Diary of an Economic Crisis Survivor

Life, Death and Miracles of a Startup, in the Italy of the Economic Crisis

Month: July, 2014

29 July 2014

18. I’m staying in Italy. For the moment. To Build my Startup

July 29, 2014, HOURS 10:37

DAY 164

Made in italy diary of a crisis survivor

I’m staying in Italy.

For the moment.

The Great C failed to get me.

The offer by the German multinational was not enticing enough.

The trade-off is in favour of Victory, my startup.

 And now?

We continue planning: at the moment we have just completed an intense brainstorming phase and now we are starting with the preparation of the Business Plan.

Accordingly, the form and the information of a Business Plan change depending on the goals (and hence on the receiver): our business plan will be basically divided in  two main sections:

– A qualitative part;

– A quantitative part.

The first part contains all the elements that constitute the concrete analysis of the inside and outside environment of the startup. Specifically, the qualitative part of the Business Plan of Victory, first analyzes the competitive arena and the strategies to create a competitive advantage over the competitors; later, we will analyze our business system, in its various components. The quantitative part aggregates a set of relevant data, including  forecasts and economic and financial analysis. On this point, we are lacking (for now). But two young professionals will help us.

 

Last but not least, the Executive Summary, which summarizes in a few lines the entire contents of the Business Plan.

Efficiency, Objectivity, Madness and Online Services (CLUE n. 6).

 Here we are, here is Victory, the one who will defeat the Great C.

The Great Economic Crisis, diary of a crisis survivor

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22 July 2014

17. One way ticket to hell

July 22, 2014, HOURS 13:52

DAY 157

dIARY OF A CRISIS SURVIVOR BUSINESS PLAN

Tim has gone.

The Great C has won: it took him.

Northern Ireland, one-way ticket. A well-paid job and the opportunity to grow professionally.

An opportunity that you can’t waste. In Italy. In 2014.

We have lost our all-rounder. Victory, our startup, has lost an important part of its team, that, like many other young italian people, was forced to leave the country.

And now?

We continue planning, and today we began to draw up the business plan.

I read  percentages: on average only 27% of the entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized enterprises have created ​​a business plan (http://www.pinterest.com/pin/61220876159478523/).

Perhaps it’s caused by their lack of entrepreneurial culture, or simply luckily they were so good that they don’t need to do it.

In fact, the motivations to create a Business Plan are different:

1 – Put in writing business ideas: this allows the entrepreneur to “grow”, identifying the problem (if supported by the right consultants), make certain remedial actions, and set the appropriate strategies;

2 – Look for Investors;

3 – Participate in Startup Competition / Calls for Startup (and here comes into play the Pitch).

 

Consequently, the shape of a Business Plan should depend on the goal: it must be communicatively effective according to the needs. Last but not least, the structure of the Business Plan: about this point I will talk about it in another post, now I have to leave the blog. I have a skype-call with a multinational company based in Germany.

Yes, it is, The Great C is trying to take me too, and bring me out of Italy.

Will it make it?

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16 July 2014

16. Economic Best Practice: when football is the mirror of your nation.

July 16, 2014, HOURS 16:00

DAY 151

They have also taken Football.

Germany and the Germans.

WORLD CUP DIARY OF A CRISIS SURVIVOR

I don’t care so much about this sport, but honestly, one of the few games that I saw in this World Cup seemed like witnessing a fight between rational (Germany) and irrational (Argentina).

And this time, the talent and the creativity lost.

This means that the Germans were able to apply their methodology, their determination, their professionalism even in sports, programming for almost a decade this result.

But above all, they have enhanced to the best of their resources.

 

With their modus operandi (a modus operandi in the name of “fairness”, far away from the Italian canons) they have success in private e public businesses, and in their startups.

No coincidence: Berlin is the dynamic symbol of this rebirth of Germany. Based on Programmation, on  Fairness and on this “being able to achieve the results without fuss”.

Germany and the Germans are a best practice. And this approach would be totally “seeded” in our Startup.

I’m trying with my startup, and although the Great C is pushing me out of the country, I planned the work of Victory, I tried to work in the name of fairness and loyalty, and above all I have entrusted the responsibility to the team, thus enhancing the resources that I have available.

A German approach?

No, this is the right approach to defeat the Great C.

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7 July 2014

15. Do you know what is the ideal customer of your Startup?

JULY 7, 2014, HOURS 16:54

DAY 142

dIARY OF A CRISIS SURVIVOR target customer

How hard it create a startup in Italy in 2014? 

It’s for this reason that from four months, I tell about the story of my startup, Victory (its name), but basically I tell about the condition of young people in Italy, in 2014. Tale of those young people who want to do and who daily tryto survive The Great C:tale of those young people who, driven by enthusiasm and passion, have a business idea and want to concretize it.

While many startups and businesses are dying, Victorycarries on, and the last steps that we have made was to identify the target toward which we address: identify the ideal customer of our services, our target.

This kind of activity(not a simple activity but a complex process),  actually it isn’t done by most of the companies,becasuse they tend to have the fear of reducing its p0ssibility of business in the face of a bid to one specific category.

In reality this is not so: in fact, the target can be detected in a more or less schematic process. In short, a complex analysis.
But why is fundamental identify a predefined target? It’s a necessary step for each type of startup for several reasons, the most important are probably: 

  1. Identification of pricing policies; 
  2. Identifying the type of communication;
  3. Locating the process of purchase by the consumer.

An essential step for every startups. 

Victoria knows its target, and you?

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2 July 2014

14. Startup’s Naming Process: the first key to success

JULY 2, 2014, HOURS 14:33

DAY 137

dIARY OF A CRISIS SURVIVOR naming

Victory.

Finally our startup has a name.

Of course, this is not the “real name”, but a name chosen for this blog. From now on, I won’t have to say “my startup” but simply Victory. Obviously, this name isn’t complete because there will be a code name (combined with the type of company chosen), but that’s another story.

Meanwhile, on the streets of my city, my Gotham City, there is someone who is talking about people who are managing to fight and defeat the Great C, confused and distant stories, about heroes from a far away Italy of today; heroes who persevered in the crisis and took the opportunity to become big. Enthusiastic examples of partisans whose weren’t adversely affected their pride and dignity by The Great C.

I don’t know…maybe it’s this slight breeze of enthusiasm that gave inspiration to the team and in particular to D, our designers, to find a name for our startup. So that week-long process is over. D made ​​us work with a methodology called inductive: we found the name after carefully studying the very identity of the type of service that we offer. So we analyzed the identified consumer target, finding the best trade-off between these two elements and our goals. From that moment on, it was fun to identify a possible logo (although that’s another story).

So…Naming process as an essential step for the presentation on the market(which took place a few days ago with our beta version https://diaryofacrisissurvivor.com/2014/06/24/test-to-start-your-startup/). The name is our first business card, even before the Internet site. In fact the name of a startup is the first element that can arouse or not a reaction among the people.

Same concept for the name that I have chosen for you, for this blog and for this post. It has to inspire and “garra” (the South American). So I decided to call my startup in this way.

Victory.

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