I don’t impose it on other people, so when my business touches a partner or customer I generally err on the side of keeping their details private, absent specific permission to share. On transparency: I’m weakly committed to transparency: it is nice to have but not one of my core values. (You might reasonably think “Then shouldn’t you outsource this?”, and you’re smart for thinking that, but sadly my part-time bookkeeper can’t always catch problems like “Patrick forgot to hand her a business trip worth of receipts.”)

When I do the official accounts for tax purposes I virtually invariably discover a few thousand dollars of extra expenses. Obligatory disclaimers: It is a good thing that I’m CEO and not the bookkeeper, because if I were bookkeeper I’d be fired for incompetence. (This year’s installment was slightly delayed. I traditionally post the year’s numbers and my reflections on what worked and what didn’t right before Christmas: see years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. I resolved to do it for Bingo Card Creator, my (first) software business, and then just kept up the habit. When I started my business six years ago, I was greatly inspired by a few other folks who published the minutiae of their software businesses, particularly actual sales and expenses numbers.

I’m Patrick McKenzie (occasionally better known as patio11).

Free bingo maker