Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Does the traditional VC financing model make sense for all companies? A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors are emerging who are using creative investing structures with some of the upside of traditional VC, but some of the downside protection of debt. So what is Revenue Based Investing? Absolutely not.

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

While you may be enamored with becoming an entrepreneur and bootstrapping your business, don’t quit your day job. Track finances early. Even if you’re not a numbers person, you need to track your finances. To truly stay on top of your finances, you should start creating financial forecasts as early as possible.

Forecast 154

Forecast Software Review Bootstrapping Finance 154

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Tim Keane

MARCH 9, 2011

How should I finance my new venture? It’s a deceptively simple question:  what is the optimal way to finance a new startup? The overarching idea, of course, is to reduce the cost of capital while maintaining appropriate flexibility for the venture.  Can you bootstrap your way to positive cash flow?

Finance 83

Finance Bootstrapping Startup Equity 83

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 9, 2019

Tech startups are, in contrast, focused on rapid growth, potential, and top-end revenue. Rapid, unplanned growth can result in unpredictable costs that quickly run out of control. A new startup will incur many expenses and costs. Separate Personal and Business Finances. Scale sensibly. Predict late payments.

Technical Review 80

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Finance 80

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

The primary source of your funds should be your paying customers, i.e., your business should generate enough revenues and profits to fund the growth and expansion. It is going to cost a lot of money just to get the initial batch of products to test the market and would definitely require external funding. Bootstrapping.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2014

Based on the Startup Environment Index from the Kauffman Foundation and LegalZoom a while back, personal money, or bootstrapping, continues to be the primary startup funding source. At least wait until later, when you ready to scale, and have some “leverage” based on a proven business model, some real customers, and real revenue.

Bootstrapping 276

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Burn Rate 276

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2022

Duffy emphasizes the often overlooked personal side of entrepreneurship, including balancing finances, relationships, and your health. That means coming up with revenue and expense assumptions that balance your natural optimism and determine how much cash the business will really need. Let your passion drive your cash flow projections.

Early Stage 307

Early Stage Bootstrapping Revenue Framework 307

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 29, 2024

Revenue streams are another critical component of your business model. Content marketing, social media, and email campaigns can be cost-effective ways to engage your audience and build brand awareness. Understand your costs, both fixed and variable, and plan your finances accordingly to sustain operations and fuel growth.

Intellectual Property 130

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Business Model Bootstrapping 130

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

Version One Ventures

JULY 22, 2014

With lowered costs to build and run websites, acquire and retain users, virtually anybody can pick up coding and start a tech company. Any entrepreneur trying to navigate the financing landscape should be aware of the over-abundance of angel money compared with subsequent rounds. Is your opportunity at least $100M?

Finance 167

Finance Seed Money Bootstrapping Angel Investor 167

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 16, 2011

For the uninitiated, Zoho introduced a CRM system that was one-tenth the price of Salesforce.com and penetrated the lower end of the market using an Indian cost structure. Zendesk is heavily financed by Benchmark and Charles River and has 10,000 customers. RightNow's per agent price starts at $110 per agent per month.

India 123

India Bootstrapping Non-Compete Entrepreneur 123

Gust

DECEMBER 7, 2014

Based on the Startup Environment Index from the Kauffman Foundation and LegalZoom a while back, personal money, or bootstrapping, continues to be the primary startup funding source. At least wait until later, when you ready to scale, and have some “leverage” based on a proven business model, some real customers, and real revenue.

Bootstrapping 191

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Burn Rate 191

Up and Running

DECEMBER 23, 2019

One of the most important decisions a new business owner can make is how they’re going to finance their venture. . 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. .

Finance 92

Finance Sweat Equity Bootstrapping Entrepreneur 92

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. Thus, you must manage your available finances wisely.

Bootstrapping 85

Bootstrapping Global Startup Hungary 85

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 7, 2007

This is typically called “bootstrapping&# and it is fraught with potential pitfalls and dangers. What is bootstrapping? So, what does it mean to bootstrap a company? Bootstrapping involves launching a business on a low budget. Why bootstrap? Either way, bootstrapping is a viable model.

Bootstrapping 41

Bootstrapping Offshore Startup EC2 41

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2014

This was a company that had successfully bootstrapped itself to real revenues, employees and cashflow and I thought it deserved the structure of a going concern, not a flier. Perhaps they need to rethink that "back the founder at all costs" mentality. At first, I thought I was making a mistake. Perhaps we all should.

Term Sheet 143

Term Sheet Founder Cofounder Software Review 143

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2019

Duffy emphasizes the often overlooked personal side of entrepreneurship, including balancing finances, relationships, and your health. That means coming up with revenue and expense assumptions that balance your natural optimism and determine how much cash the business will really need. Let your passion drive your cash flow projections.

Early Stage 317

Early Stage Bootstrapping Revenue Framework 317

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

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 7, 2010

Sub-$2 million pre-money, it is better to bootstrap. That is debt financing that converts into equity at the Series A valuation once the price for that is set. (I Our discussion today was largely around her financing strategy, and one of the key milestones that I probed her on was: What does it take to get a validated customer?

Valuation 119

Valuation Silicon Valley Pre-Money Valuation Bootstrapping 119

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally generated funds.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 25, 2015

“We will never need another financing.” ” “This financing will get us to cash flow breakeven.” ” “This is our last financing before we become profitable.” There are also companies, like my first one (Feld Technologies) that bootstrapped and never raised any money.

Finance 70

Finance Bootstrapping Acquisition Revenue 70

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Sequoia has financed them. I pointed Zubair to a couple of case studies of bootstrapping using services to get more of his core product built; in parallel, I will help him pursue institutional funding. Appirio is one such company that jumped on this trend way back in 2007 and has now built a significant company in that space.

Cloud 117

Cloud Fractional CTO Entrepreneur Bandwidth 117

Gust

JUNE 19, 2012

For example, with any outside investment, you give up some ownership and control, and with bootstrapping your growth curve will likely be longer and more organic. And if you’re a startup CFO, finance lead, bean counter, or presentation slide deck preparer, then you should read this book. June 17th, 2012. Power Pitches.

Startup 180

Startup Forecast Angel Investor Software 180

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2016

The media tends to highlight experienced entrepreneurs who succeed with early new venture funding, like Uber’s Garrett Camp , but fail to point out the more common bootstrapping successes. Don’t quit your day job until the revenue is flowing. Keep later critical financing needs viable.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Exit Strategy 120

Up and Running

JULY 1, 2015

All these requirements need to be financed. Bootstrapping. Personally funding your startup doesn’t have to mean using your own money to pay for the initial startup costs and development of your business. Here are some popular ways of bootstrapping your business. Check out Kickstarter or Indiegogo to get started.

Bootstrapping 60

Bootstrapping Angel Investor Venture Capital Finder 60

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 13, 2019

Bootstrap if you can, for as long as you can As a startup you’ll likely fail. Either way, if you know you’re going to fail, it’s much better to do so with your own money on the line than money that also costs you in dilution, perpetuity or more. At this point, we had already developed the first phase of the platform by bootstrapping.

Strategic Investors 49

Strategic Investors Austin Angel Investor Bootstrapping 49

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 25, 2016

But they only require “the back of an envelope” to figure out how you are going to make money, how much it is going to cost to run your business, and how soon you will generate a profit and reach breakeven. Having these estimates in hand will help you decide if you can bootstrap your business or if you will need to raise funding.

Bootstrapping 100

Bootstrapping LLC Equity Revenue 100

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

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

YoungUpstarts

JULY 25, 2016

Every small business is different when it comes to the need for financing. Others completely bootstrap their businesses without borrowing a cent. If you think you’ll need a business loan, there are benefits to waiting at least a couple years after launching your new business to apply for financing. Bottom Line.

SBA 100

SBA Bankruptcy Finance Revenue 100

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 21, 2010

At today's roundtable, we had some very interesting discussions on creative bootstrapping. How is Aaron going to cover his substantial costs? Read Creative Bootstrapping to a $350 Million Exit. I am always fascinated by how innovative entrepreneurs get when faced with resource crunches. Read EDA Entrepreneurs: Build To Enjoy.

Bootstrapping 113

Bootstrapping IP India Silicon Valley 113

YoungUpstarts

JULY 6, 2020

Throw anything like big bills, bull markets, or broken equipment into the mix, and bootstrapped businesses can really start to struggle. Businesses must be run efficiently and cost-effectively. That cash injection can cover the cost of repairs and ensure they get back up and running again. Reducing your expenditure is vital too.

Revenue 147

Revenue Bootstrapping Global Operations 147

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2018

Duffy emphasizes the often overlooked personal side of entrepreneurship, including balancing finances, relationships, and your health. That means coming up with revenue and expense assumptions that balance your natural optimism and determine how much cash the business will really need. Let your passion drive your cash flow projections.

Early Stage 158

Early Stage Bootstrapping Revenue Framework 158