Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a Niche E-commerce Company to $20M

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

Niche e-commerce still produces compelling success stories. Here is how CEO Brian Lim built iHeartRaves from our conversation in 2018.

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?

Brian Lim: I was raised in LA County. My parents immigrated here to escape communism in China and Cambodia. I grew up very poor. We bootstrapped our company back in 2010 with $100 and turned it into a $20 million a year company.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Some Seed Investors Who Like Bootstrapped Startups

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

I’d like to encourage bootstrapping entrepreneurs to start thinking about certain investors as bootstrapping partners. These investors, typically, LIKE capital efficient businesses.

They do not want to force feed capital into companies, unlike certain larger funds.

Their fund sizes are small, and they are set up to make money off smaller exits. [Re: Bootstrapping to Exit]

Please listen to a few conversations to get a feel for the point of view. There are many more on the Seed Capital series on our blog. You can also listen to the 1Mby1M Podcasts for more.

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Catching Up On Readings: State of Digital Health Q3’23

This report from CB Insights covers the trends in digital health funding during the third quarter of 2023. Funding fell by 14% q-o-q to hit its lowest level since 2016. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

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November 2 – 624th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 624th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, November 2, 2023, at 8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT/5 p.m. CEST/8:30 p.m. India IST.

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!

Roundtable Recap: October 26 – Bridging Chicken and Egg Gaps

During this week’s roundtable, we worked with Finvestors, a FinTech company facing a chicken and egg problem. We had Gian-Luca Cioletti in Helsinki, Finland, pitch Finvestors. It was a very interesting discussion, a case study with much to learn for AI entrepreneurs in particular.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services from Michigan

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

I am always thrilled to see great entrepreneurship in various parts of the world that are slightly off-center. Well, Algo Founder Amjad Hussain’s journey as shared in 2018 is a great one from Detroit.

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?

Amjad Hussain: I was born in a very small village of Pakistan.

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623rd 1Mby1M Roundtable Recording

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording here:

623rd 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting NOW: Live Tweeting by @1Mby1M

Today’s 623rd FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting NOW, on Thursday, October 26, 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!