Brainnovate

For some reason I had never heard this term before. The “Fortune 5 Million” represents focusing a product or offer on the millions of overlooked small businesses 1-50 employees. These little companies can’t afford big “enterprisey” type solutions and have similar although slightly different needs.

I think this term was first coined in 2005 by 37 Signals, although I can’t say for sure. Last night I started watching the excellent Startup School videos out on the web, first with “David Heinemeier Hansson at Startup School 08″

As you may know, David is the guy who created the wildly popular Ruby on Rails framework, which I talk about in this blog.  However, this video is NOT about Rails, but focuses instead on building a profitable, sustainable business.  In his typically charged and humorous style, David makes some great points about why trying to be the next Facebook is akin to being killed in an act of terrorism.  At only 30 minutes, you are really doing yourself a disfavor NOT to watch this video.

One of the points David tries to get across is the importance of the Fortune 5,000,000 and how his company, 37 Signals, has built their business appealing to this market.  So today is Friday, carve out 30 minutes and go watch “David Heinemeier Hansson at Startup School 08.”