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I was gonna call it the "Weekend Start up"... but, it quickly bled into the work week. Im now making a commitment to myself to only dedicate a small amount of time during the week to this project.
To be completely honest, I can't say I'm 100% dedicated to this business (infoFindr "The best bulk B2B lead Generation Tool") ;)
And I truly believe nothing you put your effort into will reach its full potential if you don't go all in for it. But, these days my efforts are in finding my place at a fintech company on a killer sales team. I want to help businesses develop their financial capabilities, be healthier, and grow.
So why not use my hobbies and interests to practice for that role? But, if I want to practice selling Saas... imma need a Saas to sell 🤔...
So what is this? What am I doing?
My goal was to build up a Saas business that's somewhat functional and secure for as little money as possible ASAP. This way I would become the head of enterprise sales.... while also managing to obtain the role of ceo, coo, cfo, tech lead, chief dreamer, and mailboy :/ But at least now I can practice my inbound/outbound sales skills 👍
With the world in the swells of the Information Age, I fully believe that what I did in a long weekend could be accomplished with only a smart phone, internet connection, and like 50 bucks. And in a sea of cloud softwares and micro services starting a software business doesn't seem so daunting a task. Follow through is everything.
What is infoFindr?
InfoFindr is the HOTTEST new software company that delivers data sets of businesses you're interested in straight to your inbox. Simply go to infoFindr.com and start searching for free today!
^lol my 30 second elevator pitch^
What will infoFindr be?
The steps I take going forward are to create a service that can deliver large, specific data sets and reports to clients. A LOT would need to change and be built from this point...
Currently the basic data set product is limited to the businesses name, address, and phone number.
I'll try to break down infoFindr and describe how it's depts were made, operate, and where Id like them to go.
Engineering
Product
This project all started the other night while I was trying to teach myself how to use Yelp's Fusion API. Herein lies ISSUE #1 I think this may violate their terms of service lol. But, if I get a substantial number of requests I promise to not only roll the key but apply for what ever is necessary to be pulling their data.
Basically, infoFindr makes a request to yelp to find relevant businesses based on location and a "search term" ie what kind of business you're searching for. The api returns all relevant businesses in a defined range of the location searched (I have it set to ~25 miles). It then writes those results to a cv that gets sent back to the user.
Task #1 Implement more apis and integrate a web scraper.
Task #1.5 Develop a report to go along with the list
The search is far too restricted and the results are way too limited. Limits Biz dev to only selling to cold callers and direct mailers. Its also is ugly and only useful in very specific use cases. Priority one.
UX
The user experience leaves a lot to be desired. I still need to implement functionality so that the individual product buyer has a better understanding of their purchase and search credits. The website was built quickly with Google sites. ISSUE #2 The site is buggy and lacks luster. Portrait mode on mobile is especially strange. The embedded forms are also very buggy. Google sites is easy, clean, fast, and with a google domain you don't have to worry about DNS or creating reports. Building speed comes at a cost.
Task #2 move into a python flask application and embed all forms directly. Accomplishing this larger goal will give a lot more flexibility and make for a better UX. It would also allow for a good opportunity to put the back end on a proper server, reducing strain on the admin.
ISSUE #3 Automated emails look unprofessional
Task #3 Make some nice branded HTML email templates
Admin Application
The collection of data is still heavily manual, requiring an admin to approve or deny each search request. To manage load I created a mobile application with Appsheet. It monitors the business so that I can find trends in searches while also managing who has access. It also notifies the admin (lol me) to searches, payments, etc.
Task #4 Move away from appsheet in exchange for more automation
Almost non issue at this point to be honest because the product is at such a weak state at the moment.
Business Development and marketing
Not much to say here. I need my product to be a little better before moving into outbound sales. gathering a list of potential leads at the moment. Only plan to make less than 10 calls or direct outreaches per day. My main goal is finding employment at another company!
Marketing? idk instagram memes and ads? lol Task #5 Get a second enterprise customer once I get a few more apis working. Maybe boost some insta posts?
Finance
With an initial investment from Joseph Gallione of $100 and a credit line of $150 at a very good rate from the bank of Joseph Gallione, infoFindr has to run very very slim. We pay our employee with chips and Snapple Orangeades. Most of the start up costs are going into micro services for automation and web hosting. Once engineering catches up the company can move away from paying for automation services and opt for more traditional hosting on a proper server. It would also give marketing a budget to boost instagram engagement
Id break down the costs, but honestly have not been keeping great track. I think I spent like 20 bucks so far.
Task #5 lol start tracking expenses
List of services as of Monday night:
Zapier -free credits - move away from this in exchange for a flask app
Zoho forms - free credits - move away from embedded soho forms or make them look nicer
Google Tag Manager - free - track website clicks
Google analytics - free - stats
Google sheets - free - for my records and appsheet to use as a DB
Google Appsheet - free so far - admin application
Gmail - 6 - id like another
Google sites - free - move away from this for a flask app
Google domain - 12 - ehh gotta pick someone
GitHub - free - use this eventually as a real repo for the flask app
Instagram business - 10 ad credit free - excess monies to learn more about advertising as I have literally zero experience
Compliance and Legal
Lol, if I make more than a few sales ill get an ein.
I don't think Uncle Sam will get too mad at me for hacking together a little startup in a few days.
But, being a registered business would help with deductions, itemization, and stripe plays nicely with established corps and llcs. Ill just file directly to save money. Also not worth Delaware, I can just register in NJ. but other tasks take priority.
Just a few of my rambling thoughts in blog format. This next weekend ill focus on product engineering so hopefully I can run some outbound sales calls durning the week while I interview at fintech companies.
Thanks for reading!
great content!
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