If you have no portfolio you'll have to use your past experience as a seller (what you did, how you did it, results, etc) until you start working on personal projects or hack together some products to showcase.
Most people won't care if its made by a person or company, as long as it solves their problem.
There are plenty of apps that are run by solo founder...I think you're thinking into it too much...always better to save as much money as you can and put it into the product at first.
Launch it, get some traction first, then incorporate. There is no law against releasing an app personally and this will save you money if the company doesn't work.
100% true. I used to send emails with lots of fluff about what I was doing, building etc. Nobody cares. Its basically the equivalent of walking up to a stranger on the street and pitching them your business. They are basically going to ignore you and walk away...
That's why the brief emails like you mention and asking a question convert so well. Put the focus on them.
I disagree completely. Their USP is clear - they are an accounts receivable team for getting paid on time. Freshbooks, Hiveage and most of the others just let you send invoices online - they don't interact with your clients. These guys handle all of the A/R by making phone calls, sending reminders, followups, cashing checks etc.
Very similar to http://zencash.com who spell it out a bit better, but definitely solving a real problem that a lot of companies face.
1. I admit the main website is very bare, but I've done it intentionally to optimize for conversions rather than have users click off..its something I'm testing. I'm going to be adding a pricing page in soon, but this can also be found in your account under settings in the meantime.
2. Good idea.
3. This is our MVP, so integrations are on our roadmap but not yet.
4. When referring to previews, do you mean when you click "preview" when creating a reminder? Or the box created after a preview is in queue to be sent?
Thanks for your reply. Clientflow is a bit different because the goal is to get you out of your inbox and keep you more organized. Outlook does let you schedule, but only for 120 minutes and you have to use Outlook as your email client, which not everyone does.
There is definitely a market for freelance designers. Just look at Dribbble - more than half of the users there are freelancers who take on clients locally or remotely.
I run a remote design studio and have been a UI/UX designer for over 8 years. I decided to go the self-employed (freelance) route because I wanted to work with a variety of clients and grow a company, rather than work at an agency or startup (something I was less passionate about doing).
To answer your questions:
1. It really depends on your interests and niche. Figure out if you want to focus on designing mobile or web products (or both) and for what industry. I chose to focus on internet startups - whether it be SaaS, social, b2b etc because there is usually a high demand for UI/UX talent in this niche. And internet startups value great design, unlike some other industries.
2. 5 years of experience is pretty vague. Focus more on building a portfolio of quality projects where you show your design and UX skills. This will take time of course if you are new, but if you have 5-10 projects most companies will find that you have experience. If you have 1 project then you don't look as experienced or have as much under your belt.
Hope that helps. Feel free to email me at [email protected] if you want to ask some more questions or talk shop.
If you have no portfolio you'll have to use your past experience as a seller (what you did, how you did it, results, etc) until you start working on personal projects or hack together some products to showcase.