It's been awhile but I am finally back, no tests, no broken computer; calm waters have finally returned.

So in my last post about CapitalCents, I talked about how I pitched my team and we did a lot of work to go from some idea in my brain and made a real business out of it. The whole process was a lot of work but seriously probably one of the most rewarding and fun things I have ever done. At the end of the project I had a great marketing (real close to a business) plan that I could run with and try to make dream into reality.
Now I was at a cross roads the class loved the idea but I was pretty much alone to do all the work. The only one from the team who seemed to want anything to do with the project, was talented but not a good fit for my baby. So after much angst and decision making I set out to write an RFP. What is an RFP you ask why it's a Request for Proposal, basically you are saying I need help and this is what I want at the end of the project. I needed someone to build the site for me because I didn't know a lick of html or any other web design code.
I had read a few RFPs in my life but I had never wrote one. So I consulted the internet and did lots and lots of research, some of the problems I was having was how do I go from thoughts to words to describe my vision with some accuracy while still allowing some developer the freedom to steer his own ship, how do I protect my business (I didn't want to give away too much info in the RFP; if a potential competitor read it they'd have the keys to the castle), and how in the world do I finally choose who I wanted to build it?
I finally found a site that I was comfortable with Guru and I posted my project there. I think I choose 30 days to respond which was a little to long because I was amped and ready to go. I'd recommend 14 days next time, let the thing expire review everyone's proposal and if necessary contact them via email or phone to talk some more. I think I ended up getting like 14 responses which was totally shocking, plus a bunch of emails and a bunch of phone calls (also I'd recommend letting them know you are not interested in phone calls, it'll save you time and probably help to reduce stress during this time). After I got back from vacation I settled on one company from India OptionMatrix the owner Navin is a great guy.
We negotiated terms of payment, schedule, work scope, and we started shortly thereafter.
Getting from A to B was simply overwhelming, there are literally billions of ways to go from one spot to another. The path I chose probably wasn't the easiest, the best, or the smartest but it worked for me and I don't regret at least getting on the road from A to B one bit.
So next time we'll talk about execution on the RFP, check out my previous posts on the topic and go check out CapitalCents still in BETA. Let me know what you think about it. How can we make it better?
The Pitch Pt2
The Vision Pt1