Anyone can bootstrap a startup to riches ... how about this one? (opens in new tab)

When writing about the success and failure of startups, I talked a lot about luck being the most important contributing factor to the success of any startup, but I also talked about the importance of being a "surrogate customer". In other words, if you can identify a problem that you personally experience but currently has no solution, and if you can be passionate about it and fundamentally believe that it is an industry-wide problem that affects a sizable community, then you have identified the cornerstone you need to build a company.

The problem that I have identified is one where I want to find potential customers, customers who have never heard of us and could never find us on their own. And the only solution available to me (PR firms and conventional media) is inherently "channel-inefficient". So what do I do ... I do the only thing that entrepreneurs know how to do which is to force a paradigm shift. The new paradigm is an innovative marketing channel and it is called LoveMyTool.

LoveMyTool is all about "Advocacy Marketing".

LoveMyTool does not post press releases nor marketing collaterals. Instead we post only customer testimonials and technical reviews by third parties (i.e., advocates who "love" their tools and are passionate about our industry).