Lessons from my startup journey so far
joel.is
joel.is
Your list is comprised of things that have been repeated elsewhere, but it's always good to get a nice concise reminder. Especially as I'm also flying on vapours (bootstrapped) and trying to balance health and life with getting things done.
The only thing I'd change from your list is that you've got 2 points about bootstrapping and none about getting close to your users. I've over 27,000 users and speak to some of them every day, yesterday I held a focus group and demo of the latest stuff I'm working on. I cannot tell you how important it's been for peace of mind and confidence to get that validation and demand proven at every step. It's what has allowed me to move confidently outside of my comfort zone.
You make a great point, I completely agree now that you bring it up. Getting close to the users is something I didn't do with my previous startup, but was vital for getting Buffer off the ground. I talk a little about it in the "achieving scale by doing things that don't scale", such as personally emailing the first 1000 signups.
Thanks for the reminder.
Also, Buffer App is one of the only social media tools that I've really adopted in my day-to-day life. I use it every time I run into an industry article and it just goes on the pile of "to send". Brilliant! If you want to make Twitter a little easier, try out Buffer App
Glad to hear you're finding Buffer so useful :) I'm excited about what we can do with Buffer in 2012, stay tuned!
I feel like I've read similar articles, though I can't seem to find any at the moment. Either way, I'll read the article, and then I'll check out what the person is working on. Frequently, I'll land on their product and it's pretty unimpressive. In the end it's good that they've learned to build something in their spare time, but also a little unnerving - could they have built something substantially better if they'd had a little more resource.
In your case it's exactly the opposite. I signed up for bufferapp and am amazed at how much you've been able to do "in your spare time." It's a great example of how efficient, motivated people can take it to the next level. Cheers to your hard work and continued success!
I had a previous startup I worked on for 1.5 years on the side, and I think I would have met the expectations you mentioned with that. I've had more luck with Buffer, and I'm delighted to be working on it full-time with a great (still small) team around me.
If it helps, here's a little more details on the transition from "on the side" bootstrapped to full-time (and funded). I worked "on the side" for about 5 months before going full-time. In that time I took it to ramen profitability and brought on board my co-founder Leo. We spent a further 5 months working full-time and bootstrapping it. In that time we jumped on a plane to San Francisco, and after 10 months total time we got into AngelPad incubator and got a little funding. Shortly after, we hired a good friend of mine as our first employee. So, 5 months "on the side", 5 months "full-time" (10 months bootstrapped), and then funded after that (but with good traction & revenue, we have found our scalable business model). I think this may be a good path for other first time founders to take, since it's hard to raise funding without a previous track record, but once you have traction it is much easier.
Let me know if I can ever help with anything, I've followed you on Twitter :)
I appreciate how you're sharing your lessons with everybody as you go along. Folks can learn so much from your hard work and what you have to show for it thus far.
Excited for what's to come!
I'm super excited for 2012 :)
Cheers, and best of luck! AL