After I moved back from the States in early 2005, I started a web design and development business in Mumbai, India. At that time everyone was doing it. Outsourcing was a buzzword and getting paid in dollars was the new mantra. And with the relationships my wife and I had built staying in Chapel Hill, NC we were able to get off the ground quickly with a service business.
But after a few months and a dozen projects I knew there was something lacking in running a service business. I wanted to head a web business that was scalable and system-driven, rather than 100% dependent on people. Late last year DeskAway, our simple, powerful, and affordable project collaboration app, went live with great buzz (especially in Indian online publications). I have learned a great deal in the last 2 years or so — more than any MBA or graduate school could have ever taught me.
So, what can you expect when starting your own web business? There are different skills, or hats, that you will need to wear initially while bootstrapping (assuming there are only a couple of people in your team). Being aware of what you are going to get into will help absorb the mini-shocks you will get when you’re initially getting off the ground.
Hat #1 — Risk taker … believe in your gut instinct
The best part about the web is that you can run with your idea, turn corners and completely ditch the idea if it doesn’t work. When we started work with DeskAway, people — especially in our country — thought we were stupid. Questions like "there is so much money in services, why the hell are you guys spending time and money on building a product?" kept getting thrown at us. We were one of the few small product companies in the middle of a booming service ecomomy. In hindsight, I am glad we did it. We were willing to walk the “product” path even if it meant shutting shop a year later. There is one life to live and you might as well do the things you want to do rather than have someone else dictate it for you. My advice — just run with the idea and have as many people as you can run with you. The rest will follow.
Hat #2 — Maverick
VC’s and other people tell you about creating thorough business plans and exhaustive spreadsheets before you begin your business. It might work in the brick and mortar business where the capital involved is large, but building a business on the web is so much cheaper and faster, and if you make a mistake it’s easily and quickly fixable. That’s exactly what we did. We started developing DeskAway with a few developers and corrected course several times. Even today we are doing a lot of trial and error before we are sure that something really works. Once your business is off the ground and you know what works and what doesn’t, you can spend more of your time on numbers and plans. Until then, trial and error is the best way to learn about your new business.
Hat #3 — A techie, in a techie world
Ahh. Here is our favorite. Don’t we just want to fire up our laptops and dive right into developing the software? It’s like turning your dream into a reality in no time. Head’s up — don’t try doing everything yourself just because you can unless you are seriously bootstrapping. In my experience, if you can delegate the entire development, it’s the best way to go. Spend your time getting to know who will be using your app, what they will like, what your competitors are doing, etc. You will be surprised that development is just a small percentage of building a successful web business. Today literally anyone can develop an app. I’ve heard of companies here that just build web apps for clients abroad. It’s becoming a commodity. To differentiate oneself, it is important to look beyond development. All said and done, it’s cool to be a hacker, but if I had let that consume me we would still be in development stage. Get out of the comfort zone and think about “how do I get more people to the site and convert them?”
Hat #4 — Marketing to the market
Getting your app up and running is one thing, getting the word out is much harder. Participating in blogs, review sites, directories and other sites that are complementary to your business will help in garnering some initial traction. You can delegate this to an outside agency but it will cost you. See if any of your friends are in the PR business and ask them to give you some good tips or assistance in search engine optimization and marketing. Convince them to join you. I have seen instances where two people team up — one is the marketing wiz and the other the developer.
Online marketing has become an integral part of our business today. There are so many things to try out, so many questions to answer — is SEO better than SEM, should I blog about my product, how can I increase my subscriber base? I bet there is someone, somewhere that knows the answers to these questions and more — tap into any and every online resource. My favorite is LinkedIn Answers.
Hat #5 — Service before you sell
Remember, Harry Beckwith’s The Invisible Touch’ and What Clients Love — service is all-important and paramount in the success of any business. Once your app is live, be ready to be pounded with questions, feature requests, bugs reports and more. Create an auto-responder that will email the customer and let them know that you have received their email and will get back to them within 24 hours. Then stick to this time frame. It’s imperative to respond in a timely manner, and this can be especially tough if it’s only 1-2 people running the show. Next, keep a log of who has contacted you, and the details of the question or feature request. We have someone in the office who takes care of managing client requests for new features. She collects all feature requests and charts them on the spreadsheet so we know which is the most popular.
Hat #6 — Time management
Whew! As if this isn’t enough, one more thing that you need to balance is time. Being on the web, reading articles, replying to emails, posting blogs — you will soon notice that time is just not enough. Every new addition to your feed reader opens up a new can of worms. More sites to surf, more articles to read and more things to reply and comment to. Sift the important from the urgent, multi-task, and try to keep things to the minimum.
So, go ahead and give this a shot. In no time you will be on your way to owning your own web business, with a live product, and with paying customers. All you have to do now is don your tenacity hat and start the ball rolling…
DeskAway might be a great product, but the website looks like a rip-off of basecamphq.com. Not very classy.
Excellent article. I admire your courage for doing what you believe in, rather than just following the pack. It’s a hard thing to do, especially if there is real money at stake.
@Sam: I have seen countless sites getting inspired by 37signals. If the formula works…
Sahil,
nice article. It describes exactly what i’m trying to do for about 2 years now. My biggest problem is the lack of time and the fear of cold water. Managing a web driven business is more than using your cool php scripts to ‘turn it alive’. As i’m a student of management and economics, i would never try to realize business ideas without heavy studies. But nevertheless, you can never get big w/o mates around you, guy’s doing the dirty stuff and nerds baking it. Where do you get them? There’s nothing but Vitamin B. ;-)
Interesting article, thanks. Too many focus on the existing product without thinking how it might expand and need alterations. Listning to user input is the best move you can ever make :)
Good article. The best piece of literature I’ve ever read regarding “multiple hats” is the E-Myth Revisited.
From the sounds of this article, you went through each phase to becoming a business owner: technician, manager and entrepreneur.
@sam, fabrice - I commend what 37Signals is doing. There are countless sites (especially the new breed of web2.0 design) that look and feel a tad bit familiar. That obviously does not mean that they have ripped off from one another. The only real way in which we have been inspired by any company out there, is to genuinely create a product which is easy to use, and in that sense, the website is the first starting point.
@Jordan - Thanks. True, but at the end of the day you can only be at peace with yourself if your mind, heart and conscience are in harmony i.e. doing what you want to do even if there is real money at stake. Just need to take the first step and the rest will follow. Good luck!
@Stefan - Thank you. Yeah, creating a team is the hardest part - especially finding like-minded people who share your vision and passion. Sure they don’t come from job sites. Probably getting out there and networking would help though there is no secret formula for this. I like to believe (especially after having read ‘The Secret’) that if you full heartedly believe in your idea then you will attract those kinds of people and things in your life… PS - no, I wasn’t a philosophy major at UNC.:-)
@Ben - Yes, user input and what the customer needs is going to be paramount in any industry. My bet is that web apps will become more and more social very soon.
@CP - Oh, I love E-Myth. Its the first book I read after I graduated. Its definitely easier said than done. I still drive through these different phases though I let entrepreneurship take the shot-gun.
@ Fabrice and Sahil - I agree that borrowing design elements is an acceptable way to compliment. I simply think that DeskAway is borrowing a little too much. Inspiration is fine, but not at the expense of your own identity. Originality speaks volumes.
@ Sam - Thanks for pointing that out Sam. I appreciate your candid comments. If there is such similarity, then I assure you it isn’t intentional.
I do hope that the product speaks for itself and proves to be a useful tool - as a good deal of thought and effort has gone into developing this app. We have made distinct efforts to stand apart from and do better than any other product we have seen.
Sahil,
Interesting thoughts. I quite like the idea of being a ‘maverick’. Examining, cross examining and re - examining of plans is extremely important before you put them to action. Also, not doing everything yourself and allocating responsibility in start up mode sets the precedent for future leadership - it shows that you can let go of control, allocate responsibility and also if in start up mode you can allocate responsibilities well and they are fulfilled beyond expectations - then it shows that you identify people with relevant skill sets well (more or less). I think the other important thing in start ups is people and partners. So there has to be a ‘people identification’ hat as well (you sort of have put it there)! Checked out Deskaway a while back and i’ve been impressed. When my company does kick off (soon) - it’ll definitely be my first choice for a project collaboration tool! Incidentally someone from Springboard Search called me the other day - they were doing PM tool reviews and they asked me about Deskaway.
@Sam - all said an done, Basecamp is an arrogant little tool that fails to update itself over time and charges ignorant people a bomb due to its presence and so called goodwill. All said and done; i’d prefer Deskaway. any day.
Hey Sahil,
I have been using Deskaway for a few months now and it is really great to see how you have thought it through. It feels great to know the ‘personality’ of your brand and the hard work that you went through to make a tool that makes my business do better! All that you have said up there reminds me of my early days as an entrepreneur! I think the mantra for firms like yours is Deliver Local; Supply Global - you seem to be on the right track.
@Harshil - i agree with your analysis of Basecamp. In my opinon once you start using something like Deskaway, then you sort of cringe at Basecamp. There are tons of tools in the market which are MUCH better than Basecamp.
@ Sahil - I think more young people in countries such as ours should try and take a leaf out of your book; its really easy to begin with services due to instant cash flow and its becoming some sort of a trend in the countries that are regarded as low cost hubs. If we continue, we will never be seen as ‘technology leaders’. I find that worrying.
I agree with Sam, it’s not the interface or the ease of use it’s that you have Projects, Taks, Milestone….hmm, that sounds familiar! If your product has something different to offer, why does the homepage ape 37s(highlighted text) and show just the features that someone familiar with basecamp would recognize? I find it extremely hard to believe that that is accidental.
Sahil,
Great article. Very accurate, insightful - good advice!
I haven’t even looked at your product and compared it to Basecamp, but can understand you making it look and feel like Basecamp if you are trying to compete for the same customers :)
The only problem is, even if your product is really different to other offerings (but similar), how do you get the market to acknowledge that? New potential customers will continually compare the existing market leader(s) with your product, and that is not easy to overcome.
As for business planning, I’m not one for endless business plans, but there is one process which I consider very important to building a new business or product of any kind and that is SWOT analysis.
The other thing, which you also mentioned, is knowing how you are going to take your product to the market. This can chew up more cash than anything else. I recently met with a guy who had a great idea for a product, which he is pressing ahead with (development being done in India), but he had no real idea of how he was going to market the product or how much that will cost. You can have the best product in the world, but if no one knows about it …..
At first sight of deskaway I thought it was very similar to basecamp. After comparing them side by side, wow. I can’t believe you haven’t already been contacted by 37’s lawyers yet. Whoever made deskaway’s interface was clearly copying basecamp, even with the very small differences.
There is a big difference between being inspired and copying. You judge it for yourself.
@Kevin - Thank you. We are trying to make it look simple and easy to use and refining it pretty frequently. Obviously, the first experience the customer has is the lasting one. Next, it needs to be powerful under the hood. This is what we are noticing when people try out the service - they want to have and use certain features that should be inherent in a pm tool - so simplicity, power and affordability. We are listening and incorporating,
Yes, SWOT is helpful -especially when you stay on top of it since things are changing so rapidly in the online world!
Marketing - very true. The beauty of the web world is that you really do not need that much cash to test market your product first. Plus, there are countless resources online to connect, ask questions, engage in conversations about marketing etc.
Ultimately, an entrepreneur will find his/her way…the excitement is in the journey!
Why do we need all these web based project management apps? You talk about originality but not only did you rip off 37 signals design aspects, you also built pretty much the same product that they already offer.
Whether or not 37signals was your inspiration, people that are smart enough to do proper PM are going to spot the similarity right out of the gate.
Great app or not, you’ve lost credibility in the first 5 seconds of viewing the site.
You’ve got the marketing spiel down, but dude, c’mon, don’t be so blatantly obvious with a design like that. That’s weak.
Wow, I thought the same thing about ripping off 37signals and now after reading the comments it’s nice to see I’m not alone.
Clearly ‘borrowing’ design elements from your competitor’s site is a big no-no. You’re not going to get in trouble for it but you should expect your peers to frown upon it.
We’re all web developers here so please don’t insist you were just ‘inspired.’ We eat, breathe and shit design — we don’t just do it to pay the rent.
Did you leave your ‘respect intellectual property’ hat at home?
I appreciate the inputs you are all giving me. However, I am extremely taken aback. DeskAway is NOT emulating BaseCamp - in fact, DeskAway arose as a need to fulfil the areas in which simpler products like BaseCamp (and others, coz there are a lot of PM tools out there) were missing out on. If we thought these tools filled the need, we would never have entered this ‘crowded’ space. Obviously, we felt we could provide more - and do better. Our space is clearly different from that of BC - even if they are both providing a PM solution. BC strives to give the basics, which is great for their target audience. DA wants to do much more, given the required complexity and power in the software that we feel there is a separate audience for. Anyone who spends time looking objectively at the app, will realize that. If we wanted to copy another app, why spend so much time making ours different in so many ways, including functionality?
It is project management - what would you call ‘Tasks’ if not ‘tasks’ and ‘milestones’ if not ‘milestones’? It alienates the user if unfamiliar words are thrown at them, so I hope you guys don’t believe that things need to be different just for the sake of being different.
For those who feel that the website has similar elements, well many web 2.0 sites share these elements, and it has nothing to do with BC per se. Highlights, fonts etc. are all common elements for all sites. If another site is using a yellow highlight and is in the pm space, does not mean that its emulating BC.
The question our customers ask is - Does this app offer me what we need to get done in a better way than the others out there? Are these guys willing to make changes that we ask for?
Again, I appreciate your taking the time out to comment. Its the beauty of the web (especially blogs) that what people feel comes out so candidly. I have taken your comments in a positive spirit and if a change is required for the better, we will surely take correct measures to implement it - in the end, we sure don’t want people to think we are emulating someone else (even if we don’t think so :-)).
Cheers, and have a great weekend!
Sahil
Hey there,
Amazing article. I am myself an Engineering student in Delhi and was wondering to take a similar path as you. However, as you pointed out, the majority still seem to be in favor of the “services” bandwagon. Surely inspires me to break the niche.
@Rohil - Go ahead, do it. It will open up endless possibilities and opportunities. Email me from the synage.com website if you want to connect.
Great article! Inspiring…
We’ve run into each other quite a few times. FIrst at a TiE breakfast and then your DeskAway demo at BarcampMumbai3. In fact I covered Barcamp Mumbai for pluggd.in.
Sahil - The comparison to 37Signals’ Basecamp (BC) is inevitable as it is with all other PM web apps. It just goes to show you the extent to which 37Signals and their apps have taken the web by storm.
BUT… While the comparisons that people make are inevitable. The justification is not. Ive seen alot of PM tools that start out to look like BC but once you delve deeper, differ completely from BC. Reach1to1’s On2Biz (http://on2.biz/) for one.
Distinguishing yourself from your competitors, either visually or by features, is vital if you want to succeed, otherwise you’re doomed to follow them.
Well something sunk in, since the highlighting on your site is no longer light yellow.
That’s all we we’re saying…ditch the over-the-top resemblance to the basecamp site and you’re golden!
Excellent post! Many people (includes me) had been trapped in “technology matters” while there are so many things beyond just-technology when starting up.
Wow wow wow. Are we software developers here or graphics desginers??
I don’t understand the overreaction to the similarities in the design of the website to Basecamp. I’m not trying to belittle graphic designers (I am a programmer-artist hybrid myself), but what is important here is the software, not the graphics. Intellectual property paranoia is way over the top sometimes.
That’s a pretty ignorant thing to put forth. Are you saying that if you build a new type of car, and it looks just like a Toyota Camry, but you call it a Wizbang GoFast, that consumers aren’t going to immediately think it’s just a shitty knockoff? You’re seriously underestimating the customer if that’s your take.
Thanks for this article, it was great to read from a new business owners perspective. You have a great take on all the perspectives. Cheers.
thanks
Very good article, I would rather call it a real vitamin :-) I admire you for the courage you shown in your past which derived you to stand on this position today.
I am a creative designer/front-end developer working in this industry from past 6 years. From past one year I have started thinking of starting something by my own, as much as I can afford individually. I don’t have enough money to risk my fulltime job. I believe a great start is always worthy no matter it got to be a big one or small.
Your article has added some more energy and ideas to my thoughts, thanks :-)