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Going from $0 to $500k in 1 Year with no VC Money

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Re: Going from $0 to $500k in 1 Year with no VC Money

#51

Post by NeutronBoy »

marknutter wrote: post #46
jasonkester wrote: post #41

In case the Flow guys are reading this, please please please put out a simple HTML version of your thing. Flow sits at the top of my "most annoying web app ever" list, because it follows the pattern of loading an empty shell, then populating it. I bet this works amazingly well for the guys developing it from their local dev server, but for those of us across the Atlantic from your servers it's really really painful.…

I'm guessing you don't actually use flow day to day. I'm also guessing that if they made an HTML version you probably wouldn't use that either; you probably have your own way of managing your projects and todos. I'm also guessing you're using this post as a sounding board for your gripes with single page javascript applications. Are any of these guesses accurate?

Just because he doesn't use it any more doesn't mean the feedback is any less valuable.

It's great feedback. It points out specific problems and solutions. Ways that, from his point of view, the UI could be improved.

Re: Going from $0 to $500k in 1 Year with no VC Money

#52

Post by mattm »

jasonkester wrote: post #41

In case the Flow guys are reading this, please please please put out a simple HTML version of your thing. Flow sits at the top of my "most annoying web app ever" list, because it follows the pattern of loading an empty shell, then populating it. I bet this works amazingly well for the guys developing it from their local dev server, but for those of us across the Atlantic from your servers it's really really painful.…

If you have feedback, why don't you email them directly?

Edit: Ok, I was downvoted for my comment. The reason I posted this is because the parent wrote a long comment about the product that has nothing to do with the content of the article and may not even be viewed by the team.

Re: Going from $0 to $500k in 1 Year with no VC Money

#53

Post by ebaysucks »

vgurgov wrote: post #38

Am I only one having this question: what is 500k states for? Is it 500k/month /year or total revenue? If its not montly, how can they hire 10 ppl?

It is very likely that the run rate of last month is more than 1/12th of the total annual revenue, as they are growing rapidly.

So let's estimate their run rate of last month at $75K and it becomes realistic - albeit a bit tight - to have 10 people on the payroll.

Re: Going from $0 to $500k in 1 Year with no VC Money

#55

Post by pakitan »

vgurgov wrote: post #38

Am I only one having this question: what is 500k states for? Is it 500k/month /year or total revenue? If its not montly, how can they hire 10 ppl?

500K/month would mean 50,000 paying users and I'm pretty sure they don't have that. How can they hire 10 people? The same way other cash-strapped startups can - by giving equity instead of big salary.

Re: Going from $0 to $500k in 1 Year with no VC Money

#56

Post by marknutter »

NeutronBoy wrote: post #51
marknutter wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing you don't actually use flow day to day. I'm also guessing that if they made an HTML version you probably wouldn't use that either; you probably have your own way of managing your projects and todos. I'm also guessing you're using this post as a sounding board for your gripes with single page javascript applications. Are any of these guesses accurate?

Just because he doesn't use it any more doesn't mean the feedback is any less valuable. It's great feedback. It points out specific problems and solutions. Ways that, from his point of view, the UI could be improved.

What I'm questioning is whether or not he actually ever attempted to use it as his main project management solution in the first place, and instead gave a knee-jerk reaction to the fact that it was a single-page javascript application. Someone who's asking for a plain HTML version of a rich desktop style application probably wasn't going to use it in the first place. I'm open to eating crow, though.

Re: Going from $0 to $500k in 1 Year with no VC Money

#57

Post by kevincennis »

TamDenholm wrote: post #49
guynamedloren wrote: post #47

> We usually clock between four and six hours a day, and most of us don’t even get to the office before noon. Realllly interested to hear more about this. Can anybody from Flow elaborate? How well does this work? How did 4-6 hours come about? Why not 5-7 hrs? Or 3-5? How do salaries work - is everybody full time? > We believe in working smart, not hard, and having lives outside the office. Why can't you work smart an…

One of the problems with old school thinking is that working hard means working long, which is absolute rubbish. Personally I can't be productive for 8 hours a day and I'm pretty sure nobody can, all the time you're not being productive you're generally wasting time by making coffee, checking emails, attending meetings etc. So why not actually just work the time that you're productive and then go and enjoy the rest o…

Amen to that. I imagine the percentage of developers who can write legitimately good code for 8 hours a day is pretty low.

Re: Going from $0 to $500k in 1 Year with no VC Money

#58

Post by andyl »

Zakuzaa wrote: post #42

>>"Going from $0 to $500k in 1 year.." Congrats. Great work. >>"..with no VC Money" What makes it something to be proud of? Doesn't that imply taking VC money is bad? Why?

The best fundraising you can do is from your customers! You retain more equity and more control. And by the way, customer revenues is the only way to sustain a real business over time. Might as well get good at it early-on.

Re: Going from $0 to $500k in 1 Year with no VC Money

#59

Post by metalab »

Jun8 wrote: post #16

"By the time we launched, the price tag on Flow came in around $300,000." That's peanuts compared to VC funding but still quite a sizable sum for a lot of people (e.g. me).

Of course, definitely a lot of money. We funded using cash from doing client work part-time.
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