categories
HOT TOPICS
- The Accelerator Conundrum
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Platform as a Service
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
bootstrap first
Roundtable Recap: May 28 – Bootstrap First to Repeatability, Blitzscale Second
The Unicorn path is broken. It’s time for a reality check. In 2026, the startup world is facing a harsh truth. 9 out of 10 VC-funded startups either collapse or become Zombies, companies that are alive but offer no real liquidity or control to their founders. Driven by a Go Big or Go Home mentality,
What Makes a Startup Fundable
Over 99% of entrepreneurs who seek Venture Capital funding get rejected. Many because they are not fundable. I run One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), a global virtual accelerator for startups. 2025 is our fifteenth year supporting entrepreneurs. Thousands upon thousands of entrepreneurs have approached us for help with their funding at a stage where
Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later to $120M from Colorado: Madwire CEO JB Kellogg (Part 5)
Sramana Mitra: What happens in 2019? JB Kellogg: We built the third version and released at the end of 2019. We’re excited about that because it truly makes us more of a technology company than we’ve ever been. Now we have do-it-yourself (DIY) functionality, and not just do-it-for-me (DIFM).
Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later to $120M from Colorado: Madwire CEO JB Kellogg (Part 4)
Sramana Mitra: What was the revenue level in 2014? What was the split between product and service? JB Kellogg: $20 million at that point. The mix was somewhere around 20% product and 80% services. Sramana Mitra: Was it still bootstrapped?
Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later to $120M from Colorado: Madwire CEO JB Kellogg (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: How long did you continue in this services mode? JB Kellogg: From 2009 to 2012. Sramana Mitra: What revenue level did you reach in this mode? JB Kellogg: I think that in 2012, our revenue was somewhere around $5 million.
Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later to $120M from Colorado: Madwire CEO JB Kellogg (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: How did you acquire customers for your digital marketing? JB Kellogg: We always say that we eat our own dog food. Everything that we do for ourselves is what we sell to our customers. We started doing digital marketing for ourselves which generated leads. We would call those leads and open those accounts.
Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later to $120M from Colorado: Madwire CEO JB Kellogg (Part 1)
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. This story discusses all sorts of interesting nuances, including DIFM vs. DIY. Read on. 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?
