Blog
When we started building Flow, it was to scratch an itch. We were frustrated with having to use three different apps to manage our daily workflow, so we decided to build a solution ourselves.
It took three of us nine months to go from napkin to reality. We were close, efficient, and most importantly, cheap. We epitomized what it means to be bootstrapped and were damn proud of it.
We broke all the rules. We didn’t raise money, worked short days, and even did client work on the side. And yet just three weeks after launching, Flow was turning a profit. One year later, we’re bringing in over $500,000 in recurring revenue and growing like crazy.
Here’s how we took Flow from zero to half-a-million in under a year without a cent of VC money…
We scratched our own itch.
Starting from a personal need meant we had a leg-up from day one. We understood the market, where our product would fit into it, and what features were needed to stand out from the crowd. We didn’t need to pivot: we were tuned-in to what our users wanted because we built it for ourselves.
We grew organically.
Often when startups get a big injection of cash, their first move is to go on a hiring spree. They take on an army of “rockstar” developers, designers, and biz-dev types, and create nonsense titles like “Chief Catalyst.”
We kept our team down to three until right before launch so we could make quick decisions and keep communication straightforward. Once we had some predictable revenue, we brought a few more people onboard.
There are now 10 of us working on Flow full-time, and since we’ve hired organically, our bottom line is growing along with our headcount.
We slept in our beds, not under our desks.
At MetaLab, everyone is responsible for their own schedule. No bunk beds in the office or ramen-fueled overnight programming melees. We usually clock between four and six hours a day, and most of us don’t even get to the office before noon. We believe in working smart, not hard, and having lives outside the office. It might sound wimpy, but it’s working.
We self-funded.
Instead of distracting ourselves building pitch decks and flying all over the country, we allocated about 25% of the team’s time to client work and used that money to cover our development costs.
By the time we launched, the pricetag on Flow came in around $300,000. Not only is that way less than your average VC-fueled startup, but by doing it ourselves, we retained 100% of the equity. Plus, if we do choose to take on investors in the future, our predictable growth and recurring revenue will mean we fetch a much higher valuation. Would I have slept better for the past year with $5 million in the bank? Of course. Did not having it stop us from building our product? No way.
There’s nothing wrong with venture capital. Given the right circumstances, it’s rocket fuel that can take your company to the next level. But why not try building the rocket first?
If you happen to find yourself in the sunshine state this weekend, make sure you drop by the Miami Beach Convention Center and check out SuperConf 2012.
Along with speakers from Square, GitHub, NYT, and Wildbit, you’ll also get to hear our very own Luke Seeley laying out his Personal Theory About Nearly Everything (or, How to Make Design Good) which should be pretty interesting.
And if it isn’t, hey, you’re in Miami. There’s gotta be a beach around somewhere…
It’s pretty rewarding to watch one of your designs evolve from a rough idea in the back of someone’s brain to a full-blown site or app. Like watching your kid grow up, develop a personality, and head off into the world, you can’t help but feel proud of what you’ve accomplished.
We’re lucky enough to experience that just about every day with our client work, but when the project is personal, the feeling is just that much sweeter. Which is why it’s with great pride that we’d like to introduce you to the new, improved, and beautifully re-imagined Flow site. By bringing in new features like user stories and a way more in-depth tour section—not to mention a pixel-perfect redesign led by Luke—we think it does a great job of communicating to people just how much Flow has to offer, both in terms of function and form.
Go check it out, have a look around, and feel free to give us your feedback anytime. We’d love to hear what you think.
- The MetaLab Team
We’re excited to welcome two fantastic new people to the MetaLab team: Martin Rechsteiner and Jesse Lupini.
Martin has come to us straight from the wilds of Norway (Trondheim) and will be joining the Flow Team to help Luke out with all things design. When not making things look so good you want to burst into tears and then submerge yourself in a bath of ice water, he can be found darning his trademark scarf or wandering the streets trying not to look lost. His impressions of life at MetaLab so far? “Superawesome.”
Jesse will also be focusing on Flow, but on the development side of things as our new Front-end Developer. He hasn’t travelled as far to be here (he’s from Vancouver) and he doesn’t speak with an exotic accent, but that doesn’t mean we like him any less. Jesse’s coming from an extensive background in UX design, so we’re excited to get him working on everything we’ve got planned for Flow this year. And he’s also an international salsa dancer, which should come in handy around the office.
Welcome to MetaLab!
If you’re looking for a little weekend listening, head on over to Founders Talk and check out Andrew’s recent interview with Adam Stacoviak. Andrew shares his thoughts on happiness, fatherly wisdom, Steve Jobs, building a multi-million dollar interface design company, leading a growing team to success and there’s even a teaser to something super-secret on the way…
