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I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

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Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#41

Post by sokoloff »

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #16
whiddershins wrote: post #15

If you are doing 6 figure monthly revenues, one thing worth considering might be to read some mr money mustache and really contemplate what you want for your life ... You aren't required to grow 10 or 100x ... You also have the option of pocketing profits, living frugally, and retiring young. That's one of the big advantages of bootstrapping.

6 figure revenue means nothing without knowing margin.

Especially in the photo printing business!! I don't know exactly what part OP's in, but 4x6 prints are about as profitable as airlines...

Disclaimers: 1. I work for Vistaprint, so possibly a competitor though we shuttered our photo printing business years ago as not profitable and without a clear path to profit. 2. Your site is constantly crashing Safari on an iPad original. (not complaining, just explaining why I don't know what you actually do) 3. All content and opinion in this post is mine. I don't speak for my employer.

Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#42

Post by TheHydroImpulse »

methehack wrote: post #26
beachstartup wrote: post #8

i'm running a $2 million and growing company, and i can say that if you're doing $10 million dollars in 2 years (TWO YEARS) and think you have a "lack of technical and managerial skills" you are being intellectually dishonest with yourself, and possibly being disingenuous to your audience here. from what we've seen and what we've heard, basically starting at $1 million/year in revenues, you will hit a serious new set…

I agree that obviously they're doing a lot right. But I agree with the OP that revenue scale, organizational scale, and technical scale are all really different. It sounds like they've gone as far as they can with a handful of people. I think they're probably right that if they don't scale, someone will eat their lunch (maybe more likely after this post). I also think asking for help when you feel you are over your h…

I'd avoid 37signals. While they have bootstrapped, they haven't grown very fast, at all. 10M in 2 years is really fast, so they'd need someone who could deal with that kind of quick scale.

Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#45

Post by yumraj »

Agree with everything that is being said here regarding the executive seats, don't give those out and keep control.

In addition to some executive coaches, who will help you grow personally, it seems you need some good advisors who can help you with the problems that you're facing. Some of these could have experience with technical issues you're facing, while others could have managerial and supply chain experience. It wasn't clear from your website if you have any advisory board or not.

NOTE: there is a very big difference between board of directors and advisory board, what you need at the moment is advisory board, don't give out board of director seats unnecessarily unless you raise a VC round of funding or go IPO :).

By getting a good set of advisors you will be able to fill the immediate gap in your skills/experience that you're facing and may even decide if any of those (or their referrals) need to be hired, if at all, for executive positions.

Now how you find advisors is non-trivial so I will advise you to look for people with experience in your industry and domain, and contact them. Even if their companies seem to be mildly competing at times, you'll be surprised how many people will meet with you over coffee and might have recommendations. If you decide to have a person come on as an advisor, don't give them any compensation till they start providing value. If someone comes on very strongly and will only help if compensated, then perhaps that is not the right person.

Good Luck!!!

Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#46

Post by benjaminlotan »

redsymbol wrote: post #25

Ben, just want to say - congratulations! This is a FANTASTIC problem to have :-) Great job to you and your team getting this far... I think you realize how special and rare it is. Great job!

thanks so much! appreciate the comment :-) come say hello if you are in SF.

Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#49

Post by xauronx »

paulsutter wrote: post #7

Be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. You're probably doing a better job than you realize. Try working with an executive coach - I work with Bryan Franklin. It's easier for you to develop leadership and management skills than it is for an outsider to really grok your business and share your vision. Regarding the marketing role, be sure to get the right kind of marketer: https://medium.com/on-startu…

Just finishing up Stranger in a strange land and I'm so surprised to see 'grok' on this context. I don't think I've ever seen the word before in my life. Pretty awesome.

Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#50

Post by callmeed »

Hey Ben,

I'm going to write you a longer email tonight. My wife and I run Cheergram (http://cheergram.com) and we've always admired what you've done at SPS. We had pretty good success with Instagram cards last holiday season and now we're looking into other kinds of cards, invitations, artwork and prints. We're also doing some wedding-focused stuff (think hashtag + prints/books).

Maybe there's a way we can share ideas, work together, or even join forces. I do all our development and it sounds like we have a similar tech stack. I also have some connections in the print industry.

No matter what, keep it up and I agree with most of the commenters here.

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