The key to startups is to keep it simple
Updated: 2015-08-14 07:52
By Hong Liang(HK Edition)
|
|||||||||
Too much emphasis has been placed on technology in the government efforts to promote Hong Kong as a startup hub to compete with neighboring economies, including South Korea, Singapore and Shenzhen. What the bureaucrats - who have perhaps never risked their money on any venture - may not know is that the business models of some of the world's most successful startups are decidedly low-tech.
Of course, they all use the Internet to establish their marketing and sales channels. But neither the services nor the products they sell so successfully have much tech content.
Take Unicorn, a 3-year-old company selling shaving equipment to men who still prefer to shave the traditional way with razors, shaving foam and a refreshing splash of water on the face to complete the process. In a video interview on Fortune, Unicorn co-founder Jeff Raider said he was surprised by the success of his business, which was inspired by friends who complained that they could no longer find the right tools for a good shave.
Unicorn just raised $75 million from angel-fund investors to buy a German razor blade maker. The transaction valued the startup at $750 million. Raider told Fortune the German company is one of the very few manufacturers in the world capable of making shaving blades of the quality demanded by Unicorn's discerning customers.
Those of us who shave the traditional way can appreciate the service that Unicorn and other such firms are offering. I have been using razors from a particular brand for many years. But there were times when I wished there were something better on the market.
The choice of shaving foam is very personal. After trying many different brands, I finally settled on one made by a French producer of a wide range of cosmetics and healthcare goods. But last year it stopped making shaving foam. Until I read the story about Unicorn, I sometimes wondered why nobody had come up with a plan to satisfy our needs.
The other highly successful non-tech startup that comes to mind is, of course, Uber, the e-hailing service that has caused a stir in many cities, including Hong Kong. Uber is widely known as the startup that raised the most funding from investors, although it has yet to produce a profit.
The company has already established a global network of operations. Uber offers a service that is welcomed by commuters who are fed up with the shoddy taxi service in their home cities. Here in Hong Kong, the business model is taking hold despite a government clampdown and stiff opposition from taxi operators.
Both Uber and Unicorn share at least one thing in common. They offer consumers a product or service that they want without having to invent something new or produce something more cheaply.
That is the kind of innovation that Hong Kong entrepreneurs are good at. Instead of trying to build the proverbial better mousetrap, Hong Kong entrepreneurs can do better by focusing on the simple things, of meeting consumers' needs no matter how trivial they may seem - like giving them a better shave.
Contact the writer at hongliang@chinadailyhk.com
(HK Edition 08/14/2015 page6)