With each passing day, the world is moving into a sophisticated technological realm. From artificial intelligence to blockchain based systems- a groundbreaking technology is being introduced every day. What could be a better time for startups to thrive? No wonder many of the Venture Capital firms and top tech investors are all eyes. This is because they want to identify the killer startups which have the power to change the world.
Startups function in a very different way as compared to corporate organizations. The path to a successful startup is not easy and only 30 percent of seeded startups manage to move forward. Many business owners are already looking for inspiration from startups. They are trying to understand why some startups are an instant success and others fail in the first few months.
So, if you are looking for creative ways to build a sustainable business, then keep reading. You will be able to know about the 5 wildly successful startups and the valuable lessons we can learn from them:
Kaltura
Lesson: Target various niches
Kaltura is one of the leading providers of open source video management and also offers delivery solutions. It is becoming one of the fastest growing platforms for video and media management and state-of-the-art delivery solutions.
What makes Kaltura unique from other platforms is that it targets and caters to different niches such as enterprise, education, and media. Each sector can access specific features and functions which are tailored according to their personal needs.
The level of personalization offered by Kaltura has made it an instant hit. Today it is being used by 300,000 enterprises, education and media organizations. Some of their most popular users include renowned organizations like Groupon, Bank of America, Harvard and HBO.
Needless to say, Kaltura is faring better than everyone’s imagination and recently raised $25 million. Kaltura’s success story highlights the importance of targeting specific niches and providing them with customized options.
Voxy
Lesson: Don’t fill your plate with too much at once
Voxy is an app that is exclusively designed for Spanish speakers to learn English. The app delivers easy-to-learn lessons and bite-sized things to learn based on real-life experiences. With their success, the masterminds behind this app can easily start focusing on other languages too. But they decided to stick with the Spanish market. Thanks to their timely decision, Voxy has over 3 million users and has succeeded in raising $15 million.
Snapchat
Lesson: Don’t be afraid to take risks
The founders of Snapchat turned down Facebook’s offer of $3 billion when they launched in 2011. People thought that it was a decision they would regret later on and it would bite the dust in a few years. But the founders had faith in their idea and didn’t let go of it. Well, their perseverance paid off. According to statistics, Snapchat is worth more than $30 billion now.
This is just one of the many inspirational stories about how startups take risks on a daily basis. If you have a business of your own and have forgotten how to take risks, then this is a lesson that you can learn from startups.
Amazon
Lesson: Listen to your customers
Amazon can proudly be deemed as the most customer-centric organization in the whole world. It is by no means a startup today, but when Bezos first launched Amazon, their primary policy was to listen to their customers. This policy of listening to customer feedback and complaints hasn’t changed even today in the Amazon headquarters.
One of the main reasons why customers prefer a startup more than a corporate brand is that the former is generally closer to their audience. For example, if you own an online leather jacket store, always ask your customers for reviews. Also, ask for their feedback on the leather quality and other aspects.
Startups listen and respond to customer feedback immediately and implement changes. This is something which huge organizations should remind themselves- don’t lose touch with your customers no matter how successful you become.
Prismatic
Lesson: Encourage team collaboration
Prismatic is a popular news reading app which provides personalized news feeds to its users based on their interests. It uses algorithms to judge the reader’s likes and dislikes and then provides relevant news according to it.
The reason why Prismatic is so successful today is that their whole team works very closely. Whether it is the designer, researcher or the content writer- they all collaborate and create a hands-on working environment to help each other.
The efforts are clearly evident and Prismatic has more than 25,000 weekly users. It has managed to collect $16.5 million in funding.
Conclusion:
Most new startups fail to succeed because they are either short on resources or don’t think innovatively. One of the lessons to learn from some of the best startups is that don’t be afraid to experiment. Create and test new ideas and implement them. If it’s a bad one, kill it and start working on a better solution. Most corporate organizations lack innovation and don’t offer room for mistakes. The freedom to try something new and making mistakes is very liberating. It is the first step you should take if you want to succeed.
So, are you ready to learn some of the most important rules of running a business from startups? Share some of your favorite startups and how they managed to influence your business operations: