BizXtraZ!

9 START-UPS CHANGING THE WORLD
AND WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THEM!!!


For lots of startup founders, a big money valuation is just half the goal. Many startups are motivated by a singular drive to
change the way we view and interact with the world around us. And while every startup can
teach us something, the most disruptive often have the most
profound lessons. Here are 10 of
today’s most visionary startups to admire, and more importantly,
model:

1) INSTAGRAM
Instagram is a popular photo sharing app that uses filters to
enhance photos. After being released on the Android market,it set download records and built a community of over 50 million loyal users. With no marketing budget, Instagram relied entirely on an almost fanatical community of fans to spread the
word, and sold to Facebook for almost $1 billion.
Lesson: Build a community,nurture it, and the users will
market you.

2) 2TOR
Founded in 2008 by heavyweight education entrepreneurs, 2tor
partners with top U. S.
universities –including
Georgetown, UNC, USC and most recently Washington University in St. Louis – bring their degree
programs online. Its mission is to transform higher education by bringing it online without
sacrificing quality, student experience or graduation and
job placement rates. With $96 million raised in venture capital and clear success cases to date,
2tor has emerged as the market leader in the rapidly evolving
School-as-a-Service sector.
Lesson learned? Industry reform is always possible – it just takes some creative thinking.

3) GLOBAL GIVING
Global Giving has transformed the way people invest in the
developing world. Through developing a network of donors
who fund grassroots projects the world over, Global Giving has raised over $65 million dollars
and funded over 5K projects.
Lesson: Giving back can create a vibrant social community.

4) PINTEREST
Pinterest – a virtual pinboard that allows users to quickly and easily share images – has quickly grown into the third largest
social network. With a growing community that shares thousands of visual collections,
Pinterest has re-invented the social network. Pinterest teaches an important lesson: keep your
site simple and easy-to-use and users will flock.

5) AIRBNB
Airbnb, a website that lets people with extra space rent it out to
travelers, took the hotel industry and turned it upside-down. The
company grew to a $1 billion valuation in 2011, despite a huge
PR scandal involving a
burglarized home and less-than-stellar customer service. Airbnb responded quickly, improved
customer service, instituted protections for hosts, and is now
more popular than ever.
Lesson: a PR disaster is only a disaster if
you let it become one.

6) SQUARE
Square has grown into a billion plus dollar company by providing mobile merchants a method to accept credit card payments. The
company relies on growing its user base by giving the device
and the app away for free, and generates revenue with a small
percentage on transactions.
Square teaches us that
sometimes giving away your product for free can be the ticket
to generating strong revenues.

7) ZAPPOS.COM
The world’s most popular shoe e-tailer began with a simple
premise: focus on your customers and the rest will fall
into place. Zappos has stayed true to that principle and in the
process, redefined the definition of customer service. Its customer-centric policies have
paid off – the company was acquired in 2009 for $1.2 billion. Zappos.com teaches us an important lesson: be great to
your customers, and they’ll be great to you.

8) BETTERWORKS
Despite high unemployment,many firms are finding it difficult to attract and retain top talent.
Enter BetterWorks, a workplace recognition and rewards platform that lets businesses
engage their staff through innovative rewards through local
partners. And it works, boosting engagement and productivity significantly. The takeaway: treat your employees well. They ARE your business.

9) DOCSTOC
Created by Jason Nazar and Alon Schwartz, Docstoc brought social to the dry world of professional documents. Though it began as a document hosting and sharing
site, it evolved first by allowing users to sell uploaded documents, then by encouraging
business professionals to participate, and finally by hiring a
team of lawyers and business writers to create original content.
Lesson: revenue models shouldn’t be static; they should
grow along with the company.