Which of the popular startups do you consider the most successful. Startup Ideas

Startup- this is the name of both the company that they plan to create, and the existing enterprise in the development stage. Usually this is a project with an original idea that has not yet been brought to life.

Business angel- a private investor, often investing personal funds in risky projects.

"Writing in the Sand"

An online service that allows you to order as a gift some kind of commemorative inscription on the sand of any of the beaches in the world.

Start-up capital: $100

The idea for the startup came to 23-year-old Anton Velikanov when he moved to Costa Rica. Financial investments were minimal. Anton completely developed the site in four days and personally wrote all the popular Russian names on his beach. After a couple of months of work on the project, users had the opportunity to order confessions and wishes. There were photographers who were ready to fulfill the individual requests of clients. During the first year of work, several joint promotions were held with coupon sites, which brought recognition to the project. Also, the startup Inscription in the Sand was one of the first to receive a StartFellows grant.

"Social Alarm"

A free service with which you can order a wake-up call or wake someone up yourself.

Start-up capital: $100 000

Hrachik Ajamyan, a student and owner of a small website development company, struggled to get up in the morning. But when he received a call from unknown numbers, he immediately got up, thinking that this was a new client. So the idea was born that calls from strangers are effective alarm clocks.

At the very beginning, the startup team consisted of five people. The development of the service was carried out almost 24 hours a day, the guys were so passionate that they hardly slept. The starting capital was the team's own funds. They were spent mainly on the salaries of employees and on telecom. Not a single ruble was spent on advertising the startup. After it was decided to participate in the startup competition, the first business angel appeared. He invested $500,000 in the project.

"Each other"

This project helps to correctly realize other people's desires and find good performers of their own.

Start-up capital: $50 000

The authors of the original idea were four graduates of St. Petersburg State University. They decided that they would choose the desire of a particular person and fulfill it themselves. But then the idea was transformed: now the users themselves bring each other's dreams to life. Before participating in the Startup Weekend, not a penny was invested in the project. Then the creators sent an application to the Glavstart company and received the first investment. In addition, this idea received a $25,000 grant from StartFellows. The first version of the site was developed for three months and turned out to be not very successful. The second option was done in one and a half. A new version will be released soon: the startup involves constant improvements and moderation.

"Button of Life"

Mobile system for calling for help for the elderly, as well as for anyone who needs it.

Start-up capital: $10 000

Dmitry Yurchenko and Irina Linnik decided to start a mobile assistance system, invested money, bought equipment. Then they found an investor, participated in startup competitions. Without even launching sales, they won the competitions "BIT", "Telecom Idea", and "Business Success". The company has many problems. The main one is sales, because many do not know what a medical alarm is. Despite this, the creators plan to enter the regions and develop their own unique equipment.

Here are ideas from abroad:

Super marmite, super-marmite.com, "Super bowler".

It's simple: you cook a dish at home, upload its photo to this site, set a price, indicate the address and wait for hungry customers.

HighScore House, highscorehouse.com - Model House.

A chance to turn routine household chores into a game for children. Parents themselves set what prize the child will receive for the completed task.

Never Liked It Anyway, neverlikeditanyway.com - "I didn't like him anyway."

Here you can sell some gift from the ex, and at the same time tell how bad this ex is, and get comments from sympathetic users.

What's new for

If you have a startup or an idea, you can:

Get advice or initial investment by participating in StartupWeekend, or contact the organizer, Glavstart, to get a grant.
russia.startupweekend.org, glavstart.ru;

Participate in the entrepreneurial competition "BIT", which is held almost throughout Russia.
bit-konkurs.ru

Submit a startup to the Telecom-Idea contest.
telecomideas.ru;

Get a startup grant from StartFellows.
milnerdurov.com;

Nominate a project from any field of activity for the "Best Startup" nomination in the "Business Success" competition.
support-credit.ru/conference;

Take part in the Harvest working weekend and turn your idea into a startup.
greenfield-project.ru/harvest;

Nominate your company for the Startups of the Year nomination of the Runet award.
premiaruneta.ru;

Fill out the application form for participation in the Technovation Cup project competition.
technocup.ru

Prepared by Anna Grineva

If it has gone somewhere, then it must have arrived somewhere, a popular interpretation of the law of conservation of energy. Actually, it is hard to contradict such logic, but transferring it to money, we can say with confidence that if there is less money somewhere, then there is more money elsewhere. One may ask, what does a small business have to do with it?

It's simple, since the beginning of the year in Russia there has been a massive outflow of foreign, although it must be confessed, domestic capital. Money is slowly withdrawn, but the question remains where? And then I read an interesting article about the rapid growth of venture investments in startups in the United States, about that. Judge for yourself in 2014, venture investments in new projects reached 33 billion dollars, is it a lot or a little!

Depending on what to compare with, for example, the cost of South Stream, according to the latest data, should have been about $30 billion. Or Russia sells weapons per year for about 12-15 billion dollars, by the way, in total, military contracts (guaranteed) in the pocket of our military-industrial complex for about 32-34 billion dollars.

In fact, investors have invested in one year as much money in small businesses, and all startups can be classified as small businesses by American standards, as Russia can receive from arms sales in 2 years. I think that the example is very significant.

In fairness, it should be noted that this year was a record year for venture investments in the United States, 4 years ago the amount of such investments in small businesses was 15 billion dollars. Today, with the attraction of investments in a new project in Russia, the situation is not very happy, but the issue of restoration is a matter of time. Although today you can try to look for investors, the main thing is to have a desire and a good business idea.

It is worth remembering one thing, no matter how crazy, according to the environment, your business idea sounds, with a good approach, a business angel can believe in it and just give money. Here are 10 insanely original business ideas that American investors actually invested in.

No. 10 - startup called "Lawn Love". The principle of the service is damn simple, but everything ingenious is simple, said the founder of the project and was able to raise almost $ 2 million from business angels. The site acts as an intermediary and guarantor in the field of gardening services. The scope of operations carried out by the service includes lawn care, tree trimming, planting flowers, and so on, in general, everything related to gardening. The service works like this:

1. The customer enters information about the site, type of work, address;
2. The service selects a specialist in a given area;
3. The customer pays for the work through the service
4. The contractor contacts the customer and performs the work;
5. The contractor receives money for the work;

The service acts as a guarantor of the quality and timeliness of the provision of services, if the work was done poorly, the money is returned or the work is redone.

Conclusion, this business idea looks very original, but it is quite realistic for implementation in large cities of Russia. Moreover, in our conditions, it is not necessary to attract millions of dollars for a startup, the entire organization may require ten times less.

No. 9 Online Shopping it is impossible to surprise anyone, they have become commonplace, but some of them still managed to attract $ 7 million. We are talking about a store with goods for children's creativity, ready-made kits for parties. Business angels not only believed in the idea, but also financed it well.

The idea, of course, is not very original or new, but I was personally interested in a number of its moments, I think that before the end of the week I will lay out my vision, I want to try to “push” the idea.

No. 8 Another e-commerce startup poppin. The main feature of this project was the use of color schemes, in fact, a typical online stationery store. The main "trick" was the sale of stationery of different colors, roughly speaking, from a wide range of different manufacturers they sell one type, but in all colors. Venture funds liked the idea, the trading platform stood out among its competitors, as a result, in 2014 alone, they received $17 million in investments.

Decisions to trade exactly in stationery of different colors, a rather innovative approach, and the most interesting thing is that with a probability of 70-80% one can expect that such a project may turn out to be profitable in Moscow or St. Petersburg. In other cities, it is unlikely, at least in the near future, but in large metropolitan areas, the "trick" can work.

#7 ranked another internet startup called Paintzen. Initially, the project was positioned as an intermediary service for repairs, according to the usual scheme, in which the customer and the contractor are connected. But life made its own adjustments and business angels agreed to provide the project with 2 million dollars only for a detailed painting service. The essence remained the same, to be an intermediary, but only in a narrow niche. Painting and painting works were chosen as a niche. What attracted investors? The presence of its own "zest", or rather an additional service that allows you to choose or select a color, type of paint, and so on. Actually using the service, the client receives everything from consultation to the painting itself. It was this format that turned out to be successful for investments.

I will not comment, I will say one thing, there are chances to implement something similar in Russia, but again, only in the area of ​​large cities.

No. 6 place goes to a very non-standard business idea for using new methods of processing large mass data (big data). Astute entrepreneurs have used off-the-shelf tools and database techniques to help those who want to get pregnant. Hormonal cycles, physical activity, stress and a number of other parameters are taken as initial data and gives out periods when it is best for a woman to become more active. The Glow service idea hit the spot and raised over $2 million. Such a strong interest of investors is quite understandable, the volume of the market for assisted conception services is growing at a tremendous pace and there is enough money for everyone.

The service is in English, but most likely they will soon launch either an analogue or just a Russian version, with a 100% guarantee, we can say that the idea will be popular in Russia as well.

No. 5 place, idea with surveillance in one form or another, has always been a success. There are many reasons from the banal human love for spy games, to the very real concern for children or property (for example, a car). The main problem of such services is the line between freedom and law. Indeed, de facto, the collection of data on movement can be used not only for good, but also vice versa, no matter how it was, the Tile startup managed to raise more than $ 16 million for the implementation of a project to develop key fobs with a tracking function via bluetooth and a corresponding application for smartphones .

No. 4 place goes to ideas related to a healthy lifestyle. The popularity of a healthy lifestyle can hardly be overestimated, and the trend is not only positive, but actually growing. When analyzing the most popular business ideas of 2014 in Europe, several directions at once fell into the category of the best. The Americans went even further and created a delivery service for ingredients for such Plated food. The essence is simple, the customer is delivered all the components of a healthy lunch, dinner or breakfast from the existing menu. Together with the components, a step-by-step recipe for its preparation is provided, the main feature is the fact that the average cooking time for such a healthy dinner does not exceed 30 minutes.

No. 3 place next internet service has managed to raise as much as 16 million venture capital money. The founders were not cunning for a long time and created an application that allows you to trade stocks via a smartphone, the service is free, but buying the application itself will cost a symbolic $10. It remains a mystery why business angels are interested in a startup? The answer is in the presence of its own "zest", the fact is that the service is going to earn on two related services:
On the one hand, clients can lend money for trading. Of course with a commission. Such a financial scheme has justified itself in Forex and brings very large profits.
On the other hand, additional services will be provided to VIP clients for an additional fee. The scheme is also working and has proven itself very well in online games.
As you can see, two well-proven earning tools at once forced investors to fork out a lot.

No. 2 record holder can be considered the BlaBlaCar project, we are talking about a search companion service. The project itself is not new, it successfully started in 2006, and in this venture funds invested another 110 million dollars in further development. By the way, the Russian version of the service is also working today, in which you can easily find a fellow traveler or arrange a trip on the cheap.

No. 1 is perhaps the most original way to legally invest money in the drug industry was invented in the United States. The new startup Eaze is nothing more than a medical marijuana delivery service. Investors were not embarrassed by the thin line between good/bad, according to the law in some states, marijuana is legal as a pain reliever, and they invested $1.5 million in the project. Interestingly, the service guarantees delivery within 10 minutes within the city.

These are ten original business ideas implemented in the USA with the help of business angels. One can only add that at least half of them can be implemented in Russia

Interesting on this topic

This word has recently become one of the most popular. Films are made about startups, books are written, various stories are told. The word "startup" comes from the English phrase startup, which means a successful start or launch. Thus, a startup is a company that has successfully started its business. From the point of view of theory, a startup is a company whose goal is to create a new business model that can be repeated and scaled. In other words, if a startup turns out to be profitable, many such companies can be created. This is where the classic way of earning profit from a startup comes from - to organize a successful business and then sell it (the model of earning through the growth of capitalization). The second way to make a profit is to launch an effective startup and sell a franchise to it - the opportunity to conduct the same profitable business in a separate territory, while providing all the technologies for doing business, the franchise owner transfers a part of the profit or proceeds to the startup organizer.

Stages of startup development

Each startup project goes through the following stages:

Development. At this stage, the actual idea for the business appears, the implementation plan is being worked out, the search for sources of financing and other work is underway. An important activity is the study of the market, the identification of competitors. If the startup is technological, at this stage it is necessary to patent know-how, analyze substitute inventions, and so on. Launch. At this stage, the startup has its first clients. This means that there is a practice of doing business in real conditions. The launch stage is the most critical for a startup, since poor service for the first customers, providing them with low-quality goods will lead to further impossibility of business development. The success of this stage is based on the quality of project planning during its development. Extension. At this stage, the development of the startup idea, the increase in sales, the earning of the main profit, its investment in the further growth of capacities, and so on. Output. A startup implies the closure or exit from the project. There are two options for closing, as it was written above: the sale of a company or the sale of a franchise. Based on the results of leaving the startup, the effectiveness of the project is assessed (the ratio of investments and results achieved).

Who is a startup

In order to profitably launch a new project, you need, firstly, the initiator of an idea for a startup, the one who will come up with it and begin to implement it. But, as a rule, profitable projects are rarely done alone. The initiator needs assistants, those to whom he can delegate part of his powers, entrust certain actions. Most often, such a team does not work for wages; its motivation is also a share in the project. Thus, it is the team of those who started to implement the idea, led by its initiator, that is called startupers. In most cases, these are students or specialists who have just graduated from a university (although there are no age restrictions for a startuper). This situation is explained by the fact that students have a very flexible mind, they are generators of ideas, they want to invent something, to show their significance to the world. In addition, they are not afraid to try, and this is one of the main qualities of a startup - not to be afraid of failure and be ready to start your business again.

Profitable startup ideas for business from scratch

Interesting ideas with minimal investment

The first part of the projects that can be implemented with minimal investment is your home business. As a rule, it grows out of a hobby, therefore, this category may include the preparation and sale of confectionery and pastries, the manufacture of souvenirs, decorating dishes, and so on. For men, an example of a business based on hobbies and skills is the provision of services "husband for an hour." The second part is more suitable for men, since it involves the use of a garage. This may be the provision of car service or, if equipment and tools are available, the manufacture of any parts or goods. This category also includes activities in the garden. Growing vegetables with their further processing or selling them fresh can also be quite a profitable business. Another segment can be services to the population at home or in rented premises. If an aspiring entrepreneur has any unique skills, you can start a business based on them. Such ideas include different ateliers, hairdressers or tutoring.

New ideas - internet startups

Startups on the Internet can also be divided into four types. The first type is online stores. In this segment, the secret of success is the right choice of product or range, as well as convenient service on the site. If you manage to master the techniques of Internet marketing on your own, with the help of which you can promote the site, your work efficiency will be significant. The second type of projects is just consulting and training. With certain skills, it is quite possible to sell them on the Internet. This can be teaching certain school subjects, preparing term papers and essays to order, or conducting various trainings and webinars for adults. Consulting can also be different, but due to its specifics, in most cases it refers to the field of IT and website optimization. The third type of startup on the Internet is the creation of information portals. Forming unique content on certain topics, such startups earn, most often, by advertising goods and services, which they either place on their website or mention certain brands of goods in their materials. Finally, the fourth type of startups on the Internet is the creation and development of unique services and programs, analogues of which, until that time, the Internet simply did not exist. In this segment, the originality of the idea, its correct implementation, as well as the usefulness of the final product for the consumer are very important.

American social startups

In America, one of the most popular ways to raise funding for a startup project is crowdfunding. This fundraising mechanism means that anyone who wants to can fund the idea in exchange for some kind of bonus. Since it is difficult to get serious bonuses at the initial stage, and in the long term, obtaining such benefits is hindered by legal barriers to formalizing the relationship between those who contribute through the crowdfunding system and those who receive funding, mainly various social projects are financed with the help of crowdfunding. As an example - the production of alternative films (alternative cinema), composing unpopular music, and so on. Fundraising for the implementation of this kind of startup projects is currently carried out through special platforms (Kickstarter, IndieGoGo and RocketHub). The principle of their operation is that the initiator of the project uploads information about his idea to the site, and visitors vote with money.

Ideas for a startup in agriculture

The existing options for start-ups in the agricultural industry are to apply new telecommunication technologies. For example, not so long ago a device for monitoring the state of the soil appeared, and information from it can be obtained remotely. As a result, a farmer or an agricultural enterprise always clearly understands the state of his land and what measures need to be taken to increase its fertility. An interesting idea is also a livestock accounting service. Most people living in the village are aware of the facts of the loss of livestock. The presence of special transmitters and an application with which you can track the movement of livestock allows you to minimize the risk of losses and save the livestock. Successful startups also include various kinds of assistants to specialists. For example, a device for selecting drugs for treatment and increasing plant yields. Or a device for determining the composition of the soil and selecting the optimal crops for growing on it. Thus, despite the fact that agriculture is a very conservative industry, there is a place for modern technologies in it.

How to come up with a startup idea and implement it

To create a profitable project, modern analysts and experts recommend going through the following series of steps:

Analyze and formulate your skills and strengths, think about what you would like to do. The second step is to determine what kind of business is very inspiring, what the entrepreneur is ready to do with full dedication and what he is ready to devote the maximum of his working time to. The next step is to find a problem that exists , but has not yet been solved in the area where its strengths have been discovered. At first glance it may seem (especially to people with low self-esteem) that no one needs their skills, but this is not so. You need to think, look at problems from a different angle, show your own creativity and come up with an idea for a startup that has not yet been implemented. The fourth step is building a product prototype, manufacturing a prototype and testing it. If it really solves the problem, then this business can be continued, otherwise, it is necessary to look for a new solution to the problem. The fifth and final step is the launch of the project, its implementation. The test of efficiency is the presence of revenue and profit from the sale of project products. If the results of the work are positive, there is a profit, then we can talk about a successful startup. If it doesn't work the first time, you'll have to try again.

The most successful startup ideas in the world

Top Startups in the USA

Most startups in the US are connected in one way or another to the Internet. One of the most successful is the service for finding fellow travelers when moving from one locality to another. It allows you to significantly save on the trip for both the car owner and passengers, which allowed him to attract a significant amount of investment. The second option that deserves attention is an application for mobile devices for working in financial markets. The popularity of various financial instruments in the US is quite high, so there is no doubt about the success of the application, even despite the developed trust management market. Almost everyone has a smartphone, as well as savings, so why pay a fee to an asset management company when you can make decisions on your own and earn a profit. A third example is services dedicated to health. Developing nutritional recipes, selling and delivering healthy recipes, defining fitness programs, and so on. All this is very popular and services that allow you to lead a healthy lifestyle using a smartphone are also very popular with investors and consumers.

Popular startups in Russia

As examples of Russian startups, we can mention the developer of an inflatable sofa. Air sofas and mattresses, of course, are not new, but the bivan (as the inventor called it) can be inflated in 15 seconds without any devices. It is enough to wave it and make several movements in different directions. The idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating an endless flash drive seems interesting. With its help, you can upload data and information to the cloud storage. It looks like a regular USB drive and also allows you to quickly access your cloud data from any computer. A startup project for the production of a mini-projector for playing cartoons on any smooth surface has gained popularity among investors and buyers. With it, you can watch cartoons even on the ceiling, which makes it easier to fall asleep. This property quickly brought popularity to the product among parents.

An example of failed startups

There are also enough examples when startups ended unsuccessfully. From the recent past, one can recall an anonymous social network, which, despite having a significant number of users, still had to be closed due to problems of a commercial and financial nature. Another option for an unsuccessful startup is a service for downloading and listening to music. He was let down by insufficient regulation of copyright issues with performers and copyright holders. Many projects for smartphones and tablets also failed. This is due to the high competition in this market, as well as the peculiarities of promotion. Thus, the reason for failures in creating a startup is, in most cases, insufficient project development. It is necessary to carefully think over the project, and then success is guaranteed. Well, if nevertheless there was a failure, an effective startup does not give up, but continues to look for new directions in business.

Polina Todorova

Startups serve as the very spark that ignites the engine of the economy. The most successful of them, such as, and, are also changing our way of life.

Forbes, with the support of venture capital firm TrueBridge Capital Partners, has compiled a list of 25 American startups that have the potential to revolutionize their field, are already showing real results and have attracted tens (and in some cases hundreds) of millions of dollars of investments.

BitSight Technologies

Founders: Stephen Boyer, Nagarjuna Venna.

Investment received:$95 million.

$30 million.

Key investors: Globespan Capital Partners, Menlo Ventures, GGV Capital

What does: It uses complex algorithms that make up a daily security rating, which is, in fact, a "credit history" in . The startup was founded in 2011 and has already signed contracts with more than 450 companies, including Ferrari, Hess and Lowe's. The office is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Boxed

Boxed warehouse in Edison, New Jersey. Photo: Forbes

Founders: Che Huang, Jarej Yaman, Christopher Cheung, William Fong.

Investment received:$133 million.

: more than $100 million.

Key investors: DST Global, GGV Capital

What does: Offers jumbo packaged dropshipping services via app or website. In 2013, the startup was a garage in suburban New Jersey. Two years ago, the company's annual revenue was $8 million. This year it exceeded $100 million.

“Packaged goods are one of the biggest drivers of the economy, but only 1.5% of them can be ordered online,” says CEO Huang. "Isn't that crazy?"

Checkr

Founders: Daniel Janiss and Jonathan Perichon.

Investment received A: $50 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$150 million.

Notable investors: Accel, Y Combinator

What does: Sells verified job applicants to companies like Uber, Instacart, and Warby Parker. Checkr generates reports in the form of an API that their employee data processing system can recognize. The startup was founded in 2014. He now has over 4,000 clients and 90 employees. Its founders Yaniss (28) and Perichon (26) are from France. They came up with his idea while working for a Deliv delivery service in Palo Alto, where they needed to do background checks.

“I was struck by how weak the technology and terrible interface was used,” Janiss said. “And I thought we could do better.”

Payal Kadakia. Photo: Forbes

Founders: Payal Kadakia, Mary Biggins, Sanjeev Sanghavi.

Investment received:$84 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$180 million.

Key investors: Google Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, Thrive Capital

What does: An application that allows its subscribers to sign up for an unlimited number of different fitness courses - from Pilates, cycling and boxing to aqua equipment, aerial yoga and striptease lessons. The application has already become very popular in 31 cities in the US and 8 cities in the UK, Canada and Australia. To date, with its help, more than 20 million people have signed up for various classes. CEO and co-founder Payal Kadaria is an MIT alumnus. She is a professional Indian dancer. The idea of ​​creating a startup came to her mind in 2010 when she was looking for a good dance studio in New York. In 2013, she launched the startup ClassPass.

Collective Health

Founders: Ali Diab and Rajay Batniji.

Investment received:$150 million.

Estimated income for 2016 A: $15 million.

Prominent Investors: Founders Fund, Google Ventures

What does: This startup from San Francisco is already three years old. What he does is provide his clients with data that helps them optimize their health insurance plan. The project sells assistance services and a program that clearly explains all the benefits of insurance and makes it easier to fill out insurance claims. Thus, the process of obtaining insurance is reduced to several days. In addition, the program tracks progress in treatment, such as stages of chemotherapy. Therefore, the patient receives fewer refusals to pay for treatment than when contacting conventional insurers. Ali Diab, CEO and co-founder of the startup, has previously worked as a product manager at Yahoo and AdMob, a mobile advertising company. The idea for Collective Health came to him after he underwent emergency surgery for a volvulus and was denied a $200,000 health insurance policy.

"The service was insultingly bad," he said.

The startup's co-founder, Rajay Batniji is an assistant professor of therapy at Stanford Hospital.

Doppler Labs

Founders: Noah Kraft, Fritz Lanman.

Investment received:$50 million.

Estimated income in 2017 i 2016 report not available year:$100 million.

Key investors: Acequia Capital, The Chernin Group, Wildcat Capital Management

What does: Develops a miniature computer for the ears. The founders of the startup hope that in the future it will become as popular as the iPhone. This device called Here One is already open for pre-order (cost $299). The owners of this device can learn new information (for example, listen to live commentary during a baseball game), adjust the level of ambient noise (to fall asleep or better hear the words of the interlocutor). Here One, in essence, creates an augmented audio reality.

“We want to have a computer in everyone's ear,” says project CEO Noah Kraft.

freshdesk

Founder: Girish Matrubutham.

Investment received:$95 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$65 million.

Notable investors: Accel, Tiger Global Management, Google Capital

What does: Sells cloud-based customer support software that allows businesses to reach repeat customers through multiple communication channels such as email, phone, website, forums, or social media. Support workers just need to go to Freshdesk and they will see all tickets and requests. The company also sells the Freshservice service for the company's internal help desk. Startup Freshdesk was founded six years ago in the Indian city of Chinnai. Girish Matrubutham decided to create it after he moved from India to the USA. During transportation, his TV was broken, and the carrier ignored his complaint. Girish was only able to get compensation after he complained on an online forum. Freshdesk differs from its larger competitors like Zendesk in that it is primarily aimed at small and medium businesses. Freshdesk is currently headquartered in San Bruno, California. The startup has 850 employees worldwide and has offices in Chinnai, Berlin, London and Sydney.

Fuze

Founders: Steve Kokinos, Derek Yu.

Investment received:$200 million.

Estimated income for 2016: over $150 million.

Key investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, TCV, Summit Partners

What does: Helps to collect all correspondence of corporations (in text, sound or video format) in the cloud. For many companies, this is very important, but, alas, not easy to implement.

“People use a lot of apps, despite the fact that in the end they get a terrible experience,” says Steve Kokinos, one of the founders and CEO of a startup. “We came up with the idea of ​​a startup when we realized what kind of confusion was going on in this area.”

The startup was founded in Cambridge (Massachusetts) ten years ago and was originally called ThinkingPhones.

Roger Dickey. Photo: Forbes

Founders: Roger Dickey and Debo Olaosebican.

Investment received:$12.5 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$30 million.

Notable investors: Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator

What does: Offers a platform where companies can hire trusted freelancers in programming, design, and project management. The startup is already two years old, its main office is located in San Francisco. Gigster charges a 25% commission on a trade. Among his clients are IBM and MasterCard. Dickey is a software engineer by training and at 23 founded a company that developed the popular multiplayer social media game Dope Wars (sold to Zynga in 2008). The second founder of Olaosebikan was a rapper from Lagos, Nigeria. There he once also founded two startups. Dickey and the Olaosebican met at a conference in San Francisco.

Rob Solomon, CEO of GoFundMe. Photo: Eric Milett, Forbes.

Founders: Brad Damhouse and Andy Bollister.

Investment received: at least $300 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$100 million

What does: Manages the largest and most successful crowdfunding platform. The startup takes a 5 percent commission on “individual cases” fees. In addition, there is a 2.8% processing fee for credit cards and a 0.30% fee per donation. The project started in 2010. In five years, the total amount of donations exceeded one billion dollars. In July 2015, the company entered into a venture deal and received a $600 million valuation. After that, the amount of donations reached almost $2 billion.

Guardant Health

Helmy Eltoki. Photo: Forbes

Founders: Helmi Eltoki and Amir Ali Talasaz.

Investment received:$200 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$30 million.

Notable investors: Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, OrbiMed Advisors

What does: Offers his cancer patients a blood test without the risk and pain that usually accompanies a routine tumor biopsy. The "liquid biopsy" developed by this company has been on the market since 2014. It uses fragments of cancer DNA that can be found in the patient's blood. Using the analysis, you can track the development of the disease and the presence of gene mutations and prescribe the necessary medications. According to one of the founders, many companies offer such analysis, but Guardant dominates the market, with a 95% share. The startup is headquartered in Redwood City, California, and has about 190 employees and the number is growing. Guardant's blood test costs $5,800, but the company negotiates that price with the patients' health insurance.

HotelTonight

Founder: Sam Shank.

Investment received:$81 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$60 million.

Notable investors: Coatue, Battery Ventures, US Venture

What does: Using the startup's website or mobile app, you can book a hotel room at the last minute. Project founder Sam Shank believes that when searching for a hotel, people want to see no more than 15 options, not all 500. HotelTonight shows rooms with a discount of up to 20% in hotels located in more than 2,500 cities in North America and Europe. Shank plans to make a public offering of the company's shares early next year. This is his third startup for travelers. In 2004, he launched the TravelPost hotel review website, which he sold to SideStep two years later. In addition, he created the DealBase travel search engine, from which the idea for HotelTonight originated.

InVision

Founders: Clark Wahlberg and Ben Nadel.

Investment received:$135 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$40 million.

Key investors: FirstMark Capital, Tiger Global, Accel, Iconiq Capital

What does: Sells software that allows designers to quickly prototype websites and offerings without having to wait for engineers to build custom built-in tools for them. Startup InVision has already attracted a number of serious clients, including Airbnb, Salesforce and . InVision plans to partner with large banks and traditional companies that pay a lot of attention to design.

Scott Crouch. Photo: Forbes

Founders: Scott Crouch, Matthew Polega, Florian Meir.

Investment received:$41 million.

Estimated income for 2016: over $15 million.

Key investors: General Catalyst Partners, Spark Capital

What does: Helps to improve the efficiency of police work with the help of special programs and data analytics. Although it is not easy to accustom the police to any changes, Mark43 still managed to conclude a contract with some departments. The startup recently won the first tender to supply its services to five Los Angeles County police departments. Startup CEO Scott Crouch (25) founded the company with his two best friends while still at Harvard College. Now the trio is included in the list of 30 successful businessmen under 30, according to Forbes.

open door

Founders: Eric Wu, Kate Rabois, JD Ross, Ian Wong.

Investment received:$110 million.

Estimated income for 2016: more than $50 million.

Key investors: Access Industries, GGV Capital, Khosla Ventures

What does: Offers a new way to sell and buy homes. Every year, 5.5 million Americans try to sell their home. All of them have to deal with the complicated process of selling and with all these real estate agents. In the end, they simply do not understand how long all this will continue. A San Francisco startup is about to change everything with a technology that shows the cost of housing and offers to buy it right away (with an 8% commission).

Owlet Baby Care

The three founders of the company. Photo: Forbes

Founders: Kurt Workman, Jordan Monroe, Zach Bomsta, Jacob Colvin.

Investment received:$15 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$20 million.

Key investors: Azimuth Ventures, Eclipse, ff Venture Capital, Eniac Ventures.

What does: Makes devices that monitor the health of the child. When Kurt Worman was at university, he decided to get into family planning and thought about the safety of his unborn child. So, he and his comrades created the Owlet, a device that uses heart rate data to tell parents if their child suddenly stops breathing, or if their heart rate suddenly speeds up or slows down. The device fits in a child's sock and sells for $250.

Procore Technologies

Tooi Courtemanchet. Photo: Forbes

Founder: Tooi Courtemanchet.

Investment received:$129 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$55 million.

Key investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Iconiq Capital

What does: Sells software that allows customers to track construction progress - from viewing drawings to direct communication with subcontractors online or by phone. The main feature of Procore, because of which it is chosen by customers: with the help of this software, they can better monitor their projects, which means that the number of errors and cost overruns will be reduced.

Rubicon Global

Founder: Nate Morris.

Investment received:$96 million.

Estimated income for 2016: over $300 million.

Key investors: Goldman Sachs, Wellington Management

What does: Connects independent cleaning and recycling companies with large stores, restaurants and hotels through modern technology. So customers of garbage companies can schedule garbage collection in a timely manner. Thanks to a competitive basis and a wide selection of different waste collection companies, Rubicon customers can significantly reduce their waste collection costs. More than 5,000 organizations have used the service. The startup is gradually expanding and offering its services to individuals.

Rubrik

Founders: Bipul Sinha, Arvind Jain, Soem Mazumdar, Arvind Nitrakashyar.

Investment received:$112 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$50 million.

Key investors: Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners

What does: Sells software that helps store and transfer terabytes of information between data centers and the cloud. Example: one of the startup clients, Driscoll's, has a wealth of information about the genotypes and types of berries it grows. Rubrick helps protect and store this data during all global operations. If a corporate server suddenly goes down, Rubrik can instantly restore all data. The founders of this Palo Alto-based startup are former employees of Oracle, Google and Facebook, and its CEO Bipul Sinha was once a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, a fund involved in Snapchat's early investment.

Sumo Logic

Founders: Christian Bigden, Kumar Saurab.

Investment received:$160 million.

Estimated income for 2016: over $50 million.

Key investors: Greylock Partners, DFJ Growth, IVP

What does: Sells cloud analytics service. The Redwood City-based startup works with companies across a range of industries, including AirBnB, Anheuser-Busch and Twitter. He helps them deal with some digital data that they would not pay attention to. The startup was founded six years ago by veterans of ArcSight, a cybersecurity agency owned by Hewlett-Packard. It is now led by 44-year-old Ramin Sayyar, who took over as CEO in 2014.

“I would say that the Sumo project is still a baby,” says Sayyar. - We are still clumsy and trying to figure everything out. And in my opinion, this is the most pleasant time for the company.”

ServiceMax

Founders: David Yarnold, Atani Krishna, Hari Subramanian.

Investment received:$204 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$60 million.

Key investors: Meritech Capital Partners, Premji Invest

What does: Automates the work of maintenance personnel in the field (for example, repairmen of a forklift or an oil production unit). Instead of taking a phone call, manually filling out a work order and waiting for a customer to send a paper check, service personnel can now use the ServiceMax program. It can also be used to monitor equipment maintenance and manage preventive maintenance schedules. The program records the availability of spare parts and tracks problems using CT scans. When the equipment needs to be repaired, the program sends a special notification. The startup's two founders, Athani Krishna and Hari Subramanian, moved from India to the US nine years ago to work as software engineers. ServiceMax has big competitors in SAP, Oracle and Salesforce, but the global field service market is valued at $18 billion. The startup has offices in India, the UK and a dozen other countries.

Sisense

Founders: Eldad Farkas, Aviad Harell, Guy Boyangu, Adi Azaria.

Investment received:$94 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$50 million.

Key investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, DFJ Growth

What does: Sells analytics software that parses huge amounts of data, from production efficiency, inventory numbers and sales numbers to warranty periods and profitability levels. Among the startup's clients are Motorola, General Electric, Target and a number of small and medium-sized businesses. The project was founded in 2005 in Tel Aviv, now it has two offices - in Israel and New York.

“It all started with five guys and one dog sitting in a garage dreaming of incredible technology,” says CEO Amir Orad.

In 2010, they released their program, and since then "things have taken off."

talk desk

Founder: Thiago Paiva.

Investment received:$24 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$30 million.

Key investors: 500 Startups, DFJ, Salesforce Ventures, Storm Ventures

What does: Sells a subscription to a customer service program. A year ago, Talkdesk's client base consisted of 500 people, now it has increased to 1200. Initially, the founder of the project, 29-year-old Paiva, counted only on small and medium businesses. Now on the list of his clients are Box, Shopify and Peet's Coffee. Paiva comes from Portugal. After graduating from college, he opened his own company in Lisbon. However, he soon moved to San Francisco - one of the California investors saw a commercial for his company on YouTube and offered him $10,000 if he agreed to move.

Tenable Network Security

Founders: Ron Gula, Jack Huffard, Renault Derison.

Investment received:$280 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$125 million.

Key investors: Accel, Insight Venture Partners

What does: Creates programs that allow their large corporate clients like the NASDAQ and the US Department of Defense to check their computer networks for hacks. The software tracks vulnerabilities on mobile phones, cameras, computers and tablets. For the first ten years, the startup worked on self-sufficiency and only in 2012 attracted venture investments. Over the past two years, the company began to grow rapidly after it abandoned the sale of licenses and switched to an annual subscription system.

Yapstone

Founders: Tom Villante, Matt Golis.

Investment received:$50 million.

Estimated income for 2016:$235 million.

Key investors: Accel, Meritech Capital Partners

What does: Offers secure payment systems for vacations and rentals through services like HomeAway and VRBO. While there are big players in the online payment market like PayPal and Square, Yapstone is mostly in its own niche. According to CEO Tom Villante, the startup plans to increase its revenue to $1 billion by 2020.

Greetings, dear readers! Today, anyone who has an interesting idea in any field can start a successful business. You can verify this by reading about the best startups in the world in recent years. I’ll make a reservation right away, the selection is subjective, since there are a lot of equally successful projects. In addition, I will write more than once about interesting startups, so today's truants can be greeted later

Remind me of the concept...

But still, the newly-minted startup businessman must find the bulk of the funds himself. To search for investors, special startup exchanges are organized, where "idea and money find each other." If the idea seems interesting to the investor and profitable in the future, he can provide financial assistance, claiming in the future for the agreed profit or equity in the business.

As a result, today there are many Russian young entrepreneurs who have managed to bring their fresh idea to life. The most successful startups in Russia and globally are among the leaders.

• NeuroMama is a search engine that is capable of self-learning. New principles of search organization were applied without using the usual ranking algorithms. At a certain stage of its existence, the value of shares was higher than many well-known American companies.
• Cardberry is a single carrier that combines information from different discount cards. Data on all discounts and bonuses are stored on one electronic card.
• LinguaLeo is a learning application that allows you to gradually master a foreign language in an accessible form.
• ImageAiry is a marketplace for sharing images obtained using satellite or aerial photography. The service has facilitated access to such a service, and expanded the search for customers and clients in this area. The only project of its kind in the world.
• MoneyMan is an online service that allows you to apply for and receive a quick loan without leaving your home. The project is an example of a foreign idea successfully adapted to the Russian market.

What ideas bring quick and big profits

If we analyze all the most successful projects, it is easy to see that most of them are all kinds of applications that can be used from mobile devices. Some of them make familiar things more convenient, others are just funny. And there are certainly many examples of profitable startups in your phone. Take a look at the contents of your gadget. Maybe there is not enough new application invented by you?

Here are examples for inspiration that raised millions of dollars in the first months of work (write in the comments if you recognize the product):

• A program with which you can accept payments from bank cards through mobile devices
• This service allows music streaming
• One of the cloud storage options
• The best app for finding any property around the world
• An application that transforms an ordinary photo into a masterpiece painted in the technique of a chosen artist

As you can see, startup ideas can be anything. Particularly popular today:

1. Applications that accumulate offers from different companies in the selected type of service (food stores, beauty salons, taxis, fitness clubs, pet care, repairs, etc.)
2. Programs for processing, storing and sharing photos and videos.
3. Platforms where customers and performers of any activity can find each other.
4. Educational applications (foreign languages, programming, for photographers, etc.)

Startups in the field of medicine are also successful. For example, with Guardant Health, cancer test results can be obtained simply by donating blood, without a biopsy or other complicated procedures. And thanks to Collective Health, communication on health insurance issues becomes simple and understandable.

Useful inventions used both in everyday life and in scientific activities are very popular: from the multicube, a pocket TV projector for showing cartoons, to SpaceX, a space technology project that plans to deliver cargo to Mars.
Equally profitable are the development of tools for doing business, recruiting, monitoring workflows, analyzing and systematizing various databases. If you know how to help big bosses work comfortably, create a suitable program and sell it to a couple of large corporations. Fast payback guaranteed.

A startup is a risk, as it is an investment in something new without any guarantee of a positive result. But it is new fresh ideas in business that can make their author an incredibly rich and successful person.

Look at the dessert about Cardberry. Awesome topic! Video from two years ago, but now the project is already working with might and main!

With respect and faith in a bright future, Alexey Zaitsev.