The Startup Bubble is a Myth

Entrepreneurs should not fear the arrival of another dot-com-style bubble. "There's gonna be a point in the next couple of years when people realize that there are opportunities to create a very sustainable lifestyle businesses over the Internet," said David Spiro, the 23-year-old founder and CEO of Elevatr, a mobile app designed to help entrepreneurs start a business. "The concept of starting your own business and becoming an entrepreneur, I don't think there's a bubble at all." On the other hand, Spiro told Benzinga that there is a bubble for people who perceive that their idea is a "venture fundable company," Spiro explained. Not every firm will attract venture capital. An entrepreneur could have a brilliant, game-changing idea and still fail to win over investors. To ensure that a business is on the right track, Spiro recommends that new entrepreneurs start by capturing the essence of their idea in just 140 characters. "If you can't, then you haven't actually worked enough on understanding what you're actually doing, because you haven't really defined what you're doing," said Spiro. This is why the company's app starts by asking users to create a 140-character description that could serve as a tweetable elevator pitch. Elevatr gained a bit of fame after reaching 40,000 users in one month. Spiro told Benzinga that the app has now acquired 70,000 users in just two months. "It just shows that Internet entrepreneurship is the future of our global economy," he said. Spiro added that while college students went to school for traditional jobs as recent as five years ago, they are now becoming increasingly interested in going their own route and starting a new business. This transition has been enhanced by the recession in 2009, which reduced (and in some cases eliminated) job security within several industries. According to PandoDaily, Elevatr is about to close a seed round that's worth $500,000. Spiro would not confirm or deny this figure, but he did say that the firm is "closing another round now, but I can't say how much." Spiro bootstrapped the company when it started, but he later received $100,000 to get the app up and running. "Right now it's a free tool," said Spiro. "We have much bigger plans for the future. We're not ready to chat about the specifics, but certain things that we're looking to do are collaboration tools and cross-platform." The "cross-platform" he's referring to includes Android, which will be next in line to receive the Elevatr app. For now it is exclusive to iOS. Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at 248-636-1322 or louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ