Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: Alien Skin Software
Published in 2010, this chronicle by @spencerfry details the mechanics of building a profitable, self-funded business without venture backing.
Core Principles for Independent Builders:
Charging customers from day one acts as the ultimate filter for building software that solves genuine, high-urgency problems.
Keeping fixed overhead low and leveraging lean infrastructure allows founders to stay alive until market tailwinds kick in.
Small, repetitive improvements in customer retention and conversion rates yield massive returns over multi-year horizons.
Community Debate Themes:
The community focused on B2B customer acquisition channels, cold email vs SEO distribution, and balancing full-time employment with side-project development.
CATEGORY Bootstrapping & MRR →
HISTORICAL ERA Web 2.0 Genesis (2007–2013)
COMMUNITY SCORE 45 points
TOTAL DISCUSSIONS 3 comments
Beat me to it :p
One thing that really sticks out to me here is the emphasis on NOT growing too large. I think this is a management view that is going to grow increasingly common in the future.
Despite years of pounding in our heads that growth is the only avenue to success, people are finally realizing that great culture, lifestyle, and profitability are enough. Sure, some people will never have enough and will continue to grow for the sake of growing. But the idea that you can lead a 20 person company for many years and enjoy the profits is very tantalizing to a lot of us Gen Y-ers that watched parents work themselves to death.
Don’t undercharge. Once you are confident that your product is great, don’t be shy with your price. The smart people will pay for it. The whiners will leave. We had a product for a while that was much cheaper than our other products. Those customers required far more tech support than the professionals who use our other products. It was a relief when we discontinued it.
I cannot repeat this lesson enough, and this is the thirtieth time I have heard another company chime in with it. Charging a premium means your worst customers go afflict a competitor instead.