I am Andrew, co-founder of JayuRewards, I am a purpose driven executive with over a decade of experience. I have built 3 companies till date, all bootstrapped and all profitable. One thing that I learned and always followed is that - money matters. Whenever I buy something, I look for deals. I visit Target often and when I do buy something, it doesn’t matter whether something is being manufactured in China, India or Mexico. I’m just concerned about the quality, and I make sure it fulfills my needs.

Like any other small business, I aspire to grow quickly while minimizing the risks and costs. Therefore “I don’t put all my eggs in one basket”. I work on new ideas, create prototypes, release for beta tests, and then make adjustments based on feedback. For me, putting everything I have financially on developing an idea in a “one shot, one kill” fashion is not feasible. I need to remain financially flexible to handle changes and many other aspects of running a business.

 

Today, “people with ideas have to be agile to succeed”. Rovio made more than 50 games before they created Angry Birds. Hundreds of successful start-ups like AirBnB, Snapchat, Dropbox, and Instagram started with one idea and then pivoted when an opportunity presented itself. “Building a successful product is a lot like winning a marathon. You need to win through small phases first”. You shouldn’t expect to sprint and win the race within the first mile.

Time and money are limited for people starting a business for the first time. One of the top reasons startups fail is because they run out of money. It’s not that we don’t manage money correctly, it’s because it’s very difficult to foresee upcoming financial costs. It’s dangerous to spend a large amount of money on developing an idea in the first phase of your business, when your idea may drastically change during the second stage, to include unforeseen financial challenges.

 

 

Having freelancers that are spread worldwide gave me the opportunity to create my ideas while allowing me to remain financially flexible. As a matter of fact, one should try the alternative, and try to hire local developers for a project without receiving a mind-boggling invoice (excluding those individuals who have developers on their team). The advantage of being able to hire outsourced developers at a third of the cost means that I’ll have room to pay for three iterations of developing my idea instead of one shot at it.

 

Of course one has to be cautious when choosing any developer, especially if they are remote. However, this is the case for anybody you choose to work on your project. Just like anybody else you have to view their portfolio, do preliminary meetings, check their references, etc.

 

Is it harder to work with an outsourced team? Well, I wake up early or stay up late to connect with the team. I do have to draw sketches and type more emails sometimes to describe certain aspects of my ideas. And depending on who I’m speaking to, I do take time when we talk to make sure they understood me or vice versa.

 

I actually don’t see this as a burden but consider an opportunity because it allows me to make my capital stretch more for my business. A penny saved is a penny earned. For a bootstrapped startup, saved pennies can add more time later to overcome obstacles down the road.

 

I continue my journey to build more. Check out my latest work JayuRewards. Jayu helps your next door mom and pop shops create and run discounts for frequent visitors.