Today’s Q&A Wednesday is with Justin Britten and Daniel Wilson, founders of a new company named Compulsivo. Their first product is a website that helps companies manage their beta programs named Prefinery.

Q: How did you first get the idea for Prefinery, and how have you bootstrapped it so far?
Prefinery is the outcome of our own frustrations with running effective software beta programs.  We have worked in the software industry making traditional “box” software for over five years and, during this time, we’ve been a part of a number of unsuccessful beta programs.

We observed these failures and arrived at two primary culprits.  First, there is a lack of a good tool to manage and administer the program.  This includes the signup process, accepting applications, sending invitations, creating surveys, managing comments and bug submissions, and tracking software downloads and tester participation.  Second, testers participating in the beta do not give feedback, often because the feedback submission process is not effortless, and often because they are not required to complete questionnaires prior to downloading subsequent versions of the software.

In March of 2007 we set out to write Prefinery based on our experience, and to write a tool that we would be happy using.  Without quitting our day jobs, we worked evenings and weekends.  In August we stopped commuting between our homes and set up an office in a spare bedroom.  In November we incorporated, each contributing a chunk of change from our savings.  Along the way we learned Ruby on Rails, and the joys of opening and operating a business, including accounting, legal, and tax issues.  In February of 2008, after eleven months of hard work, we launched!

Q: Give us the elevator pitch.
Prefinery makes it simple to manage a beta program online, and easy to collect customer feedback through surveys, comments, and bug reports.

Prefinery saves traditional software companies time and money by taking away the hassle of coordinating testing for prerelease software. Tester activity, status, and opinions are provided in a centralized location.

Q: At what point did the two of you have an “a ha” moment and realize that you might be on to something?
By August of 2007 we finally had Prefinery in a rough, workable state and were starting to gather feedback from friends and family.  Our friends in the software field were enthusiastic and encouraging that we were providing a quality, affordable solution to a niche market.  Our family actually understood what we were doing.  It was at this point that we realized we were ready to take the plunge and turn a side-project into a product, and start a company.

Q: Any early customer successes you can talk about?
Prefinery launched less than two weeks ago.  Any takers on being our first customer success story?

Q: Would additional financing help you grow the business faster?
Financing would certainly help us grow the business faster; however, we have always enjoyed the idea of being bootstrapped and remaining in control of the direction of our company.  This would be a difficult decision and, ideally, an investor would bring strengths, such as industry experience, to the table in addition to cash.

Q: What else might we see in the future from Compulsivo?
We have so many ideas.  You will certainly see more Web-based tools for small to medium sized businesses in the future  This is our demographic now, and we’ve seen lots of areas desperate for innovation while trying to get our own business off the ground.