Best of Bootstrapping: Co-founders Bootstrapped BeenVerified with Angel Money

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

Building businesses has become cheaper by several orders of magnitude. When we spoke in 2015, Co-founder Josh Levy and his team took just over $2 million in angel financing, and had built a profitable business in New York. For those entrepreneurs facing the Series A crunch, this is an important story to follow. You will do fine if you have patient angels, and just use their investment to bootstrap to profitability.

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

Josh Levy: I was born in New Jersey. I went to high school in New Jersey. I went to the University of Maryland for college where I got an undergraduate degree in Finance. I also did a minor in entrepreneurship. I now live in Brooklyn. BeenVerified is headquartered in New York City. I’ve been on the East Coast my whole life.

>>>

Featured Videos

Thursday, October 7 – 549th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 549th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, October 7, 2021, 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!

Cloud Stocks: Dropbox Focuses on Content Creators with New Product

The global Enterprise File Sharing and Synchronization market is expected to grow from $3.4 billion in 2020 at a CAGR of 21.6% to $13.8 billion by 2027. Dropbox (Nasdaq: DBX) recently announced its second quarter results that continued to outpace market expectations.

Video FAQs

Bootstrapping to $10 Million Using Services: Sameer Maggon, CEO of SearchStax (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What go-to-market strategy are you following? Is it a SaaS product that you go to market with?

Sameer Maggon: SearchStax, at a high level, is a search company. We offer Search-as-a-Service. It’s a SaaS/PaaS offering that is provided for mid-market to large enterprises on a subscription basis. 

Sramana Mitra: So it’s a SaaS product.

How to Build and Monetize a Technology Entrepreneurship Blog: Metrics

Metrics: What user and revenue numbers should you target?

Be ambitious.

But be realistic.

How to Build and Monetize a Technology Entrepreneurship Blog: Community Strategy

Community Strategy: How should you engage with your community?

Once you have a community, you have to make decisions on how you wish to engage with them.

Bootstrapping to $10 Million Using Services: Sameer Maggon, CEO of SearchStax (Part 1)

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

Excellently navigated journey!

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

Sameer Maggon: I grew up in Delhi. I did my engineering in Computer Science from Pune. Then I came back to my hometown to work for a document management company. Then I decided to learn more. I came to USC in Los Angeles and did my Masters in Computer Science. Since then, I’ve been in LA and worked in a variety of startups and larger companies in the greater Los Angeles area. 

7 Udemy Courses on How To Build an Online Learning Startup

Online learning has exploded in popularity over the last decade. In Covid, the field has found a tremendous force multiplier.