The recession has increased the relevancy of the old economic adage - small is beautiful. A CNN Money article published on June 1st highlighted the advantages that enterprises can gain from keeping their operations manageable. The story, entitled Digg This: Small is Cool, cites the example of a relatively new start-up that has managed to achieve huge success in a short time.
Digg.com has more than 35 million visitors and is witnessing its user numbers increase by 20,000 every month. Founded in 2004 by Kevin Rose, the social news website allows its users to discover and share content from anywhere on the internet. The main feature of the site is the ability of users to determine whether stories are given relevance by either digging or burying them.
Jay Adelson, chief executive of Digg.com, advised would-be entrepreneurs to be content with a sustainable business model.
He told the financial website: "You don't have to make a billion dollars. Create a system that fills a void. And if you can't get to profitability in the first place without a ramp-up from investors, start over."
Praised for the manner in which the entrepreneur "cobbled together" the website, the article encourages other business leaders to continue with low-cost start-ups throughout the difficult economic climate. Despite its unimaginable number of users and venture capital funding worth in excess of $40 million, Digg still only has 70 employees, with one staff member looking after ads and a single moderator policing the website's comments.
Digg makes the bulk of its revenues from selling targeted advertising space alongside stories, while it also offers small and large organizations various partnership opportunities.
The small business-focused article also highlighted its "favourite" relatively low-cost start-up. Commending the innovative travel site AirBnB for its cheap alternative to hotel accommodation, the online marketplace enables people to offer extra space on their floors for travellers. This 'new way to travel' has also featured in a variety of regional, national and international news providers over the past year, including the Guardian, New York Times, Boston Globe and USA Today.
A new era of frugality appears to have arrived in the business environment. These examples illustrate both the importance of having realistic operational boundaries, as well as the cost-effective and wide-reaching benefits of being featured in the national press.
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