Best of Bootstrapping: Serial Entrepreneur Bootstraps First, Raises Funds Later

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

Ben Hodson, Co-founder and CEO of JobNimbus, is a serial entrepreneur with a long experience in bootstrapping and fundraising. Read on to see how he has navigated his journey.

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

Ben Hodson: I say that I am from the Seattle area. I was born in Washington State on the east side of the state, but I moved to the west side when I was very young. I went to the University of Washington. I got a degree in business. Then I was interested in computers, so I did a second degree in computer science as well.

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Featured Videos

September 7 – 617th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 617th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, September 7, 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!

616th 1Mby1M Roundtable Recording

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

Video FAQs

Bootstrapping an AI Chatbot Startup with a Paycheck: Ankush Sabharwal, CEO of CoRover (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: Your friend gave you some money and gave the money back. What other financing has happened?

Ankush Sabharwal: My two friends who joined as co-founders gave me money. We took angel funding just before IRCTC went live. Then we got funds from Canbank VC. Now we will be announcing a fund raise.

Sramana Mitra: What is the total amount of funding so far?

Catching Up On Readings: Startups Failure Post-Mortem

This feature from CBInsights provides a compilation of the analysis of 463 startup failures since 2014. Funding, the lifeblood of startups, has dropped 34% from 2021 to 2022. Halfway through 2023, funding only sat at $130.2B, less than a third of 2022’s year-end total. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

Bootstrapping an AI Chatbot Startup with a Paycheck: Ankush Sabharwal, CEO of CoRover (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: How much money did you make this way – from advertising?

Ankush Sabharwal: It’s more money than we would have made through subscription.

Sramana Mitra: Really?

Ankush Sabharwal: There are four million users on the website and more in the app every day.

Sramana Mitra: Traffic volume was very large. You just created a way to monetize that traffic for both of you.

Roundtable Recap: August 31 – Many Common Mistakes CAN Be Avoided with Good Strategy

During this week’s roundtable, we discussed a lot of issues around Positioning, Unit Economics, Business Models and TAM.

Designs Crunch

First up, we had Ali Rehman Khan from Peshawar, Pakistan, pitching Designs Crunch, a design service.

Skori

Then Charles Davey from England pitched Skori, an EdTech concept.

Laika

Next, Charlene Putney from Copenhagen, Denmark, pitch Laika, a Generative AI writing assistant for fiction writers.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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Bootstrapping an AI Chatbot Startup with a Paycheck: Ankush Sabharwal, CEO of CoRover (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: You were working at Ultisource when you negotiated with Indian Railways?

Ankush Sabharwal: Yes. In the appraisal cycle when I was about to quit the company, I got the highest rating. I was Group Manager that time. When you’re the manager’s manager, you hardly get the highest rating in appraisals.