There has been a significant change in the startup world. Gone are the days when having a good product and service can guarantee success – now, you need to combine innovation, business acumen, and team dynamics to ensure success in today’s startup market. With so many amazing companies rising to prominence over the last few years, it’s no surprise that some have stood out from the rest and become leaders in their respective industries.
We’ll look at how these companies evolved from humble beginnings to game-changing businesses and uncover valuable insight as to what allowed them to become so successful. Read on if you have a dream of setting out on a similar path yourself one day!
Airbnb
Did you know the original name of this $58bn company, with its presence in around 200 countries was “Air bed and breakfast?” Airbnb was started in 2007 by Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, two broke people looking to raise money to pay their house rent, and rented air mattresses in their apartment to attendees of a conference as all hotels in the area were fully booked. Today its valuation surpasses the giants of the hotel industry like Hilton, Marriott and Wyndham. It is an online marketplace that allows people to rent out their properties or spare rooms to guests. The platform is designed to connect guests and hosts, and it provides a variety of services, such as booking, payment processing, and customer support, to facilitate the process.
This platform offers several advantages to travellers seeking cheap, affordable and cosy places to stay giving them a variety of options, amenities, personalized service and flexibility of stay period. These elements make for successful startups that impact our choices and preferences, scripting a startup success story.
Uber
One startup success story everyone must know is about the ride-hailing platform, Uber. An idea that took the transport industry by storm and ended the monopoly of unscrupulous gangs and mafias in the unorganised taxi segment often operated at the whims and fancies of such groups.
Uber standardised, revolutionised and eased the way people commute from one point to another. Founded in 2009 by Garrett Camp, Oscar Salazar and Travis Kalanick, it has a huge base of 93 million active users as of 2022 with a market share of 67% in the US. Uber operates in around 72 countries and is expanding its presence into profitable ventures like Uber eats (food delivery) and Uber freight (logistics).
The idea came about from the inability of one of the founders to find a cab when he had to attend a conference in Paris, this is how the need for a service that was convenient, reliable and cost-saving was born giving it a place among the most successful start-ups in the world. This is how it came to be ranked among the best startups in the world.
Bytedance
ByteDance was founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming, a Chinese entrepreneur. The company started as a news aggregator app called Toutiao that employed artificial intelligence to curate news items tailored to the preferences of the user. It quickly gained popularity in China and gained over 100 million daily active users by 2016.
In 2016, it acquired a lip-syncing app called Musical.ly, later TikTok was launched under the name Douyin in the Chinese market. It became a ground-breaking foray into the entertainment industry with 1.9 million active users in over 150 countries. Douyin began just with a few employees initially, but the relationship it developed between its specialised team and other teams like marketing or R&D made a difference in their performance, discovery and effectiveness.
It has ventured into the e-commerce, gaming, education and information service segments making it a complete digital ecosystem. It created several other apps such as Vigo Video and Helo that became widely popular among young users leading to the startup’s success. Its outreach makes it evident among the top most successful startups of our times.
Canva
Started in Australia in 2012 by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams as a simple design tool aimed at making the graphic design more accessible to non-designers. Perkins, says “The idea of making design simple was the first idea,” which prompted her to ideate Canva. She hired freelancers to build a flash website and targeted schools and colleges to promote her software.
This graphic design platform that allows users to create various types of visual content, such as posters, flyers, social media graphics, and presentations has grown to 10 million users becoming one of the most popular and successful design platforms worldwide that raised $40 million in funding in a very short time. For a startup’s success, identifying a genuine need or problem area becomes the key to its rise, giving it a place among the list of the best startups in the world.
SpaceX
SpaceX is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company founded in 2002 by entrepreneur and business magnate Elon Musk to reduce space transportation costs and enable the colonization of Mars. The company designs manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. It has developed several reusable launch vehicles, such as the Falcon 1, Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and the Dragon spacecraft.
As of 2021, SpaceX has launched over 1,000 satellites and begun to provide internet service to customers in certain locations. The company raised a total of $2.2 billion in funding from venture capital firms and private investors over the years and collaborates with NASA and other government agencies for space launches and other services.
Being a capital-intensive industry, after a few years of losses, it started to clock profits and positive cash flow in 2018 due to contracts with NASA and commercial customers. This certainly gives it a place among the most successful startups thriving today, considered one of the best startups in the world.
The takeaway from all of this is that it takes a lot of hard work to be a successful startup. However, if you have a great idea and a team to execute it, anything is possible. Remember the words of Bill Gates: “If your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business.” If you’re looking for funding to get started on your mission, contact us today – we just might be able to help you make your Startup dreams come true.
