Haystack

NOVEMBER 12, 2018

By all accounts, the Utah-HQ’d company did everything the right way, was an overnight success 16 years in the making, and only raised venture capital as a growth company after years of bootstrapping. Of course, SAP or others could’ve made a run at Qualtrics earlier, and who knows – maybe folks had tried and failed.

Acquisition 105

Acquisition Utah IPO Venture Capital 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue).

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

Eric Friedman

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

It’s evident in the rise of companies like WhatsApp and Instagram that employed a mere 20+ people before their acquisition. When you release a software service that solves a problem that many people have, your monthly revenue can grow exponentially. Each is a demonstration of the critical role that shipping plays in building.

Engineer 78

Engineer United States Software Engineering Bootstrapping 78

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

Thus it’s a waste of time for most entrepreneurs to be looking for investors until they have a product and some customer revenue. Most founders bootstrap product development. Patents can raise startup valuation by investors by as much as a million dollars, and will attract acquisitions rather than copycats.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Bootstrapping 120

Duct Tape Marketing

AUGUST 23, 2023

He is the co-founder of Boast.ai, where he leveraged the Community-Led Growth model to bootstrap the company. Lloyed explores the intricate art of harnessing the community’s strength as your ultimate acquisition channe l, brand differentiator, feedback source, retention lever, and catalyst for transformative change.

Community 53

Community Kuwait Cofounder Bootstrapping 53

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

We’re a bootstrapped company that started with more time than money. At the eight minute mark, YouTube allows for creators to put extra ads in the content so they’ve got an incentive to show those longer videos and generate more ad revenue. This drives multi-million dollars of revenue for us.

Channel 129

Channel Metrics Algorithm Video 129

ReadWriteStart

JULY 12, 2023

Gesto decided to scale InvGate after bootstrapping for the past 14 years. Companies can increase their revenue potential and access new customer bases by expanding into new markets. Companies in the IT management industry need customer acquisition and retention strategies that work to set them apart from the competition.

United States 121

United States Management Mexico Artificial Inteligence 121

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 11, 2010

WhenBusy is a bootstrapped startup that lets people schedule meetings with you in currently-available time-slots without you having to share your calendar [disclosure: I'm an advisor]. Of course it's not that simple, and many business plans I've seen (unintentionally) omit many of the true costs of acquisition. Advertising ??

Software Review 261

Software Review Technical Review Viral Software Developers 261

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

In How To Defend Your Dream Against All Odds , Alex and I explore the company's journey to $200 Million in revenue, while their VCs wrote them off. Zoho is already over $100 million in revenue and is seeing tremendous traction. Having turned down all overtures for investment, Zoho continues merrily on in its bootstrapping path.

North Carolina 116

North Carolina San Diego Entrepreneur Balance Sheet 116

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

They already have several customers including some telcos, and are at about $350,000 in revenues. Because customer financing equals revenue, not equity. That's why, I advised Gio to keep going with further execution on his business and build more revenue traction. In 1M/1M, our preferred financing strategy is customers.

Cloud 115

Cloud Silicon Valley Incubator Finance 115

Tim Keane

MARCH 9, 2011

Can you bootstrap your way to positive cash flow?   If the answer is relatively soon, then bootstrapping is a very serious consideration.    Even if it isn’t soon, early bootstrapping can reduce risk and increase chances for success, resulting in more aligned interests for entrepreneurs and investors.

Finance 83

Finance Bootstrapping Startup Equity 83

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue).

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 13, 2019

Whether a brand new bootstrapped startup or corporate giant, your altitude, sustainability, and traction has everything to do with your team. Smaller companies with hotter brands can make for great acquisitions. Acquiring revenues can be very important. Think about a Google or Apple acquisition of Tesla. Your Brand.

Intellectual Property 101

Intellectual Property IP Acquisition Startup 101

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 21, 2010

At today's roundtable, we had some very interesting discussions on creative bootstrapping. Justin is looking for a more efficient customer acquisition model, and my suggestion to him was to look into using distributors, instead of trying to do all the development and then also all the distribution himself.

Bootstrapping 113

Bootstrapping IP India Silicon Valley 113

The Startup Toolkit

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

The company becomes valuable and someone buys the whole thing (acquisition). Within the second category, there are 3 types of acquisitions which each behave quite differently: The company has failed, but manages to sell off something of value (patents, team, etc) on the way out (asset sale or talent acquisition).

Dividend 50

Dividend Acquisition Founder Bootstrapping 50

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 17, 2017

John Imlay of MSA occasionally took me on road shows with analysts to talk about his new acquisition Peachtree Software. Hurricane Irma had a major negative revenue impact on one whose fall book of business was mostly in Florida. I got the message. Might your company be the bell-ringer that makes one of them a big winner?

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Atlanta Software Review Early Stage 48

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

I have discussed at length why revenue sharing channel deals may serve as perfectly fine alternatives to raising equity (or even complements) because of their non-dilutive nature. It certainly will be a better way to bootstrap the company. million in revenue. SOCO Games. Brainscape. The answer to the question is neither.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2015

If you are lucky enough to not be looking for an outside investor, meaning you are bootstrapping the business, the secrets that smart investors use to evaluate startups can help you understand your own risks and help you set reasonable expectations for yourself. I recently saw a startup projecting $50 million in revenue for the first year.

Liquidity Event 120

Liquidity Event Startup Initial Public Offering Equity 120

ReadWriteStart

JULY 18, 2011

Every company has a forecast for how it will get to an arbitrary $100 million in revenue and they all hit it on year five. The first stage is bootstrapping, where you raise between $50k and $100k and you try to make that money last as long as you can. What's interesting is the assumptions that go into that vision of scaling.

Investment Bankers 153

Investment Bankers Technical Review Cofounder Due Diligence 153

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue).

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

ConversionXL

MARCH 31, 2021

Cash flow is a matter of life or death when bootstrapped and pre-funding. More importantly, it’s become an acquisition channel for the agencies they partnered with, allowing them to stand on the shoulders of a well-known brand. Build personal connections with podcasting.

Audience 127

Audience Non-Compete Distribution Channel 127

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Validated learning about customers Would you rather have $30,000 or $1 million in revenues for your startup? All things being equal, of course, you’d rather have more revenue rather than less. And yet revenue alone is not a sufficient goal. More on that in a moment.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Rob Go

DECEMBER 28, 2011

61M in Q3 revenue, up 28% YoY. Ebay’s third largest acquisition in the last 3 years. The company is expected to do around $500M in revenue in 2011 and has seen 50%+ growth YoY the past two years. The company also never raised any previous financing, and is one of the great bootstrapped success stories out there.

Technical Review 54

Technical Review Boston Software Review IPO 54

Software By Rob

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

I received the following question from a reader: I was wondering if you had any thoughts on cost of customer acquisition for freemium businesses. quite hard, but I don’t think paid acquisition could possibly work here. Have you seen paid acquisition work for freemium businesses? Photo by stevendepolo. My Thoughts.

Acquisition 56

Acquisition Customer Bootstrapping Viral 56

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 1, 2012

Sacha demonstrated the benefits of selling many copies of an eBook at a low price, while Jarrod pointed out the advantages of higher prices, bringing in more revenue with 1/6th the number of units sold. In that case, A can’t keep growing forever, so its revenue is limited, which is a bad spot. maximizing per-unit profitability).

Customer 320

Customer Revenue Acquisition Cofounder 320

OnlyOnce

JULY 9, 2013

Chapter 2: Defining and Testing the Story…Start Out By Admitting You’re Wrong, A Lean Business Plan Template, Problem, Solution, Key Metrics, Unique Value Proposition and Unfair Advantages, Channels, Customer Segments, Cost Structure and Revenue Streams. Chapter 3: Telling the Story to Your Investors…The Business Plan is Dead.

Startup 95

Startup Advisory Board Elevator Pitch Forecast 95

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

Of course, if you are able to bootstrap your startup, and don’t anticipate the need for outside investors, you can technically ignore the first two points. If you can convince investors that your startup will generate a solid revenue stream, and the market won’t go away any time soon, they may see an opportunity for an ever larger return.

Exit Strategy 264

Exit Strategy Private Equity Equity Technical Review 264

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue).

Matching 120

Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Asking for early-stage money before you have customers and revenue will likely kill your credibility with real investors. Luckily, there are some new entrants and approaches to seed-stage funding -- if you know whom to ask -- that can supplement the friends, family and bootstrapping approaches traditionally recommended.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Finance Early Stage Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

At this stage, your startup better be selling a commercial offering, have price and cost validated, with significant customer sales and a real revenue stream. This normally means more then 30 employees, and more then $1 million in revenue. Lesser amounts remain in the angel realm. Growth stage. Exit stage.

Investment Bankers 241

Investment Bankers Venture Capital Startup Initial Public Offering 241

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2020

Of course, if you are able to bootstrap your startup, and don’t anticipate the need for outside investors, you can technically ignore the first two points. If you can convince investors that your startup will generate a solid revenue stream, and the market won’t go away any time soon, they may see an opportunity for an ever larger return.

Exit Strategy 376

Exit Strategy Startup Private Equity Equity 376

www.thestartup.eu

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Home RSS About Contact Advertise Partners How to bootstrap a Startup with less than $10k. Entrepreneurs, which by definition are stubborn entities are therefore finding creative and cheap ways to bootstrap their startups. Share 17 Responses to “How to bootstrap a Startup with less than $10k. TheStartup.eu Meet Tipsandtrip.

Bootstrapping 49

Bootstrapping Italy Sweat Equity Europe 49

The Next Web

DECEMBER 6, 2013

A company lives and dies by its revenue stream, especially when trying to bootstrap the business. A year ago, we wanted to see more traction with online acquisition. Here’s the problem: our revenue stayed flat, even as our customer numbers grew. Are we scaring people away? Are we leaving money on the table? Not quite….

Churn Rate 136

Churn Rate Product Chicago Bootstrapping 136

Hippoland

AUGUST 8, 2018

One thing I’ve noticed is that almost every repeat, previously-successful-founder focuses on the same thing for their respective startups: customer acquisition. Diving in a bit more into some thoughts here: 1b) Ad-based revenue streams generally have terrible unit economics. This is obvious. 2) B2B startups have high margins.

Founder 48

Founder Sales Cycle Affiliate Retention 48

Hippoland

AUGUST 8, 2018

One thing I’ve noticed is that almost every repeat, previously-successful-founder focuses on the same thing for their respective startups: customer acquisition. Diving in a bit more into some thoughts here: 1b) Ad-based revenue streams generally have terrible unit economics. This is obvious. 2) B2B startups have high margins.

Founder 48

Founder Sales Cycle Affiliate Retention 48

View from Seed

MARCH 16, 2016

Look out for bootstrapped CarGurus , one of the leading used-car properties, targeting over $150M in revenue this year. Put all that together, and consider that this is a company that thinks in decades or even centuries, and we’re bound to see both more jobs and more acquisitions. Want the next TripAdvisor or Wayfair?

Boston 215

Boston Early Stage Artificial Inteligence Semantic 215

ReadWriteStart

MAY 30, 2022

In this article, you’ll learn how bootstrapping makes you a better business – a leaner, smarter, more agile company that can roll with the punches. Bootstrapping Minimizes the Number of People Cashing in on Your Success. Bootstrapped founders don’t have these concerns. Plan for investment early as you would plan for acquisition.

Bootstrapping 147

Bootstrapping Startup Equity Silicon Valley 147