Given the amount of investment money out there, we don’t see too many bootstrapped startups, so I, Reena Jadhav, was excited to interview Wade Beavers, founder of DoApps which he founded about 5 years ago. They now have about 1500 apps and power about 220 news properties and became cash flow positive three years ago. Wade had three insights to share from his experiences.
1. You need to have a thoughtful business model in place upfront. Wade shares how they started off by thinking they could make another “Hungry Birds” and soon realized that was flawed logic. The team then looked at what problems they could solve with their talent and built a business model around that. His advice “Sit down and be honest with what your strengths and weaknesses are and then build a model around your strengths.”
2. It will be three times as hard, cost five times more and take 6 times longer than you expect. So, his advice is to get as much customer feedback upfron as possible. Try to “fail fast” so you can bring those learnings into your next iteration. Or better yet, try to pre-sell your solution and check customer response.
3. Have some grit. You have to be internally strong and ready for the naysayers. People will say your ideas are terrible but you have to stay focussed to succeed. “I feel I am thirty pounds heavier and 5 years older really fast,” Wade shares. So be ready to pay your dues.
