Nestoria Interview - Kevin Burke - Smarta
This month we chat with Kevin Burke, COO of Smarta.com and social media enthusiast. Prior to joining Smarta, Kevin ran European business development for Pluck, and is also a Yahoo! veteran. He has a BA in history from Williams College and an MBA from INSEAD.
Kevin, thanks for speaking with us.
1. What is Smarta and what problem does it solve?
Smarta is an online resource for people thinking about starting a business or running a small business. We are backed by some of the UK's most successful entrepreneurs including Bebo's Michael Birch as well as Dragons Theo Paphitis and Deborah Meaden. Approximately 15% of all 16-64 year olds in the UK are thinking about starting a business and being an entrepreneur has become the number one career aspiration for university students. The current market for business startup advice is dominated by professional service firms who provide expensive, and often mediocre advice, and by government organisations like Business Link, which are staffed by people who have no practical business experience. Smarta offers free, practical and actionable advice from real entrepreneurs in the form of how to articles, video interviews and an online network. It is a place where people can get inspiration, learn from the mistakes of others and connect with people who can help.
2. What are the common mistakes entrepreneurs typically make?
We recently wrote a guide called "40 schoolboy errors made by entrepreneurs" and I think that does a good job of summarizing many of the key mistakes.
3. 2009 was a brutal year for the UK economy. What opportunities does the recession hold for entrepreneurs and start-ups in general, and web based start-ups specifically?
It may sound trite, but there has never been a better time to start a business. Although investment capital is difficult to come by, the cost of website development and hosting has gone down, and web based start-ups can run with very little overhead. To quote Doug Richard "We are entering a land grab of expertise. Each individual has the opportunity to be the brand or nexus around something." The key is capturing mindshare around a particular topic, and listening to the buzz in social networks to stay on top of the fast changing appetites of customers.
4. Two weeks ago Google announced their most recent foray into social with the launch of Buzz - and promptly suffered a PR disaster as it became clear that not everyone wants to "socialize" with all of their e-mail contacts. As an online veteran, how do you see the contrast and interplay between broad social networks from the internet giants like Facebook - with 350M+ users all around the world - and niche vertical networks like Smarta?
Broad social networks, with their ease of use, have done a great job of spurring mass adoption of social media, and introducing people to the benefits and power of online social networking. Facebook and Twitter have enabled a whole new form of communication. But as we have seen in other sectors of the web, there is a natural point at which fragmentation occurs. If people are passionate about golf, or blues bands, or politics, they will want to interact with communities of like minded individuals, rather than broad communities. If I want to ask for advice about setting up VAT, I won't ask my Facebook friends, I will ask the Smarta community. A key difference is that broad social networks espouse networking for networking's sake, whereas the vertical networks tend to be content and topic led - those that do the best job of facilitating conversation and debate among members will be the most successful.
Kevin, thanks for your time and insight. As a niche vertical search engine. We know the dilemma, but also the power, of being very focused. For anyone considering making the plunge and starting their own business (go for it!) we recommend checking out Smarta. Learn more about Smarta via their blog or by following smartahq on twitter.
past Nestoria interviews: Nick Turner-Samuels, Josh Devins, and Stoycho Vlaykov
