How to start up!!

I’m preparing a start up, lauching is sheduled on the 1st of january 2007. The company is called wowww! It’s a Java technology company and thusfar we’ve contracted 5 senior developers. People I meet frequently, ask questions like;
What is your product?
What is your unique selling point?
What makes your company special?
What makes your company different (from others)?

I really put a lot of effort trying to convince others of the unique qualifications, the speciality of wowww! Feeling discomfort in trying, I stopped to persuade or to convince! Why? It’s not relevant YET!!

When you start a new company you have to address a lot of issues/problems/challenges AND you must do this in a logical order;
ABOVE all you need a strong mission because this is the spirit and the heart of the business. You need a great team with excellent talent and great leadership.

FIRST, you need cash flow.
SECOND, you must have clear and effective sales and marketing communications.
THIRD, although you must have a great team, to many companies are people-dependent instead of system-dependent. You need systems that work efficiently.
FOUR, clear en tight legal documents and agreements to close deals quick and efficient (knowing when to say ‘yes’ and knowing you’ll earn more money with saying ‘no’).
AT LEAST, you need a great product. But notice that the product is the smallest section.

A lot of start ups work the other way around (starting with their product); most of these companies are bankrupt at the time the’ve defined their unique product.

WOWWW!
Our mission is to establish leadership within the field providing and servicing Java technology. We want to be MOST committed and to be the BEST (relationship & quality leadership).
We’ve got a great team; experienced and strong believers that they, as a team, can make a difference. In a way we’re all leaders; We’ve got the best of breed in the field of Java, Open Source and related technologies and frameworks. Managerial skills and entrepreneurial spirit and a good trackrecord of successful ventures.

We’ve got the people, we’ve got great equipment and we want to go to the top and to enjoy the trip.

to be continued!!