I would really recommend you all to take a look at this TED-talk. After going through some TED-talks regarding entrepreneurship this is the one I want to highlight because it is relevant in an early phase of a start up when a business model is crafted.
Bill Gross states his first hypothesis that five specific parameters affect the success of startups more than others. He therefore decided to look into them by studying data from hundreds of companies. The parameters he studied was
- Ideas
- Team
- Business model
- Funding
- Timing
The result of his study shows that timing was the number one most important factor for success.
The number one thing was timing. Timing accounted for 42 percent of the difference between success and failure. Team and execution came in second, and the idea, the differentiability of the idea, the uniqueness of the idea, that actually came in third.
Gross means that if this can increase the ratio of success for new companies, it can make the world a better place. I wouldn’t take it that far, but hopefully this can affect the way we treat market timing when marketing our ideas.
What came to my mind was how to find the perfect market timing if that really mathers. After spending time thinking about this and doing some research, I can break down my first thoughts on what aspects to investigate further
- How to prioritize timing? If timing is vital, maybe a market entry is preferable even if the business model isn’t finished or the funding isn’t in place.
- When to entry? The final decision on when the timing is right. What factors do you look at to know when to entry? Is it a specific time of the year, level of inflation, good offers on delivery or supply etc.
- Investigation of timing options? Observe the market in real time to know when the market is ready.
I’ll be glad to hear your thoughts on the subject!
See related links below.
More from Bill Gross: http://www.ted.com/speakers/bill_gross
A playlist of TED-talks on what make businesses work: http://www.ted.com/playlists/298/what_makes_businesses_work A good collection of a variety of factors that affect business.