Real startups. The most successful startup ideas in the world

Sales Generator

Reading time: 15 minutes

We will send the material to you:

Issues discussed in the material:

How to find a startup idea
What Russian startup ideas “fired” in 2018
How to test a startup idea
How to implement it
How to protect your startup idea from theft

Probably, every modern person at least once visited the thought: “What if I open my own business?”. But starting a business is not so easy, and not all undertakings are crowned with success. Why, with the same efforts, financial investments and time, some succeed, while others are haunted by failures? Startup ideas are very important. As a rule, ideas surround us everywhere, but we often do not notice them.

How to find a startup idea and create your own business

It is extremely unpleasant and insulting for any businessman if he understands that his business idea turned out to be untenable, since a lot of effort and money was spent on its implementation.

Those who are far from business may naively believe that entrepreneurs are looking for new ideas for a startup with minimum investment solely to make money. But in reality, businessmen are trying to realize new idea when they realize that there is an opportunity to make the world a better place or successfully solve some problem.

People tend to draw ideas for startups in their technological preferences. But, as a rule, grandiose ideas are not born in this way, since the project is focused on solutions, and not on user problems. Any technology can be used by different markets, and therefore, in order to test each new technological idea, it is necessary to make new business acquaintances.

First of all, you should understand in which market you want to work. Next, in this area, you need to identify the problem that needs a solution.

This approach provides a number of advantages:

Easier and faster testing of new options. No need to make new acquaintances, because when you generate different ideas for the same market, you communicate with the same people. To get answers to questions, you just need to call or send a letter, and not try to arrange a meeting for a personal acquaintance.
More efficient use of time. For example, when you decide to visit this or that event, you are only interested in the answer to one question: “Will there be businessmen there?”. You are not scattered and trying to become recognizable in the chosen market. Once you have defined your market, you can be sure that serving your audience will be a real pleasure.

After all, if you want to solve any problems of the market, it means that you sympathize potential clients. Accordingly, you plan to provide services to these people for at least another 5-10 years. Business becomes much more interesting if you are really interested in solving people's problems.

Of course, to find "your" market, you will need certain time. Trial and error will be inevitable. Any creative person is usually addicted to a lot of things. Therefore, at first it will seem that there are many markets where one could successfully turn around. But, as practice shows, not all problems can really "hook".

Test several ideas for different markets. This is the best way understand which one you really want to work on.

Even your best ideas will have downsides. Identify and acknowledge them. A startup idea can only be successfully implemented if you find a method to effectively eliminate flaws.

Do not discard ideas that require hard and painstaking work to implement. Don't look for easy ways. If you manage to bring a complex idea to life, you will have almost no competitors in the market and the younger generation of businessmen will not become a threat to you.

If a company has successful competitors, this is more of an advantage than a disadvantage. It indicates that the product or service is in demand. If you are clearly different from your competitors and there is evidence that this feature can attract enough buyers, you can safely enter even highly competitive markets.

It is not uncommon for entrepreneurs to succeed by starting with a narrow niche. Success will come if a small audience is very interested in you, satisfied with the quality of the product or service, and also if there is a clear and effective scheme for entering a large market.

Ideas are born in the course of communication. Share your thoughts, ideas, discuss markets and trends with others. So you will 100% get new ground for thought.
Ideas are born in empathy. Dive into other people's problems and you can come up with new solutions.
Ideas are born out of curiosity. What will happen in the future? How should everything work?
Ideas originate in the subconscious. Write on paper the scope of your activity and the requirements for the idea. And then just mind your own business. In a few days, the idea will come by itself.

11 Methods for Finding a Startup Idea

Live in the future

Look to the future, use what was not there yesterday, learn about inventions, think about next generation products.

In the future, the popularity of mobile gadgets, DNA texts, ultra-thin materials will increase even more. What products and services should surround such items?

Think about change, try to complete the sentence: "If you are in the future, then ...". You can complete it, for example, like this: "... you are surrounded by supercars" or "... no one uses cash." And then create a startup that will allow this to be realized.

Become an expert in any field

It is impossible to enter certain industries from the street, for example, customs, nuclear energy, and medical spheres. Companies in such areas, as a rule, are founded only after many years of work in foreign organizations. Turn into such an insider, and you will enter a promising market that not everyone can enter.

Michael Bloomberg majored in IT at the investment bank Salomon Brothers. In 1981, he was fired with a $10 million settlement. With that money, he founded Bloomberg L.P., a firm that provides financial information to companies in need. At the moment, the company occupies a leading position in the market. Bloomberg is the mayor of New York, his fortune is on the thirteenth line of Forbes.

Build some powerful tool. Master the development of mobile applications, online stores, start using Big Data. Then start talking to a lot of people, find out their problems, evaluate how you can help them.

Become a cool expert in two different areas at once. Medical field and sales, IT and government contracts, culinary industry and retail. There are many unique opportunities at the intersections.

Solve your own problems

Find out what problem is interfering with your own life. Focus on what you can't find an existing solution for. Problems appear when something changes in life. The situation is the same in the B2B sector. You have one company, and it cannot cope with some difficulty of its own. You create a second firm to solve such problems, and then this second firm suddenly becomes larger than the first.

Patrick Collison created payment system Stripe, when he was tired of connecting other people's inconvenient payment systems to his previous projects. Flickr was born when an online game needed a convenient way to store user images, and the game itself was successfully shut down.

Look for pain points

Watch how people lose time and money, work without the desired result, suffer. And then show up fully armed and offer to solve problems with the help of your project. Learn as much as you can about hunger, poverty, epidemics, unemployment, crime, traffic jams, corruption and pollution. Establish close contact with those who have been solving these problems for many years.

Improve existing

Find what people hate. And they hate parking, looking for rental housing, getting visas, moving, going to doctors. When generating interesting startup ideas, think about how you can simplify life.

Use modern technology to reimagine the way you do everything. How should workers perform their duties in the age of smartphones? What should hospitals do in the digital age?

Monopoly leaders have almost no desire to develop. It is not easy to fight with them, but sometimes undertakings are crowned with success. Virgin Atlantic started out trying to provide better service than British Airways.

Link cheap resources to financially wealthy consumers

Buy low, sell high. This elementary formula is effective at all times. And now it is even easier to connect the product and the buyer from different parts of the world. In China - a lot of cheap production capacity. In developing countries - cheap work force. Somewhere abandoned factories are idle, which can be rented for a penny. And somewhere on the other side of the world, the population has a lot of money along with unsatisfied needs. For example, freelance job exchanges like oDesk and 99designs connect employees from developing countries with successful firms.

Borrow and improve

Most of the ideas for a startup are copied from other companies. Many successful firms once went down this path. What can be added to successful ideas? New distribution channels, better service, improved quality?

In the small business segment, fashion trends appear all the time. Now co-working and bubble tea are at the peak of popularity, tomorrow private kindergartens will be in demand, the day after tomorrow - SMM agencies. These trends spread around the world quite slowly, and you can have time to be inspired by new trends. It is more reliable than something unknown and more interesting than buying a franchise.

In the US, each college has its own merchandise in the form of sweatshirts, T-shirts, and caps. There were no such schemes in Russia until one student founded UniFashion. Now buyers of his products can be found in any hostel.

travel

Get ideas for successful startup on the other side of the world. Each sphere has its own centers of trends. The heart of the fashion industry is in Paris and Guangzhou, the software industry is in the Valley, and the financial industry is in New York and London.

In the early 80s, Howard Schultz worked at Starbucks. Then there were no drinks on sale - Starbucks specialized exclusively in the sale of coffee beans. One day, Schultz went shopping in Milan and saw that literally on every street there is a coffee shop where not only delicious coffee is served - in coffee shops people talked, discussed personal and business matters. In total, there were 200,000 such establishments in Italy. When Schultz returned, he tried to persuade the owners of Starbucks to pursue the same idea. But he was refused. Then Schultz left the company and founded his own chain of coffee shops. After a while, he was doing so well that he bought out Starbucks, making it a global phenomenon in the industry.

Generate ideas for new markets

New products from large organizations create a lot of compelling opportunities. If you react quickly, you can organically join this market.

Venture capitalists understand this, and therefore they establish special investment funds for Facebook apps, Google-glass apps, bitcoin services. When the situation is changing globally, businessmen and investors are trying to "be in the know."

The same scheme is effective for small local organizations. Follow the global construction projects - metro stations and airports, the process of gentrification.

In 1975, MITS created the first home computer, the Altair 8800, which was in high demand. One student at Harvard University thought he could sell software and make money from it. Together with friends, he created an ASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 and began selling it as an MITS partner. This student's name was Bill Gates.

Improve useless product

Spend 2-3 days and create any product you want. Then chat with your friends and ask what needs to be changed so that they start using it. Make changes and ask the same question. Repeat until you create a product that millions can use. Is everyone familiar with the tale of ax porridge?

Connect with smart people

Some people come up with great startup ideas all the time. However, there are often big problems with their implementation. Ask these people to share their ideas. So you will not only catch a useful idea, but also get the first buyers.

As a rule, for businessmen, their ideas are the most valuable. They regard strangers as secondary. Don't let selfishness get in the way of a great opportunity.

Once Elon Musk shared the idea of creating an installation and maintenance company solar panels with his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rives. At the moment, their SolarCity company is a millionaire.

Where better not to get ideas for a startup

Here are some common ideas generation options that usually lead to defeat:

Analogy. Every second person does X for Y like “Hermitage for digital art”, “Instagram for video” or “Excel for hipsters”. It sounds solid, but as a rule, such undertakings are not crowned with success. Most likely, your market has its own specifics and a solution from someone else's will not be relevant. And if it does, then the source of your inspiration can come and destroy your idea. Who needs countless Instagrams for videos when Instagram itself now has videos?
"Product Vision". Many business people start by presenting a product or service in great detail. It is not difficult to fantasize different things, but as a rule, these fantasies have nothing in common with the real needs of the market. Good ideas usually start with the customer.

Great start-up business ideas from abroad

Step-powered lighting

You can make great money on alternative energy sources by creating successful business in the small and medium segment in Russia. There are many profitable projects in Europe and North America, which are not in our country. Why? The fact is that the state is not very interested in such ideas. Entrepreneurs in a crisis are forced to pay attention to modest business ideas for startups related to alternative energy sources. Here is an example of the implementation of such an idea: on the streets of big cities, in the corridors of offices, shopping centers and other crowded places, a special coating is laid that accumulates the kinetic energy of steps and turns it into electricity.

Energy-converting paving slabs are no longer exotic for England, Japan, the United States. It was simultaneously decided to use the energy of steps in crowded places in a number of states. The idea began to be implemented in 2012, and this work is ongoing to this day. Success was achieved by Pavegen, who installed the first samples of tiles in Westfield Stratford City shopping center and Wembley Stadium in London.

The tile has many advantages, including simple installation and aesthetic appearance. At the same time, among its capabilities are not only transformation, but also the accumulation of energy, and therefore there is an option that by 2019 innovative footpaths will begin to be created in Russia. It remains only to guess what kind of profit such coverage can bring in megacities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Saratov, Rostov-on-Don, Novosibirsk.

Production of luminous bicycles

On a bicycle - a universal vehicle - both children and adults like to ride. There are no problems with bicycles - this applies to both riding and operation, as well as environmental friendliness. But these vehicles also have their drawbacks: for example, riding them at night is unsafe due to poor visibility.

A cyclist, unlike a car driver, is not protected by a metal cabin. And from different reflectors and reflective stickers, the effect, admittedly, is not enough. As a result, there are quite a lot of accidents involving cyclists.

Enthusiasts from Pure Fix Cycles (USA) have recently begun to solve this problem. The workers came to the conclusion that for protection it is necessary that the bike is fully lit. After that, the world saw the first "radiant bike" Kilo GLOW - this is how the idea for a startup was realized.

The vehicle has a standard design. But during the manufacturing process, a special coating was applied to the frame, which accumulates rays of light during the day and reflects them at night. To accumulate a sufficient amount of energy, it is necessary that the bike stand on the street for only 1.5–2 hours. After that, you can not be afraid that in the evening you will not be noticed!

It is noteworthy that the Kilo GLOW manufacturers develop the color scheme of the bike in agreement with the customers. So, the owner himself determines which elements of his bicycle transport will be visible in the dark, and can choose the color of the glow.

There is no doubt that such an idea for a startup will be successfully implemented on the Russian market as well!

Pizza according to customer sketches

Today, anyone with sufficient funds can open a pizzeria. But not everyone can find original idea for a startup and stand out among numerous competitors. Here is a great idea for a startup in this area - making pizza according to the sketches of consumers.

Such an idea was born not so long ago in the West by the rather famous artist Jonas Lund. He decided to realize his talent as a painter in a different direction. He turned the simple preparation of pizza into an art.

Note that the artist did not launch the project alone. He pitched his ideas to Famous Original Ray's Pizza (USA), and the owners enthusiastically accepted the offer. The meaning of the service is that the artist creates the pizza that the clients came up with.

To order pizza according to an individual sketch, the client only needs to register on their website and enter a special section. Draw pizza with everyone necessary tools you can right there. Visitors to the Internet resource create individual sketches on a special round blank, which appears in the section window that opens. If the future buyer does not have any special wishes or he has problems with imagination, he can use ready-made sketches, keeping them in a standard form or adding something of his own. When the "picture" is ready, the chef-artist begins to bring the idea to life, and very soon the client can taste his creation. The chef draws with a variety of products.

The site contains a large number of standard sketches. For example, anyone can order a pizza that depicts Mona Lisa, the President of Russia, a dollar, or some other drawing. Such a culinary creation costs around $35-70 - everything is determined by the complexity of manufacturing. The work is certainly painstaking, but the cost justifies itself. Lots of orders coming in!

Ultrasound against bullies

It's no secret that the transitional age in adolescents is a difficult time. From time to time, the guys gather in the yards, near shopping centers and in other places where they laugh loudly, loudly, sometimes they smoke and drink. Howard Stapleton developed an idea for a start-up, thanks to which crowded places can be reliably protected from hooligans. He became the author of a unique device that repels children with ultrasound.

The device is called Mosquito, and it is tuned to the frequency of teenage hearing. The device emits a special ultrasonic signal that “cuts the hearing” of teenagers and thus makes them leave. Interestingly, adults do not respond to these signals.

The anti-vandal device (that's what it is called today) has already shown its effectiveness. The device is in great demand among the owners of various stores, who have repeatedly encountered the boorish behavior of teenagers.

Of course, the developer of the device does not say that all teenagers without exception are hooligans. And in order to look attractive in the eyes of well-mannered and calm teenagers, Stapleton implemented the startup idea differently, creating a special phone for school students. When the phone rings, the students hear it, but the teacher does not.

Unique fire fighting gadget

Lil Chesley from the USA decided to develop an innovative fire-fighting device after he was faced with a common situation - a fire in his own house. Fortunately, everything ended safely, without casualties. In addition, it was the fire that pushed Chesley to realize a great startup idea and become a successful businessman.

So, after the fire in the house, Lil began to design his own fire-fighting system. As a result, he managed to create a HotShot device powered by the mains. The mini-fire extinguisher is inserted into a special socket. If the sensors provided in the design detect an increase in temperature up to 250 degrees, a special canister is triggered, which ejects foam to extinguish the fire.

Chesley advises all home owners to buy such a system if the building is over 20 years old. The price of HotShot will be several times lower than the complete replacement of electricians in the house. The cost of the device together with installation varies around $1000. While the system is not yet sold freely, but in the near future they plan to put it up for sale.

Best startup ideas for business in Russia in 2018: 10 success stories

Ridiculous startup ideas that suddenly became hits

Surely everyone at least once thought about how many ridiculous ideas for a startup were implemented, and quite successfully. We list these ideas, at first glance strange and unpromising, which, as a result, however, managed to conquer the world:

Quora. The idea for the startup came from former Facebook employees. They came up with a service where some users will ask about something, while others will answer. But essentially similar Internet resources already exist: Yahoo! and Google, Answers.com and Ask.com. Quora has over 200,000 monthly visitors. Startup price by preliminary assessment is $ 50 million. The advantage of the service is that it allows you to find out completely different information on any topic. The most active Quora authors have 30,000+ views per month and 350,000+ per year.
Wikipedia. An online encyclopedia that anyone can make adjustments to. Plus, someone in their free time will perform a fact check.
Twitter. The author of the idea for a startup is Jack Dorsey. When creating the service, he wanted to form a new social network, in the vastness of which people could communicate as if they were exchanging SMS or sending each other headers, like in RSS. Dorsey aimed to create a flawless service that would connect his phone with the phones of his friends. Now many well-known media quote tweets of eyewitnesses of this or that event. Twitter also makes it easier for celebrity fans to follow their lives.
Instagram. A service for sharing beautiful and cute photos from everyday life between users. At first, the startup did not bring any revenue. Moreover, there was not even a model for obtaining it. But everything changed dramatically when a year later the company was bought by Facebook for a whopping $1 billion (Instagram creator Kevin Systrom had a 40% stake, which allowed him to earn $400 million). Already during the first day, the influx of users amounted to 25 million. Millions were added in the first month. At the moment, every 2 weeks a million users join the service.
pinterest. Service for saving your favorite pictures. The point is that everyone can have a virtual cork board where they can put whatever they want. The audience of the service is for the most part from women. According to preliminary data, the tool is valued at $2.5 billion. Pinterest now has 100 employees.
Foursquare. From the very beginning, "check-ins" were perceived as a strange idea. But with the advent of "likes" and the ability to write comments and hints to locations and receive badges for this, the situation has changed. It was in this case that gamification decided everything. According to experts, the company's value is now about $600 million. In April this year, the founders attracted another $41 million in investments.
Zappos. It would seem that the idea for a startup was doomed to failure. The founders decided to sell shoes online. Despite the huge difficulty in guessing the exact size, the inability to try on the insoles, the huge assortment in which it is easy to get lost, and the three-day wait for the order, the startup has become incredibly successful!

5 methods to test the potential of a startup idea

"Mom-test": checking by relatives and friends

When a businessman starts his own business, he certainly aims for success. But if you don't prepare properly, failure is inevitable. To minimize risks at least a little, do not be lazy and test your idea - from the concept and initial resources to implementation and nuances. Check how creative and unique your idea is, what potential it has. There are different methods for this.

At first, you can simply interview relatives, friends and acquaintances. This is the so-called "mom test". It cannot be said that it gives a 100% objective result, since friends and family often flatter us in an attempt to cheer us up. However, you should still test the idea in this way. Perhaps you will identify some weaknesses in the project and improve them.

When talking about your startup with loved ones, formulate and ask the most simple and understandable questions in order to get truthful answers. Focus on the gaps and flaws in the business idea, and elaborate on how your family and friends suggest dealing with them. Then analyze in detail the answers received, select all the most important for the project. This way you will have a much better idea of what the prospects of the idea are.

Client testing

When launching a new product or service, remember who your the target audience what she wants and needs. There is a lean startup methodology, which was created by the American entrepreneur and business theorist Eric Ries. It allows you to check whether consumers are really ready to buy your product.

Lean startup is a concept of "lean" start-up and development of companies, which is based on the most careful use of resources. In this case, when introducing any new product, enterprises apply a scientific approach: they formulate a hypothesis, test it locally on a small audience or market share, and then evaluate feedback and results. If the effect is positive, they start implementing this idea for a startup, but on a larger scale.

With this method, businesses can design products and services that meet customer expectations and needs without significant upfront investment or costly start-ups.

The ubiquity of Internet technologies eliminates the need to interview people on the streets or go door to door. All you need to do is create a landing page on the Internet (landing page) and use the capabilities of social networks, online groups, bulletin boards or marketplaces with your target audience.

Oxygen, aspirin or jewel

There is another way to test the viability of your startup idea - with the help of a rapid test developed by a successful entrepreneur and Harvard Business School lecturer Janet Kraus. All that needs to be done is to answer the main question about your project: how irreplaceable is it, does it seem to the target audience as a product or service, without which it is difficult or impossible to live. Conventionally, this method of verification can be called "oxygen, aspirin or jewelry." Here you need to clearly understand how important the future product is. If you can't replace it, it's oxygen. If it makes life easier or helps solve problems, aspirin. If it's more about pleasure or status, it's a gem. Kraus believes that a successful business idea should consist of all three of these aspects, since they are what will allow the business to grow progressively and steadily and generate income at the same time.

The Disney Method

To evaluate a startup idea from all angles, you can use the "Disney method", which is based on analyzing it from three positions: a dreamer, a skeptic, and a realist.

When developing new projects, Disney teams gradually moved from one room to another, and each had its own functionality. The first room allowed to show the most daring fantasies. The second was intended to create detailed sketches of the incarnations of these fantasies. In the third, everything could be harshly criticized. To successfully complete a project, teams could return to previous rooms. The project was considered completed only when there were no more complaints about it in the room for criticism.

How to implement the Disney method in modern conditions? Replace rooms with a piece of paper, a text editor and, of course, apply all your intellectual potential.

Edison Method

After testing all the above methods and knowing all the strengths and weaknesses of the startup idea, try to bring the project to perfection so that it does not have flaws. The "Edison method" is very effective here. Since every test that fails can provide useful food for thought, when you test your startup idea, you first need to refine it so that it meets the requirements for 100%.

When Edison was once asked what the secret of his success was, he said that he was refining the product until it began to "work on its own." This is the essence of the method.

How to implement an idea for a startup: 6 steps

Location selection

The World Wide Web is blurring boundaries, and that's great. But only for those whose projects have already paid off. If you are just going to implement a startup, be prepared for a long road. Presentations and negotiations must be attended in person. Accordingly, it is necessary to go to designated places where there are business incubators, accelerators, technology parks, and so on.

In the USA, these are Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Silicon Valley, where literally everyone has a startup presentation with them.

In Canada - the small town of Waterloo, where BlackBerry is trying to survive and a lot of its young competitors are growing up, many of whom are associated with it.

In Germany, Berlin.

In India - Bangalore, an analogue of Silicon Valley. Investors themselves come to this place from different parts of the Earth to capitalize on high-quality Indian startups.

In Russia, this is Moscow, in particular Skolkovo. There are also famous accelerators and venture funds in the Russian capital: IIDF, GenerationS, Farminers. You can also mention Kazan, where the Pulsar Venture accelerator operates, and St. Petersburg with iDealMachine.

Choice of helpers

At first glance, there are a lot of ideas for a startup, but there are not enough funds to implement them. In reality, there is nowhere to invest money. Rates in verified banks are zero. In stocks, there is a lot of risk at a not very high level of income. But a quality startup brings up to 1000% per annum. There will be no end to those who want to help.

FFF- from family, friends, fools (family, friends, fools). They will help at the start because of family ties, shared memories or faith in success.

Business incubator. If the startup idea seems interesting, the incubator will provide premises, office equipment and other necessary things for a small fee or a share in the project.

Accelerator. It is a business incubator with training and supervisory functions. The accelerator strives to bring the project to perfection so that investors like it. Next, you need to sell it. A business angel will buy out a share from the accelerator if he believes that the project has prospects. An accelerator and a business angel are not much different from each other, but, as a rule, the latter are more picky.

Venture fund. It is he who will provide the first large funds. But he may refuse. The Fund will invest millions of dollars in the implementation of your idea only if the process is already launched and is developing rapidly.

Answers on questions

This stage will be repeated over and over again, from investor to investor. It is easiest to make a mistake on it, and therefore, first you need to answer a number of questions for yourself personally.

Does someone need your product? Most projects are closed due to the fact that no one needs the product.

Is it a venture business? If we are talking about 25% per annum, an investor would rather buy a pub in Prague. A startup will interest him only if it brings a tenfold profit in a short period. This is the meaning of venture business: big earnings for big risk.

Do you have something to show? Investors are interested in MVP (minimum viable product) - a product that can be sold immediately, even in its raw form.

Can you scale quickly? In order to grow 10x in the shortest possible time, a business must scale quickly. It will take a year and a billion to open another hundred pubs. On the inclusion of new distribution channels for the application - a week and a million. What is more profitable?

Is there a competitive advantage? Creating the same Instagram, but with a blue-and-blue design is a step that no one will appreciate. Follow the recommendations of investors - look for a problem with consumers, find out what they lack when solving a particular issue.

Is it a seasonal business? An application that allows you to call Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden will be downloaded by millions of people on December 31. And then what?

Registration

Potential startup founders discussing their idea over a cup of coffee often lose sight of the fact that as a result it will still turn out to be a standard LLC or CJSC, where there will be a staffing table and which will have to pass tax reporting. It can also be GmbH, Ltd, LLC, SRL - it all depends on the state. Therefore, it is interesting for any investor to see at least basic documentation.

Confirmation of the existence of a legal entity. In this case, we are talking about the charter, memorandum of association, extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and registration certificate. The whole process of investing in a startup is accompanied by the transfer of shares from one person to another. The investor needs to be sure that not a single nuance in the design legal entity won't be a hindrance.

Registration of intellectual property. Whatever you come up with, you need to get a patent for your invention, and only after that you can sell it. All ideas for a startup must be formalized.

Receiving the money

Pre-seed stage. There is a team, a working prototype, the first clients, but there are no funds to fully launch the project. At this stage, it is better to turn to the three Fs (we wrote about this earlier) or engage in bootstrapping - look for savings, mortgage real estate, and so on. Here, investors support only very promising projects. The size of investments, as a rule, is in the region of 1–1.5 million rubles.

seed stage. You have filed the rights, studied the market, drawn growth graphs in Excel, carried out economic calculations. At this stage, you can involve an accelerator or a business angel in cooperation. The main mistake of the founder here is unjustified generosity out of fear of not realizing the project. If you give 1/3 of the company to a random investor, then as subsequent cash investments, other people's shares will exceed 50%. And according to venture funds, if the share of a startup is small, he loses his incentive to develop. Such startups are not eager to help financially.

Round A. The startup is already 1-2 years old, a favorable unit-economy (income-income per client), constant growth, and prospects for further development are visible. At this stage, accelerators or business angels are ready to sell their stake to a venture fund. Accordingly, negotiations are approaching with a serious investor who will invest in the project from 50 to 100 million rubles.

Round B Things are going well, and the investor proposes to seriously scale the project, bring it to international market. Here, about 1 billion rubles can be given for development.

IPO. Every startup and investor secretly dreams about this, and, in fact, everything is started for this. It's about on the launch of the company's shares in free circulation. You won't be able to complete the process quickly. We need transparency and good reporting. But it is on the stock exchange that your share will be valued in financial terms, and it can immediately be converted into money. It is only important to give an appropriate instruction to the broker.

RoundBBB (beach, boat, blond). Of course, you described the mission in your business plan and mentioned the benefits to society. But after all, for the sake of this stage, everything was started?

Growth Technologies

The project can be launched even if you have only an old laptop and mobile. But they must be equipped with something new that would help increase the chances of success. We can talk, for example, about new IT, specially created for start-ups. And even if you do not know anything about such technologies, then competitors, most likely, have already mastered them.

VTsOD. Virtual data processing and storage center - this is how you get the power cloud service for rent with the subsequent creation of a virtual machine with up to 16 cores. This service is provided by Rostelecom. It allows you to rent the capacity of the National Cloud Platform. Expanding, for example, as site traffic grows, can be done very quickly and without technical support.

Virtual PBX. If a startup is associated with many incoming calls, multiple lines are needed. And you won’t be able to purchase them separately - it will take the entire tranche of round B. But at the same time, a virtual PBX will give many lines and numbers of internal subscribers on one city number. Again, there is scaling.

VPN network with protection against DDoS attacks. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network - virtual private network. In other words, you do not run cables around the office, but rent a virtual server and work through it. Rostelecom also protects tenants from DDoS attacks, during which hackers overload the server with requests, blocking everyone from entering.

Virtual contact center. Instead of renting a semi-basement at the price of a royal suite in a luxury hotel and accommodating operators there, you can order a service that accompanies Rostelecom's virtual PBX. Within a couple of days, you will have a contact center of any scale deployed. It will be possible to manage it remotely, without buying new equipment.

Web video conference. If at the end of any meeting with partners and investors you invariably celebrate agreements with a buffet table and drink until the morning, then you are putting your business at risk. It is better to connect the Internet in Rostelecom and unite all participants in the video conference without downloading new software. What browsers someone has does not matter here.

Startup Ideas That Failed

Revolv

In 2016, IT corporation Alphabet (Google) announced that it intends to close the Revolv division that created a hub for smart home items. Revolv users had the ability to control all the "smart" electronic items in the house - both light bulbs and electronic kettles. But later, the leaders of the owner enterprise decided that there was no point in developing the direction, and on May 15, 2016, all owners of the device for $ 299 were disconnected from the system. The firm promised to think about how buyers could get their money back. Alphabet and its divisions Nest have not said anything about the details of their decision.

YayNay

Thanks to the YayNay app, smartphone owners could compare anything with anything. A person uploaded a photo, and others rated it by pressing the "Yay" or "Nay" buttons. The service closed in 2014. The main reason was that the developers could not properly control the content posted by users.

The project developer revealed that users began to upload not only harmless photos of hairstyles, shoes, cars. So, a user was discovered who asked to evaluate candid pictures of teenagers.

There were other reasons, such as the slow increase in the number of users. As a result, the project leaders decided that there was no need to fix a problem that they had not foreseen at the start. It's best to just disable the service and remove it from the app stores.

Radio

In 2015, the Rdio service, one of the first music streaming services, also ceased to exist. It was developed by the former Skype team. Users love the service. In their opinion, the application had a high-quality interface and interacted well with the user.

The difficulty, according to journalists, was that the company put everything on the product and almost did not promote the service, did not pay attention to the marketing component. The service was perfected, but it was outpaced by competitors that generated more media buzz, such as Spotify and Apple Music. In addition, you had to pay to use Rdio, and the application could not gather a sufficient audience.

How to protect your startup idea and not become a victim of theft

You can often hear from some experts in this field that no one steals ideas, because it is useless. But let's think. There are a lot of examples of successfully “copied” projects now, as this is relevant and allows you to make good money. But, of course, it is not those who borrowed the idea for a startup that receive income.

AT real life ideas for a startup are indeed stolen, because it can be profitable. As an example, you can take the same "Odnoklassniki" or "VKontakte" - analogues of Western social networks. Now these sites are successfully operating, despite the fact that the ideas for their implementation are borrowed. Many cars are copies of others (especially true for Asian transport), but this does not prevent distributors from making money on them. The advantage of machines may be in price or something else.

Are all startup ideas really stealable? Alas, most of the projects on the modern market do not carry anything special, outstanding. But when implementing an existing project, you can still bring something new to life.

Some believe that investors can steal a startup idea. But it's almost impossible. There is no benefit for the investor to pitch the idea to another team and invest at random. Of course, the choice of an investor should be approached very carefully. Find out in advance what projects he has funded, what his reputation is. If you take the matter seriously, you can not be afraid that difficulties will arise. And, of course, don't forget to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

But with competitors, the situation is different. They are to be feared. Even if you think that the future product has no analogues, do not relax. You still run the risk of crossing someone's path.

Any potential project is based on an idea. Many people have good thoughts, often at the same time, and this makes it harder to determine the true authorship. Only a competent author can turn an idea for a startup into a quality project. It is necessary that the author not only understands how best to implement the idea, but also how to protect it from competitors. There is a point of view according to which there are no moral or legal barriers to stealing an idea. But that doesn't mean you can't protect yourself.

The most effective protection option is efficiency. The point of a startup is to quickly implement an idea that will lead to a good result. This is what makes a startup different from a simple one. entrepreneurial activity. The speed of implementation of an idea is determined by the professional level of those who implement it. If you implement the project in the shortest possible time, you will significantly reduce the risk of plagiarism. Thieves or competitors simply will not have time to track all stages of the formation and development of the project. In such a situation, they will make a mistake after a mistake.

There is one more method to protect your idea from unfair encroachment. Remember the tales of Uncle Remus, where Brer Rabbit allowed Brer Fox, who caught him, to do whatever he wanted with himself, “just don’t throw it into that thorn bush!”. Brer Rabbit lived in a thorn bush. Exactly the same tactics are used by the authors of a startup, disclosing the details of the project to people who may be unreliable.

But this method of protection against theft is indirect, since the thought itself is not something material, it cannot be touched. How to protect yourself more seriously? There are several effective ways. For example, you can:

fix the idea of a startup by describing it on paper. You can do this with a notary when you certify and document the date. If the idea is stolen, you will present this paper to the court as proof of your authorship;
publish it in print media or on a specialized website. If you post an idea on a blog, it will not be considered proof;
compose ordered letter in your name and write the idea in it. You can open such a letter only once, for example, as part of a trial in court;
patent or register copyright. This method is used only if the idea has any form enshrined in the current law of the Russian Federation. It can be, for example, an invention, a computer program, a selection method or achievement, a production secret, etc.;
draw up a gentlemen's agreement - it is concluded between partners and investors of a startup. The only downside is that such an agreement is concluded orally and it does not have legal force;
develop a confidentiality agreement. The document is drawn up in writing, stipulates in it all the details of the interaction of partners and investors of the company. Such an agreement is a weighty proof of the correctness in resolving disputes in court.

We translated his text into Russian, slightly changing the style - that is, all the smart thoughts there are from Lifshitz, and all the stupid jokes are from us.

By the way, the fact that Yuri's text is posted on the new site Medium, in itself already shows how you can act when “everything has already been invented”: while the world is passionate about Twitterization and Instagramization, one of the creators of the same Twitter has made a convenient platform for those who still like to write and read long texts - and on people went to her.

How to find new ideas for starting a company

Coming up with business ideas is a skill. And you can develop the habit of seeing opportunities to start new projects in everything that surrounds you.

Many serial entrepreneurs have a dedicated notebook for exciting new ideas. You can get one for yourself too.

Actions:

Choose tools to search for ideas.
Generate some ideas with them.
PROFIT

1. Live in the future

Be on the cutting edge of the MacBook Air. Use something that didn't exist yesterday. Read about new inventions. Think of products for the next generation.

The future belongs to wearable gadgets, self-driving cars, DNA testing and atom-thick materials. What products and services should emerge around such things?

Think about change by completing the sentence “If you are in the future…” such as “if you are in the future, all cars around are electric” or “if you are in the future, no one uses cash.” And then create a company with which it will come true.

2. Become an expert at something

There are areas where you can't get from the street. Customs, prisons, medicine, defense, nuclear power, bridge construction. Usually, a company in such areas is created only after many years of experience in foreign companies. Become such an insider - and open your way to a large market with a high entry threshold.

Michael Bloomberg worked in IT at Salomon Brothers investment bank. In 1981, he was fired and received $10 million in compensation. With this money, he created Bloomberg L.P., a company that provides financial information to organizations interested in it. Now the company is the market leader, Bloomberg is the mayor of New York, Bloomberg's fortune is on the 13th line of Forbes.

Become a master of some powerful tool. Learn how to make mobile applications, online stores or use big data. Then date a bunch different people, ask about their problems and see if you can help them.

Be very cool in two different things at once. Medicine and sales, IT and government contracts, culinary and retail. At their intersections there are a bunch of unique opportunities.

3. Solve your own problems

Find the problem that is preventing you from living. Pay attention when you cannot find a ready-made solution for something. And problems arise when something changes in your life. Become a parent - you will see so many new opportunities, it will not seem enough.

The same is true in the B2B sector. You have one company, and it cannot solve some of its problems. A second company is created to solve such problems, and then this second company suddenly becomes larger than the first.

Patrick Collison founded the Stripe payment system, tired of connecting other people's inconvenient payment systems to his previous projects. Flickr came about when an online game needed a convenient way to store custom images, and the game itself was safely shut down.

4. Look for pain points

See where people waste time and money, work inefficiently, suffer, lose everything and generally look like in a Munch painting. And then go out in all white and fix it with your project. Know as much as you can about hunger, poverty, epidemics, unemployment, crime, traffic jams, pollution and corruption. Make friends with those who have been working on these problems for years.

5. Improve the existing

Look for things that make people hate. Finding rental housing, parking, obtaining visas, moving, visiting doctors. Find a better way to solve these problems.

Use modern technologies to rethink the way we do everything. How should workers carry out their duties in the age of smartphones? How should hospitals operate in the digital age?

Monopoly leaders have almost no incentive to develop. It is very difficult to challenge such people, but sometimes it works. Virgin Atlantic started out as an attempt to provide better service than British Airways.

6. Link cheap resources to rich buyers

Buy low, sell high. This simple formula has been around for centuries, and now it's even easier to connect the product and the buyer from different parts of the world. China has a lot of cheap manufacturing facilities. Developing countries have cheap labor. Somewhere there are abandoned factories that can be rented for a penny. And somewhere in the other hemisphere, people have a lot of money and unmet needs. For example, freelance job boards like Odesk and 99Designs connect workers from developing countries with successful companies.

7. Copy and improve

Most ideas are derivatives. Many successful companies started out as clones. See what you can add to successful ideas. New distribution channels, best service, improved quality?

In small businesses, trendy themes are constantly emerging. Today, co-working spaces and bubble tea are popular, tomorrow everyone is talking about private kindergartens, and the day after tomorrow a wave of SMM agencies will come. These waves move around the world with a significant delay, and you can have time to be inspired by a new one. It's more reliable than anything unknown and more fun than buying a franchise.

In the US, each college has its own merchandise - sweatshirts, t-shirts and caps. In Russia, this was not accepted. One student decided to change this, founded UniFashion, and now students in his products can be found in any hostel.

8. Travel

Understand successful business from the other side of the planet. Every industry has its own centers of innovation. Fashion business ideas come from Paris and Guangzhou, software business ideas come from the Valley, financial business ideas come from New York and London.

In the early 80s, Howard Schultz worked at Starbucks. At that time, the company only sold bean coffee, not offering any drinks in its stores. Going shopping in Milan, Schultz saw coffee shops on almost every street. He found that they not only served excellent espresso, but also met people: coffee houses were public places that played an important role in the social life of Italy, and there were 200,000 of them in the country. same. When gently sent away, he left Starbucks and opened own network coffee houses. A few years later he was so successful that he bought Starbucks himself and made it a world-class phenomenon.

9. Make decisions for newly opened markets

New products from big companies create many attractive opportunities. If you react quickly, you can become part of this market.

Venture capitalists understand this. Therefore, they create special investment funds for Facebook applications, Google-glass applications, bitcoin services. When big changes come, entrepreneurs and investors try to ride that wave.

The same works for small local establishments. Follow large construction projects like metro stations and airports, the process of gentrification.

In 1975, MITS released the first commercially successful home computer, the Altair 8800. A Harvard student decided that selling software could become a business for him. He and some friends wrote a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 and started selling it in partnership with MITS. That student was Albert Einstein Bill Gates.

10. Improve a useless product

Do anything on your knee in a couple of days. Ask your friends what needs to be changed so that they start using it. Refresh. Ask again. Repeat until you have a service for millions. Everyone knows the fairy tale about porridge from an ax, right?

11. Hang out with smart people

Entrepreneurs usually value their own ideas, and consider other people's ideas as secondary. Don't let self-love stand between you and a great opportunity.

Elon Musk once pitched the idea of a solar installation and maintenance company to his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive. Today, their SolarCity is valued at billions of dollars.

Bad Ideas

And here are popular ways of coming up with ideas that very often lead to failures:

Analogy. Every second person does X for Y, like Hermitage for digital art, Instagram for video, or Excel for hipsters. Sounds impressive, but most of the time it doesn't work. Most likely, your market has its own specifics and a solution from someone else's market will not work. And if it does, then the source of your inspiration can come and trample you. Who needs multiple "Instagrams for videos" now that Instagram itself has a video?
"Product Vision". Many entrepreneurs start by presenting their new product with all the details and nuances. But it is not difficult to invent anything, and usually what is invented has nothing to do with the real needs of the market. Most good ideas start with the client.

Every idea has its flaws.

Even your best ideas will have flaws. Find and recognize them. The idea can be implemented if you find a way to effectively deal with shortcomings.

Don't discard ideas that include a lot hard and unpleasant work. If you can handle it, then you will find yourself in a market with low competition and will be more reliably protected from young punks.

Availability successful competitors rather a plus than a minus: it demonstrates the presence of demand. If you have a visual difference from them and evidence that this difference can attract enough customers, you can even enter highly competitive markets.

Sometimes a successful business starts from a very small market. This can work if a few users are just praying for you, and there is a clear strategy for how to survive from a narrow niche to entering a wide market.

Ideas are born in the process of communication. Discuss with everyone around trends, markets and your available ideas. New guesses are guaranteed.

Ideas are born through empathy. Know someone else's pain, and you can come up with new solutions.

Ideas are born out of curiosity. How should everything work? What will the future look like?

Ideas come from the subconscious. Write down the scope of your activity and the requirements for the idea. Then just do other things. A few days later, the idea will appear effortlessly.

Ideas for startups: the "freshest" ideas from all over the world - 3 keys to success + TOP-5 ideas from around the world + 3 startup ideas from Russian developers.

Why startup ideas are gaining more and more popularity in the business sphere and bring the owners whole capital?

First of all, because they offer completely new, innovative solutions for actual problems of people.

Therefore, it is quite logical that in search of inspiration for creating your own startup, you should not rush “deep into history”.

Follow the trends, fashion trends, what is actually in demand now.

This article can help you with this, which has brought together the main business trends and forecasts regarding future discoveries in the entrepreneurial “art” market.

What is a startup?

Before talking about startup ideas, it is worth defining what is generally meant.

Most have only general idea about startups. Therefore, someone believes that this is how they call new resources on the Internet, others - that this is a business created by young people with no experience.

There is some truth in this. However, the concept itself is broader.

Startup is a business idea that is based solely on the use of innovative technologies or the introduction of completely new products.

That is, the composition of the team and the format of the company does not matter (often startups begin to develop without being officially registered).

The main thing is for the team to help solve some problem of humanity by offering something unique.

Also hallmarks startups are:

limited money to start;
starting work from scratch;
most often, partners in a startup were previously connected by some kind of relationship (worked together, studied).

And although the world learns about such companies even at its first steps, when the market position is not yet strong, only those companies that have already manufactured a product can be called startups.

An operating time or a “raw” project is only the basis for creation, but not the startup itself.

What is the key to the success of a startup idea?

If we analyze the ideas behind the startup that have been especially successful, we can identify several common features.

Conventionally, they can be called "secrets of success."

Factors that determine the success of a startup idea:

What exactly do you think about the idea that became a startup?

Do you think that it can bring a lot of money?

Or do you really “burn” and are sure that this business will be useful to people and become innovative?

Only in the second case, the startup really has a chance of success.

If you do not have a sincere interest, you can quickly "burn out."

Moreover, startups rarely bring instant profit.

A lot depends on the team.

Obviously, a team of like-minded people working on the same wavelength can do more than one person.

Don't try to put everything on your own shoulders.

You should not calculate how many people will have to share the profit, but take care of the perfect quality of every detail.

Youth is a plus.

Let this statement sound like a discredit.

But the fact remains that investors are more focused on investing in the young and ambitious.

Let people with experience go about their business - run large organizations and share knowledge with others.

For those who no longer consider themselves a "young man", but are on fire, let's clarify: success in business has no age restrictions.

Doubt? Look at this picture:

TOP-5: global startup ideas

As a rule, startups are concentrated in the field of IT technologies. We decided to create a selection of ideas that ordinary people created and brought to life.

Such a step is intended to inspire you to implement your own ideas, even if you do not have special education or many years of work experience.

1. Green idea: special shampoo

"Nephentes" looks like an enema or something.

In fact, this startup idea can significantly affect the preservation of the environment.

Few people think, but ordinary plastic bottles from under the "" is a product that is harmful to the environment. The period of decomposition of one bottle can be hundreds of years!

And remember how much you use them during your life?

According to the idea of this startup, manufacturers make products in huge containers, pouring the right portions into buyers' Nephentes bottles.

It is curious that the design does not even involve the use of a cover! The neck is simply bent and inserted into the compartment.

Another plus: you can finally use the product at 100%, including what usually remains at the bottom.

2. Indian startup idea

If you think that in India they can only dance and make films, then you will be surprised - not so few ideas for startups have been created in this country.

Interestingly, there is even a kind of analogue of the American Silicon Valley.

In addition, in India they are really interested in the issue of a huge amount of garbage on the streets. Innovative ideas appear regularly.

For example, an edible spoon is a great alternative to plastic utensils. After a meal, it can be eaten as a dessert or, of course, just thrown away.

Obviously, such a “material” as flour decomposes as quickly as possible and is absolutely harmless to nature.

The creators also assure that the product can be safely eaten by vegetarians. And in the future, even the development of a gluten-free version is planned.

3. An idea for junk food lovers

Which of us is not familiar with such a misfortune: you carefully take chips or something else greasy, and your fingers get dirty so that you have to go wash them.

And you need to be extremely careful not to hook or stain anything!

A startup has appeared in Italy, the idea of which is to create fingertips. They are very thin, but at the same time the latex tightly fits the fingers.

Thanks to this, consumers can safely feast on goodies, and then simply throw away the “nozzles”.

It is assumed that these devices will not be sold on their own, but complete with chips, nuts or similar food, for which they were invented.

4. Startup: "folding" napkins

But the idea of this startup is already designed for higher cuisine - that is, for restaurants. It appeared as a reaction to the fact that ordinary napkin holders are already becoming obsolete.

But napkins pressed into a small round “washer” are another matter. To use such a thing, visitors must dip the "pill" into an antiseptic solution.

And then the fabric unfolds, acquires a pleasant smell, and even becomes a “killing tool” for harmful microbes on your hands.

You should not immediately estimate the increased costs for the owners: these towels are not disposable. So the idea of a startup will not harm either the wallet or the environment.

5. Startup idea with social value

Often, startups are called upon to solve global problems and not just improve the already comfortable life of consumers.

For example, in Denmark, a special supermarket was created - "WeFood". Its concept is that they sell goods here that cannot be put on the shelves of "decent" ones.

Mislabeling, torn packaging, an approaching expiration date or a delay in general - all these are usually reasons for writing off, returning or even recycling goods.

Meanwhile, even in Denmark there are many people who have to save on everything.

The idea of the supermarket has not only helped low-income people to eat more nutritious food. There was also a 25% reduction in wasted food across the country!

Here is such a useful and, oddly enough, profitable startup.

And what about Russia: 3 domestic ideas for startups

Although the words “economic decline conditions” have already become classic texts for the realities of Russian entrepreneurship, everything is not so bad in the field of start-ups.

The “buy-sell” orientation is gradually giving way to an innovative approach.

The original solutions still do not have such a powerful state support like in other countries.

However, their number is increasing, and investors are ready to invest their money. This is especially evident in the variety of ideas for a startup in 2016.

1) A startup you've definitely heard of

Have you seen the original photo processing on Instagram, which turns an ordinary frame into an artistic canvas? Most likely, you already know what we are talking about.

For the rest, let's clarify - the Prisma application is a service that allows you to process users' photos in an original way.

For many, it will come as a surprise that it was Russian programmers who developed Prism. Moreover, its creator is a former employee of the well-known mail.ru.

The peculiarity of the program is that it does not just impose some filters on top of the card.

Thanks to the use of neural network algorithms (of which you may also have heard a lot), Prism analyzes the frame and then creates it from scratch. But already in the form of a picture.

The fact that almost everyone knows about this application now is already an indicator of success. It remains to be added that the Facebook administration banned the use of the program on its network only because it considered it competitive.

2) Idea for a startup on cards

It is believed that various cumulative and discount cards are gradually fading away. At least because no one wants to carry around dozens of options without knowing which one they need.

The developers of the startup "Cardberry" came up with the idea to create a device that can accommodate all kinds of cards.

We will not go into technical details. The bottom line is that any user cards are, as it were, entered into the memory of this electronic device.

Every time a person needs a certain card, he goes to special application and chooses it.

"Cardberry" adapts to the choice and becomes a full-fledged replacement for the desired card.

For your attention, we offer a cool video

about the 10 most successful startups in the world:

3) Startup idea for a comfortable life

Perhaps you are not familiar with the SVET company yet, but you have every chance to hear about them.

As the name implies, the team offers lighting equipment. What is the innovativeness of this idea for a startup?

The fact is that the bulbs of this company are designed to simulate ordinary natural lighting.

Moreover, the device settings can be adjusted (for example, in accordance with the time of day or night).

This startup idea is not only original and adds more comfort to everyday life. But it also has a beneficial effect on human health.

Minus the idea, perhaps, only one: at the moment, one device is estimated at $ 70. The amount is too significant for the Russians. However, the startup is in demand abroad.

collected above startup ideas only emphasize: anyone can create a business based on an innovative idea. The field of startups is not limited to the field of IT technologies.

The main thing is that you bring something new and useful to the world.

And if the idea is worthwhile, and the implementation is diligent, it can make you rich, no matter how trite it may sound.

Useful article? Don't miss out on new ones!
Enter your e-mail and receive new articles by mail

Hello, dear readers and subscribers of the business magazine site. Today we have prepared for your attention a useful article with an analysis best ideas for business, namely, we will consider startups with minimal investment of money at the start.

From the article you can find out:

How and where to start your business with a minimum investment?
What niches are the most profitable and accessible to beginners?
What projects have been successful in Russia and abroad?

If you are planning to find a suitable idea, then we have already prepared everything for you. The rest is in the text.

Startup: which of them are the most successful today?

- what is it in simple words: the definition of the term and its essence

Startups, what is it? For the first time, the term "Startup" was introduced into general use by American entrepreneur Steven Blank. Literally translated from in English, in simple words "startup" means " start of process, start, start ”, but in relation to a business idea, a startup is a temporary project that is created in order to implement a larger business model in the future.

All classic startups (regardless of country of origin) have common features: all these are projects with minimal investment and they are all built on the basis of an original (exclusive) idea and never repeat an idea that has already been proposed by someone before.

Startup topics can be very diverse: From food to space exploration, the main thing is that it be a fresh and bright idea. At the beginning of development, the project may not even be legally formalized. This can be done later, if the project becomes successful and starts to bring the first profit.

Unfortunately, startups, like any business ideas, have their positive and negative sides, and the negative ones include an acute shortage of funding, weak market positions and a lack of serious support. Although, if the idea shoots, then it can bring truly huge fees to its creators.

An example of a successful startup is the launch of Facebook, since at that time the idea Mark Zuckerberg was new, it had no analogues in the world, and perhaps this fact helped Zuckerberg become such a successful and outstanding entrepreneur in the future. You can also mention Wikipedia, YouTube, Skype and other software solutions - after all, they were all once someone's ideas that worked.

Startups with minimal investment: TOP-11 popular ideas for starting your own business

The best business ideas with minimal investment of money.

Startup #1. Work "Husband for an hour"

“Husband for an hour” is a service that can be ordered when a repair or minor repair is required. It can be anything: installing a switch or socket, replacing and installing a light bulb, fixing plumbing, repairing small (and sometimes large) household appliances, etc.

This idea will be especially in demand in metropolitan areas and major cities, where the rhythm of life is so frantic that it is sometimes difficult to allocate even half an hour of extra time for repairs, so it is easier to call a master who will fix everything as soon as possible.

In order to launch this idea, you will need to advertise in thematic groups or in social networks. A personal car will also significantly facilitate work, as it will allow you to come to field trips faster, but if you don’t have one yet, it’s also not scary, it will help public transport. Over time, if things go uphill, you can hire an additional 2-3 people, thanks to which it will be possible to take more orders.

Competition in this market is not so big, but, nevertheless, it is, so the main emphasis should be placed on the quality of services provided. It is better to do well and ask for a higher price, but at the same time earn accolades and future recommendations. People are arranged in such a way that they are morally ready to pay more money right away, but then forget about this problem than save 50 rubles and call the master every other day. That is why the idea of "Husband for an hour" is a great start for a business with a minimum investment.

Qualified specialists can earn 40-60 thousand rubles a month, and an entrepreneur who organized the launch of a business, being a skilled manager, can receive up to 150,000 rubles a month at the initial stage.

Startup #2. Breeding dwarf animals at home

Breeding animals can become a fairly profitable business, with the only condition that this business, of course, must have a soul. If a person does not like animals in principle, he will be forced to constantly overpower himself, and, ultimately, everyone will suffer from this.

But if a person loves animals and clearly understands the scale of work and responsibility, then after a short time, this idea will begin to bear fruit.

To begin with, of course, you need to decide which animals you need to breed: these can be kittens, puppies, guinea pigs, hamsters or newts. The main condition for successful implementation is to find a "sales market". There are special groups on social networks that unite animal lovers, it will be possible to place ads for sale there, at least for the first time. Later, when the funds are available, it will be possible to make a good advertisement so that as many people as possible know about the sale.

As for earnings, they can be very worthy.

For example, purebred pedigreed kittens and puppies with a good pedigree can cost anywhere from $300 to $2,000. Also, over time, if the area allows, you can open a veterinary shop where related products for animals will be sold - so there will be even more people who want to.

In a word, domestic animal breeding is definitely worth thinking about this idea.

Organization of business of cargo transportation.

Startup #3. Cargo transportation

Recently, with the development of the Internet, online trading or online stores have become widespread, where a person can buy almost anything without leaving home. Naturally, with the growth of sales of such goods, the need for cargo transportation has increased, allowing you to quickly bring the ordered goods to the specified address. This is what makes the cargo transportation niche so attractive to potential investors and is included in the category of “startups with minimal investment”.

You can start by opening small agency, which will employ 3-4 people. While there is no own fleet, it will be possible to look for the same drivers with personal cars who want to earn money and use them to go on orders. It is better to set prices not too high, but not to work at a loss.

Before making a price list, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with the current prices of transportation companies already existing on the market and offer customers more attractive conditions. There are many examples of how a person who has only one gazelle carries out transportation on more favorable terms, and then hires a few more people, after which the work is in full swing.

But with a good deal, small company from 4 people and two cars can bring 170,000 -300,000 rubles a month. Of course, you will need to start, you may have to, but it's worth it.

Startup #4. Work as a home tutor

Tutoring is not just a profitable job, it is, among other things, also difficult. After all, it’s not enough just to have some kind of knowledge, you need to be able to somehow transfer this knowledge to others and try to make sure that a person passes it through himself and assimilates it. That is why good and talented tutors are now worth their weight in gold.

If tutoring is a vocation, then this vocation can be turned into a decent income, however, before that, you yourself need to answer a few questions. First, it is necessary to decide whether this work will be aimed exclusively at schoolchildren who are going to enter universities, those who simply want to learn something new for themselves or for children. Based on this, a different training program is selected, that is, completely differentiated teaching methods are used.

A tutor is a job that needs to be given entirely, because any neglect is always felt by both the student and the parents (if it is a child). If you prove yourself as a competent and qualified specialist, satisfied students will recommend the tutor to their acquaintances and friends, citing themselves and their results as an example. And this is the most effective way to advertise.

The cost of a tutor's services can be different, it all depends on age, experience and city, but average prices start at 500 rubles per hour.

Startup #5. Massage at home or out

In order to become a professional massage therapist, like it or not, you will have to get a specialized education. It is not necessary to graduate from a medical school, but getting a diploma in nursing or nursing or taking specialized courses is still a requirement. And then you can start developing this service sector.

Today it is difficult to find a beauty salon, a fitness club or a swimming pool that does not have a massage room. What does this say? The fact that today massage is in great demand, and regardless of age, field of activity and social status of a person. Someone is prescribed a massage for medical reasons, and someone just wants to relax - so why not give people this opportunity? Moreover, you can offer different kinds massage: therapeutic, sports, preventive, anti-cellulite, hygienic and others.

A massage parlor can be opened at home, or you can work with a visit to the client's home. As for the cost, the average price for 1 half-hour massage session ranges from 400 to 1500 rubles.

If you plan to travel to the client, you will need to add the cost of the procedure to the cost of the road.

Startup #6. Online customer consultation

The Internet has truly destroyed all existing boundaries between people, cities and countries. Today, for example, you can engage in consultations and trainings without leaving your home - why not start-ups with minimal investment? Thanks to Skype, Viber and other programs that support video communication, this has become possible.

Online customer consultation via computer.

To make online consultations a full-fledged way of earning money, you need to choose a specific niche for yourself. It could be learning foreign languages, conducting legal or medical consultations (if there is a specialized education, of course), psychological trainings, business trainings, webinars designed to teach some kind of occupation (conducting master classes), drawing up individual horoscopes and much, much more. Naturally, medical consultations will cost an order of magnitude more expensive than horoscopes, but they also require more knowledge and professionalism.

The possibility of fruitful communication via the Internet is suitable for both parties, as it allows you to save money on travel. And if you also be an excellent specialist in your field and make sure that consultations bring real benefits to people, then there will definitely be no end to clients. All you need for online consultations is a stable Internet connection and a personal computer or laptop (although a tablet or smartphone will also work).

According to current rates, the average cost of one hour of consultation with a doctor is about 1000 rubles, with a lawyer 700-800 rubles, with a business coach from 500 to 1500 rubles. Monthly earnings directly depend on the number of clients and each of them is individual.

Startup #7. Confectionery to order

Making desserts to order is a great example of how a hobby can turn into an income, and a good one at that. If a person loves to bake, but does not know where else to apply this talent, this business idea will suit him.

To start the process, you need to take several important steps: make a catalog, find customers, organize a distribution channel. People who have never placed an order with this confectioner will definitely want to look at the work already done, so you will have to spend a little time and money to create a beautiful album with works, a kind of “portfolio”.

Next, you need to look for clients, and at first, you can do this through acquaintances and friends, as you know, word of mouth works very well. You can also advertise about yourself on social networks - this will give you even more opportunities to attract customers.

And finally, if the business goes uphill, you need to look for distribution channels. A great solution would be to rent a place in a supermarket or a small candy store, but for this you need to do something truly original and memorable.

A huge advantage of this business is the fact that it is not seasonal, but permanent, that is, people celebrate and celebrate something all year round. As for the price, here it is necessary to proceed from the cost of products, as well as the amount in which the confectioner evaluates his work and creativity.

On average, making 2-3 medium-sized cakes per week, you can earn about 15-20 thousand rubles a month.

And only then, when the cakes become a work of art, the price for them can rise sharply, and this is already a direct road to success and financial independence. For some confectioners, a wedding cake alone costs 20-50 thousand rubles.

Startup #8. Sale of handicrafts (hand-made)

As is the case with custom-made cakes, products handmade- this is another example of how a favorite activity can bring tangible income and. Hand-made covers an entire industry, which is difficult to limit to any one type of product. This includes the manufacture of jewelry (jewelry, earrings, rings, bracelets, brooches and pendants), handmade dolls (tilde, etc.), sewing children's clothing, making Christmas decorations and decorations. And yet, speaking of hand-made topics, it is also worth mentioning figurines, decorative trinkets, items for interior decoration and much, much more.

The most important thing is to find customers who will order some things. First, you should think about posting several of your works in thematic groups dedicated to needlework, since there are enough of them now, both on Vkontakte and on Facebook or Odnoklassniki. Over time, if things go uphill, it will be possible to open your own online store where you can place products in stock, as well as take orders for manufacturing.

At first, a novice master can earn about 8-15 thousand rubles a month, but a well-known master with his own online store can earn from 100 thousand rubles a month, minus overhead costs.

For an online store or to issue an IP, but it's not difficult. Therefore, we can conclude that making handmade items can be a very profitable activity, but only if you put your soul into it!

Atelier at home: a profitable business for women.

Startup #9. Atelier at home

There are people who sew excellently, and they do it by themselves, they do not make any special efforts for this. So why don't they start their own business from scratch and open an atelier from home. Atelier at home is very convenient, as the client always has somewhere to come and try on a thing in a calm atmosphere, without rushing.

Before starting work, you need to decide what format of the atelier to do: whether it will be just alteration and minor repairs of clothes or individual tailoring. You can start with the alteration of clothes, because services such as sewing in a dress, adjusting the width of trousers to size or cutting jeans will always be in high demand. And if opportunities allow, you can immediately offer customers to sew clothes to order. If a dressmaker knows her job well and can make a pattern and then sew any outfit that the client wants, over time, a lot of people will learn about such a master.

For example, there is a fairly large category of people who want no one else to have such a second thing, and who, except for a seamstress, can give them such a guarantee? Moreover, it is immediately worth noting that professional dressmakers charge quite a lot for tailoring. decent money.

To open an atelier, you will need to take care of purchasing a good sewing machine, which, by the way, is also expensive, find a supplier of good fabrics and accessories, but also be patient, of course. Cutting and sewing is a monotonous and sometimes routine occupation, it requires special perseverance and increased concentration, but the result will not be long in coming.

Experienced and talented dressmakers can earn from 70-80 thousand rubles a month.

Business ideas for starting a business in your garage.

Startup #10. Own production in the garage

The world does not stand still and a lot of enterprising people have come up with the idea of using their garage not only as a place for a car, but they were able to. If there is a free garage, that is, it can be slightly converted and used for business purposes. For example, you can open a dry cleaner or laundry: you only need to purchase a couple of cars, laundry equipment and go.

Another garage can be used as home appliances repair place, that is, in the garage you can open a small repair shop. This idea will be especially useful for those who understand repair and already have a certain accumulated experience. The advantage of the workshop in the garage is the fact that this activity can be used as extra work and do repairs in their spare time.

And finally, the third option: in the garage you can grow mushrooms, namely oyster mushrooms and champignons. In order to establish mushroom cultivation in the garage, it is enough to install ventilation system, take care of lighting, buy compost and mycelium.

According to average estimates, the initial costs will be about 20 thousand rubles, but the first income from the sale will be about 50 thousand rubles. If we develop marketing channels for mushrooms, it will be possible to raise this price point.

Startup #11. Aquaprint at home

An aquaprint is an immersion print, which is an image on a solid surface that imitates various natural structures, such as wood, stone, animal color, and others. The advantage of hydro printing is that it can be applied to various types of surfaces, up to plastic and glass.

To open a hydrographic business, you will need to purchase immersion film, activator, bath, car polish and expendable materials. And of course, you need a person who will know how this process takes place.

The market cost of applying hydrographics, for example, to a car - a sedan, is about 13 thousand rubles, for oversized furniture 3000-4000 rubles.

Therefore, monthly earnings depend solely on the number of clients and personal professional skills.

Popular startups in Russia and America + Video

We can talk about the importance of developing and introducing new ideas into existing industries for a very long time, but in order to better understand, we can cite a few good examples how a small team of people took a risk and…remained the winner. Below are examples of how startups with minimal investment paid off over time and made their creators famous and wealthy people.

Successful projects in the USA

In America, the number of startups dramatically outnumbers other countries, but, unfortunately, as elsewhere, only a small fraction of them become commercially profitable. Here are some of them:

Project #1: Checkr

Checkr is a project that sells verified job applicant profiles to companies such as Warby Parker, Instacart, Uber, and others. A specially designed application generates API reports, which are then recognized by the data processing systems of the above companies. Checkr was founded by Daniel Janiss and Jonathan Perichon, and the company's current investment package is $50 million. The company generated $150 million in revenue in 2016.

Project #2: BitSight Technologies

BitSight Technologies is a project that allows you to analyze and rank the security of companies that can threaten the computer security of their partners. In their work, they use complex algorithms that work with large amounts of data. The founders of BitSight Technologies are Stephen Boyer and Nagrjuna Venna, the company has about $95 million in investments, and the profit for 2016 was $30 million.

Successful startups in Russia

There are also many people in Russia who have shown by their example that nothing is impossible and you can always find the desire and strength to do something new and interesting. Like those guys downstairs.

Project #1: Gvidi

An application that, in fact, is an analogue of the famous Foursquare, but more adapted for Russian users. Prompts users to select a nearby restaurant or cafe based on reviews from users who have already visited the establishment. Currently, the application has been downloaded and installed by more than 40,000 people.

Founders Anton Baranchuk and Alexander Dorzhiev, profit amounted to $1.5 million.

Project #2: YouDo

A very interesting startup is a project that allows you to order a certain service, most often a one-time one. For example, the most popular services are dog walking, furniture assembly, shopping, minor repairs. There is a geolocation function that shows exactly who will undertake the task and where this person is currently located. The app has now been downloaded over 1 million times. Developers Denis Kutergin, Alexey Gidirim. The company's investment in 2016 was $6.2 million, and the profit was $2.1 million.

See examples of some more startup ideas in the video clip:

Having seen enough of the successful stories of billionaires who invented Internet services from scratch and became rich, business newcomers also want to follow this path. They are also trying to come up with something completely new that will be useful to people, but not everyone's expectations are justified. To keep startup ideas in demand, follow these guidelines:

1. Come up with a service, service or product that will improve your life.
2. You yourself clearly understand how to bring your plans to life.
3. Your idea is also interesting to others.

How to find startup ideas?

Don't complicate your life, don't reinvent the wheel. The constant brainstorming of ideas can only cause constant tension and nervousness.
1. Examples of successful start-up ideas show that it is necessary to find a problem and satisfy people's needs. This is easy to do - you need to observe and identify discontent in the current life.

Mark Zuckerberg solved his problem by creating Facebook. He spent a lot of time on the Internet, he wanted to meet and communicate with people also on the Internet. He solved his main problem, and then it turned out to be a solution to the problem of the world community.

Observe what annoys you, what others, while thinking about how you can fix the situation.

That is, change your profile from the category of inventing to the position of noticing.

2. After you have noticed the problem and come up with a solution, evaluate at first glance the prospects for the development of this idea. How many people can you benefit? Can a startup grow into a big company?

3. The next stage is the search for like-minded people, like you, who believe in the idea, who are turned on only by the thought of working on the project, and not ready to work only for a salary.

Typical mistakes of startups!

1. Most likely, there was little faith in this idea, or the problem was just invented, but in fact the society did not need it.
2. Not all startups work with like-minded people. They try to organize everything themselves. The presence of 1 founder in a startup makes it difficult to attract investments.

3. This error does not apply to Internet startups, it is more for offline business. It is important to choose the right location. Perhaps for promotion it is worth choosing a more central area in the city or choosing a completely different city.

4. Choosing a startup with low margins. Small sales combined with low margins and, as a result, the enterprise is unprofitable.

5. No customer orientation! In this case, when a businessman bends his policy and does not analyze the feedback from the client. By listening to the wishes of customers, you can improve the product, thereby retaining new satisfied customers.

6. Not qualified team. The ability to recognize a professional in their field and invite them to work in a team is worth a lot. Only for a beginner, this is not always possible. He does not always understand who is a professional, especially in the area in which he does not understand anything.

7. Lack of sufficient funding. Try to stay on your own funds as long as possible and achieve certain results. To go to investors, it is important to show some results from independent work. In this case, they will have more confidence in the project than if the idea is at the zero stage.

8. There is no clear representation of the portrait of the audience that will want to buy the product. Not knowing the client is a failure in marketing promotion.

Successful startups in Russia!

Foreign and Russian market entrepreneurship is markedly different. What is popular abroad does not always take root here. I will pay attention to Russian startups that have development prospects. The most popular industries are IT technologies, medical, nuclear, space developments. Here are some successful startup ideas:

1. IT, Internet technologies, mobile applications.
http://www.ecwid.com is a convenient online store module. It is an app that can embed shop on any website and is the best facebook selling app. For convenience, the store is added to all your social accounts. networks, blogs and is administered from one place.

http://gvidi.ru - convenient mobile app for iPhone and Android. This mobile guide recommends where to eat. It takes into account the tastes of a person, looks for the nearest establishments, and with its help you can reserve tables.

http://oktogo.ru is a convenient service that allows you to book a hotel anywhere in the world.

http://wizee.ru is an indispensable app for offline shopping. It makes it possible to locate stores in a shopping center, where promotions and discounts take place.

http://ibuildapp.com is a unique platform that allows non-programmers to create their own apps for iPhone and Android.

http://www.excursiopedia.com is a useful service for tourists and vacationers, which allows you to book places of entertainment, excursions and other outdoor activities.

2. Another broad area is scientific and medical developments.

http://www.knopka24.ru is a service through which you can call for help. Designed for the elderly and people with disabilities.

http://www.latan.info is a scientific development of an artificial lens for the eyes, which is of high quality and can enter the international market.
http://lactocore.com – unique development of identical components breastfeeding, which allows baby food to have a beneficial effect on child development.

Startup ideas are near us, you just have to look around.

Where to make money: TOP 6 business ideas! Choose yours and earn a million!!! Where to make money: 5 unique business ideas that will help you get rich!

Satisfying the physiological needs of personnel

earnings 2022-04-15 11:11:31

Order of the USSR Ministry of 26

Motivation 2022-04-15 11:11:31

Certification of health workers to obtain a qualification category: we are studying a new procedure General rules for assigning categories

Programs 2022-04-15 11:11:31