David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

So you’re interested in raising capital from a Revenue-Based Investor VC. A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors (“RBI”) are emerging. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Our wheelhouse is bootstrapped (or lightly capitalized) SMB SaaS. Bigfoot Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2011

Money to build the business is the number one challenge for most startups. A large percentage of startups never apply to either. You need to explore more common and more productive approaches for getting your startup moving forward. Self-funding is the preferred source of cash for your startup – if you can do it.

Technical Review 233

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Venture Capital 233

Gust

APRIL 27, 2014

Even when your startup is a one-man show and lots of fun, a “business” needs some discipline and controls to keep it from being defined as a hobby by investors, and assure some financial return. Here are eight key business tasks that relate to almost every startup, generally prioritized by criticality. Billing and revenue collection.

Startup 187

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 187

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2020

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.

Hockey Stick 423

Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 423

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2012

Money to build the business is the number one challenge for most startups. A large percentage of startups never apply to either. You need to explore more common and more productive approaches for getting your startup moving forward. Self-funding is the preferred source of cash for your startup – if you can do it.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 257

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

by Arsalan Sajid, startup community manager at Cloudways. Life is not a box of chocolates and startups are not always easy to start. There is a complete process that governs the startup lifecycle including inception to exit. This startup stage starts from the day you decide to work on a startup idea. Early Stage.

Startup 113

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

Gust

OCTOBER 26, 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. Do it yourself.

Bootstrapping 176

Bootstrapping Startup Merger Salary 176

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 1, 2010

Money to build the business is the number one challenge for most startups. In reality, there are multiple more productive approaches you should explore in getting your startup moving forward. Yet, I find that startup founders often fixate on one or two sources, often to the detriment of their business. Startup incubators.

Technical Review 149

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Venture Capital 149

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 15, 2019

Capital Factory’s Saturday Startup Spotlight series returns this week with the Founder and CEO of ROBOAMP : Roberto Inetti. They offer improved SEO, maximized revenue and ROI with ads and landing pages, higher performance, and richer UX— all while providing flexibility and major results. Closing our pre-seed round is very important.

Startup 57

Startup Dallas Email Austin 57

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2016

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.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Hockey Stick Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 120

Austin Startup

JUNE 26, 2019

New business are hard: 50% succeed in the first 5 years Startups are hard: 10% succeed?—?only only 1% ever receive outside capital (and not all businesses are built for outside capital) Marketplaces are hard Raising money for a women-led startups is hard: only 2% of all venture funding is invested in (white) female founders (.02%

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup B2C Sweat Equity 54

Up and Running

MAY 15, 2018

Innovative products and business models are the foundations of a promising startup. From jewelry to dog food to SaaS (software as a service) products, startups are popping up in virtually every field around the world, despite the risks. As mentioned in the beginning, many new startup funding options are available today.

SBA 84

SBA Angel Investor Technical Review Startup 84

Gust

JUNE 17, 2012

Money to build the business is the number one challenge for most startups. A large percentage of startups never apply to either. You need to explore more common and more productive approaches for getting your startup moving forward. Self-funding is the preferred source of cash for your startup – if you can do it.

Technical Review 164

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 164

YoungUpstarts

MAY 28, 2014

In other words, you have done wonders while “bootstrapping.” ” Getting some revenue from at least 3 clients (proving that there’s value to what you’re doing) would be fantastic, but other types of traction and validation would help too. Social networking is so last year. Solve a Real World Problem.

Security 200

Security Incubator Technical Review Bootstrapping 200

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? Did they really need a Startup CTO or Developer or both? who start with small equity percentages don’t end up making very much from startups. Was it a case of needing Homework?

Technical Cofounder 241

Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Equity Sweat Equity 241

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2023

Based on my own experience as a mentor and angel investor, I find that as many as ninety percent of startups fail in the first five years, despite their best efforts. By far, the majority of new businesses I know are self-funding (bootstrapped) from your own savings and prior assets. Define key metrics to measure progress and success.

Intellectual Property 245

Intellectual Property Social Media Angel Investor Metrics 245

Eric Friedman

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash In 2020, Marc Andreessen published a profound essay in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that became a rallying cry for startups called; It’s Time To Build. When you release a software service that solves a problem that many people have, your monthly revenue can grow exponentially.

Engineer 78

Engineer United States Software Engineering Bootstrapping 78

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 14, 2016

If you read startup news, then you might believe “getting funded” is the ultimate goal of any business. Once the most heavily funded startup in New York City, according to then-CEO Jason Goldberg, Fab blew through $200 million of its $336 million in VC cash without settling on a business model. Funding on Your Terms. Go it alone.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Securities and Exchange Commission New York City Cofounder 100

Up and Running

JULY 10, 2017

You can have all traction in the world—acquire, activate, and retain users, but until your startup earns money, you are doing charity work, not running a business. Even if you are just starting to consider building a SaaS startup , you’ve probably used products with either freemium pricing or a free trial. Choose wisely.

Startup 110

Startup Non-Compete Viral Software Review 110

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. Do it yourself.

Bootstrapping 240

Bootstrapping Merger Salary .Net 240

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 7, 2007

This is typically called “bootstrapping&# and it is fraught with potential pitfalls and dangers. Over the next 5-6 posts I‚Äôll outline the process which I‚Äôve now followed at several corporates and which I‚Äôve honed to work with my own startup, Aroxo. What is bootstrapping? So, what does it mean to bootstrap a company?

Bootstrapping 41

Bootstrapping Offshore Startup EC2 41

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 7, 2016

I recently found the classic sales training book “ Bootstrap Selling The Sandler Way ,” by Bill Morrison, who has 20 years in sales leadership roles, and I was amazed at how many of his sales lessons are great lessons for new entrepreneurs as well. With the best solutions, the customer gets value which exceeds your revenue.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Sales Technical Review Social Media 120

Tim Keane

MARCH 9, 2011

Startups and angels: Along the way to success. It’s a deceptively simple question:  what is the optimal way to finance a new startup? It’s a deceptively simple question:  what is the optimal way to finance a new startup? Can you bootstrap your way to positive cash flow? « Leaving a Trail | Main. |

Finance 83

Finance Bootstrapping Startup Equity 83

Austin Startup

AUGUST 3, 2017

Is it an Texas-based tech startup company or is it doing something in the email space? For me, that’s any tech startup company in Texas or any email related company in the world. If your answers starts with, “We have multiple revenue streams…” that’s a bad thing. Are you someone I want to help? Is what you are doing awesome?

Technical Review 69

Technical Review Startup Texas Email 69

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

I recently finished a new sales training book “ Bootstrap Selling The Sandler Way ,” by Bill Morrison, who has 20 years in sales leadership roles, and I was amazed at how many of his sales lessons are great lessons for new entrepreneurs as well. With the best solutions, the customer gets value which exceeds your revenue.

Sales 120

Sales Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Technical Review 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 11, 2010

This is Part 5 of the 5-part series: 5 lessons from 150 startup pitches. Ask a technical founder about his startup, and he'll proudly describe his stunning software — simple, compelling, useful, fun. We're going to start with our own network and grow it from there.". We're going to get reviews on blogs.". Advertising ??

Software Review 261

Software Review Technical Review Viral Software Developers 261

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. Do it yourself.

Equity 241

Equity Bootstrapping Startup Merger 241

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 14, 2014

But he chose to move forward with a positive attitude, raise seed money for his company, and network his way to a profitable future. Here are six things you can do to make your startup look attractive to potential investors: 1. Bootstrap your business. Expand your network. How to Position Yourself for Funding.

Bootstrapping 249

Bootstrapping Startup Seed Money New York 249

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 13, 2019

A pivotal startup milestone? Bootstrap if you can, for as long as you can As a startup you’ll likely fail. At this point, we had already developed the first phase of the platform by bootstrapping. Not really. The first one relates to the most important investor…you, the founder(s)!

Strategic Investors 49

Strategic Investors Austin Angel Investor Bootstrapping 49

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Even when your startup is a one-man show and lots of fun, a “business” needs some discipline and controls to keep it from being defined as a hobby by investors, and assure some financial return. Here are eight key business tasks that relate to almost every startup, generally prioritized by criticality. Billing and revenue collection.

Startup 268

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 268

Spencer Fry

FEBRUARY 28, 2013

As I get ready to launch my new startup Uncover , my team and I created a GitHub Issues List of what we need to check off. Complete Homepage copy: One of the pages we left for last – and I know many new startups do – is the copy for the homepage. Lots of customers want to reach you on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks.

Startup 78

Startup Ruby XML Email 78

The Next Web

DECEMBER 30, 2012

We’ve built (and continue to grow) a network of journalists and a corresponding publisher network. Diversifying revenue streams at Wave. Our revenue model is also supplemented by add-on applications — the first of which is Wave Payroll, which is currently live in Canada and in beta in the U.S.

Business Model 133

Business Model Technical Review Advertising B2C 133

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 14, 2013

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Your bootstrapped startup is finally off the ground. You’ve heard banner ads don’t work well, but they’re cheap, so you start throwing $600/mo into an ad network and trust your web analytics to tell you whether it’s working. Maybe your ads suck?

Affiliate 282

Affiliate Marketing Campaign Channel 282