Gret Glyer – Untechnical Founder of Donor$ee

Gret Glyer is a world-changer.

Gret’s story starts with an African safari in high school and leads us to today, where he’s living in Malawi building $800 homes, a school for girls and a really interesting new technology product. I met Gret a few months back, and when he came to me with his idea for Donor$ee, I was immediately interested in doing whatever I could to help bring it to fruition.

Donor$ee is a giving platform focused on the new ways that people are donating their time and money. Gone (or going) are the days of the big, bloated charity using 50% or more of your donation to keep the operation running. The smartphone revolution is providing a level of personal touch that was unthinkable even five years ago. DonorSee is bringing the humanity back to charity, and blurring the lines between giver and receiver in radical new ways.

It’s my hope that by reading Gret’s story, you’ll be encouraged to apply the lessons he’s learned to launch your product.

Gret has broken through the three most common myths in building a technology product:

• Myth #1 – The Technology is the Hard Part
• Myth #2 – You Have to Raise Money Immediately
• Myth #3 – You Have to Have Done This Before

Myth #1 – The Technology is the Hard Part

If you’re not a developer, it’s easy to believe that the actual coding will be the hardest part of starting your venture. When Gret and I first started talking about his app, he was focused on finding a technical co-founder to help him build the first version of the app.

As we dug into the business model, how much customer research he had done, and other similar questions, some gaps emerged that needed to be filled before any code should be written.

Gret set to work on a Business Model Canvas and preliminary revenue model.

He then started doing some testing of the concepts of the product within existing apps.

• He used Crowdrise to test a number of projects, each with a different aspect of the model
• He used Facebook and other social media outlets to get the word out about each project
• He started doing initial customer discovery with people who would likely be his early adopters

As he did all of these tests and worked through the problems, the idea became more clear in his head. He then took those ideas and distilled them down to wireframes using Balsamiq Mockups (my favorite wireframing tool).

When he was ready to start building the app, we talked about the funding required to get the initial version done. We talked about onshore, offshore, and everything in between.

Gret eventually decided to post the project on Upwork. After a number of bidders, he narrowed down to one or two possible contractors and had each of them do a small test project. One emerged as a clear winner.

While the bidding was happening on Upwork, he posted a design contest on 99 Designs and immediately started getting quality pitches from designers all over the world.

About a week into the process of building the app, Gret and I had the following exchange on Slack:

Scott: “How are you liking the process so far?”
Gret: “Completely addicted.  A whole new avenue of creation has been opened up.”

Myth #2 – You Have to Raise Money Immediately

One of the big questions Gret had before starting development was about how much money he needed to raise and when. We talked through a number of options, from raising a bunch of money immediately to fund a full development team all the way to bootstrapping it with his own money.

This is always a tough question. With more money you can run faster, but if you raise money too early you end up either (a) giving up too much of your company or (b) spending money on stuff you shouldn’t or (c) all of the above.

Gret eventually settled on funding the initial version of the application out of his own pocket.

To date, he’s spent about $500 on a design contest and about $3,000 getting the app built. He still owns 100% of the company and the idea, and has no one to answer to for direction of the idea and product.

There will come a time in the near future where more funding will be required, but by that time he will have a number of users on the product and months of learning more about the problem he’s trying to solve.

The story he can tell prospective investors will be more clear and compelling, and he’ll be able to get a better deal. In addition, investors will see that Gret’s been willing to risk his own time and money before asking them to risk theirs.

Myth #3 – You Have to Have Done This Before

Gret is a self-starter to be sure. He taught himself how to shoot and edit video, and now runs a successful YouTube channel. He moved to one of the poorest countries on the planet to work on issues of systemic poverty and need. He doesn’t shy away from a challenge.

But he’s never built a technology product before. He’s only exceptional in that he’s willing to try things he doesn’t fully understand yet and maybe get his nose broken a time or two. Every resource and recommendation that’s been provided he’s absorbed and applied. He’s embraced the unknown while mitigating his downside risk.

He embraces the essence of this Steve Jobs quote: “Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.”

Building technology is not easy, but’s it’s also eminently understandable and doable if you’re willing to put in the time.

The success or failure of Gret’s project, Donor$ee is still very much in question, as are most big ideas at the beginning. What is not in question anymore is whether or not Gret can go from idea to working app without having to fully understand how to write code, having a pile of money, or any prior experience.