Bootstrapper’s hall of fame: Printing with promise
No matter what the job, Andrew S. Field and his team at PrintingforLess are ready to help.
Field bootstrapped the current on line service which boasts the ability to print from almost any printing software including Microsoft Publisher and the like.
"I love, love, LOVE Printing for less. Seriously, I use them over our local printers all the time. They have such amazing customer service that it's almost as if you have someone there doing a press check for you," says Lisa J. Fargo, Fargo Graphic Design Co., McKees Rocks, PA, one of MANY satisfied customers.
Here are the details, related by Field in a 2006 interview, of how he built his on line printing empire:
• Starting simply. PrintingforLess didn't start out as a revolutionary concept but rather as a simple business seeking to fill a need.
• Satisfying customers. The key to Field's success has been serving his clients, and they have plenty to say about it.
• Building from scratch. The company began, not as the on line innovator it is today but simply as a standard printing service in livingston, MT.
• Growing pains. It didn't take long for Fields to recognize his company had limits in the small community, at least in its conventional form, but soon inspiration struck and the printing business will never be the same.
• The shape of things to come. Investing only the revenue of his existing printing business, Field used a website designed by an employee to offer his first on line printing services while another worker took orders part-time by phone.
• Home made. The database at the heart of the company's all important order tracking system is bootstrapped too built bit by bit by the company instead of spending the projected $1 million for a system created by an outside firm.
• VC pariah. Like many bootstrappers, Field found he could not get outside funding even if he had wanted it. "We talked to a couple of VC's and basically they just laughed at us," he recalls.
• Keep on trucking. Using the same ingenuity and innovation he used to bootstrap his company driven by a desire to satisfy customers and keep the competition at bay, Field remains on the lookout for new opportunities growing and expanding his business as he does so.