Solo Entrepreneur Bootstrapping a Niche E-Commerce Venture to $12 Million: Sawyer Twain CEO Chris Turner (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: The two of you launched this thing around 2012?

Chris Turner: Around 2015.

Sramana Mitra: Did you take inventory or consignments?

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping a Thriving Business for Over 20 Years

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

Kristi Herold, Founder of JAM, built a thriving bootstrapped business over twenty years until Covid hit. Read how she was surviving when we spoke in 2021.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?

Kristi Herold: I grew up in a small city called Sudbury, Ontario. It is about four hours north of Toronto. I have two older brothers and a very supportive mother and father who encouraged us to get involved in sports. They taught us to do what we wanted in our life. My father is an entrepreneur. My grandfather was an entrepreneur as well. I followed the footsteps of both my brothers to be entrepreneurial going through high school and university.

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600th Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting NOW: Live Tweeting by @1Mby1M

Today’s 600th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable For Entrepreneurs is starting NOW, on Thursday, February 23, at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST/5 p.m. CET/9:30 p.m. India IST. CLICK HERE to join. PASSWORD: startup  All are welcome!

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600th Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting in 20 Minutes: Live Tweeting by @1Mby1M

Today’s 600th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting in 30 minutes, on Thursday, February 23, at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST/5 p.m. CET/9:30 p.m. India IST. CLICK HERE to join. PASSWORD: startup  All are welcome!

Solo Entrepreneur Bootstrapping a Niche E-Commerce Venture to $12 Million: Sawyer Twain CEO Chris Turner (Part 1)

It is very difficult to find gaps in e-commerce these days. Chris found one and executed the hell out of it.

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?

Chris Turner: I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. I graduated from Arizona State University back in 2004.

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Eloqua and Crowdfunded Influitive

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Raised in an entrepreneurial home, Founder CEO Mark Organ was encouraged to become a doctor or professor and delighted his parents when he went to Northwestern to earn his PhD in neurosciences. In no time he was incubating Eloqua from within Bain and Company during the Internet boom years. This is a unique and rare story from 2014 of bootstrapping, crowdfunding, struggles and ultimate success.

Sramana: Mark, you have an incredible entrepreneurial journey. Let’s start at the very beginning. Where do you come from?

Mark Organ: I was born near Hamilton in Ontario, Canada. It’s a steal town. My father was an entrepreneur and my mother was an entrepreneur after her homemaker career wound down. My grandfather also came to Canada from Poland very poor and built a nice entrepreneurial career for himself. I was exposed to the idea that it was completely acceptable to be in business for yourself from a very early age.

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Thursday, February 23 – 600th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

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If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to “pitch” and sell your business idea. You’ll receive straightforward feedback, advice on next steps, and answers to any of your questions. Others can register to “attend” to watch, learn, and interact through the online chat.

You can learn more here and REGISTER TO PITCH OR ATTEND HERE. Register and you will receive the recording by email, even if you are unable to attend. Please share with any entrepreneurs in your circle who may be interested. All are welcome!

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Category Leading E-commerce Company

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

The Shoplet.com case study, as shared by Founder CEO Tony Ellison in 2014, is interesting because it illustrates how an entrepreneur bootstrapped a category leading e-commerce venture by trading off margins in favor of minimizing logistical challenges.

Sramana: Tony, let’s start with the beginning of your story. Where were you born and raised? What is the backstory of the Shoplet story?

Tony Ellison: I was born and raised in Israel. I came over to the US to study and I stayed here. The Shoplet story began as an accident out of my research. I have 7 years of experience on Wall Street and I realized from my time there that more and more companies were migrating to online e-commerce. I also realized that the Internet offered a level playing field for small and medium sized businesses, allowing them to compete with big businesses. That is where my journey began.

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