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Outgrow.me – Where Fully Grown Kickstarter Projects Go

Kickstarter is the place to be these days for awesome projects and products, but have you ever come across something you had to have and then couldn’t find it once it raised all of it’s $10 contributions and went off to become a real thing? Sam Fellig has and despite no experience with web development he decided he was going to do something about it.

 

The result was outgrow.me, an aggregate site where you can find completed IndieGoGo and Kickstarter projects. After being posted on Reddit, outgrow.me gained 10,000 unique visitors in just a few hours.

 

 

 

 

Clearly Sam was not the only one having a hard time finding the cool crap that creative people are putting out into the world.

 

Sam conversed with us about his company, forgetting to eat and jumping into the startup world head first.

 

How long have you been involved with the internet?

I’m too young and have too short a memory to really recall my first encounter with the internet or my first computer, but what stands out in my mind is playing Warcraft II on Battle.net.

 

 

 

 

What experience do you have with web development?

I would answer that I have no experience! I always have ideas, but I’ve never had the necessary skills to implement any of them. This time, I decided to just go for it. I started with codecademy.com and learned some basics. The rest I learned “on the job.”

 

 

I took advantage of online tutorials and supportive communities like Reddit and stackoverflow, and I spent hours and hours figuring things out. Building the site was much more difficult that I imagined it would be, but I’m excited with how things are progressing.

 

What time do you usually start work each day? Do you have an office or work at home?

I usually get up at about 9:30-10AM and, as I work from home, I get right to work. Once I’m working, I’m 100% focused and in the zone. It’s very typical for me to completely forget to even eat anything until 4-5PM.

 

Recently, my wife has started making me lunch before she leaves for work and leaving it in the fridge with a big sign that says “EAT!” So now at around 2:30PM, right before she gets back from work, I remember about lunch and try to quickly stuff down sandwiches before she gets home..

 

 

 

 

What’s the first thing you do when you leave the office at the end of the day?

As I work from home, I never leave my office! At one point, I didn’t leave my apartment for 4-5 days in a row. I didn’t even notice the days go by. My first thought outside was “Wow, trees are seriously green!” If I do have any downtime, I’m either on Reddit or TED. I’m addicted to both!

 

When do your best ideas come to you? In bed in the morning? During dinner? After working for 16 hours? While out jogging? On your third beer?

My best ideas come to me while lying in bed late at night. I’ve always had trouble falling asleep, so it’s typical for me to be awake for hours in bed. I’m constantly groping for my phone and squinting while I type ideas into my phone to look over in the morning.

 

We want to know about where you spend your day! What’s on your desk right now?

I spend most of my time working on my couch. I do have a desk with an amazing office chair, but I’m most comfortable working on the couch using my laptop. My desk has become a storage center for all things miscellaneous.

 

 

 

Favorite book? Author?

I love to read, so picking just one book is really difficult. If you make me choose, I’d say Everything Is Obvious: *Once You Know the Answer by Duncan J. Watts.

 

A lot of people have big ideas. What gave you the confidence to actually put your life on hold and realize yours?

I decided to just go for it. No excuses; no procrastinating; no waiting around for other people’s help. I just decided to reach out and take it.

 

What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs struggling to get their business off the ground?

I’m no mentor, but I’d say “just go for it.” It sounds cliché, but until everyone starts going for it, I’m going to keep saying it. Stop waiting for other people to come through. They won’t. Stop waiting for the right time. There is no right time. Just go for it, today. Now. Seriously, why are you even still reading this?

 

If you are still reading this, don’t skimp on web hosting.

 

Who has been your biggest cheerleader throughout this process?

My entire family has always been immensely supportive in everything I do. My wife, has been especially supportive of me, despite the days and days of me being glued to my computer until the wee hours in the morning and my complete inability to focus on anything other than work! Also shout-out to my sister Rachel who has been listening to my wild ideas for years.

 

 

 

 

3 people you recommend we follow on Twitter, and why?

I’ve never been too involved with Twitter. I’m just getting into it, and I have no idea what I’m doing. To me, it just seems like everyone is in one large room yelling at the same time.

 

We also love to know the fact and figures: revenue (this year? last year? your first year in business?), profit, investments, year of funding / amount of funding, number of employees, etc.

At the moment, it’s just me! I have been interviewing a number of developers interested in coming on board, so the outgrow.me family should be seeing some rapid expansion very shortly!

 

Where can our readers get ahold of you? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Personal blog?

FacebookTwitterPinterest and feel free to shoot me an email any time at my email.

 

Photo Credits

Codecademy.com / OutGrow.me

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