Angels and Startups, Turn a MISS Into a Hit

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Last Updated: January 26, 2011

First Posted: November 4, 2009 by Mary Jane Grenzow

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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. For entrepreneurs, keeping it simple can mean the difference between boom and bust. For angels, investing in something simple and easy to understand can mean the difference between a home run and a dead horse.

“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.

* For series, references are published in the last installment of the series.

Angel Investing, Picking Winners

Wilfried

I miss the connection between Angels and keeping things simple!!!
http://venturehype.com The Hyper Team @ Venture Hype

Sounds like you have a story to tell. Care to share?
CrimsonLable

Miss strategy, this is what I call a real deal strategy simple but effective though sometimes it is simple but it's really hard to come up with the idea and I really liked the idea of Diapers.com, easy simple but brilliant.
antoreen

When I was a student of 9th standard in the school and was influenced greatly by the round-about way of expression of Charles Dickens and the effect began to stamp in my compositions, I remember elbowing out the mist-stained distance at this mature age, my English teacher had left a brief remark on my book which read ‘Always remember, of all the styles the simplest is the best.’ Amazon.com, Google and Diapers.com are our glorious pathfinders. Still one must read and learn to read the conditions of the contemporary time. Application of the “MISS Strategy – Make It Simpler, Stupid” by Marc Lore and Vinit Bharara of New Jersey has been blessed by the INTERNET. One more thing I should add. What seems to be simple is not that simple which is called stupid. Simplicity keeps greater delicacies inside its heart.
http://venturehype.com The Hyper Team @ Venture Hype

Another thing we'd like to add is that things that are simple doesn't mean that they're easy to implement. Simplicity – quite an art of its own.
antoreen

Yes, Sir, I do admit. It is very difficult to think simple and to behave simple and to accept what is simple in daily life. Yes, simplicity isquite an art of its own and it is to be achieved through dedication throughout the life.
http://venturehype.com The Hyper Team @ Venture Hype

Another thing we'd like to add is that things that are simple doesn't mean that they're easy to implement. Simplicity – quite an art of its own.
antoreen

Yes, Sir, I do admit. It is very difficult to think simple and to behave simple and to accept what is simple in daily life. Yes, 'simplicity is quite an art of its own' and it is to be achieved through dedication throughout the life.
http://venturehype.com/ideas-don%e2%80%99t-need-to-be-complex-to-be-good/ Ideas Don’t Need to Be Complex to Be Good | Venture Hype

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