Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping a Digital Startup with a Paycheck

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

We’ve seen a clear trend towards bootstrapping digital startups while holding onto a full-time job for years. When we spoke in 2014, DefinitiveDeals Founder Mattias Larson had a simple but powerful story to tell. Soon after we spoke, DefinitiveDeals.com was acquired by Quotient.

Sramana Mitra: Mattias, tell us about you. Where did your journey begin and in what kind of background?

Mattias Larson: I was born in the northern part of Sweden – actually, not that far away from the Arctic Circle – in a small town with a population of maybe 40,000. I grew up there and I went to college in a nearby town. I graduated with a master’s degree in Computer Science and International Marketing.

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Featured Videos

Thought Leaders in Healthcare IT: Brandon Newman, CEO of Xevant (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What are you learning? What are the key areas of leakage?

Brandon Newman: We have a couple of observations. The obvious learning that we expected is there. These include an opportunity to switch utilization, go to a lower-cost medication, or help manage members.

Elastic’s Search Upgrades Ruffle Competition

According to a recent research report by Research and Markets, the global Enterprise Search market is projected to grow from $3.8 billion to $8 billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 11.4%. Elastic (NYSE: ESTC) is a leading player in the open source Big Data search sector that continues to deliver strong results.

Video FAQs

Bootstrapping Using Services from Atlanta: Avelead CEO Jawad Shaikh (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: By the time you started to identify the opportunity for productization, it was still just the two of you? Were there other people involved?

Jawad Shaikh: No, we started hiring people much early on. I used to say that in my first business, it took us ten years to get to 30 employees. In Avelead, we reached 20 employees in less than three years. 

Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing E-commerce Startup Trends with Daniel Gulati, Forecast Fund

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

Excellent discussion with Daniel Gulati, Founding Partner at Forecast Fund, on the e-commerce startup trends and what can and cannot be venture financed at this stage, and why. When we spoke in 2017, he was Managing Director at Comcast Ventures. You can listen to the podcast interview here.  

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself.

Daniel Gulati: I’m based here in San Francisco and focus 100% of my time on seed and early stage investments in consumer internet companies. About half of my work is in e-commerce and marketplaces. The other half is everything else within consumer Internet – digital media, social media, mobile. Prior to joining Comcast Ventures, I was actually on the operating side.

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Thursday, April 8 – 526th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 526th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, April 8, 2021, 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!

Thought Leaders in Healthcare IT: Brandon Newman, CEO of Xevant (Part 2)

Brandon Newman: Drugs are becoming a highly prevalent part of the overall delivery of healthcare. It has become the focus. For example, these health plans that help manage $500 million are going to enable dozens of new specialty biologic medications come to market that is not going to cost your stereotypical couple of hundred dollars.

Cloud Stocks: Analysis of Fastly’s Signal Sciences Acquisition

According to a MarketsAndMarkets report, the global Content Delivery Network (CDN) market is expected to grow from $14.4 billion in 2020 to $27.9 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 14%. Fastly (NYSE: FSLY), a leading player in the segment, recently reported its fourth quarter results that surpassed the market’s expectations.