Editor’s note: This article was first published in February 2011. Tuenti’s situation in Spain and Telefónica’s plans for it describe that period, and Tuenti later closed as a social network. The figure of more than 900 million Facebook users matches 2012, so the text was probably updated after first publication.
The biggest internet business ideas to achieve worldwide success, as we can all clearly see, come from the United States. It’s not that people there are smarter, although they sometimes give that impression… or maybe they are (though there are no studies to confirm it yet).
Among the differences between American and Hispanic businesspeople is ambition, a quality that many dismiss as a vice but that will always be better than settling, a failing we Hispanics are guilty of.
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, eBay… if these business ideas had been developed by Hispanic entrepreneurs, they would have been leaders only in their own country, until another idea arrived from abroad and took their place.
The best-known case is Tuenti versus Facebook. Tuenti, the leading social network in Spain, is no longer the leader, because Facebook has beaten it on its own turf (Spain). Tuenti has stagnated in Spain and hasn’t fought to win foreign markets. Telefónica does plan to do so, but by the time it does, Facebook will be a necessity for more than 900 million users, so Tuenti won’t be able to compete with it.
When you decide to start an internet business, bear in mind that if you don’t grow quickly and keep up a broad expansion process, you’re likely to be overtaken by a more ambitious entrepreneur, who can take your good idea and adapt it to their own model, achieving a more viral effect.
If you start an internet business and have local success, you need to move quickly to win the national and international market, because online, copying or plagiarising your idea is completely legal. You may be the creator of that highly innovative idea, but someone else can take it further and even capture the very market you created.
“In business, the winner isn’t the fastest, but the one who keeps running when the fast one stops.”
Before Match.com and Meetic, more than 100 websites tried to succeed in online dating. In fact, there are more than 50 dating sites operating in the United States with revenues of around $900,000 a year, but Match.com managed to take the idea worldwide, bringing in revenue of billions of dollars and, along the way, making sure it won’t be overtaken by those second-division sites.
The biggest problem facing an entrepreneur with an internet-based business idea is finding the funding to keep growing. But if you’ve already had considerable success, lack of funding is no excuse, because there are plenty of places that would fight to be part of your project and help you expand. Read about ways to fund your internet business idea.
As an addendum to this article: one of the big complaints Hispanic businesspeople have when they set out to win foreign markets is that they need professionals and can’t find them in Spain. I have an answer for that.
See also: Starting a business after 50 and succeeding: entrepreneurs who did it
There are professionals in Spain, but trying to hire a professional for €1,200 is not just disrespectful to that person; the mere offer is a bit crazy when they could earn around €9,000 for the same work on a project for an American company.
Remember that we can follow the American model here: if, while you’re developing your business idea, you can’t hire someone and pay them what they deserve, you can give them a stake in your company. That way, they’ll get involved in the project as a “minority partner”.
But above all, if you have a business idea you think could be a success, never give up until you make it happen, however many setbacks come your way.
Further reading
- Internet business ideas
- Ways to make money online
- Internet business ideas: virtual real estate, the latest million-dollar business
- The mindset of an entrepreneur: Donald Trump
Featured image: antony_mayfield, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
