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Bootstrapping a Software Product

speakerdeck.com

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Re: Bootstrapping a Software Product

#11

Post by garrettdimon »

rexreed wrote: post #7

Great slides! In one chart he shows what the level of his pre-Sifter salary was and it seems that the current app hasn't quite met that level, or am I reading it wrong? It would be great to see some actual revenue numbers here, but I can see why the OP wouldn't want to disclose that.

This deck is over a year old. A lot has changed. I'm not really a fan of disclosing actual revenue numbers because that opens a whole other can of worms.

As such, I chose revenue and how it related to our ability to pay me a salary.

Re: Bootstrapping a Software Product

#12

Post by garrettdimon »

raphinou wrote: post #4

I will possibly bootstrap a software product in the near future, but the hard part for me is to decide in which market I can find a niche. I find it hard to develop a new solution in a crowded market. I want to develop a product I am convinced of, but doubt often gets in the way, especially if the market is crowded. I also wonder how these services get their first paying customers.

I hear this question a lot. Unfortunately, there's not a simple answer. In my case, it was a matter of blogging for years, building up a modest, but interested, audience, having about 2,000 Twitter followers at the time, and spending about $5,000 on advertising once we had been live for about 3 months. I also blogged extensively about the process of designing the application and some of the other steps involved.

Really, though, it's not the first customers that are hard. It's maintaining and continuing to work on it and grow it during the time where growth isn't amazing and it isn't yet a full-time job.

Re: Bootstrapping a Software Product

#13

Post by revorad »

speg wrote: post #5
raphinou wrote: post #4

I will possibly bootstrap a software product in the near future, but the hard part for me is to decide in which market I can find a niche. I find it hard to develop a new solution in a crowded market. I want to develop a product I am convinced of, but doubt often gets in the way, especially if the market is crowded. I also wonder how these services get their first paying customers.

I am going through the same thing. Everyone says enter an existing market because you already know people are willing to pay for it. But I am afraid that the existing solutions have soaked up all the customers. How am I supposed to get those customers?

To both you and raphinou and others battling with the same questions, I cannot recommend Rob Walling's work enough.

His blog [0], book [1] and podcast [2] address the exact concerns any new software bootstrapper faces.

He also runs the Micropreneur Academy, but I don't have any direct experience of that.

He also organises Microconf, and I really recommend watching his talk from last year - http://www.microconf.com/videos-2012.html

The sheer number of products he has built, launched, acquired - both successes and failures - over the years gives all of his advice a lot of weight.

[0] http://www.softwarebyrob.com/

[1] http://www.startupbook.net/

[2] http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/

PS I don't have any affiliation with Rob. I'm just really grateful for all his excellent work.

Re: Bootstrapping a Software Product

#14

Post by garrettdimon »

kintamanimatt wrote: post #6

I wish there were a video presentation to go with this. There's so much information missing when only the slides are present!

Unfortunately, there's not a recording, but I'm doing my best to expand on the slides and add in the year's worth of lessons learned since this deck into a book.

http://startingandsustaining.com

Re: Bootstrapping a Software Product

#15

Post by tarunkotia »

speg wrote: post #5
raphinou wrote: post #4

I will possibly bootstrap a software product in the near future, but the hard part for me is to decide in which market I can find a niche. I find it hard to develop a new solution in a crowded market. I want to develop a product I am convinced of, but doubt often gets in the way, especially if the market is crowded. I also wonder how these services get their first paying customers.

I am going through the same thing. Everyone says enter an existing market because you already know people are willing to pay for it. But I am afraid that the existing solutions have soaked up all the customers. How am I supposed to get those customers?

The most important thing which matters to customers is the kind of support you provide to them. Just take an open source bug tracking software and provide "incredible" support to your customers and that will be a win. This has been proven time and again. And when I say "incredible" support that also means proactively solving problems/pain-points for your customers.

Most corporations spend a big part of their IT budget on "Support". Think about it for a bit and you will start to get a clear picture of what really matters.

Re: Bootstrapping a Software Product

#16

Post by kintamanimatt »

garrettdimon wrote: post #14
kintamanimatt wrote: post #6

I wish there were a video presentation to go with this. There's so much information missing when only the slides are present!

Unfortunately, there's not a recording, but I'm doing my best to expand on the slides and add in the year's worth of lessons learned since this deck into a book. http://startingandsustaining.com

Looking forward to it!

I had no idea you were in this thread so please feel free to disregard my email as you've answered my question here!

Re: Bootstrapping a Software Product

#18

Post by Simucal »

garrettdimon wrote: post #11
rexreed wrote: post #7

Great slides! In one chart he shows what the level of his pre-Sifter salary was and it seems that the current app hasn't quite met that level, or am I reading it wrong? It would be great to see some actual revenue numbers here, but I can see why the OP wouldn't want to disclose that.

This deck is over a year old. A lot has changed. I'm not really a fan of disclosing actual revenue numbers because that opens a whole other can of worms. As such, I chose revenue and how it related to our ability to pay me a salary.

If you don't mind me asking, have you hit your goal of earning your pre-Sifter salary yet? In the slides it looked like you were close.

Also, is your partner on full time as well or still part time in your venture?

I have a co-founder that I'm starting a small business with and we frequently talk about what level of reduced salary we would accept to come on full time to grow the business.

Re: Bootstrapping a Software Product

#19

Post by garrettdimon »

Simucal wrote: post #18
garrettdimon wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This deck is over a year old. A lot has changed. I'm not really a fan of disclosing actual revenue numbers because that opens a whole other can of worms. As such, I chose revenue and how it related to our ability to pay me a salary.

If you don't mind me asking, have you hit your goal of earning your pre-Sifter salary yet? In the slides it looked like you were close. Also, is your partner on full time as well or still part time in your venture? I have a co-founder that I'm starting a small business with and we frequently talk about what level of reduced salary we would accept to come on full time to grow the business.

I have finally hit my pre-Sifter salary. We could have technically afforded it a while ago, but we only recently decided to make the adjustment. Of course, that was my salary 5 years ago, and from what I've gathered, I'm still way under what I could be making elsewhere--especially if you factor in benefits.

Keith, my partner, has never been full-time. He's always been involved at about 5-10 hours per month, and that's still the case these days as well.

I have a blog post that talks about the pay cut side of things a bit on my blog. http://garrettdimon.com/post/34571624540/can-you-afford-a-pa...

Re: Bootstrapping a Software Product

#20

Post by quizotic »

Wonderful! My favorite was the 1-month rise/fall in revenue (scary), followed by the context. So true!

Questions re the pricing tier slides: (a) did you experiment with the prices & number of tiers? It would be interesting to hear your experience with that. (b) The lowest tier had the highest churn and demands ... but they were 25% of revenue ... which is too big to ignore, no?

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