Four-years-young Blu Homes, Inc. designs and sells houses that fold up, are delivered via truck, and assembled on your property. In its first institutional round of funding this month, the company raised almost $60 million.
That kind of excitement and growth around a producer of moveable houses, in today’s construction environment? Before you dismiss a startup concept as an unlikely success story, consider that sometimes the factors that make a business a winner with the backers seem a bit backwardsy.
1. When marketing, overshadow your Unique Selling Point (USP)
If big chunk of your customer base may not care about your USP, don't push it on them. Blu Homes are “built with the highest green standards in mind and they are more energy efficient, quieter, better ventilated, create less waste, less destructive to the natural habitat... can drop a family’s carbon footprint, energy use and water use by up to 70%,” according to the company website. But GigaOM reports that clients might be snapping up the foldy houses mostly because the design and price are nice. Indeed, the Blu Homes site touts the aesthetic just as much, if not more, than the sustainability.
2. Ignore long-held and negative cultural perceptions of your signature product
People in the States tend to regard prefab homes as less than fab. Overseas, not so much: see Germany’s Huf Haus and the UK’s weeHouse. Japan, the world’s defacto authority on design, is in on it too. Look for signs that the cultural tide may be turning -- like, say, Warren Buffet’s endorsement-by-investment in the iHouse -- and ride the wave.
3. Set your sights on an industry that’s doing terribly
Try a headline like “Construction Confidence Wanes as Nation Approaches Fiscal Cliff” (Yahoo!) for a little gloom and doom. I’m depressed already. But I’m betting the mood in the Blu Homes boardroom right now is far less bleak. Sometimes a slumping sector signals the need for a dramatically new approach and a disruptive, young player.
Need more mod, Blu, pre-fabulousness?
Try Blue Homes’ videogame-like “3-D Configurator,” which lets you construct and customize your very own, imaginary portable home.
This one's from Steve Glenn's LivingHomes (think elegant, sustainable, prefabs): watch a time-lapse vid of a prefab beauty being constructed in 8 hours.
Green Spaces is New York City’s sustainable coworking space for startup people, entrepreneurs, and others who like to work happily while improving the world. Members and guests from diverse and overlapping fields make us NYC’s networking hotspot for the eco and socially minded. I’m Marissa Feinberg, Green Spaces co-founder, PR and marketing media whisperer, and rapid dot connector. See my recent interview about Green Spaces on Mashable.
Idea Bounce goes digital
Each Wednesday, members gather for the Green Spaces “Idea Bounce,” also known as “startup therapy with dumplings.” One person (sometimes a member, sometimes a guest) introduces a challenge they’re facing. The group bounces ideas, recommending strategies and contacts. I’m sharing some of what we come up with here on this blog.
Previous Idea Bounces:
Dear Millennial: Can a Coach Pull Your Head out of Your Derriere?
When Your Business Idea is Whack, Check the Deck — Alexander Dunlop
Transfix the audience of your next business presentation — Hank Fieger
More on Green Spaces in New York and Colorado:
Laura Grasso, content strategist + writer
and Green Spaces New York member,
has a hand in the posts on this blog.
