Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Eloqua and Crowdfunded Influitive

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

Raised in an entrepreneurial home, Founder CEO Mark Organ was encouraged to become a doctor or professor and delighted his parents when he went to Northwestern to earn his PhD in neurosciences. In no time he was incubating Eloqua from within Bain and Company during the Internet boom years. This is a unique and rare story from 2014 of bootstrapping, crowdfunding, struggles and ultimate success.

Sramana: Mark, you have an incredible entrepreneurial journey. Let’s start at the very beginning. Where do you come from?

Mark Organ: I was born near Hamilton in Ontario, Canada. It’s a steal town. My father was an entrepreneur and my mother was an entrepreneur after her homemaker career wound down. My grandfather also came to Canada from Poland very poor and built a nice entrepreneurial career for himself. I was exposed to the idea that it was completely acceptable to be in business for yourself from a very early age.

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Thursday, February 23 – 600th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 600th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, February 23, 2023, at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST/5 p.m. CET/9:30 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!

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Category Leading E-commerce Company

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

The Shoplet.com case study, as shared by Founder CEO Tony Ellison in 2014, is interesting because it illustrates how an entrepreneur bootstrapped a category leading e-commerce venture by trading off margins in favor of minimizing logistical challenges.

Sramana: Tony, let’s start with the beginning of your story. Where were you born and raised? What is the backstory of the Shoplet story?

Tony Ellison: I was born and raised in Israel. I came over to the US to study and I stayed here. The Shoplet story began as an accident out of my research. I have 7 years of experience on Wall Street and I realized from my time there that more and more companies were migrating to online e-commerce. I also realized that the Internet offered a level playing field for small and medium sized businesses, allowing them to compete with big businesses. That is where my journey began.

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Catching Up On Readings: Top 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023

This feature from MIT Technology Review compiles a list of the top ten breakthrough technologies that will change our world. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

February 23 – 600th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 600th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, February 23, 2023, at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST/5 p.m. CET/9:30 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!

599th 1Mby1M Roundtable Recording

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

Roundtable Recap: February 16 – Two-Sided Marketplaces Don’t Work if You Boil the Ocean

During this week’s roundtable, we had one pitch and another five conversations with entrepreneurs.

Invest4energy

We first had Phuong Skovgaard from London, UK, pitch Invest4energy, a 2-sided marketplace for funding solar panels. We discussed the need for focus and restraint.

Two-sided marketplaces in all kinds of verticals and niche markets have become a key trend in the e-commerce startup space. We explore the various nuances and case studies of how entrepreneurs are building two-sided marketplaces in the Udemy course, How to Build 2-Sided E-commerce Marketplaces | Sramana Mitra.  

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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Building a PropTech Venture with a Virtual Team: Discount Lots President Paul Hersko (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What is your primary use case? City dwellers wanting to buy property outside the city?

Paul Hersko: Yes, I would say so.

Sramana Mitra: Were you self-financing still at this point?