Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped with Services, Raised Money, and then Acquired by Salesforce

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

John Stewart and his co-founder have built MapAnything from Charlotte, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia. When we spoke in 2018, he had raised over $40 million in funding, proving that you can build sizable VC-funded SaaS businesses from anywhere. MapAnything was sold to Salesforce in May 2019.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where did you grow up? Give us some early story.

John Stewart: I’m from upstate New York. I’m from a middle class background. My mother was a stay-at-home mom. My father was in the construction business. He was an architect. I went to school in New England for Mechanical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in western Massachusetts and graduated in 1997.

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Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence: Muddu Sudhakar, CEO of Aisera (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Can you go back to the beginning of your journey and tell me about how you got this off the ground? Where did you get the data to train from? How did you get the customers to bet on your system in the very early stages?

Muddu Sudhakar: It was late 2017. The first thing to do is identify what you have to build. Having to stick with it is the key problem for us. You always need to have an initial set of customers. My initial set of customers were companies like McAfee and Zoom.

Thursday, February 10 – 563rd 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 563rd FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, February 10, 2022, 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!

Video FAQs

Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence: Sonny Tai, CEO of Actuate AI (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Does it work in alerts?

Sonny Tai: We send alerts directly to the customer in any way they want. We integrate with their existing security protocols. It depends on what the customer security system looks like. It could be that they have a security operation center which means that they typically have a staff of a few guards who are monitoring intelligence in a room full of big-screen TVs pulled up.

We also have some smaller clients like schools and other organizations. They don’t have a security operations center. We send text message alerts to their security staff.

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped First, Raised Money Later from Udupi, Karnataka

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

Robosoft Founder Rohith Bhat started a services company in his hometown – a small town on the west coast of Karnataka, India. When we spoke in 2017, fifteen years later, the company was generating $18 million in revenue and had raised two sizable rounds of VC funding. I found the story exhilarating!

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

Rohith Bhat: I was born in Udupi, India. It’s a small town on the west coast of the country. Then I went to the local school and university and studied engineering and computer science in 1992. Once I finished engineering, I had an opportunity to go on to work for a company in Japan for Recosoft. I worked for this company for around three and a half years.

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11 Udemy Courses On How To Raise Seed Funding in Latin America

If you are building a startup in Latin America, this course may enhance your understanding of Latin American startup financing. You’ll get knowledge from real-world Latin American investors as if you had a chance to have a mentor advice session with them. To apply current discount coupons, click on the courses found HERE.

Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence: Muddu Sudhakar, CEO of Aisera (Part 1)

Aisera is doing some incredibly advanced stuff with AI-driven workflow automation within the customer service space.

Muddu talks eloquently about these innovations. Read on!

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as Aisera.

Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence: Sonny Tai, CEO of Actuate AI (Part 1)

Sonny talks about AI in the physical security industry.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s introduce our audience to yourself as well as to Actuate AI.

Sonny Tai: I’m the CEO and Co-Founder of Actuate. We are a New York-based AI startup. I was born in Taiwan, but I grew up in South Africa. I’m an immigrant to the United States.