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. They are gaining valuable customer data.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

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

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 23, 2012

After I sold Smart Bear, that division has increased revenue and profit every year, for five years, even through the 2008/2009 economic disaster. Note that some of those companies were bootstrapped, some bootstrapped and took money later, and some had huge funding from the start. But really, are all those acquirers so stupid?

IPO 240

IPO Flash Bootstrapping Private Equity 240

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 28, 2010

At today's roundtable we saw three very nice businesses, each with pilot customers, and each working on real problems. Antonio has 100 trial customers at the moment, and is looking to figure out exactly what his company positioning is going to be. And these pilots will pay for her early bootstrapping phase.

Partner 117

Partner Belgium Portugal Bootstrapping 117

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

I asked her not to assume that investors will be investing in this business idea, at least not until she can acquire some level of validation, which means tens, if not hundreds of thousands of customers, and several partnerships with daily deal sites. I started doing my free Online Strategy Roundtables for entrepreneurs in the fall of 2008.

Channel 115

Channel India Bootstrapping Silicon Valley 115

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 14, 2010

At today's roundtable we had some intensive discussions around market sizing and its impact on financing. So, please note the TAM Analysis is a vitally important aspect of building any financing strategy. Raymond is wondering why he cannot attract financing. Is that a $20 million market? $30 30 million market?

Bootstrapping 114

Bootstrapping Marketing Angel Investor Silicon Valley 114

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

The premium lounge includes an online curriculum addressing the common topics specific to very early stage entrepreneurship; private roundtables that many of you have requested; customer, channel partners, and investor introductions; media and analyst access; and a variety of other value-added services to make our entrepreneurs successful.

Startup 113

Startup India Silicon Valley Incubator 113

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

However, liked the team, and Dennis Mink, FootFeeds CEO, convinced me of the value in check-ins as a white label service for brands to market to their customers. Bootstrapping 101. ► 2008. (14). I also teach Entrepreneurial Finance at San Jose State. Survey says VC's invest on Gut Instinct. ► July. (1).

Technical Review 38

Technical Review San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 38

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

Tuesday, September 16, 2008. I am not sure how this relates to venture finance or entrepreneurship, but Im sure Ill find some connection along the way. Perhaps, its that old joke: Q: What two industries call their customers "users"? December 17, 2008 11:35 PM. December 18, 2008 9:07 AM. December 27, 2008 11:28 AM.

San Jose 28

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 7, 2011

It could be a good business to bootstrap the social/mobile edutainment business with. The company sells to the marketing departments of corporations, has 50 customers, and is already profitable. The entrepreneur seems obsessed with building his own brand and selling directly to end customers. A mistake, in my opinion.

Malaysia 114

Malaysia Incubator Silicon Valley Entrepreneur 114

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

He is looking to raise money now, but I must say, his financing strategy made me cringe. All I could assess that he is bound to face a chicken-and-egg problem - not having enough scale to attract product vendors to use their channel, versus not having products with which to build a customer base. We have to work on that!

India 115

India Silicon Valley Incubator Bootstrapping 115

Professor VC

JULY 31, 2008

Thursday, July 31, 2008. I actually enjoy the process of pulling together a selection of materials to create a complete course on Entrepreneurial Finance. Last year, I tried out a custom textbook through one of the major publishers, which seemed like a great way to go. Bootstrapping 101. ▼ 2008. (14).

San Jose 28

San Jose Software Review Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Thursday, November 13, 2008. Also, if the weather gets really bad, they offer a full refund voucher good for your next trip - all about customer retention. Bootstrapping 101. ▼ 2008. (14). I also teach Entrepreneurial Finance at San Jose State. ProfessorVC. The last blogger in Silicon Valley. ► July. (1).

Oregon 28

Oregon San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

So, please note the TAM Analysis is a vitally important aspect of building any financing strategy. He needs to generate enough profit so that he can grow organically and build his business systematically, and without expecting a lot of outside financing. Raymond is wondering why he cannot attract financing. 30 million market?

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

So, please note the TAM Analysis is a vitally important aspect of building any financing strategy. He needs to generate enough profit so that he can grow organically and build his business systematically, and without expecting a lot of outside financing. Raymond is wondering why he cannot attract financing. 30 million market?

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

Austin Startup

MARCH 31, 2010

In 2008, I decided to take this concept and implement it as a web site, so Molecular Thinking was born. Q: How has the company been financed? GuruStorms has been completely bootstrapped thus far. Q: How has customer adoption been so far? Are you looking for additional capital?

Elevator Pitch 63

Elevator Pitch Curation Vertical Bootstrapping 63

Up and Running

APRIL 1, 2015

They hope to create an innovative platform that will shake up the floral industry, and help both customers and florists alike. One of the unique floral arrangements that customers can find at BloomNation.com. But, of course, they need funding—and wouldn’t you know it, one of the founders is a world class poker player.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Startup Cofounder Chicago 60

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

August 2008 Raising money is the second hardest part of starting a startup.The hardest part is making something people want: most startupsthat die, die because they didnt do that. Investors evaluate startups the way customers evaluate products,not the way bosses evaluate employees. We could not have bootstrapped Viaweb, for example.

Bootstrapping 77

Bootstrapping Term Sheet Founder Startup 77

Software By Rob

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

Who says a bootstrapped startup can’t succeed? Here are 10 bootstrapped companies that did it on their own with no outside funding. No venue wants to be told that their product is worthless, and no customer wants to go see a show that’s unsellable,” said Robert Graff. Startup #1: Goldstar. Startup #3: Litmus.

Bootstrapping 78

Bootstrapping Startup Cofounder Salary 78

Tim Keane

MAY 27, 2010

It was bootstrapped.   We had a customer and a value proposition.   We were fortunate enough to have customers like Boston Store, Carson’s, Penney’s, Sears, GNC – and they loved our exceptional customer service and ability to deliver a better value to their customers – and more sales and customer satisfaction to them.

Bootstrapping 60

Bootstrapping Startup America Employee 60

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 4, 2011

One of the discussions that ensued was about how to bootstrap a freemium venture. However, how do you get to critical mass, and how do you finance the period during which this business runs on red ink? How much time do you budget for red ink financing? Once there is critical mass, lots of business can, indeed, happen.

Bootstrapping 124

Bootstrapping San Jose Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 124

mashable.com

AUGUST 20, 2011

Startup life is all about bootstrapping, but you need a place to work, right? “There’s simply no budget for [an office], as I bootstrap the company,&# says Paul Molluzzo, founder of Baby Goes Mobile , a web app that lets parents create a private baby book they can view and update from their mobile phones.

Cofounder 81

Cofounder San Francisco Social Media Startup 81

mashable.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Accounting, Billing, Invoicing, Estimating & Contracts LiteAccounting – Invoice and track payment from your customers without a bunch of extra, useless features. Bootstrap – Online bookkeeping software that lets you track sales and expenses, organize your records for tax time, and more.

Software Review 78

Software Review Social Media Social Network Software 78

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

First up, David Nordell from Kfar Ya'avetz, Israel, pitched New Global Markets , a solution for making it easier for banks to offer their customers global banking facilities. For example, say, Barclays has a customer in the UK who also wants a bank account in India. From 2008 to 2010, Mitra was a columnist for Forbes.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur India Intellectual Property 124

Life Beyond Code

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

SM: In September 2008, when the first Entrepreneur Journeys book was released, D.D. Once the $1 million revenue milestone is crossed, entrepreneurs find it easier to find additional customers, manage working capital, and access funding, whether it is credit or equity. This is where numerous ventures fail.

Programming 116

Programming Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Technical Review 116

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

In 2008, he founded StackOverflow , and it has become the foundation for a question and answer platform called StackExchange. Lesson: You dn’t want your customers to feel locked into using your software. It helps with sales cycles because customers know that they can switch away if they so choose. His Tenure at Microsoft.

Software Review 285

Software Review Software St. Louis API 285

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 6, 2011

From 2008 to 2010, Mitra was a columnist for Forbes. Through this journey, we have raised the visibility of fundamental issues like the causes of exorbitantly high infant entrepreneur mortality and alerted the entrepreneur community with a simple observation: Entrepreneurship = (Customer + Revenue + Profits); Financing is Optional.

Silicon Valley 118

Silicon Valley India San Francisco Entrepreneur 118