Why is it that you are not wealthy? Perhaps it is because you are not pursuing opportunities that exist in the marketplace.
– The Millionaire Next Door, page 211
Great entrepreneurs find novel and marketable solutions to meaningful problems. This characteristic hasn’t changed since 1996 when The Millionaire Next Door was published, although technology has changed the nature of the problems. Last night, at the Atlanta Startup Village’s monthly meetup, the leaders of five companies pitched their products, vision, and how they found solutions to challenges within the gaming, travel, storage, and media industries.
How did they find their niche? In short, their products…
Save people, companies time and money – SafelyStay decreases time and increases security in the sharing economy. Airlift decreases the time and cost associated with storing personal items. Shortweb highlights important content in long-form articles.
Help people, companies improve health – Lumeapp allows for mood tracking in addition to steps.
Entertain – Sideprize allows additional entertainment during the long stretches in fantasy sports gaming.
The solution, the product is only the first step. To succeed in their niches, they will have to continue to hustle: the owners, founders talked of sleepless nights, whirlwinds of travel, dizzying product releases – only a few can embrace the startup lifestyle. These companies must now continue to execute a clear strategy to test their solutions in the marketplace, gain and keep customers, survive competitive encroachment, and find ways to continue to innovate to succeed and become wealthy via entrepreneurship.