Art.com Co-founder Josh Chodniewicz bootstrapped for 10 years before raising a $30 million first round of funding. He shared his journey with me in 2022. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raise, and in what kind of background? Josh Chodniewicz: I was born
Entrepreneurs are invited to the 694th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, July 17, 2025, 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,
SoPost Founder and CEO Jonathan Grubin started as a solo entrepreneur, bootstrapped with a paycheck, and had built an over $15 Million revenue global business with a small amount of funding when we spoke in 2021. Excellent story! Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were
Ownership matters. If you end your startup journey with a $50 million exit and own 60% of the company, you make $30 million dollars. But if you have raised a ton of money and own just 5%, you need a $600 million exit to make that same $30 million. Much harder to get to.
A very effective way to dance the entrepreneurial Waltz is to do a bootstrapped company first, sell it, and then do another venture with a more ambitious agenda. From 2021, Jeremy Swift’s journey as Co-founder and CEO of Cordial is a great case study of this method. Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of
AI is transforming every industry from healthcare and customer support to professional services and beyond. Founders are launching startups that tackle real problems using generative AI, machine learning and automation. Others are exploring the shifting mindset of investors as they evaluate opportunities in this fast-moving space. If you’re curious about the practical steps and real-world