YoungUpstarts

APRIL 8, 2021

Every product and business sector are different, and some are a better fit for bootstrapping than others. Shalin Jain, Founder & CEO of HappyFox shares his bootstrapping experience. The post To Bootstrap Or Not to Bootstrap (And Other Advice For Startup Entrepreneurs) appeared first on Young Upstarts.

Bootstrapping 221

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Founder 221

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 15, 2022

Startup studios continue to grow in popularity as incubators for new businesses. Rather than simply launching one startup, the startup studio model creates an organization whose business is launching startups. These can then be repeated and improved on with each successive startup.

Incubator 188

Incubator Startup Software Developers Software Development 188

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Cofounder 309

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

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. Join a startup incubator. Solicit funds from friends and family. Use crowd funding.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

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. Join a startup incubator. Solicit funds from friends and family. Use crowd funding.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator Bootstrapping 261

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

If you aren’t willing to take some risk as an entrepreneur, then don’t expect any gain. Yet everyone has limits, and every investor implicitly has similar limits on what makes a startup investable, or one to avoid at all costs. A strong team has one or more executives who have run a startup before in the current business domain.

New York City 315

New York City Silicon Valley Startup Bootstrapping 315

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. Join a startup incubator. Solicit funds from friends and family. Use crowd funding.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

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. Join a startup incubator. Use crowd funding to build reserves.

Finance 320

Finance Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 320

ReadWriteStart

MAY 3, 2012

The conflicting (frequently unsolicited) advice startup entrepreneurs too often hear is enough to make you tune it all out. But bootstrapping a startup is not easy, requiring discipline and fortitude, as well as ingenuity. But bootstrapping a startup is not easy, requiring discipline and fortitude, as well as ingenuity.

Bootstrapping 137

Bootstrapping Software Review Startup Equity 137

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2020

As an advisor to entrepreneurs, I often hear the desire to run their own company, to avoid having someone else telling them how to run the business. I have to explain that if you really want to exercise total control of a new venture, they you need to do it without external investors, bootstrapping your way with your own resources.

Bootstrapping 313

Bootstrapping Employee Metrics Demand 313

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2023

If you aren’t willing to take some risk as an entrepreneur, then don’t expect any gain. Yet everyone has limits, and every investor implicitly has similar limits on what makes a startup investable, or one to avoid at all costs. A strong team has one or more executives who have run a startup before in the current business domain.

New York City 246

New York City Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Technical Review 246

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. Join a startup incubator. Solicit funds from friends and family. Use crowd funding.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

NZ Entrepreneur

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

Matt Miller, founder of BrakeAce , made a Reel for his startup that got 1M+ views in ten days. He shares his learnings for startup founders here. If you’re a busy startup like us, it’ll be impossible to keep short form creativity elevated long term. So given you need some headspace, maybe it does take a lot of time?

Viral 102

Viral Startup Bootstrapping Algorithm 102

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. Join a startup incubator. Use crowd funding to build reserves.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2014

In my experience, that’s actually the worst way to start, for reasons I will outline here, and also the least common way, according to an authoritative survey of new startups. Eighty percent of new entrepreneurs use this approach, with only six percent using investor funding. Entrepreneurs need to start small and pivot quickly.

Bootstrapping 276

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Burn Rate 276

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

As a startup mentor and investor, I am approached regularly by aspiring entrepreneurs who assert that business plans take too much time, are inaccurate, and rarely add value. Tiny bootstrapped teams usually don’t have a business plan, and probably don’t need one. You need an investor, and want to solicit professionals online.

Business Plan 316

Business Plan Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence 316

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 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. Reinvest gross profit. Marty Zwilling.

Bootstrapping 278

Bootstrapping Startup Merger Salary 278

The Startup Magazine

NOVEMBER 28, 2018

The Startup Magazine recently featured two of the FUND Conference Top 3 Exhibitor winners, Happenstance , and Digs. The top startup at this year’s FUND Conference in Chicago, Illinois was Balodana , a fashion purchasing platform disrupting the women’s e-commerce fashion industry. We’ve saved the best for last.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Software Review Illinois Due Diligence 152

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. Join a startup incubator. Use crowd funding to build reserves.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2016

One of the myths I often hear as an advisor to many entrepreneurs is that their lifestyle would somehow be better if they could more easily find other people’s money to build their startup. Most entrepreneurs never forget for a moment that having investors means owing money, even if they can legally argue that equity is not debt.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Advisory Board Startup Venture Capital 120

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 25, 2018

As I mentioned at the beginning of this series/ebook, over the years I’ve noticed that I tend to frequently share certain Lucky7 posts with entrepreneurs we’ve backed , team members at data.world, or other startup investors I know. So I’m packaging the best of them up for you here in a new series called The Entrepreneur’s Essentials.

Bootstrapping 48

Bootstrapping Austin Equity Cofounder 48

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 8, 2019

For a nonprofit, bootstrapping is self-funding from donations and fund-raising. Some nonprofit entrepreneurs think they can skip the whole plan, rather than just the sections on valuation, equity offered, and exit strategy. What options do they have available to them, since they can’t sell a share of the company (no equity investment)?

Equity 235

Equity Angel Investor Technical Review Exit Strategy 235

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 28, 2022

In our societies and business, there’re entrepreneurs who have demonstrated exceptional personalities and demeanor to pull it through business. Here are the entrepreneurs and business owners, other entrepreneurs considered to be successful. #1- Jessica Livingston is one of the most successful entrepreneurs on the planet.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Green Cofounder Trinidad 113

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 25, 2023

We asked entrepreneurs and business owners about the companies they’re starting in 2023 and here are the responses. #1- This presents a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to launch their own businesses and capitalize on the latest technology. Thanks to Michelle Wintersteen, MKW Creative Co. ! #3-

Software Review 112

Software Review Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur 112

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). Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones.

Incubator 305

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 305

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. Need to spread the risk.

Sweat Equity 255

Sweat Equity Technical Review Entrepreneur Bootstrapping 255

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 19, 2019

Legal startups are upsetting the legal industry in a good way. These organizations make it simpler for lawyers from renowned firms such as Marsh Blom to entrepreneurs and regular people to navigate the legal industry. Businesses bootstrapping their approach to progress will discover this service lucrative for: Incorporating.

United Kingdom 113

United Kingdom Startup Software Review Bootstrapping 113

ReadWriteStart

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

Instead, knowing how to bootstrap your startup might be a better option. How to Bootstrap Your Startup. When you bootstrap your startup, you retain full control of the new business. If bootstrapping is right for your small business, the following tips can help you through the process.

Bootstrapping 145

Bootstrapping Startup Cofounder Angel Investor 145

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 21, 2012

The title of the book by Jonathan Moules, “ The Rebel Entrepreneur: Rewriting the Business Rulebook “, initially seemed like a form of tautology. Isn’t every entrepreneur a rebel by nature? Bootstrap, bootstrap, bootstrap. Funding is for fools. His advice? Don’t innovate, imitate.

Technical Review 184

Technical Review Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Acquisition 184

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2022

For a nonprofit, bootstrapping is self-funding from donations and fund-raising. Some nonprofit entrepreneurs think they can skip the whole plan, rather than just the sections on valuation, equity offered, and exit strategy. What options do they have available to them, since they can’t sell a share of the company (no equity investment)?

Angel Investor 327

Angel Investor Equity Technical Review Exit Strategy 327

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2021

As an angel investor to startups, I’m still surprised to find entrepreneurs who expect investors to give them money, and assume no strings attached. Finally, entrepreneurs should never forget that investors really believe that they are there to help (not like “I'm from the IRS and I'm here to help”).

Term Sheet 433

Term Sheet Advisory Board Liquidation Preference Startup 433

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2013

On a regular basis, I am approached by entrepreneurs who assert that business plans are a waste of time. They cite sources like a recent BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this NY Times article. With bootstrapping, no business plan is expected by anyone.

Business Plan 250

Business Plan Technical Review Entrepreneur Angel Investor 250

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2023

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. Marty Zwilling

Equity 349

Equity Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity 349

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. The average amount per startup has been $23,000, usually in the form of a convertible loan, rather than an equity investment.

Sweat Equity 274

Sweat Equity Elevator Pitch Startup Equity 274

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 11, 2011

As a big believer in young business talent, I’d like to share some tips – learned through experience – about honing your skills as an entrepreneur. Master the art of bootstrapping: aim to “bootstrap” first. Entrepreneurs often fall into the trap of just copying what else is out there and form another “me too” business.

Entrepreneur 221

Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Cofounder SMS 221

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Cofounder 308

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 308

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2014

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team. dream team entrepreneur startup technical'

Technical Cofounder 245

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 245