SwirrlSpeak

I recently came across a couple of blog posts by Richard Sine about startups, and I felt that some of what he said rings true for us at Swirrl.

For example, Swirrl currently has no external investors – it’s entirely owned by Bill and me, funded from personal savings. I’ve sold my sporty gas guzzling car (though not a Saab like Tony in the article), and I’m living partially off the proceeds …and the fuel savings.

When discussing Swirrl, it’s astonishing how often we’re asked for detailed financial projections. So far our answer has more or less been “I have no idea”, which doesn’t always go down well. We know a lot about our costs, but the revenue side of the equation is still a guess, or a target – but you couldn’t really call it a forecast. So I guess it’s a good job we’re not looking for any external investment at the moment.

The truth is, at such an early stage in proceedings, we can’t see how it’s possible to know exactly how much income Swirrl will generate. We’re pretty sure we’ve got something useful and interesting that people will pay for, but the only way to really find out is to get people using it and work from there.

(dolllar image by TW Collins)