Last month infoodle celebrated 10 years of being in business: an incredible decade of working closely with hundreds of nonprofits worldwide, learning about their needs and creating a product that helps them simplify and streamline their administration, so they could focus on their mission.

In this post, we would like to share the message from our founder Richard Smith where he reflects on the lessons learned during the 10 years of running infoodle.

Message from our founder

It is with a sense of celebration that I wanted to put together some words to reflect on the first 10 years of infoodle. Being honest, its with a sense of relief we have made it this far; we’ve certainly had our ups and downs! But to look out of my office and see a team of people who are committed to the cause too does my heart good. It has been the hardest 10 years of my working life for sure; I have never put in so many hours for so long. I feel like I deserve a prize for sheer grit and determination. I recall a friend of mine telling me quite a while ago now, that the people who succeed are often those who keep sticking at it. Well, I stuck. That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed the ride. For most of my mornings, I was happy to get up and get back into it – to serve our clients – by providing them the tools to help them. It has been really rewarding.

I spend an increasing amount of my time these days looking to the future. What will the next 10 years look like? I have to say, I’m still excited. The not-for-profit sector is a fascinating one. The requirements and expectations of those working in it, volunteering for it and beneficiaries of it are growing at a huge rate as the needs expand and technology matures. The potential for infoodle, together with the challenges that exist serving in this sector, ensures it is both an emotional and intellectual opportunity that lies before us, keeping us engaged and committed to do more for the charity, church and community groups that are all over the world – doing some amazing things amongst those who need it most.

Launching infoodle having been a freelance programmer, I’ve learnt a huge number of things along the way about starting and running a SaaS business, and still learning.

Here are my top 10 items:

1. Working as a freelance programmer is so, so different from being responsible and paying for your own code and development plans.
2. Making software work well and look good is incredibly hard. There are so many pieces to the puzzle to keep it running successfully.
3. You MUST keep on learning, every day. The tech is just one part of the business you need to learn about.
4. You MUST push hard to make things happen that are outside of the ‘business-as-usual’, and keep pushing because you won’t have the time, ever, to do it – so just do it now!
5. Some things simply take time to happen – you can wait for some things. Knowing when to wait and when to push is never easy!
6. Don’t stress. It really doesn’t help.
7. Keep trying your ideas. They may not work, but unless you try you won’t find out.
8. As a technical person, working ‘in’ the business is often more comfortable than working ‘on’ the business. Stepping out of my comfort zone into areas I am not so confident in is important and necessary to ensure longevity and keeps life interesting!
9. Clients are, in general, on your side and you can approach them with that in mind.
10. Talking is almost always better than emailing.

The next 10 years will be another adventure. We have exciting plans which will challenge us and serve the sector in greater ways, ensuring that technology continues to be a support and not a burden, an enabler, not a distraction. As someone who is an active partner in a church or charity, we’d love to discuss infoodle with you.

How can infoodle help you?

infoodle is a functional cloud-based software solution for nonprofits of all sizes and sectors that can help you communicate with stakeholders, manage finances, plan and conduct events, roster volunteers, store files and so much more! Watch the demo or book a call with our team to learn more!