Today we're announcing a new type of ongoing content for the Brightwurks blog ... something we're calling B Combinator.
So what is it? B Combinator is our attempt to build a bootstrapped web app ... publicly. As if it's not hard enough to self-fund a web app, we're also going to blog about the entire process. We're going to share every step of the way, giving people a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to build and launch version one.
What's with the name?
Of course the name "B Combinator" is a play on the Y Combinator name. Early in 2010 we applied to YC with this idea and were not accepted. I want to be clear that we aren't bitter. It was just an idea without a proof of concept at the time, so it makes sense that we weren't picked. However, we aren't the kind of people to sit idly by and wait for things to fall in our lap. We're finding a way to build it anyways.
Will it be harder? Yes. Will it take longer? Yes. Could we end up looking stupid? Yes. Despite all the challenges could it still be a game-changer? Absolutely!
As for the "B", it could stand for a number of things: Brightwurks, bootstrapped, "plan B" (as Y Combinator was plan A), badass (we hope) ... frankly it doesn't matter. Since the app doesn't have a name yet, B Combinator will have to do until there is something more official.
What are you building?
That's the next post, so stay tuned! We're just out to solve a practical problem we think a lot of businesses (including ours) have. It's not ground-breaking, just something we feel everyone in this market has done wrong.
We built the first version of Feed My Inbox in roughly 24 hours. This app needs more thought and work before we can launch, so we're taking a different approach.
I also want to give a hat tip to Carsonified and the Bare Naked App project they did 4+ years ago. I really enjoyed reading it and B Combinator is very much inspired by what that project was about.
The Objectives
- Prove that an idea is worthless; execution is everything. Enough said.
- Inspire readers and people in our business by sharing the entire process publicly
- Build a larger audience by sharing our process with others
- Generate feedback, ideas and discussion from readers about how to make the app better; we hope you will participate by reading and commenting.
- Writing about the process holds us accountable to making consistent progress and launching version 1
- Build an app that helps companies do business more efficiently and helps us do this full-time. Currently we split time between working on our projects at Brightwurks and doing client work at Project83.
Upcoming Posts
- What we're building
- Selecting a Name
- Wireframes v1
