Succesful Startups: What Does it Take?

I've seen a few posts here recently (and in the past) that have made me think about this. What does it take to successfully start up some sort of "service" or "community", such as a virtual airline? What constitutes "success" and are there ways to tell, at the outset, which ones will succeed?I have my own thoughts on this, some of which I will post.I have been involved, in one way or another, with several UNsuccessful startup attempts. A couple of them were efforts led by others, and I'll even admit to trying a few of my own. Here are some things I think are probably key to sticking around a little while:1. A top-level domain name.2. A new, unique idea. Something nobody's done before.3. Lots and lots of ORIGINAL content.4. Your personal reasons for doing it count more than anything.The domain name seems like a must. I think most of us can understand why, so I won't elaborate.If it's been done before, you'd better have an idea for doing it much, much better than the last guy. Better still, find a corner of the FS community that is underrepresented or take a completely new angle on something."Original content" is another way of saying "work." A few sentences on a website saying what you'd like to do probably isn't going to draw much interest. What you offer needs to be your own intellectual property and not offered anywhere else. This means your own code, your own PIREP system, your own graphics, etc.This also leads into your real reasons for doing the project. Do you want to give something back to the FS community? If so, why not give your time and services to an established community online? What is so special about your idea that it deserves its very own website, which you expect others to spend more time viewing than you did creating? If you're only doing it for attention, you're probably not going to put in the work of creating original content, or coming up with a good idea, or even offering a service that anyone else will find useful.It seems like every day or two, another thread pops up saying something to the effect of "Hi, I'm starting the world's greatest new VA!" Most of the time they kind of fall by the wayside, but occasionally someone will take the time to thoroughly dash the hopes of these virtual entrepreneurs.Coming back now to the idea of "success." What's the point of an online flight sim community? As some of you who read this forum regularly must know, I'm in the process now of another startup attempt, hopefully applying some of the principles I've discussed above. I've realized I'll probably never be able to create the Ultimate Flight Sim Site that will be all things to all people. But I'm trying to create the site that I want, to do a few things that are important to me that I haven't quite found anywhere else. And if only one or two other people find it useful, and spend some time there, and like it, then it'll be worth it to me.Good luck, everyone, with all your crazy ideas. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.Happy landings,Dave