Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

Not to mention the mental and emotional impact of being an entrepreneur. Diving into the financials, dealing with vendors, the hiring process, or a variety of other tasks—no one is passionate about every facet of business operations. In that case, focus on connecting with other entrepreneurs and business mentors.

Forecast 154

Forecast Software Review Bootstrapping Finance 154

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 11, 2017

A young entrepreneur once asked this question to his friend, owning a marketing agency, just to find out his immediate reaction & he was like” “how much does it cost to construct a house?”. You’re now earning revenue figures & plan is to invest it back into home savings or infrastructure. Seems wise but real.

Design 100

Design Technical Review Entrepreneur Bootstrapping 100

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 2, 2019

Not only does the outsourcing business model improve performance and reduce a company’s overall costs – a significant appeal to bootstrapped startups – but it also gives you access to a worldwide talent pool that would otherwise be beyond your range. Inefficiencies can often cost businesses between 20-30% of their annual revenue.

Technical Review 147

Technical Review Due Diligence Technical Support Bootstrapping 147

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2023

How do you convince investors that your business model will really work, before you have a revenue stream that exceeds your expenses? Even if you are bootstrapping your business, and you are the only investor, you should be asking yourself the same question. Plan for a real revenue model.

Business Model 273

Business Model Customer Angel Investor Bootstrapping 273

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

Many first-time entrepreneurs find themselves unable to bootstrap their startups, and also unable to find early funding at the venture capital level or even with angel investors. Hire an attorney to make sure the terms are fair. Tie re-payments to revenue growth in the startup. This shows respect and professionalism.

Sweat Equity 274

Sweat Equity Elevator Pitch Startup Equity 274

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 10, 2018

Being in love with your business, when you’re an entrepreneur, is even better. Although there are days when tossing in your hat seems like a viable option, remembering how much you love your “job” can quickly snap an entrepreneur out of that mentality. We asked some entrepreneurs what they loved about “being their own boss.”. #1-

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Green Networking Small Business 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million-dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). Early or embryonic stage.

Incubator 305

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 305

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 16, 2016

Myself and the other founders managed to develop our company and generate more than 200,000,000 visits, hire 22 people, get 3,000+ customers, and promote products for the likes of Creative Labs, Polaroid, and Sony. It was a way for us to stay creative and it also brought in some revenue. When you are bootstrapping cash flow is king.

Greece 100

Greece United Kingdom Ukraine Philippines 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

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 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

Gust

OCTOBER 26, 2014

When someone asks me for the best way to fund a startup, I always say bootstrap it, meaning fund it yourself and grow organically. Bootstrapping avoids all the cost, pain, and distractions of finding angels or VCs, and allows you to keep control and all your hard-earned equity for yourself. Hire experts, not help.

Bootstrapping 176

Bootstrapping Startup Merger Salary 176

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2016

It’s more possible to bootstrap today than a few years ago, as the cost of entry continues to go down. The key to successful bootstrapping is to master the do-it-yourself approach, defer compensation or barter services whenever possible and become a frugal minimalist in all things requiring a cash outlay.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Hockey Stick Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 120

Gust

APRIL 27, 2014

I’m continually amazed at the number of entrepreneurs who go for months into a new business without really keeping a formal record of money spent or assets acquired. At this stage, you should start recruiting, hiring, paying, and training others to help you run your business. Billing and revenue collection. Funding process.

Startup 187

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 187

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JUNE 20, 2011

I recently helped a friend broker the sale of his small, bootstrapped company. They’ve heard rules of thumb like “A growing software company is worth 5 times their trailing 12-months revenue.&# Even narrowing the field as much as feasible, revenue multiples varied between 1.2x Profit multiples varied even more.

Sales 260

Sales Channel Cofounder Valuation 260

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

How do you convince investors that your business model will really work, before you have a revenue stream that exceeds your expenses? Even if you are bootstrapping your business, and you are the only investor, you should be asking yourself the same question. Plan for a real revenue model.

Business Model 414

Business Model Angel Investor Bootstrapping Revenue 414

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2022

Yet many aspiring entrepreneurs I know approach it as a fun project, get-rich quick scheme, or perhaps an expensive hobby. As an entrepreneur, you need to start early to implement the discipline and business practices that will lead to success. Then take your revenue projections and cut them in half. Moderate your optimism.

Early Stage 307

Early Stage Bootstrapping Revenue Framework 307

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2021

Many first-time entrepreneurs find themselves unable to bootstrap their startups, and also unable to find early funding at the venture capital level or even with angel investors. Hire an attorney to make sure the terms are fair. Tie re-payments to revenue growth in the startup. This shows respect and professionalism.

Sweat Equity 346

Sweat Equity Elevator Pitch Equity Venture Capital 346

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

When someone asks me for the best way to fund a startup, I always say bootstrap it, meaning fund it yourself and grow organically. Bootstrapping avoids all the cost, pain, and distractions of finding angels or VCs, and allows you to keep control and all your hard-earned equity for yourself. Hire experts, not help.

Bootstrapping 240

Bootstrapping Merger Salary .Net 240

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 24, 2015

Espousing that borrowing money and debt are optional, the book proposed that entrepreneurs starting such businesses were more interested in the lifestyle it offered rather than making oodles of cash. This spanned the following areas: #1 Generate Higher Revenue. The point here is to keep one’s liabilities to a minimum.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Software Review South Carolina Startup 100

Hearpreneur

DECEMBER 8, 2019

In the last few days of 2019, we took some time to ask a few entrepreneurs and business what their biggest business accomplishments were. #1- What makes me really proud though is we’ve been 100% bootstrapped for our 3.5 13- Educating budding entrepreneurs. Many businesses were launched and others were closed.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Technical Review Vertical Las Vegas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). Early or embryonic stage.

Incubator 429

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 429

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 22, 2013

While you are working away on your business plan, looking for ways to raise capital, finding the right people to hire, etc., Also, it’s made so many things, like hiring and other decisions, significantly simpler for us, because we can always look to our mission for help.”. Hire great people… then get out of their way.

Cofounder 164

Cofounder Founder Startup Bootstrapping 164

Hearpreneur

JUNE 14, 2017

We asked some entrepreneurs and business owners, why they started their businesses: #1 – Fell in Love. I hired another guide to help with the load, and I started charging for tickets to pay the guide. We’ve continued bootstrapping since then — today we are a $2.5 I hire the best, so we’re all able to have it all.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur South Africa PR Thailand 126

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

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 9, 2019

Tech startups are, in contrast, focused on rapid growth, potential, and top-end revenue. In many cases, tech startups can’t afford the expense of hiring a full-time accounting staff member. Goal setting is essential to the success of any business, and is critical to the growth of a tech startup in the bootstrapping stage.

Technical Review 80

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Finance 80

View from Seed

MARCH 22, 2016

This is for the early-stage companies — the entrepreneurs with great ideas and tireless work ethics who feel like they’ve emailed half of the country’s news outlets with nothing but the rare “thanks, but not interested” reply to show for it. This one is tricker in the pre-revenue stage. The irony hurts. You’re breaking taboos.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage San Francisco Startup CTO Hire 120

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 26, 2016

Although it’s key for every business to forge its own path, there are certain non-obvious hacks any entrepreneur or small business can take on board to swing the odds in their favor. Despite being a bootstrapped company with little revenue, we over-invested in a central New York City office at a rate of 15% rent to revenue.

Software Review 100

Software Review New York City Salary Employee 100

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

These people exist and they are called ‘Serial entrepreneurs.’. Serial entrepreneurs are those who understand the complete concept of a startup lifecycle and benefit from that. Either to go for investors pitch to them directly about your product, or keep yourself bootstrapped. Hiring more resources. How are they doing it?

Startup 113

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 113

View from Seed

JULY 7, 2015

For those new to the show: Traction shares the incredible stories of the creative and unusual things entrepreneurs do to make initial progress. In the episode, you’ll hear about how we got hired in the first place and why we decided to leave. You can listen on iTunes or SoundCloud. And thanks for listening! Inside the Episode.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Founder Boston Cofounder 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2020

For example, every investor I know can tell you about meeting a passionate entrepreneur who is pitching a great technology innovation, but has not done the financial homework on making it a good business. Thus the investor can’t visualize any return on investment (ROI), so the entrepreneur gets no money, and a good opportunity is lost to all.

Liquidity Event 308

Liquidity Event Forecast Exit Strategy Bootstrapping 308

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2019

Yet many aspiring entrepreneurs I know approach it as a fun project, get-rich quick scheme, or perhaps an expensive hobby. As an entrepreneur, you need to start early to implement the discipline and business practices that will lead to success. Then take your revenue projections and cut them in half. Moderate your optimism.

Early Stage 317

Early Stage Bootstrapping Revenue Framework 317

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 29, 2020

In other words, you must start bootstrapping an online startup , because the future of the global business world is online. Before we look at ways to bootstrap a startup, let’s consider a comprehensive definition of what a startup is. Ways to bootstrap a startup. What is a startup? Draw up a budget.

Bootstrapping 85

Bootstrapping Global Startup Hungary 85

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2014

Yet many aspiring entrepreneurs I know approach it as a fun project, get-rich quick scheme, or perhaps an expensive hobby. As an entrepreneur, you need to start early to implement the discipline and business practices that will lead to success. Then take your revenue projections and cut them in half. Moderate your optimism.

Entrepreneur 265

Entrepreneur Early Stage Bootstrapping Revenue 265

Up and Running

AUGUST 11, 2015

How ironic that it seems like more than 90 percent of the online information on startups is about getting financed—but more than 90 percent of startups are bootstrapped. What does bootstrapping mean? Here’s what Investopedia says: “A situation in which an entrepreneur starts a company with little capital.

Bootstrapping 60

Bootstrapping Startup Angel Investor Small Business Administration 60

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 13, 2018

Not every entrepreneur is blessed with deep pockets or generous family members. For many, “bootstrapping” involves lots of ramen noodle dinners, working weekends, and foregone hobbies. Live by the mantra: be slow to hire and quick to fire. That’s not a knock on anyone you might hire, to be clear. Keep a Small Footprint.

Balance Sheet 113

Balance Sheet Bootstrapping Dividend Entrepreneur 113

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 7, 2010

Before I do, however, I want to talk about a thumb rule that I'd like to propose to entrepreneurs about raising money. Sub-$2 million pre-money, it is better to bootstrap. Rajan Chandi then discussed HirePlug.com , a Facebook application to help large employers manage referral hiring. Igor did not have an answer. HirePlug.com.

Valuation 119

Valuation Silicon Valley Pre-Money Valuation Bootstrapping 119

Tim Keane

MARCH 9, 2011

But, what constitutes success for the parties involved – investors, entrepreneurs, employees, and customers – can vary dramatically. Misaligned interests that lead to poor financing choices are often very problematic for first time entrepreneurs in young companies.  Can you bootstrap your way to positive cash flow?

Finance 83

Finance Bootstrapping Startup Equity 83

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. Hello, debt. You’ve raised.

Bootstrapping 63

Bootstrapping Cap Table Liquidation Preference Cofounder 63