Survey Reveals 10% of Tech Startups Flourish, 90% Just Vanish!

In 2009, two former employees of YAHOO! got together to create a messenger service that worked through the internet, was almost free of charge, and so easy even a child could use it, in fact, be happy to use it. Brian Acton and Jan Koum competed with a number of Asian based text messaging services, but came out on top. They probably didn’t know that their innovative and commercial idea would become a life changing billion dollar jackpot, but it has. Now that Facebook has acquired WhatsApp, it’s gotten even bigger. What made it so attractive was its consumer friendly, easy to use,free of targeted mobile advertising service that was cheaper for internet users and gave people instant messaging facility. As of daily it has 500 million monthly active users, 700million active photos shared and 100 million video downloads. According to the Financial Times, WhatsApp “has done to SMS on mobile phones what Skype did to international calling on landlines.”

The Survey That Revealed That 90% Startups Are Failures!

In today’s world where everything’s happening at the blink of an eye, businesses are popping up quicker than the seasons change. It is now becoming imperative to discover why only a small percentage of the startups succeed, and majority of them do not sustain themselves amongst the competition that springs up almost everyday. As technology is the new age, and has been on the rise for the past decade, investment in new tech related startups has been the most profitable form of business endeavor for the large companies. Recruiting new and fresh talent and enabling them to bring forth their ideas to the market has proven to be a low on budget process, which results in high returns and hassle free startup to a new venture. Allmand Law did a survey that tells that 90% of the tech startups fail. It is imperative now to discover the reasons behind such a high percentage of failures. Everybody knows it is not easy to find talent in this field, to have an idea that looks as good in real as it does on paper is no mean feat, and that maybe one of the core reasons behind the majority startups’ failure.

The reason behind the startups that were successful was that they had the right vision. They brought out a product that was in demand, easy to use, consumer friendly, and provided a solution to the customers need. It’s all about the idea, and how you pitch it. The timing, the placing, capturing the very vein of your target market, and of course, lots of luck! To have a clear foresight, like Google, to be what people were looking for like Instagram, to create a comfortable, homely environment like Facebook, all it takes is that one sweet stroke of being at the right place at the right time. It does not mean that planning and a great idea don’t value anymore. Of course, with the right planning, marketing and execution of any idea, you can become one of the 10% of the successes in the tech startups too.

Keep Up With the Pace of Time Or Fall into Oblivion!

It is quite difficult to truly have an idea that would click, not just instantly, but sustain its use, reinvent itself and has the ability to move forward as the times progress. The world keeps changing everyday, and to be able to change with it is what makes you stay commercial and brings more people to your product. In the tech world, the analysts have to keep tracking the ups and downs of a trend, the reaction of their consumers, whether they are getting tired of navigating through the software or bored with the same old app, what more they would require, how to make their program easier to use for people of all ages, be they 16 or 60, to have a varied clientele, and then to maintain it. Many apps have come and created a buzz, but they couldn’t last because when people really got into them they either got lost, or had used it before. Following are some examples that would really show the chase of cat and mouse for startups:

• MySpace in the Shadows:

Then there is also the sword that keeps dangling of a better program that might come and steal the thunder, like what Facebook did to MySpace. Even though, MySpace got there first, and it also used the success of an already working social media networking site called Friendster. It was a media Giant which generated 1 million registered users just a month after its launch, and reached 5million in 5 months. By July of 2005, MySpace was worth $327million! But luck was not with this site, as Megan Meier, aged 13 killed herself in October 2006, and there ensued a backlash of users and many fled to the next new thing; Facebook.

People started speaking out against the privacy policies of MySpace, and deserted the site for something better. Then it further lost its credibility as one year later its founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe stepped down and left. That quickened its downfall and in January 2011 it had to release half of its employees. The fact that MySpace couldn’t keep up with the evolving times and that it preferred advertisement over customers became its point of doom. But it could happen to anyone, right? And the last I heard, MySpace isn’t content with being history and they just might come back. Who knows?

• LevelUp: Ascending the Levels:

Then there is a success story in LevelUp. What started out as a couponing service quickly went on to become a mobile payment app, the first in its kind, and helped costumers search their desired products by categories, enabling them to pay through their Smartphone. It also generates a user history and provides the businesses to design their own pages to attract their own clients.

It is simple, it is easy and it works well.

• Foursquare: Still in the Game:

Another up and coming buzz creating technology is Foursquasre. It started out as a simple location sharing service that helped people find their friends whenever they would reach a particular place.

And now they are trying to revamp as they are bringing out another app that would help people tag their friends whenever they are in the vicinity. Started in 2009, the company has reinvented itself to keep it alive in the mainstream market.

The Dream That Doesn’t Scare You Is Not Worth Pursuing!

E-commerce is the way to go now and creating new and smarter ways to transact, meet, shop and generally interact with others is what the world now requires. It is high time that the problems that prevent tech-startups from flourishing be addressed at the root level and treated with utmost determination so that these startups may be able to stick around and bloom into full fledge long-term businesses. One way to track down core issues is to conduct online surveys that boost economic activity. Hiring a new idea is not going to cut it, it needs to be aided with the correct timing, right vision, and precision of executing techniques so that it can become a long-term product and not lose its value among the myriad of competitors that it will face in the market.

There are now some cities that have actually become tech startup hubs in the world. Israel, San Francisco, Russia all are trying to get their hands on the newest technologies anyone comes up with. It is the best investment in today’s age because the world is literally coming to our finger tips. As Amit Bendov, SiSense‘s Chief Executive Officer says “The biggest thing is for us to get our brand name out; we need to run as fast as we can.” And that is the name of the game folks.