Bootstrapped Consumer Web Startup Stories? #Win and #Fail
There have been a number of great threads on HN by/for self-funded startup stories.
I would love to start a new discussion on bootstrapped (non-venture backed) startup experiences focused on the consumer web space. Wins and Fails are both welcome!
Published in 2012, this chronicle by @iusable details the mechanics of building a profitable, self-funded business without venture backing.
The community focused on B2B customer acquisition channels, cold email vs SEO distribution, and balancing full-time employment with side-project development.
I have a good story to share for this from a very close friend of mine.
He started a blog/website about mobile app reviews in 2008 in France, grew the traffic organically to something like 150K UV/month after one year, was making some money with affiliate (iTunes) and advertising - 3-5K/month basically. Then he started building apps and wanted to promote them using his blog. He built a few and realized that his blog was not enough to promote it, and heard about FreeAppADay. He decided to start a FreeAppADay equivalent in France first through a newsletter, then through a mobile app.
Now, their app is installed by 25% of iPhone owners in France, Spain, and it is catching up in many other countries as well in Europe and South America... and the Company is selling premium placements to brands, publishers and app developers who get tons of downloads thanks to them...They will make multiple millions of dollars in revenues this year!
I think it is much easier to bootstrap a consumer play when the core is content and community (vs. engineering).
I guess those falling under #Win are too busy growing/spending (the later applies to exits :)) and those under #Fail are too disappointed/dejected to post here.
If you don't mind something that has neither Won nor Failed yet, here goes:
http://GetLocalNe.ws ↗ (my self-funded startup).
Launched about 10 months ago. Have been at it since then (using a goodish number of people I employ), pumping in cash/time/effort etc.
Still working largely on back-end, but it seems to be gaining at least a small (and growing) user base slowly. Started averaging 5k unique visitors/day since the beginning of this year/month.
Will keep at it through 2012. :)
Thanks for the votes folks :)
Would love to get some discussion going here.