d1g1nomad
Junior Member
- May 8, 2024
- 108
- 59
Until recently I was aware of BHW, an occasional lurker. Registered now, to share my journey, warts and all, to help you avoid the pitfalls I encountered. Next to that I hope to learn from you too of course! 
My background is a wild ride. Straight out of college, I ran my first business into the ground. Burned all student savings? Check. Devastated? Absolutely. But I bounced back. Worked day&night. Built a Magento B2C webshop, started importing tech accessories from USA, Asia, Europe. Dabbled in B2B sales quite successfully.
Next to running the webshop came the startup itch. I’ve gathered a rock-start team and we started to build a complex print-on-demand platform…figures out it was actually too big for our budget, experiences - everything! Pivoted with a smaller team to a SaaS web2print app (Flash, anyone?). Amazing feedback for the SaaS, starting making $$$ – things were looking great! Still worked my ass off - clocking 14-hour days for years; there was a month with over 400hours/work on my clock. The projects were my passion and brainchilds, everything but the coding. But greed, that sneaky devil, destroyed what started to be a big success! My friends, the twin brother-developers I trusted, took the code and wanted to start a copycat business. Of course without the industry know-how I had, contacts. Needless to say, their venture went nowhere, exactly zero licences sold. I was a wreck. Took me years to recover, both emotionally and financially, bankrupt.
A new job helped me, in the gambling - software development industry to be specific. I climbed the ranks from support to account manager, then project and product manager, making very valuable connections along the way. But the entrepreneur in me couldn't be silenced. Next to the job I started a private project (think six-figure revenue) in sports betting – arbitrage, value betting, the whole package. I had the industry info, knew how to stay under the radar, one step ahead of the bookies. Until it became more of a stress than a fun and fighting bookies for payouts started to be a daily-occurrence.
Job went well, we grew from a startup to a real company, but the corporate grind wasn't for me. A dream took hold, an app specifically designed for sports-betting tipsters. I quit the job. Landed an investor, built a team, and after two years of blood, sweat, and tears, we launched the beta - just recently! The feedback? Even better than I wished for! For reference: every 10th contact converts and it's cold DMs we’re doing!
Now, the challenge is scaling using cold DMs. That's why I'm here on BHW. To learn, to share, and to connect.
I'll be diving into other forums too, exploring IM journeys and sharing mine as well.
See you around!
P.S. Remote work has been my jam for over 10 years. I have a strong understanding of setting-up processes for remote-teams
My background is a wild ride. Straight out of college, I ran my first business into the ground. Burned all student savings? Check. Devastated? Absolutely. But I bounced back. Worked day&night. Built a Magento B2C webshop, started importing tech accessories from USA, Asia, Europe. Dabbled in B2B sales quite successfully.
Next to running the webshop came the startup itch. I’ve gathered a rock-start team and we started to build a complex print-on-demand platform…figures out it was actually too big for our budget, experiences - everything! Pivoted with a smaller team to a SaaS web2print app (Flash, anyone?). Amazing feedback for the SaaS, starting making $$$ – things were looking great! Still worked my ass off - clocking 14-hour days for years; there was a month with over 400hours/work on my clock. The projects were my passion and brainchilds, everything but the coding. But greed, that sneaky devil, destroyed what started to be a big success! My friends, the twin brother-developers I trusted, took the code and wanted to start a copycat business. Of course without the industry know-how I had, contacts. Needless to say, their venture went nowhere, exactly zero licences sold. I was a wreck. Took me years to recover, both emotionally and financially, bankrupt.
A new job helped me, in the gambling - software development industry to be specific. I climbed the ranks from support to account manager, then project and product manager, making very valuable connections along the way. But the entrepreneur in me couldn't be silenced. Next to the job I started a private project (think six-figure revenue) in sports betting – arbitrage, value betting, the whole package. I had the industry info, knew how to stay under the radar, one step ahead of the bookies. Until it became more of a stress than a fun and fighting bookies for payouts started to be a daily-occurrence.
Job went well, we grew from a startup to a real company, but the corporate grind wasn't for me. A dream took hold, an app specifically designed for sports-betting tipsters. I quit the job. Landed an investor, built a team, and after two years of blood, sweat, and tears, we launched the beta - just recently! The feedback? Even better than I wished for! For reference: every 10th contact converts and it's cold DMs we’re doing!
Now, the challenge is scaling using cold DMs. That's why I'm here on BHW. To learn, to share, and to connect.
I'll be diving into other forums too, exploring IM journeys and sharing mine as well.
See you around!
P.S. Remote work has been my jam for over 10 years. I have a strong understanding of setting-up processes for remote-teams
