The business plan

As we might have mentioned we are currently developing 2 web applications and for the last few weeks we have been mastering the business plan. It was always there but now it is as close to perfect as it is going to get. It can be really frustrating writing a business plan; basically you sit in front of your computer for days brainstorming clever ways to make your idea look brilliant. But an idea is only a fraction of the process of making a company a successful one, the execution is 99% of the whole process.

Last night I started reading a book that a fellow entrepreneur lent to me called “Founders at work” it is about founders of startups such as 37 signals, Hotmail and many more. The first chapter is about how PayPal became successful and eventually was acquired by eBay for 1.5 billion dollars. The initial idea was making a Palm Pilot payments and cryptography company (whatever that is). But soon after they got investment from Nokia Ventures, they changed their business model completely. Max Levchin PayPal’s co-founder claims that the main reason the investor didn’t freak out was because they belived in the team and saw that it was obvious that they were able to adapt to different circumstances.

What I take from the PayPal story is that innovation isn’t only one idea that you develop and hope that will become a success. It is series of innovative ideas that might sculpt your idea into a successful business. So even if our business looks solid according to the plan, I am keeping the option open that in the near future we might change it completely.

Mint.com’s Aaron Patzer on building a successful startup

At the Christmas Crunch event hosted by Techcrunch UK on Tuesday, we were told about an excellent presentation by Mint.com’s Aaron Patzer on how he built his company. Techcrunch discusses the talk in their post Everything You Wanted To Know About Startup Building But Were Afraid To Ask.

The video is below and we highly recommend it for anyone who’s building a start-up.

Mint CEO Aaron Patzer on Startups from Techcrunch on Vimeo.

Watch out! The Icelandic entrepreneurs are preparing for battle

Last Tuesday Finnur and I attended an Arctic Evening hosted by www.arcticstartup.com where we met a few interesting Icelandic entrepreneurs. It turns out that many of the highly skilled people that were working in the banks are starting their own companies. During the panel discussions, one of the founders of www.meniga.is said that he didn’t like the environment in Landsbanki so he resigned as a marketing manager to start this company with his brother.

We might be bent, but we’re not broken. We’re simply regrouping and finding our niche. Many talented people like  Transmit (yes we are quite talented – and modest), are participating in creating jobs and trying to build a successful company. Various businesses are being started and new technology is being developed. The possibilities are endless and success is ours for the taking. We are a small but educated country and therefore, Icelanders don’t think local, we think global.

We pride ourselves of our Viking heritage. And like the Vikings, being stranded on an island won’t stop us from getting what we want. There is actually a game being developed by an Icelandic gaming company called Gogogic which is called Vikings of Thule. It is a casual Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMOG) where participants strive to become strong and respected Viking chiefs in Iceland. The launch of this game might mark the start of the Icelandic entrepreneurs’ globalization. Beware, we are well trained, vicious and prepared for battle.

Check out the website of Vikings of Thule and have a look at the teaser. We’re big fans of the music …

Gogoyoko; the future in online music handling

I just signed up for an account at www.gogoyoko.com. I must admit that it is pretty cool. I can make my own playlist, listen to it for free, share it with others and buy music. But that’s not even the best part. Every cent you pay to buy songs goes straight to the Artists! So if you are an artist you should definitely sign up and here’s why.

• You decide the price of your music
• Not only do you get all the revenue of your music, artists will get 40% of advertisement revenue
• 10% of their income from advertisements goes to charity and artists can donate through a portion of their sales.
• Live update of every sale and stream.

Itunes charges copyright holders up to 50% of their revenues. That doesn’t seem fair and is the reason why The Beatles aren’t available on Itunes, though that might change.

But as I and other entrepreneurs know you either make it or break it. Gogoyoko has the potential to be huge, even bigger than The Beatles! Okay not quite as big. But still, they will definitely make it if they follow my advice, here it is: Be the first to make The Beatles available (legally) online. Hell, I will even call my good friend Sir Paul McCartney to make it happen. I met him once at Kaffibarinn, where we had a couple of shots of tequila, true story.

Check out this Video from Gogoyoko.

Fair Play in Music from gogoyoko on Vimeo.