Scratch

Founder
2018 -

Online Offline

Organiser
2014 -

The 5TH

General Manager
2017 - 2018

Haydenshapes

Freelance web design
2017

Aquabumps

Freelance web design
2016

ZANEROBE

Digital Marketing
2015 - 2017

Barney Cools

Digital Marketing
2015 - 2017

Subtype Store

Digital Marketing
2015 - 2017

Online Store Guys

Co-Founder
2013 - 2015

BodyWise

Co-Founder
2013 - 2017

Plan Lab

Co-Founder
Sold 2013

Could Plan Lab have been made 5 years ago?

We’re at a pretty freakin amazing time in society. There are so many things that we couldn’t do five years ago. The rate of change in our world is scary and oh so exciting. The best thing? Things are only going to move faster.

It got me thinking about Plan Lab and whether it would have been possible without VC funding even just five years ago.

Five years ago:

  • Freelancer wasn’t on anyone’s radar, hadn’t won any of it’s awards and was just working on it’s product. I wouldn’t have had access to overseas developers.
  • Cloud software was barely around and rarely adopted. I would have had to absorb CD-distribution into my costs and set up distribution points around the world.
  • There wasn’t so much information around and so many idea-building tools to help me to visualise the concept.
  • Plan Lab simply wouldn’t have happened.

Books such as Eric Ries’ The Lean Startup and more recently, The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau have paved the way for small, ambitious businesses to change markets and introduce niche products on a global stage. Last month, on a $6,000 budget including development and marketing, i released Plan Lab. I want to shake up the online marketing plan software market that until now, has been dominated by large software companies.

The task was daunting. Five, or even three years ago, I probably couldn’t have contemplated something this daring. We see small business owners around the world using it to learn how to successfully market their businesses.

A world where a humble marketing agency can shake up a market dominated by a company a thousand times its size and produce something that helps businesses around the world to attain more profit and enjoyment out of their business, is truly amazing. I’m far from the brightest person building something like this. There are hundreds of bright, ambitious lean startups popping up every day, many without technical co-founders and large capital.

I personally can’t wait to see what the start up world is like in another five years.