Shoemoney is giving away a trip to SEO Think Tank down in San Diego. Given the caliber of the attendees and organizers, yes I can speak first hand having met many of them at Elite Retreat, this looks like a great event to attend. So given Shoe's contest rules here's what I can bring to the table.
First and foremost what not to do when taking on a big competitive market, e.g. online music discovery. Unless you have unlimited resources the absolute most important thing to do is focus on doing one thing better than everyone else. It is very easy to get lost in an arms race mentality when your competitors are unveiling new products/services all the time. Don't get caught up in trying to match each new product/service offering. Most of the time the new product/service isn't nearly as great as they hype machine says it is.
Even when it is a great service you can't realisticaly add a new service of greater value instantly and the resources you dedicate to developing a new service are usally at the expense of improving your core offering. Yes this may seem like a no brainer but trust me it is very easy to get caught up in the "we have to compete with that too" mentality.
Next lesson, be very careful with who you partner with. Make sure they have the same goals and drive that you do. There are lots of people/companies looking to tag along but when you are a small startup you need to move as quickly and efficiently as possible. Waiting for less nimble people/companies to take action will kill your momentum.
It doens't have to be perfect out the gate, just valuable. When you are working on a project you are passionate about it you tend to want to make things perfect before letting anyone see your baby, bad move. Get a working model/site out in the public and get people using it even if it isn't what you ultimately envision. Getting feedback early on is hugely important for creating a product/site that people will actually use. If you can't get any early adopters then you should seriously re-think what you are doing. If you do get some traction go full speed ahead, don't get distracted by trying to develop additional products/services. You need to nail your core product/service then think about expanding into other areas.
Be willing to rethink your idea(s). It's a fine line between not listening to the naysayers and being stubbornly blind. Really only experience will guide you through that decision process but ask others whose opinions you respect what they honestly think of your business idea(s). If you have to re-think your business plan it's not the end of the world. Better to fail quickly and move on then beat a dead horse.
If you do decide to re-think your plan then do it and don't look back. That is where I am right now and that is what I can bring to SEO Think Tank, a new plan of attack, the rational, and plan of execution. The SEO/SEM/SMM skills are no different than what the other attendees have so I can't make a case that I will rock their world with any insights there but between already knowing a bunch of the attendees and having some experience in taking on the big boys I think I can defintely add value to the conference so Shoe send me to San Digeo ;)
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