Comments on: It’s a Barrier to Entry Thing

By: Saying Goodbye to Our Clients at Adam McFarland

Saying Goodbye to Our Clients at Adam McFarland — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 23:08:21 +0000

[...] line: the other day I said “I crave the ability to throw a lot of shit against the wall and see what sticks, and [...]

By: Adam McFarland

Adam McFarland — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:34:47 +0000

Holland – that’s one thing I didn’t even mention. Search engines provide market research in minutes. Do some keyword research and test some ads, and you’ll know if you have a winner or not. You can even do that before developing the site – just send the ads to a splash page that captures email addresses of anyone interested in your product/service. If you get a lot of interest, THEN develop it and your first marketing tactic is to email your laundry list of people who were interested enough to click your ad and sign up.

By: Adam Holland

Adam Holland — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:08:14 +0000

Totally, Mac… If you just wanted to test to see if a product would sell 20 years ago you’re doing consumer surveys, poling people, blah blah blah…

Now its as simple as checking to see how many people search for it on Google and Yahoo, putting an adwords campaign together, and seeing if it drives some traffic.. it’s alot cheaper, and you can get results pretty damn quick…

By: Adam McFarland

Adam McFarland — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:37:10 +0000

Hobbes,

Glad my blog has helped. The semiconductor industry is rapidly changing and has always been fascinating to me as well, but as you say the required startup capital is so high that it’s not really feasible as your first business.

I always wonder what I would have done 20 years ago without an internet. I think I probably would have had to go the product development route and seek angel/venture capital and hope for the best….which isn’t that appealing to me considering the opportunities the web offers.

By: Hobbes

Hobbes — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:28:59 +0000

I am in the semiconductor and really love the work. But being an entrepreneur in this field involves high capital and that is why I have been thinking if I should move into the web. Your blog reaffirms my thoughts and encourages my direction. Thanks!

By: Adam McFarland

Adam McFarland — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:25:27 +0000

To that point – I’d love someday to get back into product development and try to shorten that cycle, but that would cost $$ so it wouldn’t happen anytime soon.

By: Agreed

Agreed — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:00:46 +0000

Blunt but true.
Web has set a pace that corporate engineers need to take up. It has to be fast & it has to be cheap. You need to be able to fail & forget about it in a couple of months by which time you’ve failed twice & have one clear shot that could hit the mark.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:32:42 +0000

Adam,

I have to agree with you. I get nervous during the 2-4 month development of a website that someone will come up with my idea and get it up and running before I do. No way I could deal with that uncertainty for 5 years!

By: Gordon

Gordon — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 22:18:58 +0000

Totally agree with you. I don’t like things that take too long to get done or have too many moving parts. Heck, I’m afraid of a site with products, inventory and customer service….let me create things with few moving parts that people like and that are easy to run and I’ll be happy….

By: Adam McFarland

Adam McFarland — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:11:29 +0000

Haha thanks Eric. It’s just more fun that way