A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 29, 2013

” Easy for them to say, but what about a bootstrapped, profit-driven business? But since you don’t, in my experience (and in a non-scientific survey of some of the 100 startups currently officing at the fabulously Capital Factory co-working space in Austin), a good pre-data rule of thumb is 20 months.

Bootstrapping 285

Bootstrapping Affiliate Cofounder Channel 285

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.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Bootstrapping 120

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.

Bootstrapping 100

Bootstrapping Cofounder Startup Sales Cycle 100

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. This is Part 5 of the 5-part series: 5 lessons from 150 startup pitches. Infection built-in, not bolt-on. Making Oprah cry.

Software Review 261

Software Review Technical Review Viral Software Developers 261

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2014

It was a company whose product I believed in and whose founder I liked, but a firm lobbed in a term sheet at a price 33% higher than what I had offered using a very light agreement meant for a much earlier stage company. Then, I read about the idiotic comments made by a co-founder of Rap Genius. Perhaps we all should.

Term Sheet 143

Term Sheet Founder Cofounder Software Review 143

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 7, 2012

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]. The Series A Crunch: One More Reason to Bootstrap and Skip Venture Capital | Enterprise Irregulars - [link]. What Makes People Happy?

Social Media 104

Social Media Small Business Design Media 104

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 11, 2021

With a simple 30 second video posted on social media, business owners have the opportunity to build major traffic and revenue from their sites. 17- Saturated with bootstrapped businesses. More entrepreneurs will therefore have to bootstrap their business. Thanks to Nick Chernets, Data for SEO ! #17- Photo Credit: Mike Skoropad.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Technical Review Social Media Bootstrapping 126

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. Startup Lessons You’ll Learn: What tradeoffs a bootstrapped startup’s CEO makes. The moving story of Patrick beating cancer and the surprising way that changed him as a founder.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Founder Boston Cofounder 120

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

According to Lee M Von Kraus, PHD and a mentor at Clarity.fm, “Early stage startups are usually pre-money startup that are bootstrapping the early development of a product.”. You are looking for cofounders that can help you build a product. You have finally found a cofounder that can take care of the startup. Commitment.

Startup 113

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 113

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?

Bootstrapping 41

Bootstrapping Offshore Startup EC2 41

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

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. This essay is part of a series on alternative VC: I: Revenue-Based Investing: a new option for founders who care about control. II: Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs? IV: Should your new VC fund use Revenue-Based Investing?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

Up and Running

JUNE 4, 2018

It’s easier to bootstrap. Bootstrapping your business , which involves self-funding everything as you go along, without resorting to raising money from anywhere else, keeps you in complete control of your company. These include: 1. Michael Dell was loaned money by his family. You can leverage your student network.

Bootstrapping 66

Bootstrapping Colorado Internet Software Review 66

Austin Startup

MARCH 20, 2018

My co-founder, Jason Novek, and I got into Y Combinator when there were 27 total companies in the batch and only four YC partners in existence. Besides, getting into Y Combinator is easy: just be wicked smart, create a beautiful product, get millions of users, and build a revenue stream that grows 20% every month.

Cofounder 48

Cofounder Texas Video Software Review 48

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. ".

Investment Bankers 153

Investment Bankers Technical Review Cofounder Due Diligence 153

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

Yet many entrepreneurs rely on expensive outside services and outside money, rather than do the networking for a co-founder or two who have the right skills to work for equity. Bootstrapping not only reduces cash needs, but increases commitment. The need to hire staff immediately. A desire to roll out on a massive scale.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Cofounder Equity Agile 120

ReadWriteStart

JULY 12, 2023

CEO and co-founder of InvGate Ariel Gesto says the company will continue to expand this year. 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.

United States 121

United States Management Mexico Artificial Inteligence 121

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

K9 Ventures

MAY 28, 2015

At K9 we invest in companies which have a clear/direct revenue model and typically don’t invest in companies that follow the Ubiquity first Revenue Later (URL) revenue model made famous by Eric Schmidt in 2007. I call this Revenue Development and have written about it before. >$0/month.

Revenue 48

Revenue Startup Burn Rate Cofounder 48

Up and Running

AUGUST 27, 2020

My co-founder Andrew and I built Canny , a SaaS tool to help businesses collect and manage customer feedback and build their product roadmap, from the ground up. Canny is 100% bootstrapped —we haven’t taken any outside funding. We’re profitable, and we just cracked $800K in annual recurring revenue earlier this year.

Founder 120

Founder Cofounder Bootstrapping Startup 120

Sophia Perl of Wisdom

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

Some of the finalists were generating revenues already and/or have very promising strategic partnerships lined up. A lot of entrepreneurs attended the event as evident by business cards with “Founder&# listed. Presenters: Sarah Allen (Co-Founder & CTO, Mightyverse) and Paul Lundahl (Creative Director, Mightyverse).

CTO Hire 49

CTO Hire Cofounder Fractional CTO San Francisco 49

ConversionXL

MARCH 31, 2021

For example, here’s how we’d describe a segment of the app development agency’s audience: Existing Startup Founder: Sometimes, founders will already have an MVP or prototype. Cash flow is a matter of life or death when bootstrapped and pre-funding. What are the primary and secondary goals you’re aiming to achieve?

Audience 127

Audience Non-Compete Distribution Channel 127

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 9, 2018

In their quest for sustainable growth, the elusive dream for most first time founders is that first funding. This can either come from the founder(s) own bank account or from outside investors. If you’re bootstrapping, you don’t need to worry about either of these options. One of the easiest mistake to fix is timing.

Technical Cofounder 20

Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley Early Stage Cofounder 20

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 17, 2011

Entrepreneurs from Latin and Central America were given first priority to pitch their businesses at today's roundtable co-hosted by Innova Tiquicia and Startup Weekend Costa Rica. He needs to bootstrap it to a certain level, and following the 1M/1M methodology would be a good start. You can register for the next roundtable here.

Costa Rica 114

Costa Rica America Silicon Valley Entrepreneur 114

Up and Running

JULY 10, 2017

I talked to Adam Hempenstall, founder and CEO at BetterProposals , who has been using freemium for three years for his SaaS product: “Honestly, I think it was a mistake. Solving the equation of value and revenue for your SaaS product is not easy. Some companies go even further, requesting an upfront payment at their beta stage.

Startup 110

Startup Non-Compete Viral Software Review 110

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2013

They evaluate you like you should assess a possible co-founder or first employee. Are revenues and costs reasonable and projected for five years? Another common approach is to bootstrap your first startup to success, possibly with some help from friends and family. Investors are people too. What are your credentials?

Founder 270

Founder Cofounder Bootstrapping Entrepreneur 270

Sophia Perl of Wisdom

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

Some of the finalists were generating revenues already and/or have very promising strategic partnerships lined up. A lot of entrepreneurs attended the event as evident by business cards with “Founder&# listed. Presenters: Sarah Allen (Co-Founder & CTO, Mightyverse) and Paul Lundahl (Creative Director, Mightyverse).

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Cofounder Fractional CTO San Francisco 40

Up and Running

DECEMBER 23, 2019

Bootstrapping, saving funds over years, borrowing from friends and family, taking out a bank loan and pitching investors are all viable options, but some will work better than others for your specific business. . The garage sale approach is a simple, fiscally safe and effective approach to bootstrapping a services-based business.

Finance 92

Finance Sweat Equity Bootstrapping Entrepreneur 92

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

Carolyn serves as the co-founder and CEO of Hello Alice. Carolyn Rodz co-founded a free digital platform that connects business owners with the resources they need to launch and grow. She serves as the co-founder and CEO of Hello Alice. Everybody's so bootstrapped and so tight on dollars.

Entrepreneur 80

Entrepreneur Technical Review Networking Community 80

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2016

Mark Zuckerberg can tell you a horror story about how his early informal breakup with a co-founder ultimately cost him a settlement later worth four billion dollars. A co-founder who loses interest and backs out early will likely be back to claim his half after you reach unicorn status. Don’t give away your business.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Due Diligence Non-Compete Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2016

A solution would be to find a co-founder with the requisite background or investors who know you. Revenue and profit projections are not credible. Attractive businesses to investors may show revenues that double every year but don’t exceed the gross national product of your country.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Angel Investor Reputation 120

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 16, 2013

Adam Arbolino is the co-founder and CTO of DesignCrowd.com , a logo, web and graphic design marketplace. The site I co-founded, DesignCrowd.com, grew from a garage office to a thriving marketplace with 148,000 designers, and businesses who have created $12 million worth of jobs, in just a few years by applying these ideas.

Cofounder 159

Cofounder Analytics Java PHP 159

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

They evaluate you like you should assess a possible co-founder or first employee. Are revenues and costs reasonable and projected for five years? Another common approach is to bootstrap your first startup to success, possibly with some help from friends and family. Investors are people too. What are your credentials?

Entrepreneur 242

Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Cofounder Restful 242

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. This is a choice that every startup founder must make , so I’d like to dig in deeper. maximizing per-unit profitability).

Customer 320

Customer Revenue Acquisition Cofounder 320

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2011

They evaluate you like you should assess a possible co-founder or first employee. Are revenues and costs reasonable and projected for five years? Another common approach is to bootstrap your first startup to success, possibly with some help from friends and family. Investors are people too. What are your credentials?

Entrepreneur 268

Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Cofounder Business Plan 268

ReadWriteStart

MAY 30, 2022

While investors can seem like a solution to countless problems you encounter as a founder, don’t be too hasty to start eating from their hands. 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. You might even ask for it.

Bootstrapping 147

Bootstrapping Startup Equity Silicon Valley 147

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. Webb, as well as security-focused TenEleven , co-founded by Mark Hatfield. There’s Semantic Machines , one of the best collections of AI and ML minds in the world, led by serial entrepreneur Dan Roth.

Boston 215

Boston Early Stage Artificial Inteligence Semantic 215