Hey bootstrappers,

Admin. We all hate it, and yet we all have to do it. 

Just keeping our interview folders organized earns a collective yawn from the team. But without it, we’d lose track of who we interviewed and when. 

It reminded me of something a relative – who recently turned 80 – said at a birthday party: “When you’re young, it’s money that matters. Later, it’s time.”

We misspend our time in many ways – doing things that bore us or someone else could do better. Wouldn’t you rather free up time to do more of what you love?

So do most people, a fact this week’s founders turned into successful businesses.

Chris Roper

Managing Editor

How Fixing Other People’s Accounts Led This Founder to Build a Scalable Six-Figure Software Business

For most people, accounting is dry and uninspiring. Who wants to crunch numbers when you could focus on more exciting things? Adam Hoeksma frees you to do just that.

While CPA at an SBA microlender, Adam Hoeksma watched countless founders fail their loan applications because they didn’t know how to balance their books. Not even the prospect of capital had motivated them to get the numbers right. It was just too dry or difficult.

Adam designed a step-by-step tool to make calculating financial projections easy, and his brother built it. Clients followed after an extensive SEO campaign. But bugs and the need for customization meant Adam later shifted to offering projections templates for every industry.

“I call it deer-in-headlights syndrome. No one wakes up and says, ‘I want to make projections today.’ I don’t even do it unless someone forces me. But people need to do it. It’s the thing standing between you and the money.”

Turning points

1. Standardizing the projections process. Adam’s software didn’t offer enough customization, so he switched to offering templates to help scale the business.

2. Automating the boring parts. Articles and Youtube videos explained how to complete financial projections, but Adam’s templates automated most of the form-filling.

3. Licensing his templates to business consultants. Adam secured partnerships with government-funded business development centers to increase revenue.

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In the World of Enterprise Cloud Services, Transferring a Couple of Gigabytes Can Earn You Millions

Enterprises prefer to spend more time selling products and services than managing data, but if they’re not careful, costs can skyrocket. Patrick Kennedy built Cloudflyer to help.

Patrick Kennedy had helped clients like CBS and Disney manage data in the early 2010s. A few years later, he was helping them move to the cloud. Today, he helps them switch from one cloud storage provider to another, a process that can cost millions of dollars due to “egress fees”.

Only a handful of cloud providers have the means to manage vast quantities of data. Cloudflyer not only holds accounts with each one to reduce costs but will soon automatically switch clients when a cheaper provider becomes available, freeing clients to focus on what matters.

“Once a customer connects their cloud account to Cloudflyer, we’ll automatically know how much they spend and where they should move. Then they can choose to either trigger the transfer themselves or rely on Cloudflyer’s intelligent automation to send the data there.”

Turning points

1. Making their service interoperable. By holding accounts at all the major providers, they could pass savings to clients of as much as 50 percent.

2. Adding intelligent features. Although still in the pipeline, Cloudflyer will eventually automate much of the hard work of knowing when to switch providers.

3. Not overspending on marketing. Patrick demonstrated Cloudflyer’s value with revenue first before spending a cent on marketing.

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The Mental Toll of Digital Burnout: How This Founder Helps Thousands Build a Healthier Relationship With Tech

We’ve all felt the dry eyes and dopamine come-down after a social media binge. But those wasted hours aren’t just counter-productive, they’re also ruinous for your mental health.

Eighty-two percent of remote workers feel burnout – a stat that Stephanie Henson is determined to cut down. After years of running a successful social media agency, she was so stressed and exhausted she could barely get out of bed. Logging in had meant logging out – of life.

Stephanie recovered after a year of imposing changes to her relationship with technology. Realizing how much happier and energized she felt, she turned her findings into a business that helps educate people about the dangers of burnout and how to use technology safely.

“People know digital burnout is a big issue, but we’re asking them to do something they don’t want to do (take a break from their devices). It’s similar to recommending people go on a daily walk. They know they’re going to feel better by the end of it, but they don’t end up doing it.”

Turning points

1. Starting her awareness campaign with a product. Stephanie sold a bag to hide a smartphone that raised awareness while helping fund her educational activities.

2. Creating an accreditation program. Stephanie increased revenue and brand authority by accrediting companies that had completed the techtimeout program.

3. Exploiting government employment schemes. Most of techtimeout’s employees are young people whose wages are partly paid by the government, keeping costs low.

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