Startup Corner: Chad Boyd, Txt2Give

Minimally viable product …
Donation platform for churches and nonprofits.

Problem solving …
A lot of people don’t carry cash or checks anymore, so asking them to donate this way puts up a barrier. Txt2Give was created to allow people to give to their church or favorite nonprofit using something they always have available: their smartphone.

Seed money …
We’re 100 percent bootstrapped. We’ve generated revenue from day one and have no debt and no investors. We aren’t against raising capital, but we aren’t currently looking to do so.

Hurdles overcome …
Refer back to the bootstrapped part. When you don’t have a lot of startup capital, you have to find ways to be creative. I didn’t have the luxury of hiring a rock star team right off the bat to start executing on my idea. I had to build things slowly, using a lot of sweat equity and late nights. But we’re making a lot of progress. We’re profitable and have hundreds of churches and nonprofits that trust and depend on us.

Next phase …
Growing the team, rebranding and expanding the product. As the business grew, it became painfully obvious that I couldn’t continue to do it all on my own. The first new team member I added was my wife. She stepped in to lead our customer support and customer success efforts. We’ll likely need to add a few more people to the team this year.

We’ve got some great ideas that will continue to transform the product into a more comprehensive platform for organizations to engage with their donors. As a result, Txt2Give as a company name will be too narrow. We’ve got a new name picked out, but until I get the green light from our trademark attorney I’m going to keep it a secret.

Pivot …
Early on, we were simply a service that churches could use to receive donations quickly through text message, and that’s still one of the main reasons why customers sign up with us today. But in talking with the market, we found they really wanted one vendor for all of their needs. We decided to expand our product offering. We now also offer online giving and donor communications through text message.

Biggest mistake …
Trying to do everything myself for too long. I’m a little bit of a control freak, so it’s not natural for me to let go of something and let someone else run with it. The problem is you aren’t a 10 at everything, and you’re holding your company back from growing by not letting people who are better than you execute on those things. I still struggle with it daily, but I’m learning to recognize when I’m doing it, and letting go.

Best advice …
Some of the best advice I’ve ever heard was from a blog post titled, “No more yes. It’s either HELL YEAH! or no.” The idea being that we’re all too busy, overcommitted and scattered, doing things that don’t really matter or don’t move the needle. By saying no to most things, you’ll leave room to say yes to the bigger, more important opportunities that come along.