Nisan Gabbay is a former analyst at Sierra Ventures and the author of Startup Review, a blog that provides in-depth case studies on successful Internet startups.
The near overnight success of companies such as YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Digg has motivated a slew of us into believing that we too can create the next big thing on the Internet. But does your idea truly have the potential to attract millions of monthly unique visitors in less than two years time? To create a high traffic consumer Internet service in under two years, the company must exhibit one of two characteristics. It must either be a true viral marketing candidate (likely a communication service at its core) or it must be a strong candidate for leveraging natural search traffic. I will elaborate on both these points in the following paragraphs.
Is It Viral?
Natural Search
