From Passion Project to Empowering Others: Celebrating a Decade of Bookwhen

2024 marks a special year for us at Bookwhen - a decade of innovation and growth. To celebrate this milestone, we sat down with our founder, Jo Potts, for a candid conversation on Bookwhen's journey, exploring its evolution from a passion project to a company focused on empowering others to follow their passions.

Q. What moment, key milestones, or achievements are you most proud of during Bookwhen’s past 10 years?

As a bootstrapped business, the initial goal was to generate enough revenue to be sustainable. Starting small is tough, but as things grow, the next challenge becomes finding the right people to join the cause. Every hire has been a significant step in the company's journey, and I'm incredibly proud of the culture we've built together. Once the ball is rolling, things fall into place, and milestones become more arbitrary and metrics-driven, like reaching a certain number of customers. Ten thousand is our next target, and we're not far from achieving it!

Q. What has been the most surprising thing about our journey over the past decade?

It's strange to admit, but I never started the business with growth in mind. It was simply a passion project funded by the customers. Growth was organic and incidental, however it's been strong and steady since the start. It means we've retained our culture and not suffered from the downsides of having investors. Having said that, I now see growth as being fundamental to our future. The core mission is to help our customers, and the only way we can do that is by making the product as good as possible, which requires revenue.

Q. What were some of the biggest challenges or obstacles you faced during Bookwhen’s growth, and how did you overcome them?

The start of the pandemic caused some concern, but we acted swiftly with the Zoom integration. A lot of businesses suffered terribly, so I feel very fortunate that we managed to get through it unscathed. I am also proud that we managed to help so many businesses continue what they were doing by moving online.

We've been a fully remote team since the start. As many people discovered in the pandemic, it's great in so many ways, like the ability to focus and avoid the commute, but it also adds to the challenge of keeping the team connected. We work hard on that and try our best to find a careful balance with online meetings, as they're necessary but draining. We also meet in person a few times a year, which is always fantastic.

Q. Looking ahead, what do you see as our biggest challenge facing Bookwhen, and what do you envision for Bookwhen’s future in the next 5-10 years?

The future is so exciting, and I feel like we're just getting started. Our strength is the culture we've built and the focus on what's important — providing a great system and service. So the challenge is retaining that culture of striving for excellence, always focusing on improving while growing to enable us to do that.

My vision of where we can take this is huge, and that's what keeps me going. In five to ten years we're going to see a lot of changes with technology, so the challenge will be anticipating where that's going and adapting accordingly, but we're definitely in a good place to do that.

As we reflect on the past decade at Bookwhen, it's clear that our journey has been driven by passion, innovation, and a relentless focus on empowering our users. From our humble beginnings as a bootstrapped business to becoming a trusted tool for countless organisations, every milestone has been a testament to our commitment to making a difference.

Jo Potts's insights provide a glimpse into the core values and strategic vision that have shaped Bookwhen's success. Whether it's overcoming challenges like the pandemic or fostering a strong remote team culture, these stories highlight our resilience and dedication to delivering excellence.

Looking to the future, we are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. As technology continues to evolve, Bookwhen is poised to adapt and grow, always keeping our mission at the forefront: empowering you to follow your passions and streamline your operations.

Join Us on This Journey 🎉

We invite you to be a part of Bookwhen's next chapter. If you're looking for a seamless and efficient booking management system to manage your events, classes, or appointments, sign up today and experience the power of Bookwhen's online scheduling software for yourself.

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