Startup Business: Getting The First Users On Your Site [Infographic]

If you’ve been thinking about taking your master plan from the idea stage to a full on startup, now might be the best time. If you do a quick Google search, you’ll find that many people are calling this the golden age of startups. I know just from how many people I talk to each day from startups as it relates to Bit Rebels business that there are a bunch of new ones launched on a regular basis. It’s always fun to talk to the people who work in startup business environments because they are so passionate and energetic about taking over the world.

If you thought it might be better to wait until the economy improves before you start, you might want to think again. Many people will agree that when the economy is weak, it’s one of the strongest times to start a business, especially a tech startup business. As startup business veteran Alain Rossmann told Business Week, “You can achieve 10 times more now with 10 times fewer people and 10 times less capital. It’s unbelievable. This is the golden age of startups, and I hope America and everyone else takes advantage of it.”

Just for fun, I thought it would be interesting to see what successful businesses started during a recession. According to AOL Small Business, here are a few: Apple, Microsoft, CNN, IBM, Disney, Burger King, Tollhouse Cookies (and many, many more). As we all know, one type of startup that is very popular right now falls in the realm of social media. The Internet is becoming more social each day, and at the same time, the world is becoming smaller as we all become more interconnected. They used to say that in the future, we’ll all get our 15 minutes of fame. Now it’s more likely that in the future, we will hope for our 15 minutes of anonymity.

One thing I have always wondered is how new social networking startups build their users in the very beginning. I’m referring to their first 10,000 users (not just the first 50 friends and family who sign up, or the people on the email list). This infographic called The Way To Getting Traction: How Successful Startups First Got Users by Funders and Founders sheds some light on this exact topic. According to them, when a new social networking site hits 10,000 users, that’s when it all gets interesting, and that’s when other people start to take notice. How long will it take to get 10,000 users? I suppose that is different with every startup business. Just to put it all in context, it took Pinterest 9 months to reach 10,000 users. If there’s one thing I learned from reading this infographic, it’s that gaining users on a new site requires creative thinking and fresh ideas, which is the foundation of a startup. It’s all so inspiring, isn’t it?