Harvest: Solving Their Own Problem Led To A Bootstrapped, Profitable Business – with Danny Wen

Danny Wen, Harvest, B2B, Bootstrapping, Consulting, SaaS (software as a service), System

This is the story of how a frustration led to a bootstrapped company that does over a million in annual revenue.

In 2005, Danny Wen and his friend Shawn Liu ran a consulting company that had trouble tracking time and invoicing clients. They figured other businesses had the same issue, so they set out to build a web-based solution. Four months later, they launched Harvest. Within a year, it was so successful that they were able to transition away from consulting work to focus completely on products.

Danny Wen

Harvest

Danny Wen is the co-founder of Harvest, simple online time tracking, timesheet and invoicing software.

 

Three messages before we get started. First, do you want to build a web app that interacts with phones? Twilio makes it easy. A few months ago the founders of GroupMe used Twilio to build a group texting service. According to CNN, the company raised $9 million in funding and is now believed to be worth $30 million. How will you use Twilio to build a voice and SMS apps?

Second, do you know anyone who wants to build an online store? Would you tell them that I said that Shopify is the easiest way to build a robust store? GitHub uses Shopify to sell T-Shirts and mugs to its fans. What will you sell online after you discover the power of Shopify?

Finally, are you still coordinating projects by e-mail and wondering why you’re not productive? Would you check out TeamworkPM.net? TeamworkPM.net is trusted by Universal Studios, University of Texas at Austin, the U.S. Army, and many other organizations. But if you’re just trying to coordinate with a small company...

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