Editor’s note: This article was first published in March 2012. “Two years ago” refers to 2010, and the value of the Samwers’ Groupon stake (over 1,000 million dollars), the 20,000 jobs and their investments in Facebook, Zynga and LinkedIn reflect that time.
We always say that success in business calls for originality or innovation, but the truth is that sometimes it’s simply a matter of copying a business idea that has appeared in another country and bringing it into our own market before the original idea arrives.
To do that, you have to keep a close eye on what’s happening elsewhere and stay well informed.
Here are 3 millionaires who built their fortune simply by copying ideas that emerged in the United States. They cloned the product or service in Europe, so by the time the original idea reached Europe, it already faced competition built on the very same product or service.
Two years ago, the brothers Oliver, Marc and Alexander Samwer cloned Groupon under the name CityDeal, a discount coupon platform that became established in countries such as the United Kingdom, Italy, Austria, Poland, Finland and even Spain. In the end, Groupon had no choice but to buy CityDeal. The brothers are said to have received a large package of Groupon shares, currently worth more than 1,000 million dollars, so copying Groupon paid off handsomely.
They did the same with eBay, creating a similar platform that won an excellent market share in Germany. eBay ended up buying the copy (Alando) for 53 million dollars.
What do these entrepreneurs do with the money they make?
Besides having created more than 20,000 jobs in different countries, they reinvest most of their profits in shares of giants such as Facebook, Zynga, LinkedIn and other big tech companies.
See also: 15 entrepreneur’s commandments that lead to business success
The brothers’ method takes real skill, although their way of doing business is not well regarded. They know it, but they don’t care. After all, there’s an old saying that “to innovate is to copy and then improve”. The Samwer brothers, however, simply copy with the aim of getting the company they’ve cloned to buy the copy from them.
That’s why we sometimes feature startups that are emerging in some US city and whose service could catch on in a particular country. After all, every business starts with an idea, and sometimes the idea is exactly what we can’t quite come up with.
Further reading
- 5 startup ideas that encourage saving, not spending
- 5 business ideas invented and patented by children
Featured image: Heisenberg Media from Vienna, Austria, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
