Is your company based on a fantasy or a dream? The answer may be the key to your success . . . or failure.
Tammy Camp is the Managing Director at Camp International, a venture advisor and equity investor. “What we do is bring capital from the Middle East to invest in extraordinary technology companies,” Tammy said. When Tammy considers a new investment opportunity, she asks herself, “Is this a fantasy company or a dream company?” “Over the past couple of years since I’ve been investing, I’ve been looking at all sorts of companies and trying to find that one differentiating factor for why some companies fail and others succeed, and I have a bit of a hypothesis,” she explained. “I think fantasies are selfish and dreams have purpose. For instance, take a company like Groupon. It’s the fastest-growing company in the world. It’s worth $25 billion. It’s grown from $0 to $25 billion in three years. It’s on the cover of Forbes magazine; it’s everywhere! You’ve basically been living under a rock if you haven’t heard of Groupon. However, I think it’s flawed because it promotes consumption, and it’s not a real innovation company. There’s nothing innovative about an email marketing company, and at its core, that’s what it is. So, ultimately, I think Groupon is a fantasy, and it will ultimately fail. “If you look at Twitter, it’s about a $5 billion company, but look at all the disruption it has caused, in Iran, with the elections. A few years ago, that actually kept them in business. And now, with what’s happening in Libya and Syria, it’s a technology platform that has given the common man a voice. That is true democratisation of the Internet, and that’s a dream.
“It comes down to values. Is your company going to have a great impact on the world? You really need to think about this when you’re starting a business.”
Enjoy this interview with Tammy Camp at the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network 2011 event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network 2011
From June 5-7 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, more than 120 female business leaders from around the world gathered with Dell to learn about technology, marketing, brand, social media and raising capital while building relationships and sharing insights. It was an impressive group of participants, including Moira Forbes, Arianna Huffington and Luiza Helena Trajano, the founder of the third largest retail chain in Brazil. Over the course of two days, the conference participants explored and learned that women entrepreneurs truly share a unique perspective and approach to business. Building on Dell’s entrepreneurial heritage and recognising the unique challenges and rocky journeys entrepreneurs can face led to the inception of the Dell’s Women Powering Business Initiatives, including Dell’s Women Entrepreneurs’ Network (DWEN). DWEN strives to help women entrepreneurs expand their networks, innovate and grow their businesses. The DWEN event and LinkedIn community supply a social network to grow B2B and exchange ideas to help build confidence. Dell’s believes never in the history of the world has the entrepreneurial spirit been more alive or in a more favourable position to drive global growth. Australian women business leaders are invited to join in the conversation and share who and what inspires and motivates them as entrepreneurs and leaders via the Women Powering Business Network group on LinkedIn.
