Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Should you start a company solo or find co-founders to help you? The co-founder relationship dilemma.

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Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 325

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. He is also the co-founder of Traction, a community empowering over 100k innovators through connections, content, and capital. He is the co-founder of Boast.ai This is John Jansen.

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Community Kuwait Cofounder Bootstrapping 54

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

That’s why I recommend that they find a co-founder who loves business challenges, including marketing and finance. 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.

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Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Bootstrapping 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2014

Of course, every risk level can be mitigated by a good plan that addresses the issue, offers a credible action plan, and will convince you, as well as investors and customers, that what looks like a risk to many is actually a sustainable competitive advantage for your startup. Products requiring changes to government regulations.

New York City 254

New York City Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Technical Review 254

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 29, 2013

Even after the first hundred customers, half of those were serendipitous one-offs, not representative of repeatable, controllable customer acquisition, and the scale of the data isn’t statistically significant. The answer for a funded startup is “Bid as much as possible, to get as many customers — and data!

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Bootstrapping Affiliate Cofounder Channel 285

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 7, 2015

by Mark McDonald, co-founder and co-CEO of Appster. Understanding your users and the problems they face, is an essential element of building a successful product. Bootstrap + Mailchimp, both free). Many mobile entrepreneurs got their first customers through direct emailing. Landing Page + AdWords Campaign.

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San Francisco Cofounder Application Development India 100

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

They make money by starting a product from scratch and then selling it in thousands of dollars. In most cases, they hit the jackpot when their products are sold for millions. You don’t have a product and most of your meetings will not bring any fruit. You are looking for cofounders that can help you build a product.

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Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 113

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

by Amit Damani , cofounder of Vista Rooms. Bootstrap was term coined from the computer lingo ‘booting’ which means starting a computer or starting a chain of processes which eventually starts up the operating system. Bootstrap mentality is critical for a startup to succeed, irrespective of whether it has raised funds or not.

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crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 7, 2012

7 Crucial Lessons from an Embarrassing Customer Service Trainwreck | Help Scout - [link]. Seth’s Blog: The cycle of customers who care - [link]. Attention founders: Here’s how you respond to an unfair post about your company - [link]. Questions to Ask Potential Cofounders: The Master List | Founder Dating - [link].

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Social Media Small Business Design Media 104

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 11, 2021

With their affordability, you can invest in several and gain more return by earning customer trust before a sale occurs. They’ve built more trust with their followers, so customers might be more willing and trusting when they check out your website after the micro-influencer recommends you. 17- Saturated with bootstrapped businesses.

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Entrepreneur Technical Review Social Media Bootstrapping 126

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 28, 2022

He's not afraid to fail, and that willingness to experiment has led to some of Microsoft's most successful products. I consider Steve Jobs to be a very successful entrepreneur, not only because of his readily apparent financial prosperity but more so because he used his know-how of how people think to market his products incredibly well.

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Entrepreneur Green Cofounder Trinidad 118

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

I raised money and traded equity, but with my venture, I had to make one of the toughest decisions, to build it with some assistance of co-founders. Find the right co-founders. Having co-founders provides a strategy to avoid funding your start-up, with the help of investor’s money.

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Cofounder Sweat Equity Equity Dilution 124

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? This may sound crazy, coming as it does from an advocate of c harging customers for your product from day one. But all things are never equal. More on that in a moment.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2021

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Businesses require an equally elegant business model, with the right price, messaging and delivery channel to the right target customers to keep the dream alive and growing.

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Technical Review Product Advisory Board Business Model 399

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2016

Of course, every risk level can be mitigated by a good plan that addresses the issue, offers a credible action plan, and will convince you, as well as investors and customers, that what looks like a risk to many is actually a sustainable competitive advantage for your startup. Products requiring changes to government regulations.

New York City 120

New York City Silicon Valley Startup Bootstrapping 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Ask a technical founder about his startup, and he'll proudly describe his stunning software — simple, compelling, useful, fun. Four uncomfortable seconds later, a smile breaks across the founder's face. We're going to use an affiliate program so our customers sell it for us.". We're going to get reviews on blogs.".

Software Review 261

Software Review Technical Review Viral Software Developers 261

YoungUpstarts

JULY 21, 2019

If you and your co-founder(s) are friends, why not work on your home instead? Be careful when dealing online and check the product for any defect or infestation. Social media is free, too, (if you don’t buy ads) so make sure to maximize its use to reach and interact with your customers. Stay online. Don’t Have Debt.

Software Review 191

Software Review Entrepreneur Cost Cofounder 191

Up and Running

OCTOBER 1, 2014

” For Lindsay Nelson, CEO and co-founder of Theme Dragon, Inc that opportunity was founding a tech company. She and original cofounder Megan Bradford poured their proverbial blood, sweat and tears into this enterprise. Their latest product, Statdragon, launched just last week. What about bootstrapping?

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Bootstrapping Cofounder Portland Burn Rate 107

View from Seed

JULY 7, 2015

I recently sat down with the remarkably thoughtful (and insanely scrappy) Patrick Campbell , co-founder and CEO of Price Intelligently. Think of their solutions as a combo MBA and VP of Product Strategy that scales. Startup Lessons You’ll Learn: What tradeoffs a bootstrapped startup’s CEO makes.

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Bootstrapping Founder Boston Cofounder 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Should you start a company solo or find co-founders to help you? The co-founder relationship dilemma.

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Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

The Next Web

OCTOBER 16, 2013

He is the cofounder and CEO of Veed.me , a video production marketplace. My cofounder and I were two film school graduates, working as bartenders and producing films in our spare time. They both require the ability to bootstrap and exploit the most of what you have to offer – all at little to no cost.

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Bootstrapping Cofounder Silicon Valley Video 143

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 16, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, March 16, 2009 Combining agile development with customer development Today I read an excellent blog post that I just had to share. In most agile development systems, there is a notion of the "product backlog" a prioritized list of what software is most valuable to be developed next. Enter Jims post.

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Agile Customer Development Developer San Francisco 111

Up and Running

JULY 10, 2017

It’s not easy to choose the right pricing strategy for a SaaS product. Your product improves with time, your business team grows, and so your pricing can’t stay outdated. Even if you are just starting to consider building a SaaS startup , you’ve probably used products with either freemium pricing or a free trial. Choose wisely.

Startup 110

Startup Non-Compete Viral Software Review 110

Up and Running

JUNE 4, 2018

This is clear when you do anything from checking in your baggage for a flight, to contacting a large company’s customer service department! Starting a small business can mean many different things; At one end of the scale, you may have plans to work independently as a “solopreneur,” doing anything from freelance writing to video production.

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Bootstrapping Colorado Internet Software Review 66

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Alternative Capital. “

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Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Spencer Fry

APRIL 17, 2017

It’s a great conference with about 150 attendees for the “Starter Edition” -- lots of online course creators, info product folks, SaaS people, and others. Days before the conference started, I was asked (and felt honored) to lead two workshops on bootstrapping vs. raising money. Competition is everywhere. You’ve raised.

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Bootstrapping Cap Table Liquidation Preference Cofounder 63

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 7, 2007

This is typically called “bootstrapping&# and it is fraught with potential pitfalls and dangers. But when done well it can really help get a company going fast, professionally and without the founders having to give up much (if any) equity - or bankrupting themselves. What is bootstrapping? Why bootstrap?

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Bootstrapping Offshore Startup EC2 41

ConversionXL

MARCH 31, 2021

Customer interviews allow you to uncover: Why they decided to do business with you; Why they love working with you; What other challenges they have in their business; Where they go for new information. Your customers can provide you with pain-points to write about, as well as success stories to attract new clients.

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Audience Non-Compete Distribution Channel 127

Hearpreneur

MARCH 21, 2021

I took an opportunity selling food trucks and noticed the industry needed improved customer service. We launched our first campaign and got an incredible amount of support and funding for our product. At 4Patriots we wanted to present our customers with an enhanced feeling of freedom and self-reliance.

Entrepreneur 143

Entrepreneur Technical Review Acquisition Software Review 143

Up and Running

MAY 10, 2012

Ben Lamson and Sulaiman Sanni, WeDidIt cofounders. Any organization can visit our site and launch a one-off campaign,” he explains, or subscribe to WeDidIt for unlimited campaigns and premium features like consultation and customized software. It’s never easy to leave a stable job to launch a startup.

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Small Business Advisory Board Employee Entrepreneur 142

The Next Web

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Two more entrepreneurial ventures later, Gleb cofounded online backup provider Backblaze to help consumers affordably, automatically, and safely back up their data. What are the pros and cons of starting a business alone versus with cofounders? How many founders are too many? One” – You have to have a cofounder.

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Cofounder Technical Cofounder Kenya Dilution 143

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

If you are looking for funding and customers for your new business, you need to identify your “unique selling proposition” (USP) right up front, in 30 seconds or less, to differentiate yourself in today’s information overload. Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly.

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Intellectual Property Cofounder .Net Bootstrapping 183

ReadWriteStart

JULY 12, 2023

CEO and co-founder of InvGate Ariel Gesto says the company will continue to expand this year. InvGate’s products are made to simplify IT management for businesses with 50-50,000 employees. Products offered by the business consist of a help desk for employees, security compliance tools, and budgeting software.

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United States Management Mexico Artificial Inteligence 121

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Businesses require an equally elegant business model, with the right price, messaging and delivery channel to the right target customers to keep the dream alive and growing.

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Technical Review Advisory Board Software Review Business Model 220

Sophia Perl of Wisdom

JULY 18, 2011

The funny part is that I didn’t realize Eventbrite had male cofounders since Women 2.0 always spotlighted Julie Hartz, cofounder and wife of Kevin. Tip: If you want to go into a market where you are unsure, bootstrap to get a sense of whether there’s a massive opportunity. Soon after, Kevin Hartz started his talk.

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Cofounder Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley San Francisco 49

The Next Web

AUGUST 26, 2013

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Christian Reber, CEO and co-founder of Berlin-based 6Wunderkinder. Raise your first round of money, or bootstrap. You either do it on your own, taking all risks and responsibility yourself (“bootstrapping”), or you find investors that believe in your company. 60-70% for founders.

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Management Cofounder Startup Bootstrapping 120

ReadWriteStart

JULY 18, 2011

Clavier began his presentation at the beginning of a company's lifecycle, asking how many co-founders a startup ought to have. If you like this kind of advice, check out my coverage of a talk by Paul Palmieri, Co-Founder and CEO of mobile advertising service Millennial Media, titled " Investing in Your Influencers. ".

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Investment Bankers Technical Review Cofounder Due Diligence 153