FreshBooks Founder Debunks Startup Myths

Mike McDerment is the founder of FreshBooks, an online invoicing and time-tracking service. FreshBooks is a great post-bubble success story: started in 2003, FreshBooks now serves over 400,000 users in over 100 countries with staff of just 17 people.

FreshBooks also provides a great example of the power of a well-done corporate blog. In it, Mike and his team post relevant company news, but also talk very openly about the process of starting and growing a company. This week, Mike has a great post entitled 7 ways I've almost killed FreshBooks, in which he debunks many popular startup myths regarding things like speed of growth, business plans, capital requirements, word of mouth marketing and more.

My favorite excerpt, particularly appropriate during these tough economic times, was this:

Over the years I've met a lot of smart people and I've invited them to tell me what they think. For years people did not "see it" and that exacted a toll on my confidence. Doubt is born out of fatigue and loneliness, and there is a lot of both when you are running a start up. Hang in there and keep your feet moving - there's still a lot of time for you to change the world.

You might like to join the conversation -- there are currently already over 50 comments on the post. For more of Mike's wisdom, check out some of his other posts on his entrepreneurial experience:

• 5 Tips for Choosing a Co-Founder
• Surrender to process
• On offering support for free
• Finding Mentors and Advisors
• Are You Solving Problems You Don't Have?

And if keeping track of your timesheets, deliverables and invoices is presenting you with a challenge, you can try FreshBooks for free for 30 days. After that, they have an ongoing free plan if you manage up to three active clients, and it's just $14 a month for up to 25 clients, with additional pre-packaged and customizable plans above that.