Field Compass had no financial backing, no technical help and no organization behind it: no grants, no sponsors, no investors, no mentors. Every line of code, every data import and every server bill came from one person working with what he had.
Every no became a new skill
I learned I would have to do this on my own in a meeting with a prominent fiscal sponsor. They asked how the app could ever pay for itself, and suggested ads. I couldn't accept that. I told them Field Compass will never have ads: the people using it are looking for help, not to be sold to. I never heard back. That only made me more driven, and more determined to rely on myself.
When the big resource directories turned down my requests for API access, I didn't let it stop me. I taught myself to build my own resource discovery system instead, the one that now finds listings in public data and on nonprofits' own websites.
When I couldn't afford web hosting, I taught myself Linux, the command line and how to run my own server, most of it on an Android phone using Termux.
With thanks
The only support I had came from my friends on the street:
Mack, Chris, Dan and Tom
They were there while this was being built in a tent. Their friendship and encouragement kept me going, and they are a big part of why Field Compass exists.