FMYI | For My Innovation

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• Grow with the flow

  September 20, 2009

  The idea to tackle workplace collaboration in a whole different way started back in the early days of the blink tag back in the mid 90s. I was an intern at Nike working as an intranet developer and immediately realized that there had to be a better way of collaborating beyond custom developed static intranet sites. Throughout my career at Nike, I worked with and in numerous countries, divisions, and projects which underscored the urgency of better collaborative tools. In my mind, the experience could be more friendly, easy, interactive, and community-oriented. And I had a suspicion that potential customers would feel the same way.

  So when I realized it was time to start FMYI, I followed these three rules to grow the business and go after my dreams:

  1. Have a point of view.
  2. Know your customer.
  3. Build your product/service around your point of view and the customer’s needs.

  The key is the balance between your point of view of how you’re going to improve things and what the customer is telling you their need. First you need a foundation and launching pad which you can run by potential customers to refine the product/service. And ideally you can initially fund the startup through client revenue and a few credit cards.

  From the beginning, based on my observations of workplace collaboration across multiple sectors, FMYI’s point of view has been:

  1. “No headcount software” approach to lower the barrier to entry.
  2. Design, usability, social media look and feel to drive user adoption.
  3. Empower teams to work anywhere with essential workflow functionality.
  4. Quality, free support from collaboration specialists for change agents.
  5. Platform to inspire innovation and sustainability.

  And over the past five years, we’ve constantly refined our service through customer feedback to grow the business, all the while keeping true to our point of view. The POV is what gets people interested, and our adaptability to customers’ needs that help keep things growing. We’ve been growing with the flow…

  Coming up next: sustainability and startups.

  -Justin

  Continue Reading…

  

• These bootstraps are made for walkin’

  September 02, 2009

  So you have an idea. And some plans, energy, people interested in helping out, and a healthy dose of optimism. What next? How do you go from dreaming to making it a reality?

  The very first decision is to start going after customers or investors. Not only is it hard to do both well at the same time, but strategically there’s a difference. Do you relish having control over your creative idea and the autonomy in commercializing it, or would you rather put the priority on scaling quickly with the help of others to run the show?

  For me, it came down to what I felt most comfortable doing. I love talking with potential clients, understanding how they operate, and building solutions that address their needs. It was a no brainer to go after customers first, rather than investors. And I felt like we had a different take on collaboration software that we wanted to stay focused on and grow through client input.

  So five and a half years ago I started FMYI in a coffee shop. I interviewed Eric, our first employee, over a cup of joe. Later I found out he kept wondering when he was going to see the office. There wasn’t one. Eric spent the first week working out of my wife’s store having to answer questions about her handbags and baskets. We laugh about it now (he’s better at leading our tech team than hawking housewares), but it was consistent with our mission to focus all of our resources on the product and what customers want.

  Our team has grown FMYI through client revenue, which has made the journey more of a walk than a sprint. But if you’re passionate about your idea, and a laser-like focus on what people want, you’ll have what it takes to take on a marathon.

  “Are you ready bootstraps? Start walkin’!“

  Coming up in my next blog post: how to grow.

  -Justin

  Continue Reading…