Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped First, Raised Money and Exited

If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.  “My journey was as unexceptional as you can imagine,” says Rukkus Founder CEO Manick Bhan, in describing how he got to $1 million annual revenue rate in transactions before raising financing. He shared the whole story with me in 2021. Rukkus was acquired in 2018.

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Building a Global ERP Company from Estonia: Katana CEO Kristjan Vilosius (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Talk about thewe. You said you were three co-founders. Tell me how you guys came together, how you met, how you decided to get together? And secondly, what was the idea around which you came together originally? What happened then? What was the state of the union? What was the state of the

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Building a Global ERP Company from Estonia: Katana CEO Kristjan Vilosius (Part 1)

ERP is an entrenched category full of incumbents. Katana is a wonderful story of excellent positioning and strategy work to find market foothold. Sramana Mitra: All right, Kristjan, let’s start with your personal background. Where are you from, where were you born, raised, what kind of circumstances? Kristjan Vilosius: Firstly, thank you for having me

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May 15 – Rendezvous Meetup to Discuss How to Compete with Heavily Funded Competitors

For entrepreneurs interested to meet and chat with Sramana Mitra in person, please join us for our next informal meetup. If you are living in the San Francisco Bay Area or are just in town for a visit, we hope you will join us. Location:Café Borrone1010 El Camino RealMenlo Park, CA 94025 Time: Wednesday, May

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services from Atlanta

If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.  We continue our coverage of bootstrapping using services with a conversation from 2020 with Codesigned Founder CEO Jake Weaver. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a Tech Product Company from India

If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.  Some of us have worked relentlessly for decades to bring about the change in India from a largely services-driven technology industry to one that today produces credible products sold all over the world. Ameyo is one of the early examples of this shift, and Co-founder

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping a Generative AI Product

If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.  R.J. Talyor, Founder CEO of Backstroke and Pattern89, talks thoughtfully about product idea validation for two AI companies. Backstroke is operating on the cutting edge of Generative AI and delivering clear ROI by solving a very specific problem. Sramana Mitra: All right, R.J., let’s start at

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Bringing a Generative AI Product to Market: RJ Talyor, Founder CEO, Backstroke and Pattern89 (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: Now, what did you decide this time around in enterprise versus SME? Where did you position? And did you start with a good, solid positioning and commitment? RJ Talyor: We’re going right after the mid-market. We’re looking at businesses or retailers, specifically with 100-1,000 employees. We’re looking for people who send two to three emails

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