Great write up. This is how I built my company, Just Add Content (http://justaddcontent.com), all on open source. Sure, it's no Dropbox but it's doing some pretty neat things. For example, it'll have front-end editing in the next few weeks, which makes content management incredibly easy.
This strategy was my only option. My BA is in Psychology and my MS is in Finance. I'm 29 and I spent the last 8 years in the Marine Corps (just got out in October as a Captain). I had no technical background, but on my last 12-month deployment to Afghanistan (returned in April 2013) I spent my free time building the first version on a $300 duct-taped laptop while teaching myself to code. For me it was a mental escape. I was on a small Marine advisor team living with Afghans. So sure, it's not revolutionary, but I did the best I could with what I had. And to this day I'm still a self-funded single founder and my costs are so low that even if I never got another customer I can stay alive indefinitely. I even have investment and acquisition interest from some companies in the space. Luckily I'm in the financial position to turn it down to keep focusing on my long-term vision.
When I started working on this in early 2012 I never imagined it'd be this hard, but I also never imagined I'd get this far. Even two years later I absolutely love it every day. I'm still passionate about the industry and have massive plans for the future. I want to change the way small businesses work and how they use websites. And look how it all started, just some dumb Marine that had an idea in 2012 a few weeks before deploying to Afghanistan for a year.
I enjoy reading this comment and can feel your enthusiasm. I was too in the Navy years ago and ended up coding when I had free time in the machine shop (enlisted ;)). People look at me like alien and thought I was some kind of genius... lolz
This strategy was my only option. My BA is in Psychology and my MS is in Finance. I'm 29 and I spent the last 8 years in the Marine Corps (just got out in October as a Captain). I had no technical background, but on my last 12-month deployment to Afghanistan (returned in April 2013) I spent my free time building the first version on a $300 duct-taped laptop while teaching myself to code. For me it was a mental escape. I was on a small Marine advisor team living with Afghans. So sure, it's not revolutionary, but I did the best I could with what I had. And to this day I'm still a self-funded single founder and my costs are so low that even if I never got another customer I can stay alive indefinitely. I even have investment and acquisition interest from some companies in the space. Luckily I'm in the financial position to turn it down to keep focusing on my long-term vision.
When I started working on this in early 2012 I never imagined it'd be this hard, but I also never imagined I'd get this far. Even two years later I absolutely love it every day. I'm still passionate about the industry and have massive plans for the future. I want to change the way small businesses work and how they use websites. And look how it all started, just some dumb Marine that had an idea in 2012 a few weeks before deploying to Afghanistan for a year.