We have been discussing the rapid change in the way the new generation of startups are being built and run in this highly networked new era on our blog and brought up how this newer, leaner generation have different funding requirements as compared to previous generations. In a new post which sheds more light on this recent phenomenon on how we work, Ehon Chan has defined it as Emergent Transformation and covers how it will affect the way we has humans do things using this technology revolution.

In his post titled “The Next Era Of Social Change – Uncovering Human Capacity” Ehon states:

“I have often spoken about acknowledging human as an individual full of potentials, and that we have more resources than we think we do. We are more hyperconnected than we have ever been but many of us still view these hyperconnections as mere relationships. We live in an incredibly small world – the more people we know, the smaller the world become. If you look at this hyperconnectedness, it seems as though its just a big ball of connections, but if we actually map the skills, talents and resource that each of this connection that we have access to, we will unveil some incredible asset that we have access to right at the palm of our hands.”

This is exactly the transformation emerging in entrepreneurship and the new generation of startups today and this asset which we have access to is what will set us apart from previous organizations and business practices. The Grow VC network is one that helps harness this human capacity, skills and talents with respect to entrepreneurship and startup ventures. When you as an individual can be networked heavily with others relevant to what you are doing a number of changes automatically take place in the way you do things:

Speed: The mind numbing speed at which a startup can move ahead with given the “highly networked” environment is leaves a blur in its wake as it’s now possible to go from idea to operational in just days as compared to months and years required for something to take off in the past. We are at a stage where if you have an idea you can turn it into a startup quick! Here is what we are talking about:

You are hit with the idea. You quickly ping someone you know who can get a website up and running by the end of the day. You log into your choice of networks and quickly send in-mails to 4 or 5 guys you know in different countries who can put together a beta version of your product in a week or two. You wait for their replies and close the one which suits your cost and requirements. While you’re waiting, you put together your business plan on a platform like Grow VC, draft a press release, create some awareness about your plan and see who shows interest in it. If you find more than interest from someone, in the form of visible passion, message them and see if they would like to co-found it, work with you, partner or help out in any way. If they say yes, your team is now 2 members strong already. Since it looks like you’ll have a beta version in a week or two, you can start building interest using social media or look through your network for someone you know can create some serious buzz for your product even before it’s available. And all this…. is something you can kick start on day one!

Collaboration in focus & physical out of focus: Perhaps one of the differences new generation startups are seeing is greater collaboration right from the get go. If your strength is technical and not marketing, you can perhaps locate others with marketing muscle within your network and collaborate. Need expertise? Turn to the network. Need to build a team? Use the network. Need funding? Use the network. Collaborate with others from the start. The “physical” will be of less importance and more importantly less of a barrier. If you are a startup on the beaches of the Cook Islands, you can still secure funding from an investor in London or have a PR person in the UAE. The organization or the business itself will eventually look more like a network of people putting their capabilities and heads together into achieving common objectives and creating value. It won’t be surprising if business valuation experts of the future don’t value physical assets like buildings, property, number of offices, data centers and countries you have a base for as much as they are worth today.

Cost patterns are changing: and for the better. Starting up especially, need not be as capital intensive as it was with the exception of certain business types which will always be that way. More importantly, it doesn’t take as much funding upfront to get started and current models of business are quickly moving to the ‘pay as you go’ format. For example, a web application startup can start with a domain name for $12 a year and a hosting service for as low as $5 per month to start off with. If the application is doing well with more customers signing on, the hosting can be scaled accordingly with cloud options based on the usage and capacity required. Similarly for communications you can start off with a Skype account for as low as a few Euros a month and when your requirements have increased, you can scale to a higher capacity VOIP system for your staff assuming you would also have more customers and revenue to fund expansion.

These are just some ways in which startups and the way they function are changing today. With emergent transformation, the very fabric of the way things are done is undergoing change and we’re all a part of this new chapter in discovering how much of our capacity still lies untapped!