Online buzz a platform for success
Entrepreneur uses the internet to pave the way for Orbis photography products’ US entry
Monday, May 30 2011 || Progress report || BY Mark Revington
He simply followed a smart online strategy by engaging influential online commentators in his field of photography and followed up with regular email updates and then YouTube videos.
"We did all of the buzz from here and we did it all online. We engaged with the mavens, the most influential people online who run blogs and websites. We linked early mentions of us to a teaser website where you could sign on to our newsletter. Now it would be more Twitter and Facebook but back in 2008 Twitter certainly hadn't made a breakthrough and Facebook was still in the early stages.
"We sent out regular email updates, I pushed wherever I could on internet forums and then just before launch put up some YouTube videos so people could actually see our product in action. The great thing was we not only had more than 1000 people on our email list before we started selling but we got such early rapid traction that before I got on a plane to the US, I already had meetings arranged with distributors."
It's a route to market he would recommend to any Kiwi startup looking to export. Mr Madelin is sometimes asked to speak about his experiences launching his products and is horrified by the number of entrepreneurs here who don't have a website or a social media strategy.
I say, "Where's your website, how many Twitter followers do you have?" and they say, "We're not doing that yet, our product isn't on the market, we're still four months away from launching". If they wait those four months, then no-one is going to know about it, won't be buying and they won't be making any money."
Madelin is a former investment banker who changed careers to pursue photography and then built a prototype of his Orbis ring flash with duct tape and tin foil. Photographers use the ring flash attached to a flash gun to soften light.
One day out mountainbiking, he met David Booth, an investor who is a member of the Ice Angels. Mr Booth encouraged him to join the Icehouse startup incubator. He applied, was accepted, and embarked on a crash course in commercialising his ideas.
Rule No 1. Don't be in too much of a rush. Madelin thought he had to be first to market with the ring flash because there was nothing like it available. At the Icehouse, he discovered it was better to be second or third. Let the first entrant make all the mistakes, and validate the product.
Given his background as an investment banker and then a photographer, how daunting was it to jump into the world of startups? Madelin says he was always convinced he had come up with something that met a need in the market.
"I had an unshakeable feeling that this had to be done," he said.
He and his wife sank their savings into the start-up, estimating it cost more than $300,000 to get going, but recouped the investment in the first year.
Orbis has two products on sale, distributors around the world, and is developing more photography products that Madelin hopes will appeal to a wider market.
