Multiple Pivots, Taking on Giants, to Over $100 Million in Revenue: Matthew Calkins, CEO of Appian (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.  Matt’s first couple of bets didn’t pan out. The story is interesting on many levels, the pivots being two critical ones. Also interesting is how the company managed to compete with much better funded competitors and win. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very  beginning of

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Successful Pivot to a High Growth Business: Ray Grainger, CEO of Mavenlink (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with the step-by-step journey of how you put all the pieces together to make this happen. When you quit InQuira, what was the first thing that you did? Who left with you? Who were the co-founders? Ray Grainger: The co-founders were colleagues who I had met at InQuira. One is named

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Catching Up On Readings: Minecraft Generation

This feature from The New York Times Magazine looks at how Minecraft, a clunky Swedish game, is teaching millions of children to master the digital world. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

Bootstrapping, Fund Raising and Exit: Mads Jensen’s Journey with Sefaira (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What else is interesting and strategic from decision making or navigating this venture? Mads Jensen: Our partnerships were very important. We work in an ecosystem where there are some big design firms and technologies that people already use. You may know Autodesk, which is a big software company. That’s one of our partners and

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Successful Pivot to a High Growth Business: Ray Grainger, CEO of Mavenlink (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: You joined InQuira as CEO? Ray Grainger: No, as Executive Vice President. They had already been around for five years. I was an investor and joined them as Executive Vice President. I was in charge of all professional services channels and helped them grow from $6 million to about $40 million. Sramana Mitra: By

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Bootstrapping, Fund Raising and Exit: Mads Jensen’s Journey with Sefaira (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: It was 2012 when you launched the product. How did you do that year? How many customers were you able to bring on in 2012 after the first year of the launch? Mads Jensen: We grew at an accelerating clip from 2012 and until the exit this year. I couldn’t say exactly how

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Successful Pivot to a High Growth Business: Ray Grainger, CEO of Mavenlink (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: You went to college in Southern California? Ray Grainger: I did. I went to Harvey Mudd. Sramana Mitra: What did you do after that? Ray Grainger: Based on that realization in college that I would pursue a career of applying technology to business, I went to Accenture directly out of college and ended

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April 21 – 303rd 1M/1M Mentoring Roundtable For Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 303rd FREE online 1M/1M roundtable mentoring session on Thursday, April 21, 2016, at 8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT/8:30 p.m. India IST. If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to “pitch” and sell your business idea to Sramana Mitra. You’ll gain straightforward feedback, advice on next steps, and she’ll answer any

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