

What's your story? Why start Balsamiq? - aditya
http://www.balsamiq.com/blog/?p=79

======
run4yourlives
This is an excellent perspective from a single founder (with child, no less)
that will be helpful for bootstrappers.

On top of all that, the product seems pretty cool.

~~~
aditya
Along with the fact that he managed to make it work even though he's not in a
startup hub. balsamiq is a dream startup!

~~~
zhyder
If you don't need investors or cofounders/employees, there is no advantage to
a startup hub. You could live anywhere with an Internet connection and a
(VoIP) phone. In fact in such a situation it makes sense to live in an area
with lower cost of living, as Balsamiq's founder is doing.

~~~
robfitz
it's easy to slip out of startup mode when nobody around you is doing it. peer
pressure & constant exposure help a lot.

you certainly can do it, and the perks you mentioned are spot on, but i've
always found it harder to stay motivated when not around startuppy people.

~~~
zhyder
Cofounders exert a lot of peer pressure. I'd be surprised if being in physical
proximity to other startuppy friends generally matters much, considering we do
some of that interaction online (HN/Facebook/email/etc.) anyway.

------
djm
An inspiring story. I want to know how that guy managed to actually see his
laptop screen whilst coding on the beach in the sun.

~~~
zhyder
One trick is to completely turn off the backlight (can be done on MBPs), and
treat the display as a reflective screen. It isn't perfect: looks almost as
washed out as with max brightness on the backlight, but without the battery
drain.

Definitely an inspiring story with Balsamiq, though I do also see it as
competition to Dabbleboard, so -ahem- you know where my loyalties lie.

------
shafqat
Everytime I hear this guy's story, I get more impressed. He was actually one
of the guys I had in mind when I wrote my post on why its a good time to be in
a startup. Talk about capital efficiency!

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=332527>

------
rrival
I am a very happy user of Balsamiq. I was able to deliver 20+ rough wireframes
in about 6 hours using its interface. It would've taken significantly longer
in OmniGraffle and we've been able to use them cross platform b/c of AIR.

A++ would do business with again.

~~~
jamongkad
Is OmniGraffle like Balsamiq? I though they're apps attacking different
problems..

~~~
rrival
At an early stage of requirements gathering they're complementary for
wireframes. Revisions/UI specs will be fleshed out in Omnigraffle for greater
precision later, but that's after we've iterated with client in Balsamiq,
which is what it makes so easy.

------
volida
I think readwriteweb.com is looking for these stories...

[http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/web_20_gritty_entrepren...](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/web_20_gritty_entrepreneur.php)

------
davi
This from Atlassian on Balsamiq:
<http://blogs.atlassian.com/news/2008/10/quit_your_job_a.html>

