Solo Entrepreneur Bootstraps First, Raises Money Later in Utah: GuideCX CEO Peter Ord (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Who was going to build the product? You are not a technical person, right?

Peter Ord: I sent my resignation to my boss when I was on vacation. Part of the reason was, I had gotten a number of calls from car dealers who were upset with the implementation during my vacation. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. My wife was still frustrated that I went downstairs, got white paper from the business office, and I just stayed upstairs in the hotel room the whole day just mocking out what the system should look like.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Christopher Mirabile, Senior Managing Director at Launchpad Venture Group (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: To be able to get to $20 million with $1.4 million, you have to bootstrap. That’s something we believe in and promote extensively. We are with you on this line of thinking. Like you said, these large funds can only invest large amounts of money. Otherwise, their human capital-to-capital ratio doesn’t work out.

Christopher Mirabile: They just can’t manage that many deals. It’s interesting. You read about large exits all the time. You think they grow on trees. There are a couple of dozen billion-dollar startup exits at most from 400,000 to 500,000 startups created in the US each year. Pushing an entrepreneur to a high-capital, big exit path is, statistically speaking, dooming him to failure.

568th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Abinash Saikia, EnCloudEn

Abinash Saikia, Co-founder of EnCloudEn and former 1Mby1M Premium member, has successfully bootstrapped his venture to an exit and discusses the process in great depth.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Video FAQs

Solo Entrepreneur Bootstraps First, Raises Money Later in Utah: GuideCX CEO Peter Ord (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: You said you joined the company where they were going to do homebuilder, but then the company imploded. Did you talk about one or two companies?

Peter Ord: One company. The company I joined had a product that catered to automotive dealers. They also aspired to build a similar product for homebuilders.

Sramana Mitra: That automotive product did work. In that implementation, you learned that the implementation was cumbersome and complex. Is that what you’re saying?

568th Roundtable Recording with Abinash Saikia, EnCloudEn

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

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Christopher Mirabile, Senior Managing Director at Launchpad Venture Group (Part 2)

Christopher Mirabile: We have a couple of different programs. We have a traditional monthly forum where companies that are, presumptively, ready to work with investors are present. That’s usually three companies a month. Two out of three of them go right into due diligence.

We also have a catalyst program where we look at a dozen additional companies a month. That’s not intended to be as much of an investment forum but more of an opportunity to begin a relationship. We poll the participants and give written feedback to every company. Typically, about a third isn’t going to be a fit. We’re very honest with them about that. We think it’s a sin to waste an entrepreneur’s time.

SudShare CEO on Bootstrapping a Two-Sided Marketplace

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

This is an insightful story of how SudShare CEO Mort Fertel’s family has built an interesting two-sided marketplace business for outsourcing laundry services.

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

Mort Fertel: I was born in Philadelphia. I went to college in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania. I was in Philly for the first 21 years of my life. I moved to New York after college.

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March 31 – 569th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 569th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, March 31, 2022, at 8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT/4 p.m. CET/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!