The Craigslist site is as simple as it gets. Literally, it can’t get any simpler. Strategically-placed links form the underlying interface. Having said that, it is by far the most dominant classified ad site on the net. With such a simple offering and total domination, how is anyone supposed to compete?
Yesterday, the fate of Cambrian House was sealed. After raising over $7 million, the Canadian crowdsourcing firm shut its doors after an unsuccessful attempt at a new round of financing. So what gave? Was it a lack of focus or poor management? Or was the model doomed to fail in the first place?
The migration from desktop to Internet continues. Nowadays I find myself using very few apps on the desktop. More and more, I am transitioning to online services as the quality and scope of services increases.
Social media is extremely powerful and scalable. It leverages the crowds to spur rapid growth. However, the very mechanism that enables this growth is often exploited in a counterproductive manner via cheating and “gaming”.
Here’s a thought for all the serial entrepreneurs out there: next time you’re looking for “the next big thing”, look no further than “the current mediocre thing”. I’ve come to the conclusion that rather than trying to reinvent the wheel with a completely new business model, it is easier to modify a recently-adapted idea. This will likely yield greater potential success and minimum downside.
Aidan Henry is an Internet strategy consultant, designer, and web entrepreneur.
aidanhenry (@) hotmail.com
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