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HOT TOPICS
- The Accelerator Conundrum
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
bootstrapping
Happily Bootstrapping: Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu (Part 6)
Here we begin to explore the current status of Zoho a bit further. Impressive numbers considering there has been no advertising campaigns conducted. The business model is simple – let users try the service for free, when they are comfortable they will migrate over. Afterwards, they compete based on pricing (less than 20% of the
Happily Bootstrapping: Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu (Part 5)
Interesting comparisons here by Sridhar between the Zoho CRM and the SalesForce CRM products; while SalesForce has a high focus on sales teams (and one of the best telesales teams anywhere in the world), Zoho is simply looking to take a competitive advantage in terms of pricing. According to Sridhar this shows in the construct
Entrepreneurship Case Studies
You have read many of my interviews on this blog. Here’s a synthesis of some of the case studies I have done, in an interview format. These differ slightly from the series that I have titled Role Model Interviews, since in this series, I go into the company and its strategy, market, financing, etc. in
Happily Bootstrapping: Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu (Part 4)
AdventNet provides a safety zone from which to launch Zoho, which is why I was looking to gain an understanding of the revenue and cash position of the company. While competition will be stiff from Google and Microsoft, as well as other CRM and group meeting companies, Zoho seems to have a unique philosophy of
Happily Bootstrapping: Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu (Part 3)
During the downturn after the bubble burst, many companies took significant hits. Here, it is revealing to notice there was really only one tough year for Adventnet, which could actually be described as an R&D year. That could have taken place anytime in the company’s history. The bubble burst did not destroy the company, they
Happily Bootstrapping: Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu (Part 2)
Sridhar’s experience in bootstrapping is something to learn from, especially for entrepreneurs in India, who keep complaining about the lack of funding availability from venture sources. Along the way, he weathered many storms, as all good entrepreneurs learn to do. SM: How did you fund your early initiative? SV: It was all bootstrapped. My wife
“Protect Your Dilution” – Justin Floyd
The phone rang this morning, just as I put the last piece of peach in my mouth. It was a scheduled call with Justin Floyd, Founder of SmartFundit. Rene Bonvanie mentioned the company during our recent interview. What followed was a hilarious conversation that started with a very “British” guy, introducing himself, and my saying,
Salesforce.com’s Incubator: René Bonvanie (Part 5)
Bootstrapping has emerged as a very popular trend recently in the Valley as more entrepreneurs are bypassing Venture Capital. Here I ask Rene about the roll of boostrapping within the Incubator, and also get introduced to SmartFunded. SM: Do you have examples of partners who have been able to bootstrap and avoid VC funding? RB:
