Paul Farnell attended a Building of Basecamp workshop years ago and then read Getting Real. He says that gave him the confidence boost to finish and launch his side project: Litmus. Around three years later, it’s now making almost a million dollars a year. Paul tells us more below...
Litmus helps web designers run compatibility tests on their website and HTML email designs. It began as a side project. A prototype running on computers under my desk at university five years ago. Now we have thousands of customers, revenue of over $1m and six people on the team.
My first taste of Getting Real was at the Building of Basecamp workshop in Copenhagen. It was an eye opener for me. Here's a few things we adopted.
Under-doing your competition
Litmus was built to be the antithesis of the other services that existed in this space. Their services were clunky, over-engineered and under-designed. We stripped out features, picked defaults that made sense, and kept the flow as simple as possible. It was liberating.
Embracing constraints
We had 3 people and £500 ($800) to build a version one. We worked in our spare time. We hosted the servers in my university room. We used old computers and licenses donated by friends and family. As we've grown we've tried to keep these constraints in place, even if they're now somewhat artificial. We religiously justify every expense to see if it'll directly help us make more money.
Less mass
Our product direction changed significantly within the first two years. We started by offering a cross-browser testing service. Then people asked us for email testing. Then email service providers (like Campaign Monitor) wanted to integrate our testing into their products. Staying small and lean made this easier to do.
Funding yourself
We've turned down outside investment. We've done it on our own terms. It's been steady, organic growth over the past five years. And we've loved every minute of it.
Today we're working on things that no other companies in this space are doing. It's exciting. We're staying small, focussed and agile. And we're proud of that.
Getting Real has played a large part in getting us where we are today. I hope that by sharing some of our experiences it'll inspire others to try taking this path. It's incredibly rewarding.
