Aodhan Cullen – award winner

Tracking web site visitors is an important part of any web site owner’s business mix. So it was a pleasant surprise to see that the founder of Statcounter, the tracker I use on a number of web sites, has just been named the Young IT Person of the Year at the ICT Excellence Awards!

Aodhan Cullen started Statcounter at the tender age of 16 in 1999 having cut his entrepreneurial teeth at the age of just 12 with a resume-writing service. Statcounter now has 1.3m members, tracks over 2m websites and has over 9bn pageloads a month!

Just goes to show bright ideas are not the preserve of old hands. Entreprenuers come in all shapes and sizes … and ages.

Be a Smoothie – Give up the Day Job

So you’re thinking about going it alone, telling your boss you won’t be in on Monday and then setting the world alight with your great idea.

One of the hardest decisions a would-be entreprenuer has to make is when to give up the day job. You know, the one that pays the bills.

Is it go for broke, give up the well-paid job & pray the sales come in? (and before the bank manager reaches for the valium) or juggle both, pay the mortgage but delay establishing the business properly and maiky your first million.

Starting part-time may be an option. There is no right or wrong, just what works best for you. Although if you are hoping to attract investors then the ‘juggle both’ option is not an option. They’ll want full-time committment, nothing less and quite rightly.

So how do you make the choice?

Screw It, Let’s Do It

It may be the title of a ‘Lessons in Life’ book by the evergreen Richard Branson but it also sums up one of the personality traits that set entreprenuers apart from everyone else.

You may have been brought up to believe patience is a virtue but when it comes to entreprenuers, impatience is the name of the game.

Whether it’s doing some market research, looking at structures and processes, attending meetings or, heaven forbid, writing up a business plan. This is uncomfortable territory for the entreprenuer.

Planning and analysing are alien concepts to the entreprenuer – to be avoided wherever possible.

Entreprenuers, do two things – dream up ideas and put them into action. As soon as possible. Having come up with the next ‘big idea’ they want to test it in the marketplace today not tomorrow or next week. And with as little planning and preparation as possible.

And I know the feeling.

I’m still here!

We’ve already said that for entreprenuers, ‘no’ is like an adrenaline rush. Whether it’s friends & family (although they tend to say yes and so can’t be relied on for objectivity), the bank manager, colleagues or the local expert by virtue of age and volume of grey hair, the word ‘no’ has a stirring impact on entreprenuers.

Stubborness is a key feature of all entreprenuers. The refusal to give up, to carry on believing in the idea.

The successful entreprenuer though knows when to give up. There comes a point when in spite of all that self-belief, the entrepreneur has to put the idea down and move on.  

 

What a load of Rubbish

One of the political hot-potatoes in the UK at the moment is the issue of regular rubbish collections by the local councils. For years most councils have collected weekly, yet in a cost saving exercise many are now moving to a fortnightly collection service – not surprisingly local people are none too happy. Visions of rats roaming the streets evoke strong responses.

Yet for one enterprising couple in North Yorkshire this increasingly media driven issue is an opportunity. Chris and Kate Whyatt have turned their own anger at their local council’s decision into a new business.

Boo is Back

And without the champagne and caviar lifestyle.

Back in December 2006, I wrote about Boo – the online clothing retailer for whom the ‘caviar and champagne’ description was just about right when it came to how much money they burnt in a very short but highly publicised online existence.

But now Boo is back. Or at least the domain name is www.boo.com

New owners, new management, new industry – in fact new everything. The domain name was bought by Web Reservations International, a Dublin based travel business.

Boo is set to be their premier consumer travel brand combining search engine functionality, pricing, reviews and social networking.

As Ray Nolan, CEO of boo.com has said; “Travel is about great experiences, and that should start with the planning and selection process. We’ve collected all of the key components required to make the right choice and put them together in one site. The traveller is our primary concern. If they’re not satisfied, then neither are we.”

But why choose a name associated with all that was wrong with dot coms just a few short years ago?

Inspired, brave or just plain foolish?

Well, as the new Boo site itself says they have nothing to do with the old boo.com. They just liked the name – short, snappy and easy to remember.

But I think there’s a clever bit of marketing going on here. Even now the Boo name is instantly recognisable to millions. Some may know the story, others will just remember the name but the ground-breaking public awareness has already been done – several years ago and paid for by someone else.

Boo is still fresh enough in people’s minds to attract attention. Boo Is Back, The Return of Boo, Lock Up Your Wallets. Whatever the headline, headlines there surely will be.

The media will probably also wheel out Ernst, Kajsa and Patrick for their thoughts on the new Boo. And so the PR merryground will start again, bringing visitors flocking to the new site. We are, after all, a curious beast. We can’t resist a bit of gossip all in the name of research, of course.

And when we get there, what do we find? New site, new owners and a very fuzzy warm feeling.

Brilliant strategy Ray!

I for one wish them well. I just hope the new Boo lives up to the hype this time round.