Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped with Services to $20M

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

VisiQuate Founder CEO Brian Robertson is a serial bootstrapper. In fact, he always bootstraps using services. Terrific entrepreneur to learn from.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?

Brian Robertson: I’m from Northern California. We’re not in the heart of Silicon Valley, but up in Sonoma County. I was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but I was only there for two weeks. My dad was in the Navy. His family was from the Midwest and we were there for a short period.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Heather Hiles, Founder and Managing Partner at Imminent Equity (Part 2)

Heather Hiles: I wound up working with Bill and Melinda Gates at their foundation and did a lot of investing and learning about the investment process. I realized I love capacity building and investing in them. That’s what led, in part, to being a co-founder of Black Ops Ventures where I was Managing Partner. The investment thesis there was that 100% of the money we’re investing is into black-founded tech companies. That’s being run by my partners very well.

Thought Leader in Financial Technology: DealMaker CEO Rebecca Kacaba (Part 4)

Rebecca Kacaba: Equity crowdfunding limits the amount you can invest. It’s in proportion to what your income is. I don’t fundamentally believe that, because you don’t meet an income threshold, you should not have a right to make an investment. The amount that they can invest caps how much they can lose. I think what you’re saying is because doctors make a lot of money, they know how to invest. That’s not necessarily true.

Sramana Mitra: I’m not saying that. That doctor is a customer of the product that Modernizing Medicine is selling. They have a visceral understanding of what that business is because they are the customers.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a SaaS Company with a Paycheck and Scaled

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

I love doing stories of entrepreneurs who are long-time readers of the 1Mby1M blog. Kovai CEO Saravana Kumar is one of them. This is a wonderful story from 2020 of how he scaled a SaaS company from Coimbatore!

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning of your journey. Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?

Saravana Kumar: I was born and brought up in India. I was from a city called Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. After finishing my master’s in 2000, I got an opportunity to work in London. I took my exam on a Friday and I got the job on Monday morning in London.

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595th Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting NOW: Live Tweeting by @1Mby1M

Today’s 595th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting in 30 minutes, on Thursday, November 3, at 8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT/5 p.m. CEST/8:30 p.m. India IST. CLICK HERE to join. PASSWORD: startup  All are welcome!

Thought Leader in Financial Technology: DealMaker CEO Rebecca Kacaba (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: How many companies are raising funds on your platform right now?

Rebecca Kacaba: Between 30 and 40 new companies every month and over $1.6 billion in capital transacted through the platform.

Sramana Mitra: Are there any stage and sector trends?

Rebecca Kacaba: Usually, we’ll see a good amount of technology, real estate, and anything that’s going the Wall Street trend. Food tech is an interesting emerging space.

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped from Atlanta a Virtual Company to $10M

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

We’re big fans of bootstrapping, virtual companies, and domain knowledge. Field Pros Direct Founder CEO Matt Anderson’s story from 2020 has all these ingredients.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?

Matt Anderson: I’m from a small town northeast of Tennessee called Rogersville. It’s a rural area in the foothills of the Smokies. It’s very beautiful there. I went to East Tennessee State University. I had an aspiration to play football. That’s what drew me to that college. I grew up in that rural town and went on to East Tennessee State. 

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Thought Leader in Financial Technology: DealMaker CEO Rebecca Kacaba (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What is your business model?

Rebecca Kacaba: We charge technology fees – setup, monthly, and transactional. We are very aligned with our clients. They can pay as they raise capital. We’re not asking them for a big upfront payment. We make money as they make money.

Sramana Mitra: You take a percentage of the transaction?

Rebecca Kacaba: Yes, under our broker-dealer model. In other ways, they pay after they close capital.