Mike McDerment’s “7 Ways I Almost Killed Freshbooks”

I recently read a great article by Mike McDerment of Fresh Books relating some of the lessons he has learned. We have looked quite a lot at the success of this Toronto company as we have worked on shaping Unbounce (a good friend and colleague of ours – Corey Reid works there.) A couple of the things Mike mentions here really rang true for us based upon our experience with start-ups in the past, here are a couple of examples:

“There is something about the act of spending money that breeds confidence. However, just because you’re spending doesn’t mean things will work out like you modeled them. Nor does it means you are learning a lot or being efficient. But all of these things are crucial when you are building your business.

We like to try things and look for “signs of life” with our marketing before we increase our spend in any medium. It’s always the right approach because, no matter how much you might want it to be true, there are no silver bullets.”

“I remember talking with people in 2004 who believed we could not get anywhere without signing a “deal” with a “partner” or taking “VC money”. Here’s my advice: sign the right deals with the right partners at the right time for the right reasons. You can build a business without being forced to work with the wrong people at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.

Opportunities will present themselves if you keep your feet moving and you string together a series of small successes. You need to decide what the right deals are for your business and when they are right for your business. I’ve learned to spend 80 percent of my time thinking about what not to do, instead of all of my time thinking about what we can do.”

The full article can be found here:

7 ways I’ve almost killed FreshBooks