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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
Bootstrapping with a Paycheck: DefinitiveDeals Founder Mattias Larson (Part 6)
Sramana Mitra: From 2012 to 2014, what are the highlights of the journey? Mattias Larson: We doubled the revenues in the first year and a half. We grew the business from 2 to 14 people. We really managed to crack paid search. We managed to get some big brands on board that were difficult to
Bootstrapping with a Paycheck: Axosoft CEO Hamid Shojaee (Part 4)
Sramana Mitra: Let’s step through the customer acquisition strategy. How did this $50,000 to $300,000 to $3 million happen? What was the customer acquisition strategy that was driving this growth? Hamid Shojaee: While I was working at Microsoft, the way I treated it was that I don’t need this extra income. 100% of that extra
Black Entrepreneur in North Carolina Says No Bias: Rod Brown, COO of OnceLogix (Part 5)
Sramana: I like the way you positioned your sales force as commission-only independent contractors. That allowed you to use contractors who already had relationships and could augment their own offering with your software. That seems to be a very effective way to scale in the early stages of a business. Rod Brown: Getting out of
Bootstrapping with a Paycheck: DefinitiveDeals Founder Mattias Larson (Part 5)
Sramana Mitra: Until 2012, it was you and your wife. In 2010, the travel stopped but you still continue in the same model and the same mode of just the two of you in the business? Mattias Larson: Yes, correct. Sramana Mitra: In terms of revenue ramp, what were the numbers for 2009 to 2012?
Bootstrapping with a Paycheck: Axosoft CEO Hamid Shojaee (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: What happened in 2004? Hamid Shojaee: First of all, that was a very interesting wakeup call in observing how Microsoft, as a company, operates and how competitive they are, and how laser-focused on competition they are. I got introduced to various different things with respect to talking points. Microsoft was very savvy in
Black Entrepreneur in North Carolina Says No Bias: Rod Brown, COO of OnceLogix (Part 4)
Sramana: That is a very good revenue stream for your first year. Great work! By the end of the first year, all three of you had quit your full-time jobs to work on the startup. What happened the second year? Rod Brown: We just continued to grow. I think 95% of our clients deal with
Bootstrapping with a Paycheck: DefinitiveDeals Founder Mattias Larson (Part 4)
Sramana Mitra: Were you working with an affiliate network? Mattias Larson: Yes, I started with Commission Junction. Right now, we’re probably a member of most of the networks out there. Sramana Mitra: I suppose there is a certain intelligence that you apply to selecting what you want to merchandise on your site. Did you have
Black Entrepreneur in North Carolina Says No Bias: Rod Brown, COO of OnceLogix (Part 3)
Sramana: How did you balance starting a company in your off hours as a collective team? Rod Brown: We mapped out a plan. In the first month that we rolled out our product, we signed up 5 customers. We felt like that was a good start and we knew we could make money after that.