I started a business with a co-founder last year. As a fellow Fastlaner, I'd like to share my progress on this forum. After reading both TMF and Unscripted , I'm more convinced than ever that the business has CENTS.
Control--we formed a C Corp. We each own 50% of the stock. My partner is the sales guy. He's got all the relationships in the industry. He's recognized nationally as an expert in this field. There are no outside investors. Our overhead is, at this point, a few hundred bucks a month.
Entry--To get into this business there are two main barriers--domain knowledge and development costs. We both have domain knowledge. Like MJ was a limo service owner before he started limos, we've both done--and still do--what our customers do every day. We can relate to our customers. We feel their pain. Second, to build the application from scratch, you'd probably have to invest several hundred thousand dollars. I built the MVP myself using a Mac Mini and open source development frameworks.
Need--There's a real need. Technologically, the industry is a couple decades behind the times. We've already landed two 5 figure contracts with one customer to pilot our MVP. We're on the verge of landing another. The industry is ripe for a sea change in how they do their core workflows. Our system solves the problem. We've already incorporated one wave of feedback from the first pilot. We're primed to get more valuable feedback over the next couple months.
Time--It's a SaaS solution. Once the platform matures, we'll build a small human resource system to support, improve, and maintain it.
Scale--It's a big industry. Hundred of millions of dollars a year big. We have competition, but it's small-time and doesn't really get the big picture. I'm confident we can out-execute them. At a 6x multiple, with a $1.2 million net annual profit, we could exit at $10 million.
My main challenge right now: we have another pilot coming up in January. While our burn is low, money is super-tight right now. The current lull in customer engagement and the relative poverty have my mind wandering to other quick-fix ventures. I'm struggling to stay the course and get the coding done that needs to get done.
That's where I'm at right now. Updates to follow.
Question: What do you do to stay focused during business-cycle lulls?
Control--we formed a C Corp. We each own 50% of the stock. My partner is the sales guy. He's got all the relationships in the industry. He's recognized nationally as an expert in this field. There are no outside investors. Our overhead is, at this point, a few hundred bucks a month.
Entry--To get into this business there are two main barriers--domain knowledge and development costs. We both have domain knowledge. Like MJ was a limo service owner before he started limos, we've both done--and still do--what our customers do every day. We can relate to our customers. We feel their pain. Second, to build the application from scratch, you'd probably have to invest several hundred thousand dollars. I built the MVP myself using a Mac Mini and open source development frameworks.
Need--There's a real need. Technologically, the industry is a couple decades behind the times. We've already landed two 5 figure contracts with one customer to pilot our MVP. We're on the verge of landing another. The industry is ripe for a sea change in how they do their core workflows. Our system solves the problem. We've already incorporated one wave of feedback from the first pilot. We're primed to get more valuable feedback over the next couple months.
Time--It's a SaaS solution. Once the platform matures, we'll build a small human resource system to support, improve, and maintain it.
Scale--It's a big industry. Hundred of millions of dollars a year big. We have competition, but it's small-time and doesn't really get the big picture. I'm confident we can out-execute them. At a 6x multiple, with a $1.2 million net annual profit, we could exit at $10 million.
My main challenge right now: we have another pilot coming up in January. While our burn is low, money is super-tight right now. The current lull in customer engagement and the relative poverty have my mind wandering to other quick-fix ventures. I'm struggling to stay the course and get the coding done that needs to get done.
That's where I'm at right now. Updates to follow.
Question: What do you do to stay focused during business-cycle lulls?
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