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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

#51

Post by espeed »

xauronx wrote: post #49
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.

One of my civil engineering friends said something similar the other day when I used "grok" in a conversation, and I was somewhat surprised because programmers have been using it in conversation for years (http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/G/grok.html). Evidently grok still has some pervading to do.

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

#52

Post by joshu »

You know more about your business than anyone else. Nobody is in a good position to do things better than you, given the things you have learned. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gotten as far as you have.

Perhaps you need some mentors, or just folks you are comfortable talking to -- perhaps other founders?

As an angel investor I have found that the one of the things I am called on the most to do is just let people talk stuff out. I don't feel like it is very useful but people really like it.

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

#54

Post by bradfordarner »

Wow! The quantity of bad advice in these comments is shocking, if not down right disturbing.

If Intel, GE, or Mircosoft hired a consultant to advise them on the right move, the vast majority of people on HN would scream bloody-murder and speak about it as a perfect example of big-business and its stupidity. What hypocrisy!

Ben, the reality is that you clearly have moved past Steve Blank's description of a start-up; you have found a working business model. Now, the challenge is to find out if that business model is something that can last for 5 years or 50. No one on this board has run a successful company for 50 years. Thus, everyone, definitely including myself, is well out of their league.

However, since entering the old school world of finance, I have realized that there are many men and women who are twice our age who would be able to give you great advice. You need adult supervision and that is OK. You don't know how to hire an executive (i.e. adult supervision). Thus, you should first find someone who can help you find adult supervision. A great place to start is in the 'boring' industries: finance and manufacturing. Find a wise advisor who can help you find an executive to lead.

You are no longer a start-up. Running a post-start-up company like a start-up will kill it as quickly as running a start-up like a Fortune 500.

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

#55

Post by ukemma »

benjaminlotan wrote: post #9
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.

Are you guys a platform or do you do the printing and packaging in-house? I hear most social photo co's outsource printing.

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

#57

Post by read »

benjaminlotan wrote: post #9
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.

It would be ingenious to advertise job postings where you claim to be incompetent. It would appear to hard workers as one of those truly rare opportunities they simply can't miss and start lining up.

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

#58

Post by ryandrake »

rosser wrote: post #28
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…

An empty seat is better than the wrong person. This. So very, very much this. A bad hire at the executive level won't merely slow you down. You might lose ground, or possibly even crash and burn. I've seen it happen, and I'm sure I'm not the only person here who can say that.

"An empty seat is better than the wrong person."

Perhaps at the executive level, but I'm not sure I agree with this as a general hiring strategy. This mentality might go pretty far to explain why there are so many companies that claim they can't seem to find enough talent, while un(der)employment is still high.

Companies interview and interview, but are petrified of hiring "the wrong person" so they just keep on interviewing fruitlessly.

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

#59

Post by jedharris »

Surprised some commenters have trouble figuring out what you do... You folks have fun doing it! But hiring will always be hard because finding people who fit and who also sustain your high level is hard...

No useful advice... except, stay extremely clear on who you are, don't compromise even a little on that. "An empty seat is better" is a corollary.

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

#60

Post by DiabloD3 »

xauronx wrote: post #49
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.

I'm surprised, it comes up frequently among programmers, and I know not all of them could have read that wonderful book.
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