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I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

news.ycombinator.com

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I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#1

Post by benjaminlotan »

Two years ago I started Social Print Studio as a little design company. We have been able to make a name for ourselves in the world of photo printing. We have many repeat customers, some large corporate clients, and growing six-figure monthly revenues. Things are going well and we have a strategy to compete directly with major players the field and really take the company to the next level. Problem is that we turn down massive opportunities everyday and executing our strategy has been a huge problem due to our lack of technical and managerial skills.

We are just a group of friends who got in over our heads. We have no network and are having trouble scaling. We are looking for a CTO or solid lead web engineer, someone with solid marketing experience, and maybe even a new CEO. We want to grow this thing huge, are ready to make bold moves, and we want to have the right experience on the team so we can do things right. Craigslist recruiting is not cutting it.

This is our cry for help. If you want to come work with us to build and grow the company 10-100x in the next couple years... Whether you are an engineer, designer, marketeer, or know someone who is... please get in touch. Now is the time, we have some amazing opportunities and really want to push amazing work.

please get in touch directly: Ben@socialprintstudio.com @benjaminlotan on twitter

ps. we are in San Francisco.

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

#7

Post by paulsutter »

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-startups/1308a8f17137

Most of all: go slow on executive hires. There are a lot of "good talkers" out there. An empty seat is better than the wrong person.

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

#8

Post by beachstartup »

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 of problems (some call these inflection points) at every doubling thereafter (i.e., 2M, 4M, 8M, 16M)

obviously there are exceptions (some businesses are simply born to be able to handle massive amounts of revenue in a flat manner) but basically, every time a business doubles, the problems change. this doesn't mean you're incompetent, or that you lack skills.

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

#9

Post by benjaminlotan »

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…

yeah, i mean, i know what i;m doing by following instinct... but really at this scale... all decisions seem wrong. we truly have no one in the company who has been here before, and that is a problem.

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

#10

Post by benjaminlotan »

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…

sound advice, thanks a bunch. i just threw the executive titles out there since i think that's where they would ideally lead to, and i don't exactly know how to speak to the people we are looking for to help us. I will read the medium post you linked now! if you are ever in the bay area, hit me up, id love to meet for coffee.
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