How selling a simple Excel spreadsheet led to a $4M dollar company – with Jesse Mecham

Jesse Mecham, YouNeedaBudget, Bootstrapping, SaaS (software as a service), System

One of the big lessons from the 1000+ interviews on Mixergy is the power of starting with the simplest thing you can possibly create.

Most people want to create sophisticated products that work perfectly. In these interviews we learn about how simplicity wins.

Today we’re going to meet a founder who created a multi-million dollar software company. How did he start? By selling a copy of an Excel spreadsheet that he created.

Jesse Mecham is the founder of You Need a Budget (YNaB for sort), software helps people to create budgets.

Jesse Mecham

YouNeedaBudget

Jesse Mecham is the founder of You Need a Budget (YNaB for sort), software helps people to create budgets.

 

Andrew: Hey there, freedom fighters. My name is Andrew Warner. I am the founder of Mixergy.com, home of the ambitious upstart. I’ve done over 1,000 interviews. And you know, one thing that I’ve heard over and over again as I’ve done these interviews, is start with the smallest, most simple version of your idea possible.

Today’s guest is smiling as I’m saying this. And the reason he’s smiling is, he went way smaller than most people would even imagine. He created a multi-million dollar company, but started it by selling just an Excel spreadsheet. Not Excel, not a spreadsheet, just like a spreadsheet he created on Excel. And today he’s got a really successful, thriving company that I invited him here to talk about. His name is Jesse Mecham. He is the founder of You Need A Budget, or YNAB for short. It’s software that helps people create budgets.

This interview is sponsored by Scott Edward Walker of Walker Corporate Law....

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