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One person took a few hours and about a hundred dollars to build a credibly effective music search engine, and why that experience demonstrated how addressing problems will be a better use of time than building the next Google.
As the eponymous Red of RedFerret.net observed, "How hard is it to make a simple web application today?" As it turned out, not real hard at all.
Those efforts comprised about four to five hours of time, half of which appears to have been spent on crafting a logo and a page, and around a hundred dollars. Meet Groupzz, a meta music search engine.
We filled the lead-lined writing room with the sweet strains of Cliff-era Metallica, to the "delight" of WebProWorld admin and co-worker Raf Robinson across the hallway. 'Ride The Lightning' and 'Master of Puppets', streamed nicely through the Groupzz player. The proof of concept site sped through our searches and found hundreds of options for each.
Here's how Groupzz came into being, according to RedFerret.net:
Step 1 - Spend half an hour searching, locate a $99.00 script on Sitepoint (there’s probably free around, but I’m in a hurry see?)
Step 2 - Spend a couple of hours creating and tweaking a simple logo and page (yeah, so I’m not the world’s best designer, OK?)
Step 3 - Locate a free hosting supplier at webmaster-networks.com
Step 4 - Upload the whole shooting match via FTP and test
Step 5 - Point an unused $9.95 a year domain of mine at the server
Step 6 - Sign up for Shopping Ads, and embed the advert codes
Step 7 - Promote on the Red Ferret Journal…and profit!! Or not!!
"Unless your idea is unbelievably different, and more importantly, useful or hugely entertaining to a major section of a target population, you probably won’t gain traffic fast enough to make it work before someone else comes along and does it cheaper, faster, easier, or just plain better," said Red.
"Please stop trying to create yet another MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Google or whatever."
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Comments
Feedback source for entrpreneurs
I recently came across a cooperative site that allows you to post ideas and receive feedback and maybe funding from other netrepreneurs.
It still has a ways to go, but it shows great promise. Cambrian House has its share of trolls, know-it-alls and grinches, but I trust it will improve...
I dropped in an idea for a translation crowdsourcng tool, similar to Amazon's MTurk, and got feedback from the good, bad and ugly....There were a couple of pieces of good feedback in the pile and it has helped me refine the concept. It could definitely help folks avoid idea duplication and freshman mistakes: http://www.cambrianhouse.com/
Once you get the idea right
Once you get the idea right, it is just a matter of getting the luck right too. ...
Or , rely on all the silly copyright and intellectual property rights to sue everyone who gets rich using your idea, while carefully ignoring those who failed miserably using your idea.
Win-win situation - just copyright it .
Just because you can do it quickly doesn't make it easy
Now I have been running my own successful web studio for 4 years. (www.aligtech.com) We have created numerous applications. Some from the ground up and others using rapid development and building off of open source platforms. However, in the example above, just because it was created quickly doesn’t mean it is easy to do for everyone.
A medical doctor can give you a diagnosis in just a few moments time. He just asks you a few questions and takes a quick look at you and he is done in less than 10 minutes. You then pay him several hundred dollars. Not for his time, but for his experience and expertise, years of training and knowledge.
I see many posts here that mention how easy it is if you just get the right programmer. The right programmer doesn’t come cheap. Even if you do find the right programmer and he is affordable, there is much more to creating a successful business than the technical know how.
Everyone always claims to have a great idea, we get many of them through our office everyday. Unfortunately, these great visions are rarely unique. Most are either half-baked, they haven’t even done a cost analysis or they are already created by another company, create an e-commerce site to sell something even though they know nothing about the internet or marketing online. I even had a client wanting to get started on e-commerce and faxed me all of his info because he wasn’t comfortable with email (can you imagine?).
A colleague of mine once told me a statement which still rings true for me today. He said, "I have never had an original idea."
Do some searching, and if you are good, you will find that just about every internet business idea you can think of, has already been discovered or attempted. That doesn’t mean it has been done correctly or cannot be improved.
partnering- the law of unity
I have been looking with interest at the Internet business development scene for the last few months. Seems like there are a lot of people trying to reach for the stars but skipping the "building of the rocket".
Most new businesses that succeed are started with a vision but developed with a team of complimentary skill sets and commitment to one another and the mission at hand.
I hear that 95% of internet start ups and publishers fail- my guess is it may be more. That matches the futures industry with a huge loss ratio of new traders. The old experienced guys make money off the learning curve of new players.
I worked with a talented young web developer to create some unique solutions for our company but he has gone off to follow his dream of creating movies. I would love to find a new tech savvy developer who understands database technology along with the web to partner with on taking some of these solutions for our company into the general marketplace.
But how to find such a talented and trustworthy partner?
Blessings and success
Thomas R Noon, CPA
Failure
95% of brick and mortar businesses fail as well. I am surprised that the number of Internet failures is not higher....
I would look to India and young enrepreneurs there, who with a bit of guidance, will focus high-level skills and fantastic linguistic abilities to your benefit...
Fight against google
With the rules changing each 2 days is now impossible (unless you pay Adwords) to be listed in GOOGLE or optimized naturally.
Google is a rip-off itself, they´re liars, they make the rules and they are going for the money only, they´re not sincere, they don´t want to help people´s webs.
Why not then trying to build another google or youtube or whatever (you call it)??? Why not fight back ??
I really encourage people to make the change and dont use Google´s services, could be hard at the beginning but if everybody help we can show them that people makes the rules, not money!!
Rub
Sometimes it's a combination
You're absolutely right, a simple website will be copied quickly, just like a lemonade stand. Easy to set up, no barriers to entry, presto. What I've found works is to take one of those easy to set up sites like a Wordpress Blog about the Playstation 3 I purchased (www.ps3vault.com) and then expand it. Let somebody else do the simple work and then add your own personal touch.
bucket of fail
I agree. A lot of the really great creative energy could be better used creating a better mousetrap, or at least some software to invent one, or an information service for better trapping methods. I think that where the internet could really shine is in such an area.
Stay at the plate - you might just make that home run
I agree that setting up a successful commercial web business is a lot of hard work - just like setting up and running any business is hard work. How many people do you know who register a business name, get the stationery printed, hand out the business cards, "press some flesh" and feel they have a real business? I've known quite a few and almost all of them went out of business in 1 to 3 years.
An Internet business is no different in most respects from any traditional "real" business". It takes time, planning, "baby steps", cash injections, more time, more planning, sweat, disappointments, a few small successes and more disappointments. The thing is to "stay at the plate if you can and wait for the pitch that will deliver the home run". I live in South Australia which has a very small market base by US and European standards. Our local saying has always been "if you can make a business work in Adelaide, it will work anywhere". We've been going now for over 7 years and our search engine and information site, SearchSA, has slowly grown its visitor base because the customers support it, not just because we think it's a great idea!
I'm 100% with Darren, Al and Michael - don't worry about the cheap startups. Their "cheap" mindset puts them right behind the 8-ball from the outset. Just hang in there - fail, fail and fail again if necessary, but don't leave the game until you absolutely have to.
As for becoming another Google - who is going to bankroll a startup like IBM and SUN did when Google was just an idea in the postgrad school at Stanford in the 1990's? Nobody I know of. Google will probably not be repeated in my lifetime. But there is plenty of room for other niche (serious) players like Darren, Al, Michael, and hopefully, our team in Adelaide, South Australia.
Basket of Possibilities
This article wasn't what I thought it would be. I was hoping for some real analysis on common points of failure... which of course would point me towards some solutions to those problems.
Instead, the author compares slapping up a lemonaid stand for an investment of $3 and expecting to be the next Walmart. Not much help there.
Like some of the other commenters, I have been building an ecommerce site to sell the UpStart Battery brand of replacement lithium ion batteries. I was excited to learn that I could use an open source ecommerce engine, zen cart, and get my site up and running quickly.
The site WAS up and running quickly, but that, as it turned out, was only the start. Thousands of more hours were required to improve the site. Even good ideas take a lot of work. And although this is not my first start up, I can honestly say that I have had to learn more this time around than in any of the previous ventures.
The jury is still out on whether or not this will be a rip roaring success. But every hurdle I run into, I jump over, barrel through, or trip and fall flat on my face. But then I pick myself up, dust myself off, and keep on running.
It is possible - I did it.
I own www.slwebsolutions.com and I started this company out of nothing. No outside funding just thousands of hours of building the site and business and marketing it. The business works and is successful and now supports the income of many people. Myself and my company have learned many effective ways of marketing websites and we can lead you in the right direction.
What I did? Built on an idea and focused on marketing, marketing, and more marketing. Made sure that my clients were given enterprise quality services and treatment and my business has flurished. The web solutions industry is very competitive which was a huge obstical. If you have a niche that is not very competitive it is NOT hard to gain steady traffic nor expensive. If you are depending on ads as your only source of income you will need a very large number of visitors.
Don't give up. If you truely want an online business to happen it can happen. Understand that It's not easy and takes time to be profitable. You can't whip up a script in a day and expect success. Be prepared to spend a large amount of money or put hundreds to thousands of hours in it. Contact me on our website and ask for Steve in your email.
Fast Baby Steps...All The Way To The Finish Line!
In the new web-world, rapid development is a must. As Michael mentioned in his comment, this simple site probably won't last on this $99 sciript if it gets some real traffic.
In reality though, you only need to go one step further than this example, but that does not necessarily involve large sums of money. Using a quality open source programming framework and a talented programmer or two, can net a truly scaleable professional app/website.
The old days of building some Titanic application with a team of developers on some monolithic platform is long gone. Anyone using this old style will be buried. Every day that passes 'rapid-development' speeds toward 'hyper-rapid-development'. You need to get your idea out there as fast as possible before someone else does.
So it's true, it's quick and easy to build a simple web app. However, you'll likely need to go a step further than buying an off-the-shelf script to create your new empire. But, look at Python/Django. There are numerous small quality web apps that have used this combination and been built in a matter of days.
Now in the case of Groupzz.com, they have teh idea out there in sa few hours with just $99 our of their pocket. They can watch and see if it becomes popular. If it is a hit, take that next step and artie a replacement app that will scale. Seeing the simplicity of this app, a scalable replacement should not take long to build anyways! Marketing is the key...and you've already started down the right path there. :)
Keep Trying - YES
RedFerret must be talking about himself and his lack of success. Too bad. He should keep trying.
I had never heard of RedFerret, so perhaps his article was just a last desperate attempt at gaining attention. I looked at his sponsor filled website and see why his is a failure.
My only question is why did David at WebPro feel his article was worthy? Perhaps even after the somewhat success of WebPro, David still does not accept that small level of success as successful?
In the mainframe days, my small company sold $30,000 software products and we did not need to sell many to achieve a level of profitable success. But even after success, holding onto the benefits can become a serious problem.
Now, I am screwed after the dotcom-bust. My only option is to attempt to gain a little success on the Internet. I'll drop dead before I give up.
Too negative
I never like articles like this. Reason being that you don't know and can't tell anyone else what the next big idea will be. So how can you tell people what not to create if you don't know what is going to work in the first place?
If at first you fail, fail and fail again!
There will always be someone out there with an idea of being able to start their own web developer's business. Many of them will be married housewives with kids looking for an outlet to create extra income for their families. Many will be graphic artists who want to expand their skill set through the web. Some will be computer I.T. people who dabble with Adobe products or (gasp) Front Page.
The good news with this is the web CUSTOMER wins. There are enough developers out there to satisfy budgets from $100 to several thousands of dollars. Those who try to discourage other developers or the less experienced creative minds are often the ones who are wallowing in their own failures or frantically holding on to their current success with fear of falling behind.
With just about any business there will be success and there will be failures. It's whether or not we triumph in the face of adversity or let the negativity of others drag you down with them.
Overall, there is money to be made in this industry in more ways than one and new ideas are evolving every day.
You never fail until you quit trying
Telling people to just give up is about the worst advice anyone can give concerning any subject.
It is those of us who continue to try in the face of adversity that make the innovations that improve our world.
There are others who have "already done that". There will be others who "do it better". That simply means that I must continue to investigate, learn, and innovate.
Do NOT give up! Keep developing ideas and methods. Yours may be the next big sensation.
We're back, and we want your money... :-)
Yep, my web host disappeared from under me just after the article ran, but I'm now back on another free host and we're shooting for the moon. Or at least somewhere East of that nice restaurant in the main street. :-)
More seriously, I wasn't trying to put anyone down or discourage hard work and a dream. Just perhaps putting it into perspective so that people would think a little more about the reality of their chances of success.
Red
Your Web Startup Is A Basket Of Fail
David, I had to chuckle after reading your article, Your Web Startup Is A Basket Of Fail.
As a person who has spent over $100,000 and countless hours creating a start-up website, to be launched this year, I saw your article and my heart sank. I thought, "could he be correct, am I just wasting my time".
And then the "chuckle". I clicked on the groupzz link and ... nothing.
I think it only fair to explain to your readers that virtually anyone can create a website in minutes, but unfortunately that is how long it will last once "real" traffic starts hitting the site.
Business fundementals and planning for success are still critical in this web world, and that still takes time, money and risk.
Thanks for the chuckle.
Getting back to my Big Basket of Fail.
Michael
keep trying
For every thousand or 10 thousand web 2 start-ups there will only be a couple who succeed, but that is not a reason to tell people not to try. Some of us dream of being the next Google, YouTube... but understand that it is not always possible.
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