12 Lessons From A Year As A Start-Up Entrepreneur

My first full year at BPRISE, the company I co-founded in mid-2016, has been very much like the opening lines of A Tale Of Two Cities. However eventful the journey so far, there has been a learning curve at every juncture. I thought I’d share some of those prickly lessons and pearls of wisdom with you, as we introspect on the year gone by and toast to the one to come…

1. Is The Market For Your Product, Desperate Enough?

Start-ups have been fashionably sprouting all over the global spectrum for years now. But only a few survive. Does your start-up satiate a thirst and hunger for a service or item? That should be the first logical question you ask yourself. Look for signs like customer acquisition costs going down, exponential demand and revenue growth (on a weekly basis) and the virality of word of mouth. If you don’t find a convincing enough justification, then you quite simply, have no business! Start off on the right foot, so that the journey ahead is on solid ground with real potential.

2. Do you have a problem?

I’ve always believed that solving a big problem is a bigger deal and leads to a huge business opportunity. Do your buyers have urgent needs that need to be addressed as soon as possible? Great! That means they are more likely to adopt your solution AND pay a premium for it. Put every idea you get through the test, of whether it solves a big conundrum or not. You can’t build a billion-dollar company without solving a billion-dollar problem or one that a hundred million people are willing to pay for. If Facebook today is almost a $500 billion company, it’s because it addresses one of the humans’ most urgent needs: The need to be Social, according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

3. Start With Part-Time. Grow into Full-Time

Start-up initiation is mostly about having a smart, self-starter attitude. Most Hall-Of-Famers start out as garage bands. Every entrepreneur may not be able to work full time at a start-up from the get-go. Even a part-time commitment can be a decent beginning. Ideating, meeting with a bunch of potential users, building a testing version of the product, seeking user input – all of this can be done on the weekends or for a few hours every other day. Baby steps, till you’re able to walk with a full team and a structured venture is better than doing nothing. Have a clear target plan of what it will take to quit your current job to run the start-up full time. 10 paying customers or 200 active users? About $2000 in monthly revenue? Or A $10,000 investment? Work toward whatever the goals may be, so that even on a part-time basis, you can eventually turn the side-gig into your owned and operated outfit.

4. Put the Pro in Prototype

A prototype is a functional or visual example of what you envision building in the future. Potential customers, Investors and/or Team Members are who you would typically build one for. When potential buyers see how a product might look (visual prototype) or work (functional prototype), it becomes easier for them to believe in its value. A prototype could make ideating and brainstorm with your team much easier and possibly, even get you funded.

Personally, I didn’t need to spend money producing many units of the actual product, just to sell my idea. I gave presentations to a couple of big banks and heads of large agencies armed with just a laptop and something that looked like a full-size motherboard sprouting wires from every end. Not a pretty sight, but it helped me confidently prove my point and notice what exactly the customer appreciated it.

5. You And What Army?

Just because you’ve started up with a gem of an idea, frame-worthy vision and unshakable passion to build the next big thing, doesn’t mean that it’s a sure slam dunk just yet. Human Capital is what drives every success story. Investors and accelerators always judge a founder by the company he or she keeps, quite literally. So, while it may seem obvious to hire key talent who are aptly qualified for various positions, they should share your parental passion for the start-up and express vows for the long haul. Make it a priority to be very selective about your hires, so that partners, potential VCs, and clients recognize this value and seek to join the club.

6. Hi, I’m Jack. Of All Trades.

Sure, founding team members each have unique designations and departments on their business cards. But the reality is that all their cups runneth over. Sometimes, a business development or marketing professional might be M.I.A, so the founding members need to step in and multi-task. Teething issues and responsibilities like programming, recruiting, customer service, cheerleading, and designing need to be shouldered by the founders, over and over again. Now granted, you might not necessarily be a trained programmer yourself, but that doesn’t absolve you of your duties. Having a basic understanding of new technologies and knowing a little bit of everything will only help you propose viable solutions, evaluate teamwork and hire the best. This can be painful since you might not be spending much time perfecting the craft you love. But along the way, you will pick up complementary skills that will only boost your core talent. Once your start-up grows to a position where it can afford to build a bigger team with leaner KRAs, then you can go back to be the Master of One. Just like your card says!

 

7. Don’t Be A Big Fish In A Puddle

The modern-day Confucius – Jack Ma advises to ‘hire people with superior technical skills than yours”. He couldn’t be righter. You can win a running race by outsmarting peers who are not as good as you. But, if you train with the best of the best, even if you are placed last in the race, you’ll have timed better. High levels of competence in a company only help soar efficiency rates and speeds progress by default. So, hire smart people and then listen to them.

8. Are They Positive?

It’s not enough to stay hungry and foolish. You’ve got to stay positive too! I had a major falling out with an employee, only because of their negative attitude. I’ve come to realize that you can always train people to carry out certain tasks and handle certain machines, but professionalism and positivity are character traits that come inbuilt for the most part. Your quarterback may “Show You The Money”, but if he is a big sourpuss, then his vibe might bring the rest of the team down and cost you that Super Bowl. Headhunt people with enthusiasm and a sporting spirit.

9. All Aboard?

Airbnb’s Brian Chesky, like many other entrepreneurs, had to deal with quite the Catch 22. At the start of the journey, no travelers would come to the Airbnb website without accommodation listings and no homeowners would list their space without legitimate travelers on the site. Chesky said that he had to build the business, literally one home at a time, block by block, street by street and city by city. We too, at BPRISE, find it tricky with publishers and advertisers being our proverbial chicken and egg. This period of setting up meetings with clients and time flying by as we wait for early deals to culminate is stressful, to say the least. The ship can only start to sail once you have those initial clients and partners on board. Our unwavering faith, zen-like patience, and persistence are what will see us through the painfully quiet work days.

10. Plans Change. So Should You.

Most start-ups end up charting a course that’s different from the one that was initially sketched. This is normal and typically has little to do with having industry knowledge or experience in the line of work. There are many factors that could spoil your ideas and carefully planned projections. Don’t be too precious about them. Everything happens for a reason and change should be embraced as chances for better ideas and directions to present themselves.

Remember that the battle plan is the first casualty of the war. As soon as the first bullet is fired, the plan goes right out the window.

11. Draw A Budget & Pinch Pennies

In the business world, especially for start-up entrepreneurs, financial prudence plays a crucial role in the sustainability and transition from a small-scale boutique business to medium or large-scale organization. The initial euphoria of a newly established venture distracts entrepreneurs from keeping an eye on the cash flow statement. Many start-ups fail because of overspending. So, restrict withdrawals to adhere to a strict budget and regularly review it with discipline.

Don’t be ashamed to hunt for bargain deals online and at nearby stores. Strict financial discipline is a habit. Unnecessary spending leads to business failure.

12. Sales. Duh!

No matter what kind of company you run, the mission statement is one and the same across the board: ‘Decrease Overheads, Increase Revenue’. It’s very easy to lose yourself in the day to day affairs of operating a company, creating systems, corresponding to emails and updating social media pages. But do you have your eye on the prize? Are you acquiring new customers and improving sales? Isn’t that what you work for? Make sure you are staying productive and profitable with everything you and your team do. Segregate tasks into billable and non-billable jobs, evaluate the time spent on different accounts and make every action and person accountable for the bottom line objective. Because without customers and sales, what you have is not a business, but an expensive hobby!

To sum it up…

 

The start-up race is started by tens of thousands, but only half of them take the first steps. A mere hundred emerge from failures and even fewer make it to their first ‘ka-ching’! The ones who survive are living proof of perseverance and competitiveness. That’s what sets apart the dreamers and thinkers from the doers. It’s the survival of the fittest out there, so strap on your best-armoured suit and don’t forget to take notes while you battle on.

 

Ads.txt & Ads.cert

When working (or like, surfing the web), I’m often shown ads of goodies I’d be interested in swiping my card for. There is little surprise as to how this show-of-the-most-cool-ads happens, as I work in an adtech startup! Nonetheless, when it comes to shopping online, I’m giving no “site” any benefit of the doubt. What I’m trying to say is that I am not willing (or even cuckoo enough) to enter my card details at a random site just because it displays the “computer mouse” I’m in need of. Say for example, I’m on one of the big retailer sites looking for a black Puma* backpack and I see the same bag displayed in an ad (at a discounted rate of course!) by “BuyGoodStuffForCheapHere.com”.

How am I to even know if a third-party, selling goods of a retailer, online, is an approved seller? From my example above, is “Buy Good Stuff For Cheap Here” authorized to actually sell Puma goods? Will I get an original product? Has Puma approved this seller? How would I know? These are a few questions that run around in my head every time attractive ads by various third-party sellers grab my attention.
*The product and company names are trademarks of its respective owners. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.

I can also say that the same logic applies to brands buying ads programmatically. But, luckily for them, in late June, the IAB Tech Lab set up a method permitting brands to confirm that a third-party offering space on a publisher’s site is really approved to do so. This is called “Authorized Digital Sellers or ads.txt”. And as the name clearly suggests ads.txt is a simple text file uploaded to a publisher’s site listing the official sellers or resellers of the publisher’s inventory along with the publisher’s ID for buyers to match. Though it might be difficult for a publisher to list the unique IDs its sellers and resellers use to identify its inventory, it has been identified as an efficient means to fight fraud in the marketplace.

Given that ads.txt takes care of the authorization process, entities that are granted permission can access the designated areas. However, if an entity is not properly authenticated it can easily access areas it shouldn’t. Now, say for example, I order a super-duper expensive designer bag from a well-known ecommerce site. There are fraudsters along the way ready to swap my bag for a cheap one without the knowledge of my courier company. And since my transaction is happening online, I will need a way to make sure that that the bag is indeed the one that was sent by the store, i.e. I need to authenticate the source of my bag. What if the store were to send me a unique digital tag number imprinted on the bag and send the same to me via email? That way when I receive the bag I can verify that it came from the right source. Similarly, in the programmatic buying business, advertisers/buyers can now know of the authenticity of an inventory’s source with the help of ads.cert – an authentication initiative by IAB Tech Lab.

Ads.cert is a follow up to ads.txt by IAB Tech Lab and it uses cryptographic security measures to authenticate inventory.

Ads.txt can help authorize inventory sources and ads.cert can help authenticate the same by creating a “signature process”. Publishers can now incorporate cryptographically signed bid requests on showing the path of inventory thereby authenticating the inventory. This process will be able to certify units of inventory coming from verified publishers. This digital signature prevents fraudsters from tampering with the inventory simultaneously letting buyers verify a specific site’s inventory. Ads.cert can block any manipulations done to variables like device, domain, IP address, location to make it look like valuable impressions. Now everyone in the supply is required to provide and signature; this promotes good behavior and is a means of tracking bad behaviour.

I have simplified this further and prepared an infographic that lists why ads.txt and ads.cert is actually important to you if you’re part of the programmatic’s supply chain…

If you’re a publisher or an advertiser give us a ring to take your ad inventory game to the next level, well whaddya waiting for?

 

Communications Marketing: Getting Personal The Right Way

Give that a thought for a moment. It’s not about ‘Marketing’ communication, but more about how different ‘Communications’ are marketed. As a consumer, the only brands that catch my eye in an inbox full of promotional newsletters, are ones that masterfully hit the nail on the head. And as an Ad-Tech entrepreneur, how I help brands strike that hot iron is by practicing personalization, the right way.

May I?

Permissions Marketing is crucial, because, from the customer’s point of view, the line between personal and private information is very thin. When you leave it to consumers to decide if their geo-location, browsing behaviour and profile details can be accessed to keep them informed about upgrades, discounts and exclusive invites, you’re telling them that you respect their privacy and discretion. That kind of etiquette goes a long way to impress upon people that you can afford to not-be-desperate and that perhaps they might stand to lose by staying un-informed of some good deals. Since the user was explicitly asked to grant access and permission, chances are, the next time he/she spots your ad or email, they will recall the brand in good light.

Asking for permission also makes more economic sense than asking for forgiveness. The rising “Unsubscribe” figures and “Report This Ad” actions on Google indicate a disgruntled customer base, misinformed marketing policy and hence, loss of revenue. A filtered database of users who are genuinely interested in receiving communication helps contain your ad dollars and improves conversions naturally. Try not to look at every customer as an opportunity cost. Instead, weigh the risks of losing immediate prospects to pesky advertising in the short run, so that you can gain a steady, loyal following with time.

Permission Marketing

Quit Being Trigger Happy

There is more to personalized communication than just addressing a prospect by their name, gender and last purchase. It is more about going deeper to deliver individual specific messaging that may not form a part of your monthly carpet bombing strategy. A good rule to ensure you don’t repeat your re-targeting practice is to imagine that you have only 1 shot at rekindling the user’s interest. Do you have enough information to know if your offer can’t be refused or do you think it’s best to wait another week? Perhaps the customer abandoned the shopping cart to wait for his salary that would afford him the luxury? Or maybe a list of consumer testimonials that highly recommend the product/experience would be more convincing than reminding the user about the big bucks he forgot to charge to his credit card?

Why waste 3 rounds of remarketing? Sometimes, reminders that are frequent and mass marketed may rub consumers the wrong way instead of showing that you care. Identify value in every communication and allot touch points that will make the best impact. Build a schedule that caps the number of ads displayed and spreads out across the full customer journey. This will allow you time to study and customize your communication with an offer that is truly relevant.

Make Profit With ‘Give & Take’

Companies typically employ result oriented strategies to their advertising, like broadcasting newsletters on Wednesdays because of high open rates. However, with such mass marketing tactics, rarely do companies share the value of that advertising with the consumer.

A good example is Pepsi partnering with fitness app brands to reward users who completed a certain level of exercise with a FREE bottle of Pepsi’s Propel Zero Enhanced Water.
What a great way to pair a brand’s agenda with a surprising gratification in real time! The customer or website visitor is already familiar with your brand and services. Personalized communication is your turn to reflect that recognition back onto the consumer. Know which network, publication or brand to partner with and try to understand when is a good time to tap customers navigating the web on the shoulder.

I believe that Personalized Communications Marketing is not just about collecting information from registers, mobile towers and cookies to hyper segment user profiles into numerous buckets that look like Russian nesting dolls! It is about delivering thoughtful service and information with a sensibility and sensitivity that make the end users see repeated value; all because you made them feel special and known.

I understand that all this can be achieved only with a centralised data system and a team of professionals trained to study and spot such opportunities. That is exactly what we at BPRISE have built. We aim to go beyond the usual geo-location, purchase patterns and web history data points, to really read people’s minds! Talk to us!

4 Easy Ways To Monetize Your Mobile App

BPRISE blog_monetize mobile app

I’m active on Tinder* and I’ll admit that I sort of like the ads that come in between all my left swipes (what can I say, I’m shallow, #JudgeMeNot). And more often than I care to admit, I’ve felt the wicked desire to click on the ad to own those high-tops. This is not the only time I’ve had to hold onto my horses though. Surfing the web is like studying while window-shopping. I never get to read an article fully because I’m already opening another article with a catchy title. Right click, open in new tab – we’ve all been there… Don’t you dare be opening a tab on me right now!

It’s either that or the completely ingenious ad strips and videos that somehow bring before me the things I’ve been looking for of late. As a consumer of various goods today and a user of one too many applications, I understand that my “data” is spread all over. I also understand that there are brands “analyzing” such data and deriving “customer insights” from it. I personally have nothing against this because it comes back to me in the form of the most appropriate ads and product suggestions. Who doesn’t like those funky shoe ads anyway?

BPRISE blog_cybersecurity

Another cause of my relief or faith that my data will not be misused by brands/companies are the digital privacy laws out there. This brings me to the data privacy law by the European Union called General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR has some stringent laws in place which will affect how companies big or small, collect and process their customers’ data. Even if your company is not based in the EU, should you have customers in Europe, you are bound by the law. So, if you are a retailer, a publisher, an advertiser or a tech company that collects and analyzes data of individuals across the globe – be mindful of digital privacy laws and adhere to the same.

App users today don’t really fret about data unless of course, they feel an invasion. And with digitally aware netizens growing in numbers (almost 500 million mobile internet users in India!)  the way data is used and processed is under scrutiny. Analytics has crept into all things digital and I’m positive the retailers, publishers, and advertisers are making the most of it.  This is weird but also in a way cool because now I don’t have to go fishing for products online. I do not have to make the time to exclusively surf the web for shopping. With analytics empowering in-app ads, I may as well be booking a flight ticket and be offered a brand-new luggage to go with me. Because, what I’ve been wanting to buy (for example, the luggage), is now offered to me at a discounted price. Another example of adverts winning my attention is when I’m on one of those apps that hide your IP and stuff (again #JudgeMeNot) and see these wonderfully worded ads that speak directly to me!

All of this is very telling of how well a brand probably knows me. It is appealing because I do need what’s shown (in the ads) and it is the fastest way to shop. Ads are a fine way for the app owners to make money although the elite users may very well be able to get their hands on ad-free versions.

Apps are built for generating revenue and here are some more ways you can do that if you’re an app owner, developer or marketer…

  1. Newsletter signups & subscriptions – Allowing users to sign up for newsletters is also a way to get users to engage more deeply with your brand. Getting them to subscribe to unlock all the features of your app helps you monetize the same. For example, consider Tinder Plus and Gold – the difference between the two is the single swipe feature called “Likes You” in the Gold version. And it is about time I tell you that “*The product and company names are trademarks of its respective owners. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.”
  2. In-app purchases – Coolest option for free apps to monetize. Purchases for one-time-use, such as options for users to buy game credit or service adds are examples of consumable and non-consumable in-app purchases, respectively. Beef up your apps with upgrades while giving more to your app users. This way you not only monetize your app, you’re also giving the end user quality services that they’ll be willing to pay for.
  3. Partnerships – Tie up with brands that have a similar customer base by integrating their offering into your app. You not only win the referral fee from the partner but also engage your users better with the integrated offering. Of course, finding the right partner is critical, but need I say that explicitly? I mean I’m on Tinder swiping away photographs of men on their wedding days. IK.
  4. Advertisements – This is the most common way to monetize your app and most profitable. If you have a robust user base for your app, then with the help of analytics and insights serve the most fitting ads for each user. Subtle details like the placement of ads, retargeting users and accessing programmatic demands lead to maximizing your revenue through app advertising.  

If you’re an app owner and you’d like to show ads of relevant products/services to your users, then connect with BPRISE and earn more from your in-app ads. And if you’re anything like Tinder, I’d love to help you up your ad game! After all, girl’s gotta shop good stuff no matter the app!