Startup vs. Mainstream

I seem to ask myself questions like this constantly.. and think through the logic, and the answers in my head.

Why would someone choose to use a small startup, versus a well known established “mainstream” service.

A good example of this, in relation to me, would why would someone choose to use TehUpload/DoPaul over Tinypic, Imageshack, etc.

Now I’m not saying a great deal of people do, but the small, tight-knit community that TehUpload has developed, those people stick with it.. and seem to leave out those other mainstream services.

The few ideas that I could think of, I’ll define and explain below.

1. They know the owner. - Maybe the users of this new “startup” service is friends with the owner/a member of that service’s staff.  Maybe you are best friends with a developer on the project.. and you want to support them/test it out.  This seems the most logical for something this small.
   
   If the service works, and you like it, no matter if it is a startup or mainstream service, why shouldn’t a user use it?
2. They like the startup’s services better. - Maybe these users believe that the startup offers more services, or improved established services compared to the mainstream’s? Maybe the startup has everything the mainstream has.. but improves on them, and in turn makes them better.
   
   Maybe the startup doesn’t have everything the mainstream has, and cuts back on some “un-needed” things, and turns the service into a specialization site. (Image hosting, Audio Hosting, File hosting, text hosting; things like that).
3. They don’t really care. - These users just want to get the job done.. and they don’t really care what site they use.. as long as the job gets done.
4. They want it done quick. - This sort of goes along with the reason above, in the fact that they don’t care what service they use.. as long as they can find one that works for a few minutes to show someone something quick, and not in the long term.
5. They feel that they are heard. - Thanks for bringing this up Declan.  It seems that some users use these startup services.. because they feel that they have more of a “voice” in how things are done.
   
   An example he provided was that if he went up to Photobucket, and asked/pointed out a change he would like.. he wouldn’t get listened to.  As he said, he’s only one user.. of millions, and it would easily fall through the cracks.  Vise versa on a startup service.. if a change was “crap”, and his opinion was voiced on it.. there would be a much bigger change of his opinion being heard, and that changed.

Those are just a few reasons that I thought of this morning; in the shower; about why users would use startup services, instead of mainstream services.. and a few reasons behind them.

If you have any other reasons, feel free to drop me an e-mail (caleb@calebmingle.com) explaining these, or drop me a comment, and I might introduce them into this post.