Greatest Time To Be An Entrepreneur
Meet the new consumers of the new media age. They want things to be better, faster, cheaper and, even more important, free.
“This new consumer is very, very different from [the ones] we dealt with before,” said Ted Leonsis, vice chairman emeritus of AOL, who is considered an Internet pioneer and whose business portfolio over the years includes an impressive array of online companies. It doesn’t matter what business you’re in — restaurant, real estate or financial services, he added. “We’re living in a world where consumers have taken control of everything.”
Leonsis’ foray into entrepreneurship began while he was a student at Georgetown University. It was 1976, the Bicentennial summer, and he started a business selling red-white-and-blue snow cones. It was hardly the stuff of which millionaires are made, but Leonsis said the experience gave him a taste of what it’s like to start and grow a business. “I think that entrepreneurial spirit is really what drives this country and what drives the world economy,” he said.
For him at least, business is all about being in the “happiness business.” He said online businesses can cultivate people’s desire to volunteer and give back. “It’s all about getting out of the I, I and I, and really seeing where you want to fit into the bigger world.” The Internet has led to a whole new type of charitable giving — online philanthropy, where “micro-donations” by many donors can add up to a sizeable contribution.
Being successful with an online business is all about being smart with math and algorithms, Leonsis noted. “Marketing isn’t just to people anymore. You have to market to algorithms.” Also, “the basic unit of life in this world is the pixel and every pixel matters on a page.” The ability to cross promote is a powerful benefit of the Internet, he added, citing Amazon.com’s algorithm-driven marketing effort that alerts customers who bought certain book titles to other titles they might also like.
Photo by Wharton.
matt on January 3rd, 2008 3:12 pm
And earlier this week on the Wharton academic calendar… “algorithms for dummies” and “pixels for the clueless emeritus”.
Night club Los Angeles on January 3rd, 2008 7:22 pm
This is the time to get on the band wagon.
And your right, the internet can not help but put anyone who uses it into a more real view of the world. what the world can give and what the world needs.
I say it’s a great time to be alive . want to start a new business. Go for it! James
Marko Pyhajarvi on January 4th, 2008 12:14 am
I definitely agree with this. It really looks like a boom of entrepreneuship right now. In 2007 we broke a record of new start-up companies here in Finland. It definitely is a great time to become an entrepreneur and this is exactly what I am doing as well. Moving from my dayjob to my own company, and I love this!
Usman Sheikh on January 4th, 2008 9:08 am
2008 should be an extremely interesting year. There is just so much enthusiasm in the air that it remind me of the 1990’s when basically everywhere you looked there was some new startup with an idea which wanted to revolutionize the world.
An important lesson which should be learnt from the last boom stage should be that new companies should identify solid streams of revenue when developing business models. It is absolutely essential that they chart out a specific growth strategies with some reliable data rather than extrapolated data.
Should be interesting nonetheless.
Sue Lee on January 5th, 2008 2:26 pm
Now is the tip of the entrepreneurial iceberg. As corporate America shuns more and more talented, older, and higher paid individuals, these individuals will become reluctant entrepreneurs to maintain their standard of living.
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