Successful US startups attract millions of dollars investment annually. What is the secret of a successful startup and how to turn your idea into a profitable project? We have analyzed few US startups which have shown a rapid growth in 2017 and will definitely keep increasing in 2018, according to VC experts.
Learn about Female-run successful startups.
Online Platform for Interior Designers
The US startup Laurel & Wolf, founded in 2014, now have attracted more than $25 million investment. The company has made an online platform that brings together interior designers and customers. As the startup slogan says: «the online interior design service that makes it fun, easy, and affordable to decorate your space.» Affordable is the key word, as a personal interior designer’s service in the US costs an average of $5.5 thousand for the «turnkey project», while the highest price tag in Laurel & Wolf is $ 349 per room.
How It Works
The startup founder has taken the idea from already existing crowdsourcing solutions and applied it to interior design. Here’s how it works:
- The customer answers questions about his project and uploads a photo of the space that needs to be designed.
- Then the user selects the designer from proposed on the platform.
- The designer creates the concept of the room and makes a price list of all items that are used in the design.
Besides, there is an alternative way — to buy a ready-made design (with all items), right from the picture on the platform.
Learn Why you need to do a research for your product.
CRM for HR-specialists
The US company Paycom is not exactly a startup (it was founded in late1998), but over the last three years it has shown a rapid growth in profits and took second place in the TOP-100 fastest growing companies of 2017, according to Fortune. Paycom is a sort of CRM system custom-tailored to hiring. There is almost all function that allows automating the HR-Manager’s work — from recruiting to onboarding. Also, the service allows you to track the HR Manager’s KPI and performance of all recruitment process.
Tickets Selling Startup
Yes, just an app for buying tickets to events from your smartphone. A startup from San Francisco, named Gametime has already gathered more than 30 million dollars of investment. The startup is unique among similar booking apps in its idea — through the app, you may buy last-minute tickets for the events on the day (or evening) of their conduct, and even share them with your friends.
Gametime bets on convenience — the app allows you sending tickets via SMS directly to your friend. The startup has objected the paperwork, so all payments are conducted online on the smartphone. Once filled payment data is stored in an app in an encrypted form. «With payment encrypted and stored on the phone, checkout takes 9 seconds instead of the 5 minutes fans might invest filling out a web form» — Gametime founder says.
Unique Decorations for Any Celebration
Another US startup offers its users to shop unique goods for the different occasion. The Minted company’s idea is that each user can choose an individual design for his holiday decoration — from invitation cards to home goods. The startup is based on the principle of crowdsourcing — it brings together designers and buyers on one platform.
Best works are determined by users. On the website, you can buy the ready-made good or ask for help from designers. Since inception, the startup has already raised almost $ 90 million investment. Experts believe that its success lies in convenience and accessibility for users.
The Group Video Chat Houseparty
Houseparty startup has created an app for group video calling that supports up to eight simultaneous users in a single chat. The startup calls this the video party. You can easily join an existing chat room or create your own video party. If you want you can also make a closed room, the entrance to which is restricted.
Interesting thing — it all had begun with the Meerkat app, which allowed broadcasting live video stream. But founders have caught new market conditions in time, and the startup made the pivot in the direction of a group chat. This decision has brought the company almost $ 70 million investment already.
Learn more about Houseparty success story.
Shop Luxury Goods Online
The US startup RealReal has managed to gather 3 million customers during the first three years since inception. Now the volume of investments in a startup has already reached 172 million dollars, experts suggest investors take a closer look at the company, as the startup is showing rapid growth. How did the company manage to reach such record highs? The answer lies in the original idea.
In fact, the RealReal is a platform for luxury goods sale, there are plenty similar ideas on the market. However, the founders have made a bid on the quality — all items, displayed on the platform are checked for authenticity by the RealRel experts (the startup’s name points on it). Company’s experts pay attention to each and every detail: the quality of fabrics and leather, locks, rivets, etc. So that buyers can be 100% sure that the item they see on the company’s pages is an authentic product.
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