Applying for 1,75 million NOK in funding

Mediebruket, my small single-employee-company, has applied for 1,75 ,million Norwegian kroner (290,000 USD / 204,000 EUR) at Innovation Norway to help fund nearly half of the estimated cost of the pilot project with the working title "As long as".

Photo by: orarewedancer / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

I have estimated the cost for the first pilot-phase to be about 4 million Norwegian kroner. This involves employing developers and buying web development services.

The goal is to use new methods, by combining aggregation and journalistic manual filtering and production, to make niche web content more valuable.

One of the ideas involves collaborating with local media to make them more visible on the web, and increase their web traffic, especially to the kind of local niche stories that tend to lose attention in competion with the tabloid stories intended for the masses. A similar idea is launched in USA, and is called Wiki-City. But this will only be a part of our project, and we will take it much further.

As a part of being transparent, I will reveal more and more details about the project as it evolves. So far I've received a few more additional ideas, useful advices and links from friendly people on Twitter.

The main phase of the pilot period will be in 2010, depending on the funding. But the idea will be launched as a project, regardless of the funding. It will only have a different character and take some more time as we will have to sell more services as consultants alongside to finance our project.

Hopefully Innovation Norway will give us an answer in September 2009. After that we will recruit a web developer, and a web editor/content developer.

Risk of failing by not being transparent in a start-up is greater then the risk of being lifted for ideas

Should I reveal all my business ideas in my blog? Or should I keep them to myself? What's the benefit of being transparent, and what's the risk? These are the questions I struggle with in my new start-up company. I think there is an answer.

Among others, I've read Jeff Jarvis' book "What would Google do?", and I was inspired by it as I'm building a new web service these days. Currently I'm working on funding and recruiting, so I'm at a very early stage.

"Why keep secrets?", Jarvis asks, and he rephrases: "Why keep more secrets than you have to?"
The most common answer is of course that we don't want our potential competitors to steal the ideas. That would also be my answer.

Illustration photo by courtesy of Andrew Magill / CC BY 2.0

But is the risk of being lifted for ideas greater than the risk of failing by not being transparent? I asked myself this question, and after some consideration my answer is "No". I'll explain why.

Yesterday I spoke to  a friend who's managing one of Norways biggest web development departments in a major media concern. He said that in his department the challenge is not the lack of good ideas. They have more good ideas than they will ever be able to put into realization. Most of the ideas rest in the heads of the employees, or as archived emails. He said their success will not depend on the amount of ideas, but their ability to realize them.

I believe he's right. I've had many ideas for start-ups through the years. But I haven't realized any of them, other than the ideas I've realized working for others. Except this time, as I've quit my job as a manager and web editor to work full time on my business idea.

OK, so having great ideas is not my biggest challenge right now. It's the ability to evaluate them, and then realize them, which will be my greatest struggle in the months and years to come.

So, how can being transparent help the ability to execute the ideas? As it is today, I can have a perfectly nice job life working as a consultant, making good money. But it won't be satisfying. I want to create, to build, to realize my ideas.

Right now I'm alone with my ideas. I don't have any employees yet. A lot of my time goes into satisfying the bureaucracy, and other practical doings. Of course I have to lay all the ideas on the table to the public and private funds I'm applying for. But I'm not able to discuss my ideas with them, instead they are right in focusing on my ability to execute them.

Therefore, I guess, the best way to get my ideas analyzed and criticized, is to let them out in the open. And what is more open than the World Wide Web?

In addition to getting feedback to my ideas, through blogs and social media, laying them out publically will also kick my butt. As long as I write in my blog, or state in an interview, that I'm going to do this and that, I make a commitment to my readers. There's no difference whether I have one or a hundred readers. A commitment to one is as binding as a commitment to two or a thousand. And if I don't fulfill my commitments, I can't be trusted, and my business will fail.

That's why I'll risk it. From now on I'll be transparent and reveal more and more of my strategy in this blog. As long as I keep making commitments, it's no way back, not until I go bankrupt (and maybe not even then).

And that's why I'll be transparent as long as you promise to kick my butt. Deal or no deal?

What do you think of this strategy? Does it apply to all businesses or to all start-ups? Should I change strategy when the business grows?