Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping Freightwise to $33M

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

Freightwise was No. 2 on the Inc. 5000 for 2018. Amazing bootstrapping story from my conversation in 2019 with Freightwise CTO Richard Hoehn.

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?

Richard Hoehn: I grew up in Switzerland. I did an apprenticeship as a machinist – the tool and die maker. After three years, I decided I wanted to go back to school and learn more about computers and technology.

>>>

Featured Videos

Thought Leaders in Financial Technology: NorthOne CEO Eytan Bensoussan (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: As a small business signing up for NorthOne, you sign the small business up for QuickBooks as well.

Eytan Bensoussan: We work with a lot of accounting suites. QuickBooks is one. A large number of our customers use them, so it’s top of mind. In many ways, what we’re trying to do is to be humble in the face of the existing operations of the business. You have an accounting suite. We’re not going to tell you to change that. We’ll take whatever is working and connect them all. After connecting to the bank platform, then the functionality comes alive.

Thought Leaders in Cyber Security: Bill Bruno, CEO of D4t4 (Part 2)

Bill Bruno: Another thing that’s picked up in the last few years because of the speed of digital transformation is fraudsters trying to take advantage of that. We have a customer that’s using both systems – our marketing system and our fraud system. In many ways, you can look at it as a hand-off. On the marketing side, we’re helping eliminate friction.

Video FAQs

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a Marketplace to Over $10M

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

Home Alliance CEO Sardor Umrdinov had bootstrapped a marketplace of home appliance technicians to over $10 million in revenue by the time when we spoke in 2019. Great story.

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?

Sardor Umrdinov: Iwas born and raised in Uzbekistan. I went to Russian kindergarten and school. When independence came, my parents moved me to a national school. I was there for one year. After that, they moved me to the Lyceum for boys. I studied there for another six or seven years.

>>>

583rd 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Pawel Maj, Warsaw Equity Group

Pawel Maj, Investment Director, Warsaw Equity Group, discusses post-seed and pre-series A funding in Eastern and Central Europe in the context of his firm’s investment thesis.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Play | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS

July 28 – 584th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 584th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, July 28, 2022, 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!

CLEAR Leverages Whyline Acquisition for Growth

As the pandemic restrictions have eased, air travel has increased significantly. The number of air passengers carried from January to April 2022 increased by 65%, while aircraft flight departures increased by 30% during this period. Recently listed CLEAR (NYSE: YOU) is a leading provider of biometrics screening for security services used especially at airports. The company is benefiting from this increased travel.

Thought Leaders in Financial Technology: NorthOne CEO Eytan Bensoussan (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: First, what is your background?

Eytan Bensoussan: What I did prior to this was helpful, but they were adjacent. I studied Mathematics and Biochemistry. In the iterations of my career, I did a law and MBA program. Not connected to this thing, but they were iterative pieces. Then I spent six years at McKinsey, which gave me an eye-opening view. I was seeing what was happening in Europe and seeing the way that FinTech was emerging in the early 2010s. I combined that with this understanding of the problem from my childhood, I quit my job, and went to go work on it. I got started on NorthOne.