"Today’s segment is going to focus on the opportunities available to a person or group that has an interest in getting into the Middle Market Internet Sector, but has not yet had the opportunity to operate in this space. This segment will discuss the various kinds of businesses that operate in this space as well as the various methods available to finding a way to own, manage or operate such a business.
First, while the vast majority of Internet Companies are operated as eCommerce storefronts, eCommerce is not the only option available. Some companies operate solely on eBay, Sears or Amazon, doing very little business, or just a portion of their business, via their own website portals. While marketplaces like Amazon do charge a commission for selling goods, an Amazon Seller is not required to market their goods beyond just listing the product on the portal. That is much different than operating an eCommerce website where you must concern yourself with search engine optimization efforts, pay per click campaigns, email campaigns, programmatic marketing, and more. There are plusses and minuses for both kinds of companies (Marketplace vs Straight eCommerce), but many do well when operating on multiple channels.
Second, there are a number of different types of businesses that also operate in the digital space, like digital marketing agencies, flash sale sites, wholesalers, e-fulfillment centers, ad networks, marketing companies, service-oriented businesses, software providers, and many more. Again, while eCommerce is by far the largest by volume, there are opportunities for success in each of these sub-sets of the Internet.
So, if a person desires to get into the Internet Sector, there are a number of options available, some of which are underserved and some that are highly competitive. Getting into the sector requires an analysis of needs, especially in the middle market – do you need cash flow on day one, or do you have time before you need to extract funds or take a salary from a company? If the former, then it might make sense to look into acquiring a company from an expert, niche firm, like ValleyBiggs. If the latter, then you have choices – you can buy an Internet Company or you can create a startup.
Startup vs Acquisition is always a challenging decision. If you buying an existing Internet Business, you already have employees, vendors, customers and an operating website in place so that you have a solid foundation by which to start off – in other words – cash flow – the key to all business operations. If a person has the ability to wait on taking money out of the company, these things might not be as important, but some believe that re-creating the wheel is not necessary. Others believe that they’d rather not invest or pay a multiple of earnings in order to buy an existing company – these folks would rather take a smaller investment, but potentially a higher risk, and attempt to build the entire foundation themselves.
