The analogy of David and Goliath has been used numerous times in Silicon Valley and in general regarding the tech industry. What these small companies have shown is, it is possible to achieve small business success as long as you have a product or service these giants are not providing or don’t have the vision to provide. Apple vs. IBM is a great example even though Apple is one of the giants right now, but don’t forget their humble beginnings. Just like HP it was a garage project and if Steve Jobs and Steve Wosniak were intimidated by IBM, Apple might have never existed.
Humble Beginnings
Everyone started out small; one of the most recent IPOs was a college social site hatched in a dorm, and now Facebook is worth billions of dollars with hundreds of millions of users around the world. If you believe in your idea don’t let where you are at this moment in time deter you from achieving your goals. Great ideas will always find their way into the market place so don’t be intimidated by Facebook or Apple, all you have to do is remember where they began.
Solve the Problems the Giant Overlooks
Large corporations have lucrative business models and as long as they are making money they tend to forget about innovation. Sony and Nokia are two great examples of leaders in their field that fell asleep. In the mean time Samsung innovated and captured the HD television and Smartphone market. True enough Samsung is not a small company but Sony and Nokia were deemed untouchable in their respective industries. As a small startup company look at the gaps left by giant companies in the industry you want to penetrate and exploit them. A small company is able to move much faster in developing a product and placing it in the market and this should give you a clear advantage.
Free
Free was a bad word for traditional businesses, but in today’s economy free can be the best way to penetrate a market and introduce your product around the world. Large companies have resources available to promote a product and push it in the market place. If you are just starting you have to find alternative methods to introduce your product. Virtually every software developer has a free version of their product available as a trial or limited capability. This might sound counter intuitive for a business but this model almost always results in enormous market penetration rates. The concept of free can be used to provide one part of the product without charging your customers and having fees for support, service or upgrades.
Inability to Compete
A large company has to have the product they want to introduce scaled, with payoffs coming only when it is maximized. This process takes time. As a startup you have to know what your strengths are and exploit them. Focus on your strengths and don’t diversify just to introduce a product in the market place. Doing one thing and doing it better than all your competitors will eventually get you noticed. The key is finding the gaps which are not addressed by companies who don’t see a revenue stream lucrative enough for their size and making it your business.
Customer Service
As a company grows the customer service department gets more impersonal usually getting outsourced to different parts of the country or outside of the country. Your small business can be geared to address your customers and their needs better than any multinational corporation. A great customer service is one of the best ways to build loyalty for your company and the products you offer. If you want to ensure long term success start by implementing a great customer service and never abandon this core part of your business.
Every company whether it is Apple, IBM, HP or Wal-Mart started out small with a single idea. The idea is usually to provide a product or service someone is failing to deliver. If you believe in your idea and you are daring, willing to take risks and work hard you could become one of these giants in the future.
