Bootstrapping to Exit, Then Raise Money and Exit Again: Wendy CEO Lance Neuhauser (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: So, if you’re comfortable disclosing, how much money did you raise during that ten-year period from 2010-2020, and what kind of exit did you get, numerically?

Lance Newhauser: We ended up raising about $35 million for 4C specifically from 2010 to 2020. There was some debt layered on top of that as well. The final price tag on 4C was $170 million.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a Healthcare IT Company to $100 Million

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

When we spoke in 2015, Edifecs Founder Sunny Singh had built a very interesting healthcare IT company, overcoming serious challenges. Inspiring story of a bootstrapped success.

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?

Sunny Singh: Give or take, I’ve spent half my life in the US and half my life in India. I grew up in India and finished my undergraduate studies there. Then, I came to the US at the age of 23 to do a couple of Master’s programs. I did three jobs and then started Edifecs in 1996.

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Bootstrapping to Exit, Then Raise Money and Exit Again: Wendy CEO Lance Neuhauser (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: How did you address this complex sales cycle issue? Because that could really block velocity.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Vacasa to $100 Million

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

When we spoke in 2015, Cliff Johnson and his co-founder had bootstrapped Vacasa to scale in the crowded vacation rental space. Vacasa was acquired by Oasis Collections in 2018 and became a publicly traded company in 2021.

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

Cliff Johnson: I actually have a fairly unique background, at least for the US anyway. I was born in New Jersey. I’ve lived there until about I was 12 and then moved to a small farm town in Missouri where we had an 80-acre farm. I learned a lot of different skills out there. That was my initial upbringing. My dad is a welder pipefitter.

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Meta’s Investment Outlook Keeps Growing

Meta (Nasdaq: META), formerly Facebook, announced its quarterly results last week that outpaced market expectations. But Meta’s plans to continue to increase capex spending during the year, caused its stock to fall 3% in the after-hours trading session.

Bootstrapping to Exit, Then Raise Money and Exit Again: Wendy CEO Lance Neuhauser (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: So then in this story, at what point did you raise the venture capital? Is this 2010?

Lance Newhauser: Yes, 2010.

Sramana Mitra: What did you do before going out to raise money? Did you do some amount of customer development, validation work? Whom were you selling to? What was the positioning?

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Bootstrapping to Exit, Then Raise Money and Exit Again: Wendy CEO Lance Neuhauser (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: From your personal career journey point of view, I have gone through a similar journey. After I did three startups as Founder CEO, I started consulting because I just wanted to do something else and learn a different skill. I didn’t want to be a CEO, I wanted to learn something else. I then did turnaround consulting, and I learned a ton.