Shane Young grows his small business the old-fashioned way: with slow, organic growth. No loans. No seed funds. No angel investors.
“You want to do something? Find a way to make the money, not borrow it,” Shane explains.
This small-business mentality has served him well. Shane started his first company, SharePoint911, in his basement. He hired only the smartest people in the industry — and only when he’d made enough money to afford it. When the economy crashed in 2009, he didn’t have to let anyone go. And in 2012, he sold SharePoint911 for millions.
After this success, he dabbled in the world of startups and venture capital. But he soon realized, “I don’t like startups.”
“To try to build a business around the money, and then just try to get to neutral doesn’t make sense. 90% of our effort was spent around raising more money,” he said. “Startups are the polar opposite of small businesses.”
He has since returned to his small-business roots and is now the founder and owner of PowerApps911. He’s also a rising YouTube star, with over 77,000 subscribers and millions of views.
In this Founders Series episode of Cloud Talk, join host Jeff DeVerter and Shane Young as they discuss their history working together, the Microsoft landscape, how PowerApps enables non-developers, and the biggest differences between operating a small business and operating a startup.
Listen now to learn more about:
The genesis of Sharepoint911
Lessons learned about building a small business for scale
How Shane incorporates YouTube into his business and marketing plans
Tips for hiring the right talent when growing your business
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The Solve team is made up of a curator team, an editorial team and various technology experts as contributors.
The curator team:
Srini Koushik, CTO, Rackspace Technology
Jeff DeVerter, Chief Technology Evangelist, Rackspace Technology
The editorial team:
Gracie LePere, Program Manager
Royce Stewart, Chief Designer
Simon Andolina, Design
Tim Mann, Design
Abi Watson, Design
Debbie Talley, Production Manager
Chris Barlow, Editor
Tim Hennessey Jr., Writer
Stuart Wade, Writer
Karen Taylor, Writer
Meagan Fleming, Social Media Specialist
Daniel Gibson, Project Manager
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