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How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business

myclean.com

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Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business

#121

Post by [deleted] »

sixQuarks wrote: post #109
mkbrody wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hello Marcamillion, without going into too many specifics about our numbers we actually get a lot less than 30k unique visitors per month. However, 80% of our business is from repeat customers and our customer retention numbers are very strong. This is the core of our business and how we plan to grow. We have done basically zero off-line marketing.

If this is truly done with zero offline marketing, then I stand corrected. It's indeed impressive that non-techie bootstrappers accomplished this.

[deleted]

Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business

#122

Post by marcamillion »

kolbe wrote: post #119
marcamillion wrote: post #69

I love this story. This is also why I bristle when many in the Valley - PG included - keep disparaging non-technical people when they want to start a tech company. I never understood this. For a group of people (programmers) that presumably have been ostracized, shunned, and picked on in their formative years, why do so many in the valley do this to 'MBAs'. It's ignorant at best. The fact is, as has been shown time a…

This is such macho-induced cliche drivel that I feel like you're caricaturing one of these 'MBAs'. First you try to belittle geeks for having been friendless, then call them ignorant. Then you break out the whole 'number one' nonsense, and even utilize a pound sign. And my favorite part is when you turn to the tautology of the 'unshakeable will to figure it out and get it done'. Ha. Yeah, people who do can do X are t…

Again...sweeping generalizations...which you have proved just now.

Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business

#123

Post by larrys »

sillysaurus wrote: post #117
larrys wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"why I bristle when many in the Valley - PG included - keep disparaging non-technical people when they want to start a tech company." PG's outlook (if you are correct) is based on his background perhaps - this from his wikipedia page: "Graham has a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Cornell University.... He then attended Harvard University, earning Master of Science (1988) and Doctor of Philosophy (1990) degrees in…

If you don't know what you're talking about, then why are you talking about it? "Morris is devious for his worm, which is a quality helpful in business." You don't have any idea what Robert is like.

If I am wrong and I don't know what I'm talking about, then instead of saying "If you don't know what you're talking about, then why are you talking about it?" why don't you provide backup for your statement "you don't have any idea what Robert is like" which refutes the fact that I think someone who did what Morris did is "devious"?

I would make the same statement about Steve Jobs with regards to the blue boxes.

With respect to Morris, this statement (wikipedia) to me indicates he is "devious":

"According to its creator, the Morris worm was not written to cause damage, but to gauge the size of the Internet. However, the worm was released from MIT to disguise the fact that the worm originally came from Cornell."

Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business

#124

Post by mkbrody »

marcamillion wrote: post #104
mkbrody wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hello Marcamillion, without going into too many specifics about our numbers we actually get a lot less than 30k unique visitors per month. However, 80% of our business is from repeat customers and our customer retention numbers are very strong. This is the core of our business and how we plan to grow. We have done basically zero off-line marketing.

That's even more impressive than my numbers.

Thanks Marcamillion, we have a lot of cool idea's around referral incentives and customer rewards points moving forward as well. stay tuned!

Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business

#125

Post by cygwin98 »

marcamillion wrote: post #112
cygwin98 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me...my MBA taught me how the world works. It is surprising how few people understand how it truly works - yet they speak as if they know. For that single achievement alone, I would encourage everyone to get an MBA. That sounds like quite a claim. Can you shed some lights on how the world works from an MBA's perspective?

Well...I can't speak from an "MBA's" perspective, because there isn't 1 MBA perspective. In terms of the way the world works, I can say that politicians are not in the business of running the world the way it should be run - they are in the business of politicking. It has become fanciful in the last decade or so, to blame bankers, wall street, the 1%, capitalism, etc. for all the worlds ills - but that's just not the…

Though I would disagree on the roles and power of politicians. I appreciate your inputs and some of them are quite insightful.

Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business

#126

Post by marcamillion »

jconley wrote: post #103
marcamillion wrote: post #69

I love this story. This is also why I bristle when many in the Valley - PG included - keep disparaging non-technical people when they want to start a tech company. I never understood this. For a group of people (programmers) that presumably have been ostracized, shunned, and picked on in their formative years, why do so many in the valley do this to 'MBAs'. It's ignorant at best. The fact is, as has been shown time a…

"This is also why I bristle when many in the Valley - PG included - keep disparaging non-technical people when they want to start a tech company." I realize this is probably just semantics but I want to chime in on one little tidbit here. These guys didn't start a technology company in the sense that they needed technology innovation to succeed. They started an innovative cleaning business that uses some technology.…

I understand where you are going, but definitely semantics :)

Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business

#127

Post by mkbrody »

ThomPete wrote: post #68

If they expand further into facility management the potential is even bigger. There is a reason why ISS (not the space station) is a multi-billion dollar company.

Hello ThomPete, we actually do clean a ton of offices and hope to expand further into the facility management space :) Thanks for the post!

Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business

#128

Post by marcamillion »

physcab wrote: post #106
marcamillion wrote: post #69

I love this story. This is also why I bristle when many in the Valley - PG included - keep disparaging non-technical people when they want to start a tech company. I never understood this. For a group of people (programmers) that presumably have been ostracized, shunned, and picked on in their formative years, why do so many in the valley do this to 'MBAs'. It's ignorant at best. The fact is, as has been shown time a…

> why do so many in the valley do this to 'MBAs'. Because every technical person has a story about: - "Idea people" telling them what to do and taking all the credit. - A non-technical manager setting unreasonable deadlines. - A non-technical manager trivializing a complex task. - "Oh we'll just get him/her to write some code". - Being treated as if their talents are a commodity. - Being treated as if they cannot com…

I think the correct term for those people are "douchebags"...not "MBAs".

Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business

#130

Post by yeureka »

I wrote a quote simulator for my mom's cleaning business a while back.

You give it the room count, floor type, wc count, etc... and it produces an estimate of the size of the property and how much it would cost to hire the service.

To estimate room sizes I actually used my body as a ruler since I didn't have a measuring device at the time.

Fun project, too bad the economy in Portugal is so bad.

If you understand Portuguese: http://abelhinha.net

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