Our Story
From failed ventures to helping founders succeed
It Started With Failure
HLPFL was born from personal experience with the challenges first-time founders face. Our founder started his entrepreneurial journey at 18, launching his first venture with nothing but ambition and a laptop. Over the next 6 years, he built and launched over 20 different business ventures – some succeeded, many failed, but each one taught invaluable lessons.
The biggest lesson? Most first-time founders fail not because their ideas are bad, but because they can't afford the tools and services they need to compete. Professional web development was consistently out of reach, with agencies charging $5,000-$50,000 for basic websites that took months to deliver.
"I remember sitting in my college dorm room, looking at quotes from web developers. $10,000 for a simple website? I had $200 in my bank account. That's when I decided to learn web development myself – and eventually, to make it accessible for others like me."
The Mission
After years of building websites for his own ventures and learning what actually works, our founder realized he could help other first-time founders avoid the struggles he faced. HLPFL was created with a simple mission: deliver high-quality, professional websites at prices first-time founders can actually afford.
We use AI-powered development tools not to cut corners, but to work more efficiently – passing those savings directly to our clients. We don't outsource because we believe in building real relationships with the founders we serve. And we offer sliding scale pricing because we remember what it's like to have more ambition than capital.
Today
Today, HLPFL serves first-time founders across the United States from our base in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We've helped launch dozens of businesses, from e-commerce stores to SaaS platforms to local service providers. Every project is an opportunity to help another founder avoid the struggles we faced and focus on what matters: building their business.