When I started my company 10 years ago, I knew it was going to be a long journey. It took three years for our product to generate enough revenue to sustain the company on its own. Those were the most challenging years, since I needed to a sustainable revenue stream to pay the bills and my employees. The approach I took to sustain my bootstrapped company not only paved the way to success, but it also helped me understand the market in unique ways.
The idea is pretty simple: Work for your target market. It could be consulting, part-time work or freelance work. Do whatever you need to do to generate some cash on the side so that you can keep the lights on at your startup. Just make sure it’s in the market segment you are targeting. For example, if you are developing a website for golfers, find a temp job at a golf club.
Ten years ago, I decided to build software to help small businesses create online forms. At the time, I had experience as a software engineer. That led me down the path of developing custom solutions for small business clients as a consultant. Learning about the way they ran their businesses and my client’s needs allowed me to understand the importance of knowing my target market inside and out.
By working directly with small business owners, I learned to understand how the owners of small businesses think and operate. I understood their primary concerns, what kinds of products they needed and how to help small business owners succeed. When I began developing my online form builder product the deep insights I…