Stephen Sammartino is an occasional columnist for Anthill, known for delighting us with his often strange and always controversial takes on business (eg. What startups can learn from terrorists). Last week, Steve hit the streets in a ‘kinda lame’ but funny attempt to win new customers for Rentoid.com, an online renting service (like eBay but…
What I personally found so interesting about this item of digital media is that it was created by the crowd and assembled by attendees (or one particularly passionate attendee in particular). And, despite having not attended the event, I suspect that it is more helpful than most of the glossy ‘take homes’ I find shoved in most ‘goodie-bags’ post most conferences.
Quite simply, any business without a revenue-generation model won’t exist over time. We only need look at the dot-com bust of the late 1990s to see this reality.
The real question in the so-called ‘Freeconomy’ is how many businesses can be supported by the advertising sales model? Why the idea of ‘Free’ is being touted as new is beyond me.
I was thinking about business and at what point it becomes possible to believe you have a good chance of winning. I came to the conclusion that four elements pave the way to start-up success.
When aiming to generate media coverage for our start-up or business, we often get one thing wrong. It relates to our training as marketers. We are too targeted.
The Cool Company Awards 08 Cool Company Awards 08 top 50 Coolest Company and Big Kahuna Awards Global Growth Award Online Award and X-Factor Award Commercial Creativity Award Social Capitalist Award Micro Business Award Innovation Award Quotes, notes, judges and trophies Our Judges Caroline Siler, Keep Left PR Caroline Siler was 22 and working in…
Footballers (or any sports people) have good form and bad form. Some are heroes and play to their optimum every single game. Some are inconsistent but sometimes brilliant. And others just fill the numbers. As entrepreneurs, we should aim to be like the footballer… not just a footballer in the league, but the Most Valuable Player – the MVP.
How many people have we met and had a discussion with about business? They want to start a business. They have business skills. But they haven’t started one. Why? Well here’s the most popular answer: they are waiting for a good idea, or even the big idea. They’ll be waiting forever. No idea will ever…
If you’re reading Anthill and not starting or running a business, maybe you ought to stop for a second and ask yourself why? You’re obviously interested in entrepreneurship, marketing and ‘start-up’ business. You’re smart and capable, right? But you’re risk-averse. Well, we all are, to some extent. I am as much as anyone. But isn’t…
CREATIVE ESPRESSO By Stephen Sammartino ************* ANT BYTES CrackBerry, with benefits While entrepreneurs typically relish a 24/7 relationship with their labour of love, many professionals have been dismayed by the encroachment of work on their personal time since the introduction of email-enabled mobile devices. Even the staunchest advocates of the liberating properties of new technology…
Storytelling is a really important skill for entrepreneurs or any start-up. Quite often ‘a story’ is the first thing we have (after our idea or business cards). A story to tell potential investors A story to tell potential customers A story to tell potential employees A story to tell… The truth about stories is that…
CREATIVE ESPRESSO By Stephen Sammartino ************* ANT BYTES Something in the air The irrepressible imagination of regular Anthill contributor and rentoid.com founder Steve Sammartino has borne yet more fruit. Following on from his “Rentoid Rapper” effort last year – breakdancing in the street, pocketing $63 in tips and posting the video on YouTube to promote…
Last week we launched the Anthill Editors’ Blog (I assume you know this because you are now reading it). Our motivations are fairly obvious. This space will give Paul Ryan (Editor), me and the rest of the Anthill editorial crew a space to share some of the more topical events, news and opinions that come…
Right now, terrorists are applying the most successful start-up strategies that I can think of. The thing that is so compelling about terrorists is that they are taking on the establishment and winning comfortably with far fewer resources than their entrenched foes. The unlimited supplies and market dominance of their competitors has not created any…
Physics and business are more closely related than one would imagine. In fact, physics and start-ups have a ridiculously close relationship, which you should pay attention to. Some of the best lessons for any aspiring start-up can be taken from successful businesses. But in the very early days of your start-up, possibly the most value…
Entrepreneurship is about building finances conceptually. Entrepreneurs don’t buy something and wait for it to appreciate. They invent the future. Inventing has never been about being atechnical genius. It’s about creativity and having the tenacity to execute the vision. The great economist Adam Smith would use some verbose economic theory to describe the process, like…
CREATIVE ESPRESSO By Stephen Sammartino Click to image enlarge ************* ANT BYTES Scouta hits the tube Richard Giles, CEO, Scouta Remember Scouta, the Perth-based intuitive online video and podcast recommendation service we covered in back in Issue 21 (“Scout’s Honour”)? Well founders Richard Giles and Graeme Sutherland and the team have been pushing along nicely…
CREATIVE ESPRESSO By Stephen Sammartino Click image to enlarge. ************* ANT BYTES Facebook costing Australia $5b There was a time when, if someone was huddled over a computer at work, they were, in all probability, hard at work. But recent research suggests that sweat could be being shed in the cause of tracking down ex-partners…
We’re taught from a very young age that copying lacks virtue and deserves some form of punishment. You could say it is viewed as a form of stealing. A start-up (or a business for that matter) is a complex set of interacting ideas and actions. Some of which may be original (your widget, website,…
Do you have a grand vision of selling out to an incumbent? The type of deal that makes the front page of the daily business section? The reason you heard so much about Google buying YouTube is that it doesn’t happen very often. We all need this sense of reality before we commence. But…
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