Best of Bootstrapping: The Journey Through Failed Experiments to Traction and Exit

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

Entrepreneurs love to discuss success. Few are willing to discuss what they tried and failed at. When we spoke in 2019, Robly Co-founder Adam Robinson did a terrific job of sharing his journey through various failed experiments to a model that was gaining traction. Robly was bootstrapped to an 8-figure exit to private equity in 2021.

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?

Adam Robinson: I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I went to Rice University. I graduated in 2003. One of my friends had an internship at Goldman-Sachs the year before. I didn’t know anything about it, and somehow convinced people to give me a job as a derivatives trader at Lehman Brothers. For 10 years, I traded these real estate-related, credit default swaps. It was the most interesting job for someone in their 20’s. Everybody who was doing what I was doing was making a ton of money.

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Catching Up On Readings: Biggest VC Funding Rounds in 2023

This report from Crunchbase looks at the top 10 VC funding rounds in 2023, many of which were for AI startups like $10 billion for OpenAI. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

Roundtable Recap: January 4 – Many Substantial Conversations on Startup Strategy

During this week’s roundtable, we had many substantial conversations on startup strategy based on specific startup scenarios. Much to learn from them.

Hample.com

We had Krishna Prasad from Ranga Reddy, India, pitching Hample.com, an e-commerce idea.

In general, all those of you who are getting yourselves ready to launch a venture, please study our material and get prepared with real knowledge. Do not shoot from the hip and make perfectly avoidable mistakes.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped to Over $10M and a Big Exit

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

CEO Carl Ryden and his co-founders had bootstrapped PrecisionLender to over $10 million from North Carolina when we spoke in 2017. This is a superb story, including how the company has formulated an AI agent, Andi. Q2 acquired PrecisionLender for $510 million in 2019.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your personal journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Carl Ryden: I was born in North Carolina. I grew up in eastern North Carolina in a little town called Goldsboro. Folks don’t know where that is. It’s about halfway between Raleigh and the coast. For folks who do know, I would later confess that I’m not really from Goldsboro. I’m from an area of a county that’s closest to Goldsboro, deep in the rural part of North Carolina.

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628th 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting NOW: Live Tweeting by @1Mby1M

Today’s 628th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting NOW, on Thursday, January 4, 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!   

628th Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting in 20 Minutes: Live Tweeting by @1Mby1M

Today’s 628th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting in 20 minutes, on Thursday, January 4, 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!

New AI Course and January Tech Startup Course Coupons

This month we are introducing a new course, Humanity’s Future in the Age of AI. This course delves deep into the imminent era of AI and its profound impact on our world. Based on lectures given over the past several years, this course explores the current and forthcoming implications of AI’s pervasive integration into our society. Throughout the course, we encourage you to contemplate, question, and innovate in the face of unprecedented societal shifts.

As a part of our aim to democratize entrepreneurship education at scale globally, our proven 1Mby1M methodology for building technology startups has been packaged into short courses on Udemy.

For the month of January we are offering you up to 85% off the following courses.

These coupons will expire on January 31, 2024, so enroll today!

Bootstrapping:

Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later with Sramana Mitra: TRY1MBY1MJAN2024BTS

Bootstrapping a Startup with a Paycheck with Sramana Mitra: TRY1MBY1MJAN2024PAY

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Best of Bootstrapping: Capital Efficient Entrepreneurs Turn $1M into $80M

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

Motili CEO Jeff Wilkins and his co-founder had turned $1 million of personal investment into $80 million in revenue. Pretty capital-efficient, this entrepreneur’s journey! Motili was acquired by Daikin/Goodman in 2019.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with where your story begins. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Jeff Wilkins: I grew on the East Coast. I was born in Bethesda, Maryland, outside of Washington DC, and moved around a lot as a kid. I spend time in Maryland, North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.

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