Start- Up Ideas that Worked

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If there’s one thing that successful start-ups may have in common, it’s the creation of something out of an old concept but offering a little extra. Take for example Pandora, a Web-based music streaming site that lets listeners customize their playlists based on their preference. While the concept of customizable music playlists has been around for years, Pandora was able to innovate and offered more to its listeners: an Internet radio that allows users to personalize their music experience based on their selection of songs and feedback. Users are also given the option to buy the music they listen to from Amazon or iTunes. The company nearly failed during its early years, but eventually made it through. As of 2013, Pandora has 200 million users in the US alone. Other successful start-ups were born out of failed business ventures. If Twitter’s success is any indication, a business failure could yield to alternative ideas that worked. Twitter’s founders originally created a podcasting platform but due to stiff competition from iTunes, it eventually pivoted and develop a micro-blogging site. This alternative idea became so successful that they were able to expand globally and influence not just industry leaders but even the political climate of a nation. Just a few years back, political activists in the Arab world took to Twitter and other social media sites to protest and communicate about the dictatorship, government corruption and human rights violations committed in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and other neighbouring countries. These events became known as the Arab Spring. Other successful start-ups started with a risky idea – an unconventional or controversial concept that most business would not even dare try. Flat Planet, an Australian start-up that offers virtual staffing services to international clients, made a controversial move when the company decided to venture into offshore outsourcing. Business Processing and Outsourcing (BPO) in general has been a controversial subject in the business sector because of its effects in unemployment and global economy. But for start-ups like Flat Planet, they saw the potential for growth in outsourcing and took advantage of its many benefits. Flat Planet was initially located in Sydney, Australia but eventually moved to Manila – one of the world’s leading destinations for outsourcing. From its humble beginnings, the company is now enjoying robust expansions in the Philippines, providing clients in Australia and other countries with high-value virtual talent. Successful start-ups began with either a radical idea, a new concept or created one based from an old idea. Their success can be attributed to these ideas that some people would thought of as unrealistic, absurd, or not solid. But in the end, these ideas eventually worked and that’s what propelled them to succeed.