Silicon Valley is home to start-up success stories that have transcended the world of business to become symbols of entrepreneurial greatness, with Apple, Facebook, salesforce.com, Google and Twitter all forming part of the area’s formidable reputation. Pace, innovation, a focus on customer service and great marketing are all key to developing a great start-up in Silicon Valley; a model which Australian start-ups can, and should emulate.
It has become evident that the start-up industry in Australia has the same kind of innovation and entrepreneurial DNA that Silicon Valley does. With the right technology and approach, this spirit can be translated to serious business results.
Combining an outlier culture, moving fast, adopting technology that supports rapid growth and memorable marketing are all key ingredients. Australian businesses are now adopting these Silicon Valley top four traits in order to achieve success in the local market.
1. Develop an outlier company culture
Outliers are natural entrepreneurs. They build solutions when they can’t find answers, embrace the unexpected with enthusiasm and unearth possibilities from the unknown. Outliers are also by nature, more adaptable to change which will help push small businesses and start-ups towards sustainable growth.
Therefore, Australian start-ups should aim to find the right outlier cultural balance which will help their business push the boundaries, bounce back from failure and remain committed to achieving long term success.
2. Move fast
A crucial element for all Silicon Valley start-ups is the ability to move as quickly and cheaply as possible and if it doesn’t work, learn and improve or pivot and change direction. This approach provides the greatest possibility for innovation, which is key to beating competitors.
As start-ups and small business grow, they often slow down because they are afraid of making a mistake. However, by slowing down, small businesses often lose that crucial momentum that provides them with the opportunities they need to succeed as a competitive business.
Facebook’s Move Fast and Break Things philosophy is a great example of this, resulting in rapid fixes and new iterations of product innovation.
3. Use technology which supports rapid growth
For the first time cloud technology has given SMBs the same access to business technology that only the giants of the past 20 years could afford.
Everything from the company’s CRM and payroll to its business communications technology can now live in the cloud and provide significant advantages over legacy hardware and software combinations.
Collaboration between team members, partners and customers is another key winner from the shift to mobile and cloud. Now, teams working remotely across the world can connect on virtually any device, from any location to work together via video and share content and ideas effortlessly.
Instead of inflexible technology with steep installation and maintenance costs, start-ups can access sophisticated software on a subscription basis, reducing cost and increasing the speed of collaboration to help fuel rapid growth.
4. Focus on memorable marketing which resonates with customers
Successful Silicon Valley start-ups build their marketing strategies with the knowledge they’ll need to react quickly to what’s hot, what’s making news and the movements of their competitors. By developing a cheeky, open brand positioning, Australian start-ups can adopt the same strategy and take advantage of key moments to build their brand.
As we see more Silicon Valley start-ups set up office in Australia and more Australian businesses adopt the mantras of the Valley, following the key tenants of developing an outlier culture, moving fast, using technology to fuel growth and memorable marketing will form the basis of successful Australian businesses.
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About the Author:
Stu Aaron, CCO for Blue Jeans Network has more than 20 years’ experience in technology marketing, product management, and business development.
Blue Jeans Network was founded in November 2009 with a passion to make video communication easy. Blue Jeans was built as a cloud-based video conferencing service to enable people to connect with each other any time, any place and from any device. For more information on Blue Jeans, their story and what they can offer your business, please visit http://bluejeans.com/
