Be yourself
Recently I made it known that Twitpic is ran just by me (@noaheverett) against the advise of what others have told me. I was told that I should “act bigger” than what I really am and to make it seem that Twitpic is ran by a group/company…Screw that.
I value openness and I really appreciate it when a person/company is open about themselves and I want to be the same way.
Their advice was given with the mindset that acting bigger will help in getting VC funding or help in being acquired and I couldn’t disagree more. If you have to mask what you are or doing to get VC then they are not the right VC for you.
Currently Twitpic is completely self funded by me and the ad revenue pays for all the hosting expenses. (I’ll write a full post about being self funded soon)
So there you have it…Twitpic is self funded and ran by one guy from his apartment. Wooo! I feel better now.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:06 am
More power to you! You’ve got a great product and I completely agree with your philosophy regarding VC.
Have a safe Zombie Yule!
December 19th, 2008 at 10:06 am
“…Screw that.”
Good for you man. This site is incredible and to know it’s done by one person is simply inspiring.
-Mike
December 19th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Noah, I ran a one man show and, while I didn’t flaunt that fact, I was honest to those who were interested. That includes customers and the media. My advice would be to communicate like larger entity (read professionally), but be accountable in the way only a one-person company can be.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Wow! I had no idea. Twitpic is awesome so well done on the one-man show!
December 19th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Awesome, congrats on being so successful!
December 19th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Thanks for the honesty and the great service. TwitPic is one of my favorite things about using Twitter. Keep up the great work.
Happy Holidays!
December 19th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Great work! I enjoy seeing these small one man shows take off.
Look forward to the posting on self funding.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Hello @noaheverett
I’m greatly impresses by the quality of your “one man show”. It has developed into my favorite mobile photo posting service. Keep up the good work.
Cheers,
@dentaku
December 19th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Goon on ya. Keep up the good work.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:11 am
♥
December 19th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Good for you! I had no idea, but now that I do, I think it’s incredibly awesome knowing that just one man did this.
Keep up the great work!
December 19th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Twitpic is a great service regardless of how “big” of an operation it is. The fact that it’s a one man show makes it more inspiring to support and continue using. Keep up the great work and I support the transparency. It can also help manage expectations when/if things go wrong.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Twitpic rocks! If you’ve done all this without help, then way more power to you. Looking forward to seeing it continue to grow!!
December 19th, 2008 at 10:12 am
That’s awesome! I wish you continued success. :)
December 19th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Small but mighty!…now what’s the problem? LOVE the program and use it all the time. -as for video of HQ – YES!
December 19th, 2008 at 10:15 am
If anything, more impressive :)
Keep up the great work :D
December 19th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Dell started in his doormroom.
Google too…
Even microsoft.
A lot of startups are a One Man Idea… the advantage is that rigth now, are cheap to adquire :D
Your idea is good. Keep the costs as low as you can. Your apartment as offices is a good idea.
And… more important… enjoy the trip!
Don’t let moronic consultants with no experience tell you what to do. If everything would be as easy or straightforward as many people say, then no one would be employee and we all should have huge and rich enterprises.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Am I the only person who, given all the hints and posts before, thought this was the case? I was already under the impression that Twitpic was handled by at the most a very small team. That doesn’t stop it from being an amazing service. You don’t have to be a large group in order to get VC funding. You just have to have a great product or idea.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Noah. Your honesty permeates the wonderfully functional and necessary product you’ve created. Your aim is true. Thanks again for making Twitter a richer experience for all of us.
Happy Holidays :)
December 19th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Noah – you are a hero. You provide such an excellent service – right up there with the stars of the web 2.0 world – competing with massively-funded outfits with shiny corporates and free food. Not only that but you’ve got the cahonas to cut through the usual half-truths and big-ups to tell it like it is.
More power to you. I hope that 2009 brings you everything that you want. Well done.
Ian.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:18 am
There’s no shame in being a small entity, but there’s pride in being open and honest. I say, congrats.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Mazel Tov, Noah
I think your awesome.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Pretty cool.. I like your idea..
I bet you have a real job too, how do you find the time for it?
December 19th, 2008 at 10:24 am
I wouldn’t have known unless you said something, honestly. You’re doing a great job, and as you said, if a VC can’t get past the fact that it’s just a one-man operation, they’re not the one that you need. You’ve obviously built a great service, and if a single number is holding them back, that’s ridiculous. Users and a fantastic service speak volumes.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Amazing for a one man show. Well done.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Noah, that makes me like TwitPic even more. I’ll try to eat up some more of your storage space and patronize your advertisers.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:39 am
You created a service that has been integrated into several other applications/services, Twibble, slandr, etc. It’s being used by ordinary people all over the world, every day. I loved when UK celebrity @stephenfry sent his twitpics from Madagascar while making a film there.
When my phone no longer could get access to Flickr’s site, I could still Twitpic my snapshots.
Not a big company? Well, you made a great thing come through and we are many that thank you, Noah. :)
December 19th, 2008 at 10:42 am
In this economy, I definitely think you’re doing the right thing. We love the service, and you seem to have been able to mostly avoid the problems that even Twitter proper had when it began to take off.
In short, regardless of where this all takes you, keep up the good work and, from my perspective, the transparency is very refreshing!
December 19th, 2008 at 10:46 am
i have always played “neutral” with that aspect of my business. having a company/name allows a certain facade, that might allow an upper hand for financial negotiation but in the end i think that you did the right thing.
twitter is different/special in that way. also, you have the entire twitter community currently using your service so i doubt you’ll have any trouble with your VC/funding.
cheers
December 19th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Very inspiring. Makes me want to work on my personal projects even harder. Thanks.
December 19th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Didnt we already know this?
I thought we did, and I think you are right by clarifying it anyway. There’s nothing wrong with being a solo artist, it’s clear you are running something useful, does it matter how many people are involved?
December 19th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Amazing
December 19th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I think it speaks well of you, that can do all you do, had the vision to be first,
and have grown. I say well all retweet the Twitpic account and help the entrepreneur out. We’ve all had an additional dimension to the awesomeness of Twitter, for free from Noah!
December 19th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Okay, when I buy/use stuff, I prefer to buy/use handmade stuff by indie crafters. It’s higher quality, with a personal touch, and the producer actually gives a crap about their customer base. Which is sort of why (despite knowing it already) I think it’s swell that you’re unashamedly running TwitPic by yourself, Noah.
“Act bigger” generally equates to “be a wanker” and clearly (thankfully!) that is not how you roll. You are doing a fantastic job, it’s a wonderful service.
Happy Festivus, doll! <3
December 19th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
TwitPic rocks! Keep up the great work. Mahalo.
December 19th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
rock on.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Cool! It doesn’t look or function like a one man operation, which is impressive in itself. Kudos for the honesty and all your good work!
December 19th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Like many others, I am surprised and humbled. Fantastic accomplishment. May you be duly rewarded some day.
December 20th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Noah,(Little/Bigman) I’m”Stoked” that I get to participate(as Appuser) in your rollercoaster ride upwards…Thanks again for TwitPic.
December 20th, 2008 at 10:42 am
WOW a great app & honesty. I may start believing in honest politicians — nope I’m not that far gone. Thanks!
December 20th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Hey Noah. I’d like to add my thanks for the service and the quick support I’ve received when needed. I’d be willing to pay a monthly microfee for an ad-free version of TwitPic. Are you considering that as an option? Cheers.
December 20th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
As someone who hopes to re-launch his own website, run completely on the backs of one person (me, of course), this is mega inspirational. To hell with what “everyone” says.
December 20th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
It’s “Twitpic is RUN by me…”
December 20th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Noah – you rock! …really – Shawn
December 20th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
More power to you. I’m gonna pimp your service even more now that I know it’s a one-man-show. That’s awesome. Keep it up.
December 20th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Well done sir on the service, the marketing and the operations.
December 21st, 2008 at 2:49 am
Hat tip from Sweden, man :)
Interested in some technicals, architecture.
Cheers,
Chris
December 21st, 2008 at 5:31 am
[...] Twitpic Blog » Blog Archive » Be yourself [...]
December 21st, 2008 at 9:23 am
I do enjoy twitpic, but I should add here that you may have misinterpreted what others were saying. (Typically, this advice is passed on for say, freelancers that might get screwed by their clients, and you don’t have paying clients here). Setting up a LLC (limited liability corporation, named that on purpose) or other legal entity protects someone from going after the farm, as it were, instead of just after the business. The issue becomes that you have to represent yourself as twitpic, LLC and not just @noheverett then, because later they might be able to say that you were not working for twitpic, LLC, you were working on your own or somesuch.
Again, it’s unlikely that such a situation would be applied to you working on twitpic, but I think that may be what people were trying to get across?
I-am-not-a-lawyer, but one might be able to explain this all better than I can.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:06 pm
congrats on being a one man show – I love twitpic, and think its great that its a small shop. Good luck!
December 21st, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Mahalo for your honesty! You deserve to be funded for YOUR efforts n not what someone thinks you should be. Be true to yourself.
December 26th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
This is why you kick butt:)..
December 26th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Wow, I had no idea! I really like Twitpic – I find it incredibly useful and easy to operate
December 31st, 2008 at 2:55 pm
I just discovered Twitpic and posted my first picture. Thank you, it was easy and I can see it becoming addictive.
The way you are going, you won’t be a one-man-band for long!
~Luci :)
January 14th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Inspirational… especially in THIS economy. Great work Noah.
January 17th, 2009 at 11:04 am
I think the whole idea of Web2.0 is transparency. I’m with you. Be yourself. I see many companies trying to “act bigger” but it’s pretty obvious with all their stock photography and corporate doublespeak. You are the REAL DEAL. Bravo!
January 17th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I think it’s fantastic you went public about doing this yourself. About 10 years ago I started a small hosting company ; it never went past Palace servers but I loved what I did (was a side gig) and made some money.
TwitPic is one of the few add on apps that sold me on twitter, mainly because I didn’t need a new fancy phone and it does what I wanted it to, update twitter with a photo without downloading it !!
Thanks and good luck you to =)
-Greg
January 19th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Wow, that is great, and I appreciate your candor!
January 21st, 2009 at 5:38 am
Noah,I enjoy the levity I can add to my tweets with an animal mug shot! I appreciate the ability to make a visual pun.I wish I could choose pics on my iPhone to upload,but that is their limitation! This is a remarkable effort, and I fir one thank you,applaud you and hope to use you …to add a (mostly) feline augmentation to a silly post, Thank you so much for your ingenuity, would always be happy to try out anything new; my friends called me the beta bog in grad school as I unknowingly seemed to have a lovely ability to attract errors!! Sincerely jmedvm (Jaime Merrifield)
January 21st, 2009 at 9:36 am
[...] Noah of Twitpic fame is a great example of this (true that!). [...]
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:08 pm
wow! I didn’t know that~ quite impressive!! You rock!! But someday soon you will be needing some help, you will get too stressed out~
January 28th, 2009 at 6:49 am
Just checked the Quantcast Audience profile… this is what it says:
“Twitpic.com is a top 5,000 site (#1460) that reaches over 1.8 million monthly people, of which 1.1 million (63%) are in the U.S. The site appeals to a slightly male slanted, young adult group.The typical visitor shops at Lowe’s and orders from Hallmark”
It ranks just after allstate.com, bose.com and gettyimages.com and AHEAD of carfax.com, marykay.com or compuserve.com.
Not bad for one person, I’d say.
February 20th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
I really value what you do and how you do it. Thank you for creating a resource that is open and available a very large community. I wish I knew something about software so I could help you out – until then, keep up the great work!
March 1st, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Wonderful..Good job! Reading my mind again-thought that was my job-Oh Wellll-can’t and won’t do everything myself so thanks again and have a wonderful day!
March 4th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Might want to change some of the pages from “we” to “me” then. :)
http://twitpic.com/advertise.do
March 15th, 2009 at 1:15 am
I’m looking forward to reading the article on being self-funded – I’d love to hear your ideas on the topic.
March 27th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
From one, one person company to another: “One day we will be big and when that happens we can feel good about how hard we worked on getting it that way.”
Way to go Noah, you have a great site! I love your honesty!!!
March 28th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
“twitpic is a one man show…”
really? that’s awesome! i didn’t know that before, but it makes me love twitpic even more… :)
April 13th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
nice job, keep the gloms out of the way…
Cheers!
April 15th, 2009 at 8:00 am
I’m really impressed – twitpic looked a lot bigger than you say – almost had the image of a young startup that had been funded – I’m blown away that you manage to keep the site funded using the ad revenue – that must have taken quite a while to work out that it would work like that. Congratulations!
April 24th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Isn’t small the new big! Your staff may be small but your honesty is huge. Thanks!
June 18th, 2009 at 7:18 am
Who cares if it’s a one-man show? Buy Twitter and you’ll have a team :)
June 28th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I totally agree with you. Why lie when the truth doesn’t make anything different, twitpic is still a great site even tho you don’t got a 100 employees.