A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

It’s often said that you shouldn’t talk about price during customer development interviews. Consider the consequences of these monthly pricing possibilities: $0/mo means your goal is to maximize growth (trust and usage) instead of revenue. Even bootstrapped businesses can make this work (e.g. Think: GoDaddy).

Bootstrapping 294

Bootstrapping Technical Review B2C Sales Cycle 294

Spencer Fry

APRIL 17, 2017

Days before the conference started, I was asked (and felt honored) to lead two workshops on bootstrapping vs. raising money. Having started and sold 3 successful bootstrapped businesses, and am now running 1 venture capital backed business ( Coach ), this is a topic I know a thing or two about. The quality bar has never been higher.

Bootstrapping 63

Bootstrapping Cap Table Liquidation Preference Cofounder 63

Version One Ventures

JULY 22, 2014

We have all heard about the Series A crunch in the Valley (there might actually be up to 2000 companies in the Series A pipeline right now), and perhaps there’s a Series B crunch now too. Additionally, we need to watch out for two developments on the horizon. If not, revenue from your customers will be your best source of financing.

Finance 167

Finance Seed Money Bootstrapping Angel Investor 167

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 23, 2012

invested, IPO’ed in 2000 for $32/share — stock price now $2. After I sold Smart Bear, that division has increased revenue and profit every year, for five years, even through the 2008/2009 economic disaster. Freeloader — On $3m invested, sold for $38m in 1996 — shut down in 1997. Support.com — On 2.5m

IPO 240

IPO Flash Bootstrapping Private Equity 240

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 13, 2015

and 5%” or “cost to acquire a customer between $50 and $500″ or “average monthly revenue per customer between $20 and $200.” So they’ll need 1666 customers to achieve their revenue target. (We Including future cancellations, they’ll need to sign up a total of 2000 customers to net 1666.

Business Model 120

Business Model Affiliate Startup Bootstrapping 120

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 16, 2010

The big enterprise software companies almost all bootstrapped their way to profitability before they got their first external investors (typically via an IPO). You have to do this; addressing real customer needs releases revenue dollars that you need to survive. The sailboat startups don't invent a product out of pure imagination.

Software 127

Software Startup Architecture Bootstrapping 127

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 11, 2010

VC Cafe interviewed Engimai’s founder and CEO Adir Iakya to learn more about what it takes to bootstrap a SaaS business and how Enigmai is planning to go to market. We continued to develop, and after a year it became a beta product. Adir: We are still a bootstrapped company. VC Cafe: Let’s talk about revenue.

Cloud 134

Cloud South America Bootstrapping 134