Associated Press: 

Landy Ung and her boyfriend, Wan Hsi Yuan, 27, run their online coupon business, 8coupons.com, from their 500-square-foot New York studio apartment, meaning headquarters is, effectively, their couch. The business, which text messages discounts to users’ mobile phones, keeps Yuan and Ung, who is 28, up until 3 a.m. most nights….

Ung and Yuan have put $30,000 into the business. They figure they have enough money to last a year, but they’re hoping to get venture funding by March. According to their projections, 8coupons should be profitable by the first quarter of 2010, but one lesson of the Internet bubble is that profitability projections often prove overly optimistic.

To expand, Ung would love to find a business development person, another programmer and a traditional media partner whose ad sales force can bundle 8coupons.com text-message coupons into its ad sales…

Growing it requires everything from algorithms to cold calls. 8coupon’s 150 advertisers, most in New York City’s East Village, start with free trials, then pay $250 a month. Two part-time employees help with sales, another works on the math needed to keep the site running.