Best of Bootstrapping: Excess is NOT Required for Success

If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Let’s do a thought experiment.

List all the things you want to do with your life if you had additional resources.

How many of these require additional money?

How much additional money do you need to acquire to afford these things?

How many of these require additional time?

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Featured Videos

621st Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting in 30 Minutes: Live Tweeting by @1Mby1M

Today’s 621st FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting in 30 minutes, on Thursday, October 12, at 8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT/5 p.m. CEST/8:30 p.m. India IST. CLICK HERE to join. PASSWORD: startup  All are welcome!

Best of Bootstrapping: Don’t Go to VCs as a Beggar – Go as a King!

If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Negotiation is a straightforward game. You can only negotiate if you have options.

A long time ago, when I was a young entrepreneur making my way in Silicon Valley, I found myself at the mercy of people who knew I had no option.

I did not have a Green Card.

My negotiating leverage was limited, almost non-existent.

And people took advantage of me.

I have mentored entrepreneurs now for well over a decade. I always try to help them create negotiating leverage.

There is nothing that gives entrepreneurs more leverage than customers and revenues.

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Video FAQs

Best of Bootstrapping: Why 99% of Entrepreneurs Face Rejection and How to Overcome It

If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Let’s start with a quote from Marc Andreessen:

“At our venture capital firm we only invest in a sort of Silicon Valley–style tech. We see 3,000 inbound deals a year. And those are inbound and coming through our referral network, so those are sort of prequalified. We can do maybe 15 or 20 investments out of the 3,000 a year. So I like to say our day job is crushing entrepreneurs’ hopes and dreams. Our main skill is saying no, and getting people to not hate us.” Source: Inside the mind of Marc Andreessen – Fortune Management

I run One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), a global virtual accelerator for startups. 2023 is our thirteenth year supporting entrepreneurs.

Thousands upon thousands of entrepreneurs have approached us for help with their funding at a stage where their chances of getting funding is ZERO. We can’t help them, regardless of how powerful our investor connections are. We can’t help a startup get funding before they become fundable. It pains me to see how many entrepreneurs have no idea what makes a startup fundable.

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Analysis of Databricks’ AI Acquisitions

According to a recent report, the Data Science Platforms market is estimated to grow at 16% CAGR to reach $378.7 billion by 2030 from $96.3 billion in 2021. Databricks, a leading data analytics solution provider, is seeing strong growth as well and is gearing up to go public soon.

Best of Bootstrapping: Why Bootstrapping is So Important

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

You may have read my Bootstrapping to an Exit piece, where I highlighted the importance of facilitating capital-efficient startups and smaller exits, including with small chunks of investment.

In working through the current landscape of our industry, a few trends become evident:

1. A large percentage of VCs are chasing Unicorns
2. Too much money chasing too few deals capable of delivering hyper growth bids up valuations
3. Many Death by Overfunding tragedies have emerged
4. Entrepreneurs are reacting, as Erin Griffith points out in her NY Times article: More Start-Ups Have an Unfamiliar Message for Venture Capitalists: Get Lost

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Catching Up On Readings: Intelligent Apps

This feature from Gartner looks at the growing demand for intelligent apps powered by AI. By 2026, 30% of new applications are expected to use AI to drive personalized adaptive user interfaces, up from less than 5% today. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

Building a Fashion E-commerce Business and Surviving Covid: Go Dash Dot CEO Hannah Fastov (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: Did revenue take a hit in 2020?

Hannah Fastov: It did. That was when we were able to see the benefits of the direct to consumer business that we had built. It remained equal to the year prior.

Sramana Mitra: You did $2 million in 2020?

Hannah Fastov: Yes.