Although faced with many challenges and uncertainties, small businesses continue to expand and flourish across the United States. Small businesses are created through entrepreneurship, involving creativity, energy, proper planning and innovation; they benifit the country by providing opportunities, such as creating new jobs, making profits and improving the quality of a market products. Every small business has its own unique story of success and disparity. Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, founders of Harmonix, a game developer, started out with severely inadequate revenue and failed products; eventually creating a virtual phenomenon known as "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" (two music video-games which sky-rocketed the company's success). Chef Nobu spent more than thirty years enduring experimentation, failure and unstable business partner- relationships. Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim simply needed to figure out how to post a video segment, from a party, to the internet for sharing. Thus, the birth of Youtube.com. Without the prevailance of small businesses, we would not be living in the world the way it has been shaped.
Harmonix, founded by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, is a video game company that created the revolutionary “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band.” The root of their success was creativity and innovation, which was covered in class. The story began when Alex and Eran were finishing their degrees at MIT. Both were interested in applying music and technology to non-musicians who want to express themselves through music. Their first product was a CD-ROM called the Axe; it was a joystick music improvisation system which ended up selling 300 copies and failed to keep people entertained for lengthy periods. Next, they worked with Disney to re-innovate the product. Their affiliation with Disney was short-lived. They started another improvisation system project in Japan, for the karaoke industry. The music system did not connect with the users. At that point, Alex and Eran were desperate for a new epiphany. Their revenue was down to zero and it was time to rebuild their business. They finally had investors behind them and secured two million dollars at the bank. “Frequency” was the first electronic game developed by the company. The object of the game was to play rhythms correctly to any song chosen by the player. “Amplitude” followed shortly. Both were unsuccessful, sales-wise. One element that all their products lacked was marketability. Two, they didn’t have mainstream music or brought a connection to the players. These elements fueled the success for “Karaoke Revolution.” The company has created non-music games such as EyeToy:
Antigrav, for Sony. A small company known as RedOctane, contacted Harmonix, requesting them to create a game for a guitar controller. Then “Guitar Hero” was released. As the sales grew, the company was attracting suitors, one of them being MTV. Harmonix took the partnership with MTV for their financial and marketing resources. Alex and Eran worked on a joint project with Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono to create “The Beatles: Rock Band.” Finally, “Rock Band Network” was released. The concept of this project is to allow song writers to upload their music which can then be played in the game. As Alex had stated, “Launching Rock Band Network is a way for us to open new fundamental form of music entertainment.”
Chef Nobu is a co-owner of sushi operation in Lima, Peru. Reaching his glory years were challenging, as he dealt with incompatible business partners, experimented with his meals, and suffered bankruptcy. Chef Nobu started out washing dishes and busing tables at sushi restaurants, and eventually became a chef. He moved to Peru with a former business partner to open up a sushi restaurant. One advantage of operating there was the adequate supply of seafood. Also, Peru is a location where Japanese corporations invest; many Japanese business men are looking for good sushi. At the time, there were few Japanese restaurants in town. Being a 49% stakeholder, Chef Nobu had to do everything to keep the business running. He had to create his menu items from scratch, since certain ingredients weren’t sold in any market in town. He had to negotiate with fishermen for fish they didn’t sell. The sushi rolls he made from eel sold well and the restaurant was thriving. The irreconcilable differences between Chef Nobu and his business partner, ceased the partnership. Nobu moved to Buenos Aires and then back to Japan for work. Soon, he moved to Anchorage with his new business partner, to open up another sushi restaurant, which he ended up closing due to debt. He landed two jobs in California before a friend of his, offered to fund his own restaurant. His goal was to keep his customers happy. It meant using good quality food products and providing good service. While still tight with funds, Chef Nobu and his wife were making the customers happy and building their reputation. Being in the Beverly Hills location, Nobu met Robert De Niro, where he was asked to open up a restaurant in New York City with him. It took four years for Nobu to finally accept the partnership. They launched their first project, Nobu New York. One lesson I got out of this story is that big sacrifices sacrifices may be necessary to find success in a small business. Two, you may not always get the results you expect (inadequate resources, not enough revenue etc.); so a back up plan may save you. Two, partnerships are difficult to sustain, unless you find the right person.
Youtube is a social networking and video sharing service, started by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. Google paid $1.65 billion in stock for Youtube. The simple service expanded into a popular website that serves more than 100 million videos per day, with over 65,000 videos being uploaded each day. The partners came up with a strategy to increase its growth and popularity. They opened a contest that awarded an Ipod Nano to a random Youtube member every day for two month. Points were gained for signing up, inviting others to join and uploading a video. The more points earned, the better the chances of winning. When Chen could not keep up with the expenses of running the site, the partners turned to Seqouia Capital to invest and the VC firm to fund them. Soon after, the site was launched to the public, reaching 3 million views per day. Youtube has never generated profit and is rumored to be losing $500,000 a month. The long-term viability of Youtube remains in question. Google’s experience with advertising is said to cover the $1,000,000+ expense charged per month, for hosting. So far, Youtube has face one lawsuit over copyright infringement. More over, Youtube has had to take down some videos, when requested by content owners. Youtube has received attention from major companies; some of which would upload videos to generate buzz or test out ideas. Youtube has become a major example for many other online entrepreneurs. Yahoo had upgraded their video service in 2006. In response, Chen and Hurley claim that consumers will be able to view video clips on phones and other electronics. They had also mentioned expanding the content of Youtube. Only time can tell what is in store for Youtube. I support this website for a number of reasons. I use you tube to post videos of me singing or playing the piano; and anything else I’ve recorded that I find interesting. I have learned a lot of things through watching certain clips, such as knitting.
In conclusion, the growth of entrepreneurship has made an impact to society because of creative and innovative talents utilized to create small businesses that succeed. The creators of Rock Band and Guitar Hero have contributed in the evolution of the music world and industry. Chef Nobu has popularized the sushi roll, while stepping away from the traditional preparation of Japanese cuisine. Finally, Youtube became a haven for watching, uploading and sharing videos. With the internet and technological advances, small businesses will have an advantage in selling their products and adapting to the change in trends.