Melissa Kwan created her first software company in 2014 and then sold it in 2019. It was extremely difficult to start and even harder to grow, but it's how she learned what not to do in her next startup and what was really "non-negotiable" in her life. Now she's a nomadic world traveler and the founder of a growing software business.
Melissa started Spacio to provide a technology solution to high-end residential real estate agents to capture visitor names electronically at open houses. It took years to find the right features that someone would pay for while tapping out her savings--and her family support. She sold the business in frustration to find a better business idea and to stop sacrificing everything for her business.
Melissa started her second software business, eWebinar, to solve a painful problem she faced while selling and supporting software. eWebinar is an automated webinar platform that provides interactivity and real-time chat support for software companies. Her business also supports her personal priorities, including traveling around the world and working from anywhere.
In this episode, Melissa explains:
- The hardest lessons she learned from her first software company which helped her design her second startup in a different way
- Why she was frustrated selling to the real estate market and why she chose to serve software companies with eWebinar
- The pervasive myth of big funding, unicorn exits, and ego-driven ecosystems that ultimately rob founders of their own freedom and control
- What success means to her and how she is creating her business to support her version of happiness
- How she bootstrapped eWebinar with small investments from friends and how she is growing it profitably each month
- Why a "5% better" product design and customer experience "that just works beautifully" is their key competitive advantage
- Why nobody wants to talk to a salesperson just to get a demo of a business software product
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