Best of Bootstrapping: Co-founders Bootstrapped First, Raised $10M, Scaled to $16M

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

This is a textbook case study of founders with deep domain knowledge in starting with services and then productizing, eventually raising institutional capital. EZOPS Co-Founders Sarva Srinivasan and Dutt Chintalapati told us all about their journey in 2021.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where were you born? Where does your journey begin? 

Sarva Srinivasan: I was born in India and grew up there. I did my Computer Science there, then majored in Finance. I then started working with Wipro.

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Building a Global AI Venture for Medical Imaging Analysis from India: Prashant Warier, CEO of Qure.ai (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What happened to the company?

Prashant Warier: I got an exit in 2015. Somebody wanted to acquire the technology and use that for customer targeting for email engines.

Sramana Mitra: Was that bootstrapped?

Prashant Warier: Yes.

Building a Global AI Venture for Medical Imaging Analysis from India: Prashant Warier, CEO of Qure.ai (Part 1)

Prashant has built a wonderful Healthcare AI company with 1600 customers worldwide. This is extremely sophisticated navigation. Please read on to learn the nuances.

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?

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Catching Up On Readings: State of AI Q2’23

This report from CBInsights covers the funding trends in AI during the second quarter of 2023 when seven new AI unicorns were born. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

September 14 – 618th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneuers

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 618th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, September 14, 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!

617th 1Mby1M Roundtable Recording

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

Best of Bootstrapping: Entrepreneurial Couple Bootstrapped an E-commerce Business

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

Nomad Lane Co-Founders Kish Vasnani and Vanessa Jeswani bootstrapped to multi-million dollars in revenue selling a private label product before quitting their jobs. In this story, you also get to see the nuances of running successful (and not so successful) crowdfunding campaigns. Very interesting journey and insights.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go back to the very beginning. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in background?

Kish Vasnani: I was born in Jaipur, India and moved to the US when I was about one year old. I grew up around the Atlanta area and finished school there. I moved to New York to help a friend of a friend start a software company, which was also bootstrapped. We were able to sell that to Thomson Reuters. I had the itch again to go out on my own. Very candidly, I was also fired from a couple of other jobs over the course of two years.

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Roundtable Recap: September 8 – Niche is Great

During this week’s roundtable, we worked with five startups at various stages.

Royal Bengal Greentech

First up, we had Pallavi Luharuka from Kolkata, India, pitching Royal Bengal Greentech, a bio-plastic venture. We discussed her financing strategy.

eRentals

Then Fatima Zahra from Mumbai, India, pitched eRentals, a rental marketplace.

Bongostock

Next, Francis Chimburu from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, pitched Bongostock, a wholesale liquor business.

Unicorn Startup Game

Philippe Dallaire from Montreal, Canada, then pitched Unicorn Startup Game.

TAFNE

From New Castle, Delaware, Troy Ashe pitched TAFNE loyalty rewards membership.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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