or compete with the big players in the industry, you can look at your strengths and use them to your advantage instead. The team was small, but its remote workers set up a web of coverage that let iwantmyname to offer customers 24/7 coverage.
A lot of the time it would be one of the founders that replied, adding an extra personal touch to the level of support.
The team also focused on simplifying the service so much that literally anyone could use it - presumably lowering the necessity of support calls. This became their key differentiator against their competition but it also got people talking: the service began to spread on social media and through word of mouth.
Build it Boostrapped
This was a really great tip for startup founders: you don’t need to go the VC route just because everyone else does. If you can start generating revenue and scale the business yourself, then do that, and keep your business bootstrapped. Not everyone needs to look for investors early on but most founders do because they think that is what they’re meant to do.
For Remote Teams, Technology Doesn't Replace Culture
The benefit of having team members across most time zones as well as on the ground in multiple countries is huge. Why? Direct access.
Slack and Skype make communication easy enough, and there’s loads of tools to manage workloads and get visibility across what everyone is working on. But one problem we can’t solve with technology though is culture - so the iwantmyname team fly everyone into New Zealand once a year for a team catch up and break.
Although not every company is big enough to do this, as soon as you can afford it, you should. The benefits of having everyone get together and bond really make a difference, and even a week of coworking makes everyone more invested in one another.
Last, Work with Happy People
A big issue Paul felt strongly about is mental health and wellbeing. He suggests the two are not being openly discussed within the startup and entrepreneur community, leading to burnout, depression, and disruption to the process of building yourself alongside your business.
There seems to be a culture of long hours and "always being busy," both worn as a badge of honor by some entrepreneurs.
Though we admit the importance of family, we still focus on the grind and the pressure, and too little on the process of unwinding. When burnout does occur, it's rarely discussed, and even more rarely helped.
This is another reason why connecting with fellow founders is so important, at events like Startup Grind and elsewhere: because you'll meet those who can truly empathize, who know how hard it can be, and who care about more than just what you're working on. They care about who you are, and what you're doing to stay sane.
Join us for the next event and keep your mind fresh at Startup Grind Auckland with Carl Thompson of TradeGecko.