Bootstrapping from Indiana: Passageways CEO Paroon Chadha (Part 1)

Paroon has bootstrapped Passageways from Indiana and wants to help other Indiana entrepreneurs succeed.

Along the way, he has pivoted from licensed software to cloud software, and made other strategic decision that helped his company become more successful.

Read on to learn more on his moves.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of your journeys. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background? >>>

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Bootstrap First with Services, Raise Money Later: John Stewart, CEO of MapAnything (Part 1)

John and his co-founder have built MapAnything from Charlotte, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia. They have now raised over $40 million in funding, proving that you can build sizable VC-funded SaaS businesses from anywhere.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where did you grow up? Give us some early story.

John Stewart: I’m from upstate New York. I’m from a middle class background. My mother was a stay-at-home mom. My father was in >>>

Woman Entrepreneur Building a Successful, VC Funded Business: Olivia Skuza, CEO of NuORDER (Part 1)

Olivia has built a powerful B2B e-commerce business that connects wholesalers and retailers in categories like fashion and home furnishings.

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?

Olivia Skuza: I was born in Adelaide, Australia. It’s a little town that has only about a million people. My parents were Polish immigrants who moved to Australia in their early 20’s. They moved to Australia with absolutely nothing. My father worked any job that he could get including places like Pizza Hut to try and support the family while my mother took care of me and my sister. >>>

Bootstrapping to $50M: SmartBuyGlasses CEO David Menning (Part 1)

David has bootstrapped a global e-commerce venture from Hong Kong. Splendid execution!

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?

David Menning: I grew up in Sydney. I’ve been educated in Australia. In my later years, I studied at universities overseas both in Canada and Japan for a little while. It was this time when I was abroad spending time in different countries that I was exposed to different business models, cultures, and people. >>>

Building a Global Enterprise Software Company from Europe: Gero Decker, CEO of Signavio (Part 1)

Very few software companies have been built from Europe with a global footprint. I am about to bring you the story of one that is growing nicely.

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?

Gero Decker: I’m from a town in northern Germany. My father and my uncle were entrepreneurs. My uncle was one of the investors of solar panels. My father built high-precision bases for industrial manufacturing. I was the odd man out in the family who did not go down the path of mechanical engineering. >>>

Competing with Blackline: FloQast CEO Mike Whitmire (Part 1)

When Mike started FloQast, no one knew about Blackline or the account reconciliation opportunity. Although Blackline was already a sizable company, it was little-known, bootstrapped, and away from the public eye. Read how FloQast went for the same market, although with a different positioning, and achieved success.

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?

Mike Whitmire: I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. I’m a native to the city. I went to college on the East Coast. I >>>

Bootstrapping Decisively to $5M+ in Revenue: Mack Sundaram, CEO of RainMakerForce (Part 1)

Mack has built a successful business optimized for autonomy and profitability. Excellent navigation!

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of your journey. Tell us where you’re from. Where did you grow up? Where were you born and raised?

Mack Sundaram: I was born South India in a village near Chennai. I spent some time of my childhood in Chennai and Pondicherry. I later went to school in New Delhi. Since then, I moved over to the United States where I got an opportunity to pursue a doctoral degree in Economics. That’s where the transition happened. >>>

Successful Pivots: Anthony Ferry, CEO of PriceSpider (Part 1)

Anthony has navigated PriceSpider with some astute strategic moves. Read on to learn more. Strategic maneuverings of real entrepreneurs, by the way, are great learning opportunities.

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?

Anthony Ferry: I was born in Inglewood,California. I haven’t strayed very far from there. I moved down south a little bit into South Orange County in the mid-70’s all the way through high school. In college, I ventured just a little bit up north to a local >>>

Solo Entrepreneur, Bootstrapping with a Paycheck and a Virtual Company: Cedric Savarese, CEO of FormAssembly (Part 1)

Cedric’s story is a textbook case study of the kind of entrepreneur we want to see emerge and grow in every corner of the world: a solo entrepreneur who is a developer and a product guy capable of getting to validation while holding onto a day job. Today, Cedric has almost 50 employees spread around the world, and while it maintains a small office of fewer than 10 people in Indiana, the bulk of the company has scaled as a virtual workforce. Excellent model, and I encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to read this carefully.

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? >>>

Bootstrapping to Exit: TimeSlips CEO Mitch Russo (Part 1)

Mitch tells the story of how he built TimeSlips and sold it to Sage. Very entertaining as well as instructive.

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?

Mitch Russo: I was born in New York. I was raised in a small community called Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn. It was there that we basically started a rock band. Using the idea of how to build an entertainment platform as a rock band in high school, I learned a lot about entrepreneurship and I learned a lot about what it takes to make money and how to promote and share content. >>>