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
Serial Bootstrapper: Oversee and Manage Founder Fred Hsu (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: Did you bootstrap it all the way? Fred Hsu: If I were to relay anything and I could teach people, we raised money when we least needed it. We raised $150 million for Series A. Sramana Mitra: $150 million?! Fred Hsu: Yes. Sramana Mitra: What were your metrics in the business that you
Successful Pivot to $5M in Revenue from Chicago: Cohesive Networks CEO Patrick Kerpan (Part 1)
Patrick has built an interesting company from Chicago that had to go through a significant pivot. 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 circumstances? Patrick Kerpan: I was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. My father was a policeman.
Building a Cyber Security Company from Israel: Aki Eldar, CEO of Secure Islands (Part 7)
Sramana Mitra: In 2014, all the money that you raised was from Credit Suisse Next? Aki Eldar: Only from Credit Suisse Next, which was also a vote of trust coming from a customer. Sramana Mitra: What’s the next milestone? Aki Eldar: The next milestone is we’re expanding worldwide. We have an office in the US.
Serial Bootstrapper: Oversee and Manage Founder Fred Hsu (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: Is this the company that you’re running now? Fred Hsu: No, that company was actually called Oversee. It had started around 2000. It was completely bootstrapped. Our first investor was my mom. She helped us buy our first server. That company grew from zero to eventually $230 million in annual revenues from 2000 to
Building a Cyber Security Company from Israel: Aki Eldar, CEO of Secure Islands (Part 6)
Sramana Mitra: What year did you get that customer? Aki Eldar: 2010. Sramana Mitra: The financial crisis has settled a little bit. I was raising my eyebrows that you got a financial institution. A little bit of time had passed from the calamity. Aki Eldar: They had a huge problem. We were the only one
Serial Bootstrapper: Oversee and Manage Founder Fred Hsu (Part 1)
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping course and the Investor Introductions page. Fred has bootstrapped two companies with huge amounts of revenue. The first, he sold to a private equity firm. The second, he is still running. Amazing story! Sramana Mitra: Let’s get started at the beginning of your personal story. Where
Building a Cyber Security Company from Israel: Aki Eldar, CEO of Secure Islands (Part 5)
Sramana Mitra: I’m going to switch the line of questioning a little bit to the story of your entrepreneurial story. Let’s go back to eight years ago when you and your brother left your respective jobs to start this company. You both had deep experience in the security domain. You went and talked to Shlomo
Building a Technology Product Company From India: Varun Singh, Founder and CTO of ScaleArc (Part 7)
Sramana Mitra: Very good. It’s wonderful to see that you pulled a hardcore technology product company out of India. Varun Singh: You asked me earlier where the engineers were from. They’re from Veritas and IBM. Sramana Mitra: It’s a good place to hire from. That’s a good thing about India right now. There are actually