focus on an ultra specific niche (facebook: harvard students | YCNews: young Hacker/entreps | ebay: beenie baby+antique sellers and collectors) build a service

focus on an ultra specific niche (facebook: harvard students | YCNews: young Hacker/entreps | ebay: beenie baby+antique sellers and collectors) build a service for that niche that the people love - until you've got that done focusing on the mass audience is too hard / too expensive. This is not easy, I have not done it, but thats what has worked.