Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2018

Here is my perspective on the highest risk elements, from my years of working with investors and watching startups come and go: All the co-founders are first-time entrepreneurs. On the Internet, I am wary of one more search engine provider, clones of existing social-media sites, and yet another new dating site.

New York City 202

New York City Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Technical Review 202

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 I'm an engineer.

Community 54

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. I usually envision a 50-50 ownership split for their efforts, but every engineer believes the technology side deserves the majority share. Most founders bootstrap product development.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Bootstrapping 120

Genuine VC

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

When Chad Pytel introduced me to Bryan Helmkamp , CEO/Co-founder of Code Climate , I knew that I had to pay attention. The stats behind what Bryan and the team had accomplished while bootstrapping the business were incredible, including signing up over 1,000 paying accounts and analyzing over 30,000 code repositories EVERY DAY.

Software Review 191

Software Review Chad Ruby PHP 191

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2014

Here is my perspective on the highest risk elements, from my years of working with investors and watching startups come and go: All the co-founders are first-time entrepreneurs. On the Internet, I am wary of one more search engine provider, clones of existing social-media sites, and yet another new dating site.

New York City 254

New York City Silicon Valley Technical Review Bootstrapping 254

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 28, 2022

An entrepreneur who brings out innovation and disruption at the same time is highly successful Muhammad Yunus, the founder of microcredit and micro-finance, and winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize is an excellent example of a successful entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of the famous Huffington Post and the founder of Thrive Global.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Green Cofounder Trinidad 115

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

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. Here’s how we got started, and our lessons learned from growing a bootstrapped company.

Founder 120

Founder Cofounder Bootstrapping Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2016

Here is my perspective on the highest risk elements, from my years of working with investors and watching startups come and go: All the co-founders are first-time entrepreneurs. On the Internet, I am wary of one more search engine provider, clones of existing social-media sites, and yet another new dating site.

New York City 120

New York City Silicon Valley Startup Technical Review 120

Austin Startup

AUGUST 2, 2018

It’s been 6 month since my co-founder and I started Reset ?—?a In July I spoke on a panel at 3 Day Startup Global Roundup, an opportunity that sprung out of a connection in a Female Founders Facebook Group. WP Engine, Bumble, Kendra Scott?—?but It’s like that warm belly feeling after a full bowl of ramen.

Austin 57

Austin Software Review Technical Review Entrepreneur 57

Austin Startup

MARCH 3, 2018

Friday, March 9 Attracting VC Funding Outside Silicon Valley Panel with HomeAway founder Brian Sharples & Capital Factory Director Gordon Daugherty We do a lot of things differently in Texas, including fundraising. Gayle King is co-host of CBS This Morning. 3:00PM Location: Hilton?—?Salon as in pro wrestling?—?you’re

Technical Review 58

Technical Review Silicon Valley Texas Austin 58

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.

Management 120

Management Cofounder Startup Bootstrapping 120

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. What about bootstrapping? Their latest product, Statdragon, launched just last week.

Bootstrapping 107

Bootstrapping Cofounder Portland Burn Rate 107

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 11, 2021

Advertisements, search engines, and social media all provide businesses with the opportunity to grow brand awareness and gain influence in the market. 17- Saturated with bootstrapped businesses. More entrepreneurs will therefore have to bootstrap their business. Digital businesses have the capacity to reach broad audiences.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Technical Review Social Media Bootstrapping 126

ReadWriteStart

JULY 18, 2011

Jeff Clavier was the first tech investor I ever met; he was introduced to me years ago by some hip engineers in a bar as "one of the few cool VCs." Clavier began his presentation at the beginning of a company's lifecycle, asking how many co-founders a startup ought to have. Are all co-founders equal, Clavier asked?

Investment Bankers 153

Investment Bankers Technical Review Cofounder Due Diligence 153

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. The product was simple, and didn’t work every time, but after three months we had several newspapers cranking and it was enough to let my now co-founder quit his job in the “real world.”

Cofounder 48

Cofounder Texas Video Software Review 48

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

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.

Cofounder 143

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Kenya Dilution 143

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

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

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Human Resources Play Video Shark Tanks Barbara Corcoran on Bootstrapping a Growing a Business (Video). When you're getting started, sweat equity is often a critical component of your negotiating leverage with co-founders, early stage employees and others who aren't paid market wages to help you grow your business.

Sweat Equity 55

Sweat Equity Equity Fractional CTO CTO 55

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 29, 2013

This post was written by Sarah Milstein, co-host of The Lean Startup Conference. Often, in very young organizations, those people are simply the founders. Now, “lean” is often used to refer to a company’s financial situation, so it might make you think of a bootstrapped or under-funded organization.

Lean 165

Lean Technical Review Startup Software Review 165

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

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 16, 2010

Startup School is an annual event co-sponsored by Y Combinator and BASES , Stanford University's Business Association for Entrepreneurial Students. Paul Graham: Co-founder, Y Combinator. Andrew Mason: Founder, Groupon. Tom Preston-Werner: Founder, GitHub. Adam D'Angelo: Founder, Quora.

Founder 159

Founder Cofounder Silicon Valley Bootstrapping 159

YoungUpstarts

JULY 8, 2013

by Natalie Gonzalez, co-founder and head of marketing and social media at Chatalog. Small businesses are the economic engine that drives the U.S. Although stressful, we bootstrapped the company for as long as possible while having conversations with potential investors. New survey data from Constant Contact® , Inc.

Small Business 276

Small Business Cofounder Social Media Angel Investor 276

thenetsetter.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

If you read a lot of these though you start wondering if the only route into the world of web startups is to be a developer or computer engineer of some kind. Even less-obvious founders like the internet media personality and Digg founder Kevin Rose actually began in computer science.

Web 40

Web Technical Review Developer Cofounder 40

venturehacks.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

SUPPORTED BY Products Archives @venturehacks Books AngelList About RSS How to pick a co-founder by Naval Ravikant on November 12th, 2009 Update : Also see our 40-minute interview on this topic. Picking a co-founder is your most important decision. One founder companies can work, against the odds (hello, Mark Zuckerberg).

Cofounder 101

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 101

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

It should be even more important to the founders themselves, because it demonstrates that their business hypothesis is grounded in reality. This is an incredible skill, one that most engineers overlook. These founders have not managed, to borrow a phrase from Steve Blank , to create a scalable and repeatable sales process.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 20, 2014

by Stefan Haubold, Global Managing Director and co-founder of Carmudi. Or at least never utter among its employees to keep the engine of growth running. If you don’t have resources, bootstrap your way to success and don’t put anything on hold. Take it from my experience at Carmudi , a highly fast-paced startup.

Entrepreneur 197

Entrepreneur Germany Bootstrapping Cofounder 197

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 13, 2014

By Paul Jackson, founder of Worthworm. Some entrepreneurs will choose to bootstrap their venture the best they can, while others will turn to trendier options such as crowd funding or a startup accelerator to get off the ground. Paul Jackson is an entrepreneur, angel investor, and aerospace engineer.

Angel Investor 195

Angel Investor Seed Money LLC Bootstrapping 195

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 16, 2009

Well, that’s fine as far as it goes but when you’re a startup and you don’t have customers yet you need a way to bootstrap and that can feel awfully chaotic and wasteful. Unfortunately, many startups still use it as an excuse to maintain the artificial separation between the marketing/business team and the engineering team.

Agile 111

Agile Customer Development Developer San Francisco 111

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. III: Why are Revenue-Based VCs investing in so many women and underrepresented founders?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 5, 2012

“The Internet is the first place most people turn to find information and learn virtually anything, but there’s no sense of organization — you have to stumble through, often running into dead ends along the way,” says Kris Chinosorn, who started MentorMob with fellow University of Illinois graduate and co-founder Vince Leung. “At

Illinois 165

Illinois Aggregator Chicago Widget 165

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 31, 2017

by Mark Hasebroock, Founder and Managing Partner, Dundee Venture Capital. That’s the approach we’re taking at The Startup Collaborative, where companies that are still bootstrapping can share space with companies that have already been validated by the market and are ready to raise capital. But not for long.

Omaha 100

Omaha Nebraska Chicago Incubator 100

The Next Web

OCTOBER 3, 2012

Andrew is the co-founder and CTO of Parse.ly , a technology startup that provides big data insights to the web’s best publishers. He wrote: When startups die, the official cause of death is always either running out of money or a critical founder bailing. Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Andrew Montalenti.

Cofounder 155

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 155

www.mint.com

MARCH 9, 2010

However, a perfectly acceptable—and perhaps even better—answer is that there are no investors other than the founders, and the plan is to bootstrap the company as long as possible. But you should beware of boards that are only the founders and their family and friends. These days revenue is the best source of capital.

Software Review 68

Software Review Startup Post-Money Valuation Technical Review 68

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 9, 2009

As someone who has bootstrapped a software company ([link] and funded it through selling software and consulting to customers, I certainly know what it means to live lean and Ive even taken your advice ([link] I just wish I was in the Bay area and could come by "office hours". Labels: events 2comments: Andrew Meyer said.

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Lean San Francisco Web Advisory Board 68