How My Lifestyle Business Became a Startup(faso.com)
faso.com
How My Lifestyle Business Became a Startup
http://faso.com/code618/34150/how-my-lifestyle-business-became-a-startup
30 comments
Great article, but it raises something I've been ruminating on for awhile.
It's funny that in the IT industry we need to define ourselves or our businesses so that we stand apart from the rest. I rarely see other industries say that Company X is just a lifestyle business or Company B is a startup. No, they are both businesses. Plain and simple.
A great many businesses would never be able to start operations if they had no profit motive, but in the IT industry it is admired and act as inspiration. What Clint shows is that the old, boring[1], and profitable businesses can still get a bit of attention among the new businesses we see on HN.
[1] I'm using the term loosely and without insult here.
It's funny that in the IT industry we need to define ourselves or our businesses so that we stand apart from the rest. I rarely see other industries say that Company X is just a lifestyle business or Company B is a startup. No, they are both businesses. Plain and simple.
A great many businesses would never be able to start operations if they had no profit motive, but in the IT industry it is admired and act as inspiration. What Clint shows is that the old, boring[1], and profitable businesses can still get a bit of attention among the new businesses we see on HN.
[1] I'm using the term loosely and without insult here.
The IT industry is one of only a very few that can leverage technology so successfully. This allows for some unique opportunities (like "lifestyle businesses") that you don't see parallels to in other industries.
One guy with some skill, a computer and a marketable idea can build a business for himself and live very comfortably. If he wants to work at the beach for the day, he can. If he wants to work out of a coffeeshop, he can. That degree of freedom and ability to leverage technology isn't found in many other industries. That's why you don't find any parallels.
One guy with some skill, a computer and a marketable idea can build a business for himself and live very comfortably. If he wants to work at the beach for the day, he can. If he wants to work out of a coffeeshop, he can. That degree of freedom and ability to leverage technology isn't found in many other industries. That's why you don't find any parallels.
Great post Clint, and good inspiration for "older" founders. We found the same niche ourselves, "hosting" companies are a dime a dozen, but our company in a year of operation has lost less than 10 customers. Solve an emotional problem with empathy, and the world will flock to you.
Gracias.
Very interesting story, it's nice to see someone targeting an interesting niche like this and talking about it.
However, Clint, have you worked a lot on your signup page? For example the 'Get Started Today!' CTA button ( btn-activatenow_b.png ) has text that looks like it is not aliased. The list of features right above it is a bit hard to notice. The testimonials that are linked as 60x52 pictures aren't obvious that they can be clicked on or that they contain testimonials. Also the logo ( http://faso.com/static/images/logo3.png 0 has different background color than the header (#000 vs #333) so it stands out. The top right 'Sign Up!' ( http://faso.com/static/images/btn-signup-head.png ) has a bad font so the 'i' letter is rendered bad, and it also does not have transparent corners (again #000 vs #333) and so the corners stand out.
I know I'm nitpicking a bit, but I think a website meant for artists should get these things right :)
However, Clint, have you worked a lot on your signup page? For example the 'Get Started Today!' CTA button ( btn-activatenow_b.png ) has text that looks like it is not aliased. The list of features right above it is a bit hard to notice. The testimonials that are linked as 60x52 pictures aren't obvious that they can be clicked on or that they contain testimonials. Also the logo ( http://faso.com/static/images/logo3.png 0 has different background color than the header (#000 vs #333) so it stands out. The top right 'Sign Up!' ( http://faso.com/static/images/btn-signup-head.png ) has a bad font so the 'i' letter is rendered bad, and it also does not have transparent corners (again #000 vs #333) and so the corners stand out.
I know I'm nitpicking a bit, but I think a website meant for artists should get these things right :)
Thanks, I do need to learn more about button design.
We A/B test that hero section and selling features didn't perform well so we downplayed them. We've had a lot more signups with other ideas more prominent (Like "Sharing Art Enriches Life"). Believe it or not, the current page is the improved one. I never posted on HN before because I knew I get grilled over how bad our old design was. Maybe I'll get it to "good" status soon......
Edit - I see now the button you refer to. My designer had a nice one that was done properly but it had different text. I made this one to A/B test the current wording, and amazingly it outperformed the original by a wide margin. However, you are correct, we need to see if making the text on that button "correct" (with the current wording) improves things even further.
We A/B test that hero section and selling features didn't perform well so we downplayed them. We've had a lot more signups with other ideas more prominent (Like "Sharing Art Enriches Life"). Believe it or not, the current page is the improved one. I never posted on HN before because I knew I get grilled over how bad our old design was. Maybe I'll get it to "good" status soon......
Edit - I see now the button you refer to. My designer had a nice one that was done properly but it had different text. I made this one to A/B test the current wording, and amazingly it outperformed the original by a wide margin. However, you are correct, we need to see if making the text on that button "correct" (with the current wording) improves things even further.
In the "Why professionals should use..." section, the names (i.e — A.G. Blankenship, Artist) should link to the relevant galleries.
Also, you might want to work on better layout for http://faso.com/artist-websites/ and showcasing galleries to drive traffic to your clients (perhaps directly to their art).
It would be great if you could create a feed that presents a random set of images for those people who want beautiful backgrounds for their desktops. An app that presents random art and takes you to the page to buy it with one click would be nice.
Well done so far. Looks like you have a nice mature product. Keep taking it easy - much better to take your time and make the right feature than to hurry and make several poor ones.
Also, you might want to work on better layout for http://faso.com/artist-websites/ and showcasing galleries to drive traffic to your clients (perhaps directly to their art).
It would be great if you could create a feed that presents a random set of images for those people who want beautiful backgrounds for their desktops. An app that presents random art and takes you to the page to buy it with one click would be nice.
Well done so far. Looks like you have a nice mature product. Keep taking it easy - much better to take your time and make the right feature than to hurry and make several poor ones.
Thanks for this article. I have been working with my team for the past year (part-time) putting together my idea and we are close to a pitch. At 38 I feel ancient compared to all of these "techstars" that are right out of Grad school. Inspired me that I am not "too old" :)
I can't help but feel that, while this is inspirational to all those slow starters, there are very obvious places where he could have catalyzed his business much much sooner and without the need to jump in full time or quit his job.
Of course, one would say hind site is 20/20. But for a lot of serial entrepreneurs they'd rather fail fast than drag something out. This post could just have easily been about how someone spent 10 years chasing a different business model that wasn't viable. You just so happened to nail it.
Of course, one would say hind site is 20/20. But for a lot of serial entrepreneurs they'd rather fail fast than drag something out. This post could just have easily been about how someone spent 10 years chasing a different business model that wasn't viable. You just so happened to nail it.
Good point. If I had abandoned the art industry like PG maybe I would have sold my startup to Yahoo by now....
I think that you may have highlighted something I was trying to say. Sure, maybe I got lucky and "nailed" it, however, spending 12 years working in a given industry makes it more likely that you'll nail it. Not that you need 12 years experience, but, I guess that was one of my points. That if you actually experience "problems" of a given industry, you have a better shot of hitting upon a solution that people want.
I think that you may have highlighted something I was trying to say. Sure, maybe I got lucky and "nailed" it, however, spending 12 years working in a given industry makes it more likely that you'll nail it. Not that you need 12 years experience, but, I guess that was one of my points. That if you actually experience "problems" of a given industry, you have a better shot of hitting upon a solution that people want.
What a great story for those of us who can't jump out of life to be a freewheeling startup. It is ironic that I found this link on Ycombinator of all things - a site I find somewhat elitist to many of us who don't have the luxury to shift into 'hackers'. More stories like this need to be told - especially from those seasoned veterans who have massive amounts of experience. Kudos to you!
Very inspirational .. especially from someone who is already in his 30's and running a profitable startup.
Thanks ngsayjoe. One small point - I'm actually now in my 40's, but your point remains. The site was profitable enough to risk it and go full time when I was 35.
Nothing wrong with your comment, but comments like this are so symptomatic of a Silicon Valley mindset. Most entrepreneurs outside the valley become successful well in their 30s and 40s... not at 21. There should be no surprise here.
Thanks for the article, it was a good read and interesting. I have one thing to ask you about that really bothers me when companies do it. This gets old REALLY fast:
"Unlimited plan subject to terms and conditions."
Why don't you simply rename the plan if it's not really unlimited?
"Unlimited plan subject to terms and conditions."
Why don't you simply rename the plan if it's not really unlimited?
Been burned legally a time or two - it's CYA language in case of blatant abuse. Our plans are for individual artists, it would be against terms, for 100 artists to get together, pay for one plan and load 10,000 works and use our newsletter module to send millions of emails.
We tech people often have the tendency to take things a little too literally. No company can really make an offer that is truly unlimited for a fix price if they have any variable costs.
As a college student in the Valley, I really appreciate your perspective. Its quite easy to get caught up in the rush to do something now without realizing that I have a life full of opportunities ahead of me.
Great post Clint. Your comment about all the good ideas being taken and narrow focus is spot on. Great to see a single founder startup and keep going until they reach critical mass even if it takes years.
Great post. We have a similar experience and its nice to read about those of us who didn't start coding / building our companies until late 20s/30s.
Inspiring post. Thank you for the enlightenment. It's always great to hear from single founder companies. I look forward to your future posts.
Congrats Clint - do you have any employees now helping you out?
Not technically, although I do have a lot of help.
I've managed to build a good "team" by outsourcing as much as possible. I use Rackspace so I don't have to manage servers or do much sysadmin. I work with a freelance programming firm for things I need done that I can't/don't have time to do in house. I've hired freelance writers to produce content for our art blogs (usually artists. Also-I write for those art marketing blogs, drawing on my 16 years of gallery experience). I usually hire customers who know what they're doing as part time support agents - they work freelance from home via our forums and ticket system.
It's actually getting easier over time to outsource services as more and more Saas and Paas offerings come online (Do you know how much easier storing Terabytes of images is now that S3 exists?). A few Examples: I used to maintain a mail server, now that's outsourced to MailTrust, we outsource customer analytics to getclicky.com, we outsource email newsletter deliver to Cakemail.
Having said all of that, I am starting to look for an in-house developer. There are some aspects of a code-base and server configuration that are hard to outsource to another firm.
I've managed to build a good "team" by outsourcing as much as possible. I use Rackspace so I don't have to manage servers or do much sysadmin. I work with a freelance programming firm for things I need done that I can't/don't have time to do in house. I've hired freelance writers to produce content for our art blogs (usually artists. Also-I write for those art marketing blogs, drawing on my 16 years of gallery experience). I usually hire customers who know what they're doing as part time support agents - they work freelance from home via our forums and ticket system.
It's actually getting easier over time to outsource services as more and more Saas and Paas offerings come online (Do you know how much easier storing Terabytes of images is now that S3 exists?). A few Examples: I used to maintain a mail server, now that's outsourced to MailTrust, we outsource customer analytics to getclicky.com, we outsource email newsletter deliver to Cakemail.
Having said all of that, I am starting to look for an in-house developer. There are some aspects of a code-base and server configuration that are hard to outsource to another firm.
Nice - you got a business doing 400k+ in revenue per yr, growing nicely. I'm sure someone would be willing to put down a few to several million if you ever sold. Keep it up.
Do you market mainly via word of mouth, pay per click, etc.? Seem like word of mouth based on the growth curve.
Do you market mainly via word of mouth, pay per click, etc.? Seem like word of mouth based on the growth curve.
Is that a buyout offer? ;-)
How I market is another blog post I have planned. I think I've maxed our PPC and it doesn't bring in that many customers but is self-sustaining (in that the revenue off PPC customers is higher than what we're paying in PPC expenses).
Some things I've done very effectively in the past are full-page magazine ads (in artist magazines) and old-school direct mail. I wrote a direct-mail letter and purchased a mailing list of artists and over time sent the promo pieces out with a special discount code to sign up online. Some artists are very non-techy (especially going back to early 2000s), I even toyed with the idea of having a mail-in form to setup the website.
Probably our best marketing has been our free daily art marketing newsletter and blog (http://faso.com/fineartviews/). Our daily email list is over 15,000 and growing and we regularly promote to those artists. I think this is a strategy FAR too many startups ignore. We don't spend most of our time writing articles for other startups, we write articles that are of interest to our CUSTOMERS. That keeps them coming back to our site day after day.
Also - PARTNER with other companies. The gist of my marketing advice is this: Ask yourself, "Who else reaches the same customers I do?" Now partner with those people. For example, we host an online art contest for an art supply company. They promote our service to their customers and visa-versa.
Sorry if this is rough, will clean up and expand these ideas in future blog posts.
How I market is another blog post I have planned. I think I've maxed our PPC and it doesn't bring in that many customers but is self-sustaining (in that the revenue off PPC customers is higher than what we're paying in PPC expenses).
Some things I've done very effectively in the past are full-page magazine ads (in artist magazines) and old-school direct mail. I wrote a direct-mail letter and purchased a mailing list of artists and over time sent the promo pieces out with a special discount code to sign up online. Some artists are very non-techy (especially going back to early 2000s), I even toyed with the idea of having a mail-in form to setup the website.
Probably our best marketing has been our free daily art marketing newsletter and blog (http://faso.com/fineartviews/). Our daily email list is over 15,000 and growing and we regularly promote to those artists. I think this is a strategy FAR too many startups ignore. We don't spend most of our time writing articles for other startups, we write articles that are of interest to our CUSTOMERS. That keeps them coming back to our site day after day.
Also - PARTNER with other companies. The gist of my marketing advice is this: Ask yourself, "Who else reaches the same customers I do?" Now partner with those people. For example, we host an online art contest for an art supply company. They promote our service to their customers and visa-versa.
Sorry if this is rough, will clean up and expand these ideas in future blog posts.
So many businesses/niches are in pain because they do not have software solutions or have to use substandard solutions to get the day to day going. Your advice to go work for another industry is solid and I would even go further and say volunteer on a part-time basis just to make the contacts and see where the problems are. If us tech guys did this more, we would uncover an abundant source of opportunity in need of addressing from people willing to pay to have the pain go away! I am currently looking to do this in the construction industry where some of my friends work.
Great post