We have been wanting to bring our blog to life for a while now, and that day has finally come. Let me take this opportunity to tell you how we got to where we are today.
GB started almost two years ago as a product-based company, with one goal in mind: develop the best content management system in the world. We envisioned this product would change the way companies handled their internal and external communications, thus improving their overall productivity and profit.
Soon enough, we realized that it wouldn't be easy to market such a product, for the competition is fierce and sales were not keeping pace with our expenses.
That was our first hard-learnt lesson.
You don't know what your customers really want, until you talk to them and understand what they feel as an actual pain.
The second one, was that (surprisingly enough) the lack of revenue is a major issue.
Up to that moment we were a company called Group Buddies, selling one product called Handy Ant. Since then, the company's name was the only thing that remained the same.
We went through a complete makeover, from a product-based company to a service-oriented team. Since we always believed in bootstrapping and needed income, this was a natural step for us. Therefore, the only alternative we had was to accept that we would become, for the time being, a service-oriented team, providing web development consultancy.
Twelve months have gone by since that decision and I'm thrilled to say that it was the best decision we ever made.
We were very lucky to work with excellent clients, with which we passionately collaborate in amazing projects.
This last year made us learn and evolve a lot in terms of product development, design processes, development practices, and more. If twelve months ago everything changed except our name, I can now say that it was definitely for the better.
As a team, we have never been as passionate and knowledgeable as today, and the feeling is that we will get even better, a day at a time.
This has been a fantastic ride, with a fantastic team, working with great clients, in exciting projects. Nevertheless, we hope this was just the beginning of a much longer and prosperous adventure.
We have a lot more to share, so stay tuned.
You will not regret it.
Roberto Machado
Founder, Group Buddies