我来自伟大的中国 下一个伟大的公司将来自 B2B

下一个伟大的公司将来自 B2B  

With the world buzzing over Apple’s reveal this month of the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch
it’s hard to believe that this multi-trillion-dollar tech giant was once a small puter startup.
For many entrepreneurs
the epic trajectory of Apple AAPL -0.87% — or Facebook FB -1.63% or Twitter TWTR 0.07%
for that matter — serves as evidence that the consumer space is where you go to launch a winning startup.
But that doesn’t always hold true. By foregoing the potentials of selling to business (as opposed to consumers)
entrepreneurs are missing out on a world of opportunities — and lucrative ones at that.
但这一点并非始终都是正确的。如果放弃与公司做生意（与消费者市场相反）的潜力，创业者们将错失大量有利可图的好机遇。
As a board member at 1871
Chicago’s entrepreneurial hub for startups
I see a lot of startups and know what B2C panies can learn from B2B startups
including Fieldglass
MarkITx and Eved.
The B2B space is rife with potential; by integrating new technologies into traditional businesses
entrepreneurs can dramatically improve efficiencies
uncover new markets
solve longstanding problems and
in some cases
disrupt entire industries. Indeed
an increasing number of B2B startups are experiencing rapid growth while achieving enviable profit margins.
Take Fieldglass
for example. Once a small startup
the Chicago-based sofare pany is now the biggest vendor management system (VMS) provider in the world. In May
it was reportedly acquired by SAP for more than $1 billion
one of the largest sales of a privately held tech pany in recent years.
Or consider MarkITx
an online marketplace to trade enterprise IT hardware
which earned a $12 million valuation after only eight months of operations. After speaking with its co-founder Frank Muscarello
the pany’s revenues are up 300 percent this year pared to last.
To launch the next great startup
here are six lessons that entrepreneurs can learn from B2B panies about how to launch the next great startup:
Target your first customers wisely
Many B2B businesses design their products and services around their initial clients
making it critically important to take a strategic approach to recruiting those first customers. Talia Mashiach
founder and CEO of Eved
went after large firms like Dell when her pany was still in its early stages. She then designed Eved’s platform and online marketplace to address those customers’ needs and provide visibility into their meeting and the total amount spent on an event. That set the stage for the recruitment of other large-scale firms and helped her stock her online marketplace with more than 5
000 panies.
Long-term value of customers is critical
Generally speaking
B2B panies have longer sales cycles than B2C firms. However
most B2B customers are long-term customers and
in the end
panies can extract greater value from them. After Jai Shekhawat founded Fieldglass in 1999
it took him more than a year to land his first customers
which included Verizon VZ -0.80%
AIGAIG -3.34%
GlaxoSmithKline GSK -1.33% and Johnson & Johnson JNJ -2.36% . But he held on to them
and now each spend billions on contract labor annually. To date
Fieldglass boasts a customer retention rate of more than 99%.
To generate steady revenue
focus on opportunities to generate reoccurring revenue
Prioritize customers that are most likely to use your product or service repeatedly.
Muscarello knew that financial panies would serve as ideal suppliers for his online exchange because they invest heavily in IT and frequently purge their inventory to make room for the latest technology. MarkITx’s first customer
the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
is now on its 22nd trade since August 2013.
Build something that sticks
To develop a long-term relationship with your customers
you need to create products or services that are inherently “sticky” and provide several levels of integration within a pany. MarkITx’s dashboard plugs into panies via API and provides real-time data about the mark-to-market value of their assets and the optimal time to refresh their IT infrastructure. As a result
these panies regularly check the dashboard and are more apt to use MarkITx when it es time to sell their assets. Fieldglass takes integration a step further by staying enmeshed in its customers’ problems. It monitors
for example
changes in labor laws (in Europe alone
Shekhawat estimates that there are 25-30 changes per month) and ensures that its sofare immediately reflect those shifts. In turn
customers grow more dependent on Fieldglass to manage their problem for them.
Look for a business idea on your desk
Think about the problems your pany is facing or how you might address issues in your industry. There are business ideas there — maybe not sexy ones
but solid
profitable ones. Shekhawat came up with the idea for Fieldglass after serving as a contract developer
working for a technology vendor and consulting for buyers and customers
where he witnessed the challenges of managing contract labor. That insider knowledge also enabled him to build a pany that easily overshadowed the five preceding petitors (all have since gone out of business).
Know when to venture further
Consider whether the work you’re doing now could parlay into something bigger. Before Eved went global in 2010
it was a local service pany that grew to $10 million in four years and landed on the Inc. 500. But Mashiach knew that there was a bigger opportunity out there. So she sold Eved’s service side
took its R&D and re-launched it as a global pany
with her sights set on a billion-dollar goal.