Want some help with your bootstrapped product?

Alright so I had an idea. Here goes…

I bootstrapped my business the last couple of years and it’s doing okay right now.

I’m thinking it would be fun to work with someone that is early on in bootstrapping their product. Gives me a chance to work on something brand spanking new for a short period of time, and also to help a fellow bootstrapper through some of those difficult, early stages of the long, slow SaaS ramp of death.

Okay so, how exactly would this work? Here’s what I’m thinking.

For an initial period of time - probably a month, maybe a bit more than that - I’d be working with you closely - probably 4 hours / day or something along those lines. I could potentially work on anything within the business - I am, after all, a full stack founder (badumcha… puts money in the dbag jar).

This would be more than me just advising. Although I do think there is a ton of value in just purely advising (read: I’m going to force you to jump on sales calls…yes I’m looking at you developer dude that hates the idea of sales calls). As far as my tech stack goes - PHP/HTML/Javascript w/ a lot of Magento experience.

I could probably bring some cash to the table as well - maybe $5k or $10k - nothing insane but maybe a little something to help accelerate growth with some paid ads.

In exchange, I’d get a % ownership stake in the business. Haven’t quite figured out what that number would be exactly. We probably could figure that out by valuating the business, adding up the cash investment plus the time investment and see where we land.

About you…

You’ve already got your product built and out in the real world - you’re passed the idea stage for sure. Maybe you have some paid customers ideally - maybe not - we’ll see. You’re super duper motivated to see this thing through to the bitter end, and you would be successful all on your own anyways (oh the irony).

If that sounds interesting, you can either respond here or DM me and we can take it from there.

Disclaimer: I’m not 100% sure yet whether I would definitely want to do this but I’d love to discuss it.

This seems like a great idea! I like it a lot. I’d love to have you be involved in my endeavors, but honestly I don’t think I quite meet your qualifications yet. However, maybe when I get to that point we discuss you jumping on board?

Cool thanks. Keep me posted as things progress!

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Hey Kalen! Cool idea here.

I’m not looking for cash or even 4hrs/day of your time, I’m pretty sure what I need at this point is just a few conversations pointing me in the right direction. Are you looking to mentor, or is this more of an investment opportunity you’re after?

Thanks buddy. I am open to some good old fashioned mentoring as well. I have a few people that I exchange emails with and you can feel free to pop me an email.

There is something really interesting about this combination of an intensive sprint, mentorship, cash, and an investment stake though. I think it would be a lot of fun and allow me to be a lot more personally invested with the founder.