<i>Iqram ended up finding a cheap sublet in West Philly, and we spent the summer building websites for restaurants, salons, bars, etc. We went door to door selling, “Hey, you need a website. We’ll build it for $500…. $100? OK, deal.” We learned a lot as we tried to abstract the sites we were building into something modular, and we got a lot of experience pitching and hearing “no.” One “no” that I still regret more than most of the others I have subsequently heard (for much bigger deals) was for this amazing Pakistani restaurant, Kabobeesh, that served a chicken kabob sandwich on fresh naan bread for $3.50: we tried to sell them a site for 100 chicken rolls, but failed to close them.</i><p>I love how much time was spent exploring the early grind phase of this journey. Maybe Far too often this gets glossed over or glamorized as a mere waypoint on the way to eventual success.
Not directly related to the post but I just wanted to say Venmo is awesome. I've had an account for a while now but most of my friends didn't want to use it and so I wasn't very active. Starting about 2 years ago I got all my roommates on Venmo (Venmo to pay and Splitwise to track it) to handle groceries/rent/utilities/etc and I love no longer getting checks/cash.<p>I'm not sure if they had always offered debit-card-only setup (I think I had to add a bank when I first signed up) but they do now which is great for when people want to pay me. I can have the money in Venmo and moving towards one of my bank accounts in minutes. Just a few months ago my Mom wanted me to buy a gift for my dad so that it didn't show up on her card and so I ordered it and then after he had the gift she Venmo'd me the money. She didn't have an account setup but I had the money in less than 10 minutes. She isn't technically illiterate but she sometimes needs help with computer stuff but I just told her to use Venmo and she figured it all out by herself.<p>I have a bachelor party I'm attending this weekend and in a group chat with the other guys attending the guy who setup the hotel said we could bring cash/checks or just Venmo him the money. This is someone who, while they grew up with tech, isn't someone I would expect to use Venmo. It just goes to show that what I think of as "someone I would expect to use Venmo" is wrong/outdated.<p>I'm really excited to see Venmo get used more and more as it makes my life extremely more simple when it comes to paying friend back or getting paid back. I am going to start pushing my friends that don't have it yet to sign up, I'd like nothing more than to never get a check/cash from a friend again.
Venmo is the first app to actually change my life in a major way (beyond google maps, text messaging, the basics). It Is the single handedly most valuable app on my phone by 10 fold.<p>It basically removes all transaction costs involved with spending money and going out with friends.