Easy to build software like legos
Perhaps you've already used job searchers such as Indeed and Jobster, or real estate ferrets like Trulia and Zillow. And we all know there are more travel and shopping engines than you can shake a wireless mouse at.
Even Google has jumped in, offering a "custom search" tool that allows you to search your own site or a handpickedselection of sites from across the Web. Google, of course, can monetize all this with its enormous advertising machine, but what about the others? With a few exceptions, most of these startups are finding it tough to make a profit and grow.
Béatrice Tarka, co-founder and chief executive of Mobissimo, runs a simple search engine whose primary task is to find cheap fares for travelers anywhere on the planet. Its fastest-growing target markets are India and China, and it doesn't even have offices in those countries. With just over $1 million in venture capital, the little-known search company is already profitable and continues to find new users around the world.
Instead of selling tickets, Mobissimo concentrated on helping people find affordable ones - not just from well-known names, but also from the burgeoning ranks of low-fare carriers here and abroad.
Like Google, it's maniacally focused on the consumer. If you find a cheap fare, you instantly become a loyal customer and are more likely to recommend the service to your friends and family. That's exactly how Google became such a big hit!
So don't become part of the transaction - it's too much work, the margins are horrible, and it costs too much to run a back-end system.
Sometimes making it really big in the business could be just as easy as building the lego blocks.... Miniature and convoluted yet can create a gargantuan of treasures. ;-)
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15th January 2007, 04:24 AM
