Today I heard Dave Bateman, founder of DearElder.com and PropertySolutions.com, speak at the Marriott School in their entrepreneurship lecture series. The talk went well and he’s entertaining to listen to. Here are notes from his speech:
- 75.1 — that’s the life expectancy of the average American. That’s not a lot of time. There’s no better time than now to start your own business.
- Get out and do it. The longer you wait the less chance you have of succeeding.
- Obstacles get larger as time goes on.
- In studies old people say their #1 regret, by far, was not taking more risks
- There are lots of people that want to start a business, but not many do. Why? It’s “not hard to get a profitable business going.”
- Popular reasons: No money, too many financial burdens, no ideas, no experience, lack of motivation, my spouse doesn’t want to give up something, no time
- How do I come up with an idea? Find out what pains people and solve it. Or find a way to bring more pleasure to someone.
- With DearElder.com, Dave took away the pain of sending an email to a missionary, by getting rid of the hassle of the letter taking so long and of having to use an envelope and stamp.
- A girl in Orem makes $15K/month selling doormats online.
- Use BYU professors, play the student card, entrepreneurial scholarships
- They worried first about getting users, then worried about a revenue model later
- “Care packages” to missionaries are their revenue model. Last holiday season they sold 2500 care packages with a 90% markup. They send 4200 letters per week (for free.)
- Strike while the iron is hot — mold yourself while you’re still young
- Running own business requires two things: passion and hard work
Dave’s lecture slides [pdf]