Ninety percent of internet startups fail within 4 months of their founding. And you want funding?

Count me among the angel investors who’d like to see a better return.

Where did all the real businesses go?

You want to know a surefire way to make money online? Take a traditional business, one that already works. It has customers and provides a needed service.

Now, take that business online. Use the internet as a means of communication and/or commerce to connect to a greater number of customers with greater efficiency.

Zippy startup and FNaw.sm need not apply.

The more ‘boring’ the better

I’m tired of reading all the crap hype that comes out of Silicon Valley, LA, and Seattle about lean tech startups with a new web idea.

You can integrate all my social network profiles into one place? So can the last 8 presenters. Shouldn’t you guys have called each other first?

You need to get more boring. Seriously. Everyone that runs in these circles spends all their time online, in real-time, following every tweet and TechCrunch article like it’s going to unveil the next great thing.

STOP. Go read some obscure industry publication that only comes in (gasp!) print. I know I am.

Hot? Hot?
The businesses that intrigue me have a real product, like Yurbuds. Maybe they manufacture their own skin care products, like SkinCareRX.

Annuities. Snowblowers. Or how about one that takes old oil drums and repackages them for resale. I’m seeing dollar signs all day.

Two Reasons Why

1. It’s a much safer bet to take something traditional like that and make the magic of online marketing work for you, than to chase the trends.

I have a lot of ‘internet friends’ who’ve made millions online, with blogs or affiliate marketing or lead gen. Also, everyone knows the stories of Google, YouTube, Twitter, et al. They’ve all emerged as revolutionary web properties, and some have made money ☺.

It seems the dime-a-dozen web startups are chasing that same dream.

Do you know how much money banks make? Insurance companies? Bed spring manufacturers?

It’s insane. But here’s the real treat – you can be the 121st largest insurance company in the U.S., but if you have a niche online that fuels your biz, you’ll make millions online. Wouldn’t that just bore you to death?

You never hear the stories of the millions of bloggers who make $.02/month, or the ho-hums of startups gone bad. Which reminds me . . .

2. 90 percent of internet startups fail within 4 months.

Takeaway
I’m ready to invest. I just want it to be boring.