Hippoland

OCTOBER 18, 2018

Should you raise money or bootstrap? (By By bootstrap, I actually mean raise < $250k from individuals / angels). Having run a startup that raised money and now in running a VC, ironically, if I were starting a product company today, I would start out with the mentality of bootstrapping for as long as I could.

Bootstrapping 90

Bootstrapping Cap Table Salary .Net 90

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. Reinvest gross profit. Act big, behave small.

Bootstrapping 240

Bootstrapping Merger Salary .Net 240

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 29, 2020

People are trapped at home, they are not getting a salary, and they are afraid to touch another person because no one knows who is and isn’t infected with the virus. In other words, you must start bootstrapping an online startup , because the future of the global business world is online. Ways to bootstrap a startup.

Bootstrapping 85

Bootstrapping Global Startup Hungary 85

Hippoland

OCTOBER 18, 2018

Should you raise money or bootstrap? (By By bootstrap, I actually mean raise < $250k from individuals / angels). Having run a startup that raised money and now in running a VC, ironically, if I were starting a product company today, I would start out with the mentality of bootstrapping for as long as I could.

Bootstrapping 48

Bootstrapping Cap Table Salary .Net 48

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? ” See Also Should I Borrow Money, Seek Investment, or Bootstrap My Business? .” How many startups are bootstrapped?

Bootstrapping 60

Bootstrapping Startup Angel Investor Small Business Administration 60

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2013

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. Reinvest gross profit. Act big, behave small.

Equity 241

Equity Bootstrapping Startup Merger 241

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

Bootstrapping not only reduces cash needs, but increases commitment. Creative and determined entrepreneurs always find ways to get people to work for equity, barter services or share later revenue rather than pay cash up front. Salaried staff will never have the commitment of co-founders that depend on the success of the startup.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Cofounder Equity Agile 120

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

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? III: Why are Revenue-Based VCs investing in so many women and underrepresented founders? IV: Should your new VC fund use Revenue-Based Investing?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 25, 2016

Having these estimates in hand will help you decide if you can bootstrap your business or if you will need to raise funding. Don’t start up until you know how you’re going to generate revenue (simple estimates will suffice). Calculate revenue by estimating monthly sales (customers x units x price). How many customers are there?

Bootstrapping 100

Bootstrapping LLC Equity Revenue 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2012

Founders now routinely use their home to operate their startup until they are well into the revenue phase. As a rule of thumb, you should double every employee’s salary in estimating employee costs, so less is more. I now see and believe business plans that budget $1K for all this, versus a previous $20K or more.

Cost 255

Cost Burn Rate SEM Startup 255

YoungUpstarts

JULY 25, 2016

Others completely bootstrap their businesses without borrowing a cent. With time comes better knowledge of your business’ operating costs. There are both startup costs, such as getting requisite licenses and supplies, and operating costs, such as inventory and employee salaries. Bottom Line.

SBA 100

SBA Bankruptcy Finance Revenue 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Founders now routinely use their home to operate their startup until they are well into the revenue phase. As a rule of thumb, you should double every employee’s salary in estimating employee costs, so less is more. I now see and believe business plans that budget $1K for all this, versus a previous $20K or more.

Entrepreneur 235

Entrepreneur Burn Rate SEM Social Network 235

Gust

JUNE 10, 2012

Founders now routinely use their home to operate their startup until they are well into the revenue phase. As a rule of thumb, you should double every employee’s salary in estimating employee costs, so less is more. I now see and believe business plans that budget $1K for all this, versus a previous $20K or more.

Cost 139

Cost Burn Rate SEM Startup 139

Up and Running

JULY 23, 2018

Since the company was bootstrapped, they spent frugally, lived without any salary for months, and worked hard to make it a success. Break-even points are important —that’s when most business owners start picking a salary or the company starts seeing positive cash flow.

Salary 72

Salary San Francisco India Bootstrapping 72

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2010

Founders now routinely use their home to operate their startup until they are well into the revenue phase. As a rule of thumb, you should double every employee’s salary in estimating employee costs, so less is more. I now see and believe business plans that budget $1K for all this, versus a previous $20K or more.

Burn Rate 125

Burn Rate SEM Social Network Angel Investor 125

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2020

Even if you are bootstrapping the business, and not looking for outside investors, the “rules of thumb” that smart investors look for should be the same ones that you use to assess your own risks and set reasonable expectations for progress and success. Demonstrate an understanding of business operation realities.

Liquidity Event 308

Liquidity Event Forecast Exit Strategy Bootstrapping 308

Small Business Force

FEBRUARY 21, 2014

Starting and operating a small business is replete with challenges, but nowhere are the challenges greater than for an entrepreneur to know how to manage their company's precious financial resources. Follow the "gospel of cash flow" and it starts with revenue generation. This is more than just revenue or expense.

Finance 37

Finance Management Forecast Entrepreneur 37

Up and Running

MAY 28, 2015

There’s a lot of questions about what do you actually need in terms of information, if you’re going to do your forecasting, and how does one put together a revenue forecast if you’ve never started a business or your business is brand new. There is the one page business plan, strategic plan, operations plan, all of that.

Lean 60

Lean Business Plan Video Software Review 60

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 24, 2012

It’s quite simple, which is when you had systems where you had limitations on distribution or transportation of products, it enabled you to operate with a certain cost structure. I bootstrapped it on my own. You don’t exit at north of a billion dollars unless you’re operating at scale. Let me say this to you.

Silicon Valley 204

Silicon Valley Software Review Internet Technical Review 204

Software By Rob

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

Saba currently works as the operations manager (Sumo) at AppSumo. Who says a bootstrapped startup can’t succeed? Here are 10 bootstrapped companies that did it on their own with no outside funding. Today, Litmus has had over 30,000 customers, 1 million+ in revenue, and is growing by around 10% a month. How’d they do it?

Bootstrapping 78

Bootstrapping Startup Cofounder Salary 78

www.singlefounder.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Go ahead and laugh, but over 95% of Moon River Software’s revenue this year has been from consulting services. The software I sell has made up less than 5% of total revenue in the past 12 months. I’ve been operating the business full time for 10 months now and only recently felt the need to move out of my basement.

Software Review 40

Software Review Software Startup Massachusetts 40

online.wsj.com

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

If failure is defined as failing to see the projected return on investment—say, a specific revenue growth rate or date to break even on cash flow—then more than 95% of start-ups fail, based on Mr. Ghoshs research. Languishing businesses were counted as survivors. Of the 6,613 U.S.-based

Venture Capital 107

Venture Capital Software Review Rhode Island North Dakota 107

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

This is the first post in what’s going to be a series of blogs on how to go from nothing – no connections, no team, no money and no knowledge of how the startup industry really works – to operating a growing business. I’m taking a 52 week course in how to start up, run, operate, and achieve self employment. How To Get There.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 26, 2016

When you consider that 88% of people leave their jobs for a position with a matching or lower salary you come to understand that the reasons for changing companies is rarely financial. 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