Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

The sales professional. A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. Or you can always bootstrap the idea yourself, get some traction, and build your first startup organically.

Technical Cofounder 309

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

Yet in this age when customers have a thousand alternatives, and are overwhelmed by a multitude of messages, sales efforts can make or break a business. In fact, I believe modern entrepreneurs need to be super sales people, in the most positive sense, to their team as well as customers. No pain usually means no sales.

Sales 120

Sales Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Technical Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

Self-funding or bootstrapping is still the most common and safest approach for startups Keep your day job until revenue starts to flow. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Set expectations accordingly.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

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. Don’t think about the exit. Marty Zwilling.

Bootstrapping 278

Bootstrapping Startup Merger .Net 278

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

The sales professional. A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. Or you can always bootstrap the idea yourself, get some traction, and build your first startup organically.

Technical Cofounder 308

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 308

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Marketing and sales spend is nil, so there has to be a reason it spreads by word of mouth, ideally virally as a natural result of using the product itself. $10/mo Even bootstrapped businesses can make this work (e.g. simple enough to be self-service). Think: GoDaddy). 200-300), and you can afford to spend money acquiring them.

Bootstrapping 294

Bootstrapping Technical Review B2C Sales Cycle 294

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

Self-funding or bootstrapping is still the most common and safest approach for startups Keep your day job until revenue starts to flow. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Set expectations accordingly.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

Self-funding or bootstrapping is still the most common and safest approach for startups Keep your day job until revenue starts to flow. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Set expectations accordingly.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 29, 2013

” Easy for them to say, but what about a bootstrapped, profit-driven business? Profit-seeking bootstrapped companies cannot afford those delusions. But a bootstrapped company’s cash-flow won’t allow it, even if the math would work in the long run. ” Here’s my way.

Bootstrapping 285

Bootstrapping Affiliate Cofounder Channel 285

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

Self-funding or bootstrapping is still the most common and safest approach for startups Keep your day job until revenue starts to flow. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Set expectations accordingly.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

Self-funding or bootstrapping is still the most common and safest approach for startups Keep your day job until real revenue flows. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Bootstrapping 134

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. Image via Flickr from Food For Thought album.

Bootstrapping 176

Bootstrapping Startup Merger Salary 176

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 29, 2016

When you are bootstrapping a small business, you are not only the boss, you are also the person that cleans, greets customers, makes sales and, depending on your business, provides the service offered. I’ll expand on that last bit along with other lessons I learned along the way: Lack of Energy.

Bootstrapping 189

Bootstrapping New York City New Jersey New York 189

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 14, 2019

Bootstrapping going by the author of the Ulysses, James Joyce implies forcing your way to the top from the lowest of ranks by the aid of your bootstraps. Bootstrapping is a common way to fund a prospect. These are family and friends that help with your startup bootstrapping. Private borrowing. Asset selling.

Balance Sheet 127

Balance Sheet Limited Liability Company Bootstrapping Startup 127

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

Bootstrap was term coined from the computer lingo ‘booting’ which means starting a computer or starting a chain of processes which eventually starts up the operating system. In the startup world, bootstrapping essentially means funding your own venture and not being too dependent on external sources. Spend Wisely. Experiment.

Bootstrapping 100

Bootstrapping Startup Cofounder Sales Cycle 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2023

Even if you are bootstrapping your business, and you are the only investor, you should be asking yourself the same question. Word of mouth is not adequate for marketing and sales. Even though the Internet is pervasive and free, you should not assume that a website is all you need for sales and marketing.

Business Model 273

Business Model Customer Angel Investor Bootstrapping 273

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 .Net Salary 90

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

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. Even in these cases, all other options should be explored first: Sales are strong – too strong. Marty Zwilling.

Sweat Equity 239

Sweat Equity Technical Review Bootstrapping Equity 239

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 9, 2015

These are the little known bootstrapped start-ups that continue to operate through debt and personal savings. The truth with bootstrapping is that business owners always tend to operate on extremely tight budgets. A good chunk of the sales and marketing activities may be automated using tools like Marketo and Oracle Eloqua.

Bootstrapping 100

Bootstrapping Cloud Finance eCommerce 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2016

Starting a new business on a limited budget without investor involvement is called bootstrapping, and it’s the only way to go if you don’t want to spend months on the investment pitch preparation and delivery circuit. Practice your sales skills early. I’m convinced this also reduces risk. It never hurts to ask.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Social Media Equity eCommerce 120

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. Don’t think about the exit. Marty Zwilling.

Bootstrapping 240

Bootstrapping Merger .Net Salary 240

Version One Ventures

FEBRUARY 11, 2020

Another example for an AI-first approach is our portfolio company Outreach that uses ML to create a much more sophisticated approach to sales engagement. As with any AI company, the biggest challenge is how to bootstrap the initial data so that the AI / ML model can actually work. Vertical SaaS.

Technical Review 196

Technical Review Vertical Software Review Portfolio 196

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

Instead of funding, you pay the investors a structured royalty, which is a portion of the sales. Bootstrapping. I always recommend that you start with bootstrapping. Bootstrapping is when you put your own money or borrow from friends and family to set up your business. Royalty based investment. Sources of funding. ?

Startup 150

Startup Elevator Pitch Entrepreneur Seed Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

External investors will demand a financial forecast, but it’s equally valuable to you, even if bootstrapping. There is no black magic involved in predicting the future, if you use these four simple steps, with my basic rules of thumb to keep you on the right track: Determine your margin on sales. Forecast sales-volume expectations.

Forecast 290

Forecast Burn Rate Widget Business Plan 290

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 24, 2015

By bootstrapping, bartering, reducing overheads (rental and manpower), and leveraging technology (especially the web), one can start one’s own business almost on a dime without being beholden to creditors or venture capitalists. Positioned as a guide for bootstrapping solopreneurs, the book doesn’t dive deeply into any one specific domain.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Software Review South Carolina Startup 100

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 21, 2012

Bootstrap, bootstrap, bootstrap. Moules is not (really) suggesting that the entrepreneur himself should totally delegate sales to someone else. His advice? Don’t innovate, imitate. Failure is not failure if you learn.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Acquisition 175

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 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. Following is my prioritized larger list of sources, with some “rules of thumb” which may save you a lot of time and energy: Bootstrapping. Friends and family.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 257

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. There’s actually a lot of value in bootstrapping your business. You can be increasing revenue, growing sales, and maybe even cutting costs. Don’t quit your day job. Have enough cash on hand.

Forecast 154

Forecast Software Review Bootstrapping Finance 154

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

Self-funding or bootstrapping is still the most common and safest approach for startups Keep your day job until real revenue flows. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 13, 2014

All of the above costs can be completely avoided or drastically minimized by a bit of creative bootstrapping with minimal investment to launch courtesy of the world wide web. With Global eCommerce sales topping $1.25 Below is a list of the key components necessary to begin your business venture. Website & Hosting. trillion it?s

eCommerce 212

eCommerce Bootstrapping Social Media Hosting 212

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

Yet in this age when customers have a thousand alternatives, and are overwhelmed by a multitude of messages, sales efforts can make or break a business. In fact, I believe modern entrepreneurs need to be super sales people, in the most positive sense, to their team as well as customers. No pain usually means no sales.

Sales 120

Sales Bootstrapping Technical Review Social Media 120

NZ Entrepreneur

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

I can see how social management can be one person’s job, but that’s not always possible while bootstrapping. Being highly reactive for a few days will really drive engagement with your Reel as far as I can tell, ultimately pushing your content to more people.

Viral 102

Viral Startup Bootstrapping Algorithm 102

Professor VC

MARCH 10, 2009

Bootstrapping 101. I moderated a panel discussion last night on one of my favorite topics, bootstrapping, as part of our Silicon Valley Center for Entrepreneurship Eminent Speaker Series at San Jose State. They have a standard presentation on bootstrapping, which they present around the country. Bootstrapping 101.

Bootstrapping 28

Bootstrapping San Jose Silicon Valley Software Review 28

The Startup Toolkit

MAY 8, 2012

(Note: In this post I’m talking specifically about tech startups, and especially non-sales-driven tech startups). Now you can bootstrap. Clever landing page tests and interviews can tell you whether an idea is bad , but not whether it will work. That’s it.

Bootstrapping 55

Bootstrapping Technical Cofounder HTML Dividend 55

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

The sales professional. A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. Or you can always bootstrap the idea yourself, get some traction, and build your first startup organically.

Technical Cofounder 144

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 144

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

Even if you are bootstrapping your business, and you are the only investor, you should be asking yourself the same question. Word of mouth is not adequate for marketing and sales. Even though the Internet is pervasive and free, you should not assume that a website is all you need for sales and marketing.

Business Model 414

Business Model Angel Investor Bootstrapping Revenue 414

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. Even in these cases, all other options should be explored first: Sales are strong – too strong. Marty Zwilling.

Sweat Equity 255

Sweat Equity Technical Review Entrepreneur Bootstrapping 255