New entrepreneur opportunities

I was chatting to a young guy the other day about opportunities for entrepreneurs. The guy had been retrenched from an advertising agency and was also very keen to run his own business. He’d asked for my advice. Trouble was, his idea for his new business was stupid and was guaranteed to do his dosh. Big time.

So after a good talk, he got the first tick: he’d be good at running his own business. He was creative, driven, hard-nosed, resourceful and charming. He had some experience and networks. But he didn’t get the next tick: his idea was to start a “me too” business. It didn’t have legs and he would find himself struggling for years just to cover his costs.

He was so annoyed at my harsh criticism he challenged me. Go on: find me a better idea, he told me. It took me 10 minutes. The US is always a good place to look for new ideas, as Australia seems to be about two years behind in most things.

Inc. has just published its top 500 private company list based on revenue growth. I had a read and guess what? Of the top 10 companies, three were based in digital marketing which is right up his alley and they all had experienced enormous growth rates.

Number five on the Inc. 500 was web marketer Integra Click based in Florida. It had growth rates of 12,654% over three years, taking revenue to US$96 million. Its web marketing business took off after it adapted the cost per action model.

Eighth on the list was Media Trust based in New York, which started in 2004. It had growth of 9,481% taking it to US$38 million in 2008-09. It developed cost per click platforms used by online advertisers to measure the effectiveness of ad campaigns and also creates and deploys other digital marketing campaigns that increase traffic, leads and sales.

Ninth on the list was One Technologies based in Dallas which provides search engine optimisation and pay per click programs for clients. It grew 9.9465% to revenue of US$50 million.

Which indicates to me that in about two years there are going to be some very fast growth companies in Australia based around SEO and pay per click. One other interesting trend? Integra Click had also narrowed its focus to two industry niches: financial services and consumer products. Expect to see a lot more Australian digital marketing services and web development companies specialise in key industry niches in the future.

So the good news is he now has a new business idea to research. Hopefully, by the time it gets off the ground, the demand will be growing.