Spanish start-ups round-up: the copy cat approach
Story byErnst-Jan Pfauth
Ernst-Jan Pfauth is the former Editor in Chief of Internet at NRC Handelsblad, as well as an acclaimed technology author and columnist. He a(show all)Ernst-Jan Pfauth is the former Editor in Chief of Internet at NRC Handelsblad, as well as an acclaimed technology author and columnist. He also served as The Next Web’s blog’s first blogger and Editor in Chief, back in 2008. AtDe Correspondent, Ernst-Jan serves as publisher, fostering the expansion of the platform.
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The Copycat approach
The three services all look very nice, and the ideas are well executed. Yet the last start-up, BuBok, is basically a Lulu rip-off. This is actually pretty smart, as a Spanish site probably appears more trustworthy and accessible to people from Spain. I’m sure Dutch people from my parents’ generation would prefer a Dutch service as well.
The other two start-ups copy part of an idea from respectively Netvibes and Dopplr…, in English. Netvibes talks about an Universe, Planetaki calls it a Planet. Dopplr, Tripit, and a dozen of other travel services track your trips, so does Wolpy. I’m not sure whether these two Spanish start-ups will get some traction as there already are some excellent alternatives for them.
BuBok’s approach is safer: try to copythe copy cat style of some German entrepreneurslike the Samwer brothers. Just clone an English service and conquer your home market. For Spanish start-ups, the potential is even bigger as millions and millions people all over the world speak Spanish.
However, from a creative and adventurous kind of view, trying to conquer theworldis more exciting. But with tons of new start-ups launching every day, the chance of becoming the next Twitter or Friendfeed is small. Good luck to these brave Spanish entrepreneurs who are willing to take it.
[WebTipr:Victor Cruzate]More Spanish Web 2.0 news (in Spanish) onLoogic
