Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Wiredrive Using Services to $10M

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

When we spoke in 2016, Co-founder Taylor Tyng had bootstrapped Wiredrive over a 17-year period to about $10 million. At that time, he had options to grow organically or raise money. Either way, an interesting journey.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your personal journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Taylor Tyng: I was born south of Boston, Massachusetts in a town called Duxbury. I was born the son of two entrepreneurs who went through a line of businesses from early plastic mold injection technology companies and ended up working in a luxury travel business. I got bitten by the entrepreneurial bug early. I was raised in a middle class setting and my parents made sure that they raised children who were thoughtful and mindful. I had a real good platform to practice at an early age. By trade, I’m a designer. Art and commerce has always been a big part of my life.

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Featured Videos

Thought Leaders in Internet of Things: CleanConnect CEO David Conley (Part 1)

David discusses problems, solutions, and open problems in this interview about AI and IoT in the Oil and Gas sector.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing you to our audience and talk about your background and the company.

Catching Up On Readings: Digital Banking Trends 2022

This report from Gartner analyzes digital banking trends at the ongoing Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2022, Gold Coast. Gartner predicts that 30% of banks with greater than $1 billion in assets will launch BaaS for new revenue by the end of 2024. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

Video FAQs

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Mohanjit Jolly, Partner at Iron Pillar (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: How long do you think it will take for India to catch up?

Mohanjit Jolly: The next year will be a challenging one. When the next bull run starts, India is going to be playing a pretty big role in the outcomes. I’m less interested in the term unicorn; I’m more interested in the underlying value that these companies are providing.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Mohanjit Jolly, Partner at Iron Pillar (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: One of my observations on Now Float is that selling to SMBs in India is hard.

Mohanjit Jolly: That’s right. The dichotomy in India is – Indians love to be pampered as customers.

Sramana Mitra: High-touch, low-value sales.

Mohanjit Jolly: Exactly. They want the high touch but the unit economics don’t work. That was a conundrum. The interesting thing is that we had a strategic term sheet on the table. It was one of the financial institutions in India.

A Journey into Personalized Luxury Fashion: Editorialist YX CEO Rafael Ortiz (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: Is there also a special category of boutiques or designers? I have a very good friend whom I hired out of Bergdorf Goodman in 1999 to be my VP of Merchandising – Bruce Pask. His partner is Donald Dean who’s a couture designer. He has a ready-to-wear line, but he’s also very much a custom designer.

What category of designers do you work with? Where do you get these designers? I found great small designers when I traveled. Is that something that can be accessed?

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services to an Awesome Business Model

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

We’ve shared many Bootstrapping Using Services case studies with you here, as well as in the book on that topic. Inspyrus Founder CEO Nilay Banker’s story is particularly interesting because of the absolutely awesome business model that Nilay and his team had implemented by the time we spoke in 2017. Read on!

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the beginning of your personal journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Nilay Banker: I’m from India, born and brought up in Ahmedabad, which used to be a sleepy town when I was born and growing up. It has now blossomed into a sprawling metro. It’s one of the five largest cities in India. I had a very interesting childhood. I grew up in a family of professionals. My father is an architect. My mother is a doctor. Pretty much, every person in my family is a professional with very few people who are not doctors. I consider myself a black sheep in the family.

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September 15 – 590th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 590th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, September 15, 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!