Today we’d like to introduce you to Hunter Jensen.
Hunter, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up in Virginia Beach and wrote my first line of code in 3rd grade. This was before the internet, or even bulletin boards. I was blessed to go to a really progressive elementary school that sparked this interest in technology which has stayed with me for my whole life.
In college at the University of Virginia, I paid my fraternity dues by picking up web programming jobs on Craigslist. I would go to classes (usually) during the day and then stay up late writing code. My first big client when I was in college was a website selling lingerie.
People thought it a little strange that I spent so much time looking at a lingerie site – but I was actually just working.
In college, I was disappointed in the curriculum of the Computer Science department. All that I was interested in was the internet, and web technology, as it was clear to me that it was the future. But when I was in school, there was only one class that even touched web development. So, I left the CS department and ended up getting a dual major in Economics and Philosophy. I taught myself web development skills by reading textbooks and doing various startup projects.
After graduating college, I knew that I could start my company basically anywhere, Since I am obsessed with all things water (kiteboarding, surfing, paddleboarding, sailing, scuba diving, etc.), I thought that San Diego was probably the best city in America. So just three days after graduating, I packed my two-door Tahoe (which I still own), and drove across the country with all of my worldly possessions (mostly books and musical instruments) and landed in San Diego in 2005.
It was at that time that I officially founded Barefoot Solutions, and began the transition from a freelancer to the CEO of a digital agency.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Overall it has been a relatively smooth road – I’ve been extremely lucky. I started with a strong education, and an existing network of friends and family in Southern California. This gave me an amazing head start. But that’s not to say we didn’t have our moments.
I remember one time in particular about three years into building Barefoot … We had been growing for those years, hiring employees, finding more clients and projects, and improving our skills, processes and business model. We landed our biggest client and project to-date, a real monster that basically required all of our resources. We built the web and mobile apps on-time and to the spec, and they were beautiful. We delivered them to the client and they were very well received. A few bugs that we patched up right away and things were ready to launch. But then two weeks went by and no launch. 30 days … 60 days … 90 days … we learned that there were a lot of things changing internally at this large company and they just weren’t able to launch the platform.
This was a problem because in our contract, we got paid when the project launched. So we were waiting for our single biggest check in company history, and it was entirely out of our control. As this was happening our cash flow was dwindling. June came and I didn’t have enough to make payroll at the end of the month. And by some incredible stroke of luck – the platform launched and the payment came in that month. Just in the nick of time.
It was such a strange feeling to watch my bank account getting dangerously close to $0, but at the same time knowing that we were totally sound financially, we just needed to get paid. I learned a couple things from that experience:
1) Don’t ever let one client be that much of your overall business. It’s just too much risk if something turns sideways.
2) Cash flow is critical. I changed our billing structure so that we send the invoice when we deliver, not when we launch. Always control the payment terms.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Barefoot Solutions – what should we know?
Barefoot Solutions is a web and mobile digital agency, that designs and builds innovative websites and mobile apps for our clients. We’ve worked with everything from venture-funded to startups, to massive enterprises like Salesforce.com and Samsung.
Our focus is building highly functional, database-driven applications, and our company mission is to build products that we’re proud of.
In the last three years, we have developed a specialization in the Internet of Things (IoT). We build apps that connect to real-world devices. This includes fitness equipment (stationary bike, vibration therapy machine), medical devices (mobile EKG unit, diabetes pump) and other consumer electronics (surfboard fins, video cameras). Our unique process for building IoT apps speeds up the time to market and reduces development costs for our clients.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My wife, Cynthia (Blais) Jensen. She’s an entrepreneur herself with a booming business, Funktional Wearables. She designs and manufactures jewelry that conceals or enhances activity trackers such as FitBits. She’s so understanding of the long and unpredictable hours, and has great advice and insight having spent years as a business owner herself.
My brother, Tyler Jensen. He’s an entrepreneur that has started multiple companies. He propped me up when I first landed in San Diego, and has been my mentor for many years.
He has a great network that he’s very generous with, and is always there for an outside set of eyes when I need something.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4455 Lamont St., #3
San Diego, CA 92109 - Website: www.barefootsolutions.com
- Phone: 619-870-0114
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barefootsolutions
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/barefootsolns
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/248506/
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