Successful Pivot to $5M in Revenue from Chicago: Cohesive Networks CEO Patrick Kerpan (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: It sounds like that company was bootstrapped because it’s unfinanceable given the landscape of the time? Patrick Kerpan: What we find hard for bootstrapped companies is, ultimately if you have a mixed model and you have family, friends, and angel investors, those are discreet investors. They’re not portfolio investors. When you run into a

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Serial Bootstrapper: Oversee and Manage Founder Fred Hsu (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Did you bootstrap it all the way? Fred Hsu: If I were to relay anything and I could teach people, we raised money when we least needed it. We raised $150 million for Series A. Sramana Mitra: $150 million?! Fred Hsu: Yes. Sramana Mitra: What were your metrics in the business that you

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Successful Pivot to $5M in Revenue from Chicago: Cohesive Networks CEO Patrick Kerpan (Part 1)

Patrick has built an interesting company from Chicago that had to go through a significant pivot. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your story. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of circumstances? Patrick Kerpan: I was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. My father was a policeman.

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1Mby1M Deal Radar 2015: Twin Prime, Redwood City, CA

Mobile devices have increasingly emerged as the primary way to gain access to content. The average person spends more than three hours per day on a mobile device and 86% of it is spent on apps. But the sad reality is that mobile apps are at least three times slower than their desktop version. Not

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When Should You Move To Silicon Valley?

The question continues to come up often in our work with global entrepreneurs, so further to my earlier Harvard Business Review piece, I will add more color to it. First, here’s a recap from the HBR piece:

Building a Cyber Security Company from Israel: Aki Eldar, CEO of Secure Islands (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: In 2014, all the money that you raised was from Credit Suisse Next? Aki Eldar: Only from Credit Suisse Next, which was also a vote of trust coming from a customer. Sramana Mitra: What’s the next milestone? Aki Eldar: The next milestone is we’re expanding worldwide. We have an office in the US.

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Serial Bootstrapper: Oversee and Manage Founder Fred Hsu (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Is this the company that you’re running now? Fred Hsu: No, that company was actually called Oversee. It had started around 2000. It was completely bootstrapped. Our first investor was my mom. She helped us buy our first server. That company grew from zero to eventually $230 million in annual revenues from 2000 to

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Building a Cyber Security Company from Israel: Aki Eldar, CEO of Secure Islands (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: What year did you get that customer? Aki Eldar: 2010. Sramana Mitra: The financial crisis has settled a little bit. I was raising my eyebrows that you got a financial institution. A little bit of time had passed from the calamity. Aki Eldar: They had a huge problem. We were the only one

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