Building a company brick-by-brick

Thanks for sharing and highlighting the runway point. Follow-on funding shouldn't be an after thought once sh*t hits the fan. It should be baked into forecasts/plans from the get-go, if it's something that will be needed either for growth, or as a margin of safety.

Re: Building a company brick-by-brick

#5

Post by cuponthefloor » Wed, Dec 03, 2014, 3:38 PM UTC

mychaelangelo wrote: post #4

Thanks for sharing and highlighting the runway point. Follow-on funding shouldn't be an after thought once sh*t hits the fan. It should be baked into forecasts/plans from the get-go, if it's something that will be needed either for growth, or as a margin of safety.

That is 100% correct. It was a hard lesson to learn but we are now pretty savvy to the process. However I think that it is very hard to plan for a buffer margin. There are very few business plans that I have seen that plan for buffer margins.

Re: Building a company brick-by-brick

#6

Post by ehurrell » Wed, Dec 03, 2014, 3:40 PM UTC

Great read, I think a lot of startup blogs skip the ...start bit and jump to "here's how we scaled!"

Glad to see an Irish company talking about this stuff too (though I wasn't sure if ye were Irish until I read that Darragh was your first hire :P). Good luck to ye!

Re: Building a company brick-by-brick

#7

Post by toumhi » Wed, Dec 03, 2014, 3:40 PM UTC

Thanks for sharing your journey! I really like your product and might try it for clients (saas companies) :-)

I was curious how come your product has been developed for so long and then I read your previous articles and how you pivoted from chatroulette-like conversations to better for online chat conversations for companies.

Good luck!

Re: Building a company brick-by-brick

#8

Post by cuponthefloor » Wed, Dec 03, 2014, 3:49 PM UTC

toumhi wrote: post #7

Thanks for sharing your journey! I really like your product and might try it for clients (saas companies) :-) I was curious how come your product has been developed for so long and then I read your previous articles and how you pivoted from chatroulette-like conversations to better for online chat conversations for companies. Good luck!

Thanks for the kind words. Feel free to get in touch with me directly re. using the product for clients. More than happy to help with anything like that. Yes our journey has been a longish one but we have a great team and supportive investors who have helped us a lot.

Re: Building a company brick-by-brick

#9

Post by welshguy » Wed, Dec 03, 2014, 3:50 PM UTC

"I have found very little written about the journey to $10k and the struggles it brings".

I agree.

First mention of customers: "We were seeing some interest and already had some nice early sign-ups (approximately 250 sites)".

What about the story of those first 250 customers then? Because I have found very little written about the journey to the first 250 customers and the struggles it brings.

Re: Building a company brick-by-brick

#10

Post by cuponthefloor » Wed, Dec 03, 2014, 3:50 PM UTC

ehurrell wrote: post #6

Great read, I think a lot of startup blogs skip the ...start bit and jump to "here's how we scaled!" Glad to see an Irish company talking about this stuff too (though I wasn't sure if ye were Irish until I read that Darragh was your first hire :P). Good luck to ye!

Irish founders... english company. Shhhhh

Myself and my co founder are from Kildare and Wicklow respectively.