Become an idea clone and make millions
Posted on February 7, 2008
Filed Under Make Money from the Caribbean, Online Entrepreneurship
by David Mullings
I recently received my last issue of Business 2.0 and just had to recommend the following article to the readers of this column. you can find it here: The Kopy Kat Kids In my advisory capacities with mentees, other entrepreneurs and business-owners, I always pass on a vital lesson I learnt during my MBA program - you don’t have to come up with something new to be successful.
This article is a perfect example of how adaption of successful ideas for a different culture can make millions and it is a playbook that many of us should be taking a look at. A few people prefer to only focus on original ideas - that is their prerogative - but there is no doubt that adapting a proven idea is the easier way to success and profit than being original.
The story of the Samwer brothers provides one clear path to success - their first start-up, Alando, a German clone of ebay, was purchased by ebay itself for $50 million 5 months after it launched. They knew that debit cards were the preferred payment method in their culture and built their site around that, unlike ebay’s credit card system.
Granted, the Caribbean faces many different challenges - but who better to overcome them than Caribbean people?
Ultimately, companies with business models focused on advertising as the main revenue source will have to find companies interested in advertising to Caribbean nationals or target a demographic that the advertisers want to get to (like promoting Caribbean content to US African-Americans). A Caribbean Facebook clone will only work if companies targeting such a demographic (which can be divided further like any demographic) are willing to spend real money for online advertising, and very few do at this time - but you always have to start somewhere.
The point of a business is to generate profits and wealth for the stakeholders. If the venture can change the World too, or your part of the World, then even better, but you need profit to be able to do anything. Adaptation is a viable option so don’t overlook it.
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Why I never think about this first, do you ever notice most of the time in these big tec company its always some little kid or more than one person inventing something.
The saying goes, “you dont have to reinvent the wheel just make it better” Why didnt eBay just sue these guy for copyright infringement?
Anyway check out this other kid who is doing big things..
http://realbigsource.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65