Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping a 2-Sided Marketplace to $10M

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

CEO Sal Akbani had bootstrapped Gateway Classic Cars to over $10 million in revenue when we spoke in 2017. This is a great story of how a two-sided marketplace was masterfully seeded and scaled in a niche market.

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?

Sal Akbani: We have the same ancestry. My parents were from India. I was born in Pakistan. My mother is from Calcutta. My dad is from Bombay.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Chandrashekar Kupperi, General Partner of Peaceful Progress Fund (Part 1)

Chandrashekar Kupperi is General Partner at Peaceful Progress Fund, an angel fund in India. We have some very interesting discussions on consumer startups in India, especially the ones targeting lower economic strata consumers.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us a bit about your background as well as what you’re doing with Peaceful Progress Fund.

Solo Student Entrepreneur to $5M: David Liu, CEO of Deltapath (Part 1)

David started Deltapath as a college student. Another case in point is that solo entrepreneurs CAN build sustainable, profitable businesses.

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?

David Liu: I was born in San Jose, California. I had a really interesting childhood. My parents moved overseas to Hong Kong as my dad had a career opportunity. The whole family moved when I was still in elementary. I was thrown into a completely different world. I didn’t really speak Chinese. I cannot read or write Chinese.

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Catching Up On Readings: Ransomware Attacks on Schools and Colleges

This report by Paul Biscoff on CompariTech analyzes the impact of ransomware attacks on schools and colleges, which cost the sector $3.56 billion in2021. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

June 30 – 581st 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 581st FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, June 30, 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!

580th Roundtable Recording with Anup Jain, Orios Venture Partners

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

Roundtable Recap: June 23 – The Changing Dynamics of India’s Startup Scene

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Anup Jain, Managing Partner at Orios
Venture Partners, discussing the Indian startup ecosystem and its trends and nuances.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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From Solo Techie Entrepreneur to High Growth, Profitable Enterprise AI Success Story: Findability Sciences CEO Anand Mahurkar (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: How big is the team?

Anand Mahurkar: We are about 170 people. We leap to 200 worldwide next quarter.

Sramana Mitra: What is the distribution?

Anand Mahurkar: The largest population is in India – about 90.

Sramana Mitra: Where in India?