I was in a meeting recently where the question, ‘what are your other favorite startups?’, popped up. What a great question. In the imperfect science of entrepreneurialism, our hypotheses are based on the laws of comparison. A recognized theme, trend or belief applied to a new market, group, or subject.
Now the key word in this conversation was ‘other’… being any company besides my own, Rollinglobe, which was the main topic of the meeting. My natural answer was Etsy. Etsy in the lateral comparison I use when describing Rollinglobe. Rollinglobe is the Etsy for tour operators and travel vendors (see how I just did that?). The model is solid. Use technology to enable, in our case, local service providers to reach larger markets.
That concept is part of a larger theme, which I fully embrace…. the use of technology to overcome, breakdown, or diminish barriers. While, there are plenty of examples of truly innovative ideas that create a new need or world, I’m admittedly too much of a realistic, pessimist, or idiot to identity those ground breaking concepts.
For me, I like looking at tried and true businesses, interactions that happened yesterday and will happen tomorrow, and going from there. These businesses have natural barriers and they have adapted to function within or around these walls… and the challenge is to hurdle.
I love making a standard practice easier. That’s why my second answer to the question was Venmo, and my third answer was 20×200. I threw in Flavors.me because I just think it’s cool as shit.
But which came first? There’s definitely a chicken and egg thing going on here. Did I start Rollinglobe because it emulates the theme I embrace? Or did I weave a decent sounding concept into the rationale for why my company will be successful?
I like to think the idea was always there and it’s getting nicely polished along the way.
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