14 Apr Do you have enough fuel?
Regardless of the current, meaningless trend to value a tech company by its users, a company needs fuel to keep running and that fuel will either come from customers or investors. In fact, those investors are the customers and they are buying into a ponzi scheme that passes the cost to the next sucker – mostly the stock exchange in the end. So, us.
I can remember back in the first tech bubble of the late 1990’s, there was a group who were calling Warren Buffet’s investment strategies dead. He was a relic of the old economy and those rules didn’t apply. Looking at profit, revenues, business model and clear business strategies wasn’t necessary any more. I am seeing a similar trend recently. Current companies are often very similar to the ‘vapor-ware’ that was sold in those days. The ‘technology’ that never appears or creates value.
Ask yourself and your colleagues: are you providing value? Does this value improve your customer’s lot? Does the sale of that value bring your business profit? Can you sell enough of them to support the business for any term longer than today?
You might have a business.