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. Any entrepreneur trying to navigate the financing landscape should be aware of the over-abundance of angel money compared with subsequent rounds.

Finance 167

Finance Seed Money Bootstrapping Angel Investor 167

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. What's “good” about bootstrapping.

Bootstrapping 63

Bootstrapping Cap Table Liquidation Preference Cofounder 63

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. It’s not about the financing path, it’s about what you’ve decided to build. Surely not.

IPO 240

IPO Flash Bootstrapping Private Equity 240

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

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 19, 2019

Google realized that being the way to find the world’s information was a blitzscalable market, thanks to the network effects in its AdWords revenue engine. Yet despite literally patenting ride-hailing in 2000, his own venture, Sidecar, lost out to the more aggressive scaling of Uber and Lyft. The third is high gross margins.

Cofounder 28

Cofounder Business Model IPO Non-Compete 28

Austin Startup

MARCH 31, 2010

It’s also financially rewarding, with up to $2000 in rewards for a great idea. The current business model for expert consultants is a brick and mortar industry with revenues of about 1/2 a Billion dollars per year. Q: How has the company been financed? GuruStorms has been completely bootstrapped thus far.

Elevator Pitch 63

Elevator Pitch Curation Vertical Bootstrapping 63

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

Bootstrapping (= Consulting) Some would-be founders may by now be thinking, why deal with investorsat all? One answer to that is obvious: because you need money to live on.Its a fine idea in principle to finance your startup with its ownrevenues, but you cant create instant customers. If raising money is so painful, why do it?

Bootstrapping 77

Bootstrapping Term Sheet Founder Startup 77