Angels and Startups, Turn a MISS Into a Hit

No doubt you’ve heard of the KISS Principle: To be successful, you need to Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Sound advice for anyone, for just about any situation. But for entrepreneurs, keeping it simple can mean the difference between boom and bust.

“Your idea doesn’t have to be big. It has to be simple,” Lisa Barone advises entrepreneurs in a recent post at Smallbiztrends.com.

MISS the Point

Even with a simple brilliant idea, the odds are against any new startup making it big – in fact, 55% of new ventures fail within the first 5 years. So how do you pick a winner?

Angel investors eyeing a new startup should remember the KISS Principle, but they may want to adopt a new mantra as well. Let’s call it the MISS Strategy – Make It Simpler, Stupid. An idea can be simple, sure. But the key to success is making it simpler for the customer.

Think about ideas based on making life simpler that grew into household names. Amazon.com made it simpler to buy books online. Google gave us an easy search engine in a plain white wrapper. And Diapers.com, one of the fastest growing e-retailer out there, made it simple to buy diapers online and have them delivered to your doorstep.

Back to Basics

New Jersey dads Marc Lore and Vinit Bharara applied the MISS strategy when they started Diapers.com in 2005. The idea was born of their own frustration: They were tired of late-night runs to the store for diapers and figured there must be an easier way. After discovering the Internet was surprisingly void of diaper offerings, they set up their own online store with just the essentials: diapers, formula, and wipes.

“Having my second kid and seeing my wife having to keep us in stock with diapers and formula and stuff – it wasn’t easy for her. I thought, if we could make this an easy experience for Mom, offer premium service and speedy delivery, we could extend into the other high-margin baby products,” Lore said in a recent interview with Inc.

Cleaning Up

Other frustrated parents soon flocked to the site to order diapering supplies. Diapers.com grew exponentially, adding more baby supplies as it grew. Today, Diapers.com offers a full menu of products ranging from jars of baby food to nursery furniture. But the focus remains on making life simpler for its 500,000 customers.

The dollars have followed. Diapers.com tallied web sales of US$89 million last year, making it the 5th fastest growing e-retailer in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide 2009 edition – that’s an increase of 147% from its sales of US$36 million in 2007. It just raised US$30 million in funding from several venture firms and Lore says the e-retailer is on track for another blockbuster year.

A simple idea that made life simpler for the customer. It was a sure MISS from the get-go.