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Top 6 Silicon Valley Startups

I would focus on the top 5 I feel are going to end up on top of the pile of the Business Insiders 20 Hot Silicon Valley Startups to Watch

The team over at Business Insider published an interesting list of who they fell are the top 20 silicon valley startups to watch, but while I agree with some of them I thought I would focus on the top 6 I feel are going to end up on top of the pile. I wanted to look into both business models I felt had some use or had manage to fill the gap in the market but also how social signals within platforms like twitter indicated how extensive their networks were and who else in the industry believes in their product.

The following list of startups I have picked is not ranked in any particular order:

  • Flotype – easily build web apps
  • Singly – create digital lockers
  • Storenvy – online store that runs on freemium
  • VigLink – monetises outbound traffic from your site
  • Cruisewise – fills the gap that exists in booking cruise lines online
  • StyleSeat – free marketing tools for beauty professionals
How I feel they compare based on social media presence/following is ranked in order
  1. VigLink – 1014 followers, 114 lists, 7 followers in common
  2. Storenvy – 4645 followers, 203 lists, 4 followers in common
  3. Singly – 513 followers, 38 lists, 1 follower in common
  4. StyleSeat – 1417 followers, 25 lists, 1 follower in common
  5. Cruisewise – 1993 followers, 29 lists, no followers in common
  6. Flotype – 95 Followers, 1 list, no followers in common

Analysis: The number of followers is a bad metric to use but it’s an easy figure to look at, based on this factor Flotype has the longest road ahead, along with only being added to one users list and having no followers in common show social media via twitter is not part of their BDM strategy. Cruise Wise has done a reasonable effort in building up a number of followers and being added to a number of lists, but failing to have any followers in common shows maybe they haven’t focused on the right verticals of affiliate marketing or travel.

Singly does a better job with being added to twitter lists and we have one follower in common which is an analytics agency which is a nice sign they have some interest in measurement. Storenvy and & VigLink do quite well with a good number of followers and have been added to a fairly reasonable amount of lists it’s their followers that we have in common that is of interest.  I would strongly rate VigLink as a success based on who they are choosing to follower Twitter being some very well regarded industry people from Google, analytics and affiliate marketing, so are looking for the best resources and direction through social media.

Which of these startups do I see succeeding and why?

  • StyleSeat – their platform is a likely purchase for Groupon, eBay, Facebook or Google as it fills a local gap for bookings online
  • Singly – the platform is seeking to solve problems that are arising with Google+ and Facebook
  • Storevny – the platform has grow from 5000 to 6000 online stores in under 6 weeks and is a likely purchase candidate
  • VigLink – has more than 15,000 sites generating 2 billion page views per month, and creates new sources of revenue via affiliate channels
  • Cruisewise – has very few competitors in one of the fastest growing and most profitable travel sectors, a likely purchase candidate
So I believe a number of the other companies might have just as much chance of success these are the handful of sites that I see as having the most unique selling point or are managing to fulfil a real whole in the market and not just grab and straws and hope it pays off. There are number of other factors that I looked at including did they already have a reasonable business mode and revenue coming in and I’m actually trialling VigLink right now on a few of my sites to see how it will work.