Getting in front of other Startups

searchfury

So I am working with a small company that does plastic fabrication. Other than PPC, what are the best ways to find and get in front of other startups? The service we offer would be perfect for prototyping for many startups, but I'm not sure what the best ways would be to find startups....how do I find them?

Ryan O'Bleness

Hi there.

Social media, especially niche social media groups for startups and entrepreneurs on platforms such as LinkedIn or Facebook, would be a good place to start. You'll likely have to request to join, unless it is open to the public. Once you're in, introduce yourself and let them know what it is you are looking to accomplish. Do not, under any circumstances, post spam or overly-promotional content in these groups or you'll likely get banned. Instead, gauge interest of the members. See if anybody is willing to try out your products and provide feedback. Again, you have to do this strategically or everyone will see it as spam.

Community forums, such as this one, are another great way to get a lot of startups. You'll find nearly 100,000 members in our community. All of which have similar goals, ideas, insights, thoughts and more. But the beauty of it is that everybody thinks a little bit differently. Ask questions, gain advice and have mutual relationships with your fellow community members. It could be a good way to connect with the right people.

Another idea is sending press releases. You can put it on a wire to a mass audience, or target specific niche bloggers and journalists to cover news about your products or company.

bharat.nimblechapps

RyanOBleness wrote:

Hi there.

Social media, especially niche social media groups for startups and entrepreneurs on platforms such as LinkedIn or Facebook, would be a good place to start. You'll likely have to request to join, unless it is open to the public. Once you're in, introduce yourself and let them know what it is you are looking to accomplish. Do not, under any circumstances, post spam or overly-promotional content in these groups or you'll likely get banned. Instead, gauge interest of the members. See if anybody is willing to try out your products and provide feedback. Again, you have to do this strategically or everyone will see it as spam.

Community forums, such as this one, are another great way to get a lot of startups. You'll find nearly 100,000 members in our community. All of which have similar goals, ideas, insights, thoughts and more. But the beauty of it is that everybody thinks a little bit differently. Ask questions, gain advice and have mutual relationships with your fellow community members. It could be a good way to connect with the right people.

Another idea is sending press releases. You can put it on a wire to a mass audience, or target specific niche bloggers and journalists to cover news about your products or company.

Great Advice!!!

jaymes

For me the best way to meet other startups is meetup.com because it's easier to develop a relationship (or at least that's what I've been telling myself). If you go to a meetup for small businesses it's easy to begin a discussion on anything pertaining to small businesses, or your specific business. Though it's worth mentioning I look at it from a B2B sales standpoint, and I do prefer meeting people in person.

Charlie P

Trade shows and trade publications. If the startups that you are looking for are in manufacturing markets then they will be reading and/or attending as much trade related things as they can so that they learn as much as they can about their options.

Also, going after small to mid-range business that are looking to expand product lines would be another great market. They would have more capital to spend and need the prototypes to show proof of concept to their investors.

jaydeep006

To get ahead of other startups, you have to promote it on various social media sites, it will give you good number of visitors to your website. You have to post on various business forums and you have to build quality backlinks for your website. It will help you to rank higher on search engine result pages.

Steffi Dsouza

It's interesting that you mention using a lean startup approach but then focus on reaching a large market. With lean startup, the key is to start SMALL and really get to know that niche. Only then, once you really know your market, should you consider trying to reach a broader market.