Ultra Light Startups: Finding the Ideal Audience for Your Site

Ultra Light Startups brought together a group of gaming experts Thursday night to discuss how lead generation and virtual economies can help your startup move up to the next level. Nearly 120 Ultra-Lighters were on hand to get a brief glimpse into the world of gaming-economy revenue models.

The panel of business experts included:
Dennis Crowley, Co-Founder of Foursquare
Austin Chang, Vice President, Strategy & Development at MTV Networks
Noah Kagan, President and co-founder of Gambit
Stephen Smyth President at Smythworks, LLC
Dan Porter, CEO of OMGPOP (formerly known as ImInLikeWithYou)

Dan Porter, CEO of OMGPOP, began the evening by telling the crowd that the best way to drive and maintain site traffic is by motivating repeat users to come back. Porter says that startup businesses can achieve that by creating something that people want.

Austin Chang, V-P of Strategy & Development with MTV Networks, says building a strong web presence requires the site creator to determine what demographic you are trying to reach beforehand. Who are you trying to reach? What community are you trying to bring in?

Stephen Smyth, President of Smythworks, echoed this thought, telling the audience to find their market and then come up with a promotion that will draw them in.

Porter says that another key to success is determining how much someone is willing to pay for your company’s product or service.

The panel also brought us into the world of gaming and some of the thought processes behind it. Dennis Crowley, Co-Founder of Foursquare, talked about successful gaming venues where gamers crave various forms of “virtual recognition.” Many users are so determined to earn “virtual notoriety” that they actual change their real-life behavior to gather online rewards such as online badges or honorary titles.

The entire panel agreed that there is no shortage of people who crave that on-line public attention and recognition. The panel stressed that if you can tap into those human needs and desires, your site is very likely to squash the competition.