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HOT TOPICS
- 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
Capital Efficient Entrepreneurship: Ranker CEO Clark Benson (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: What was the business model? Clark Benson: We were living a little bit in a vacuum. The company had moved back to Chicago. I was in LA. I wasn’t very well networked in the Internet space at that time. There were very few internet companies in Chicago. My co-founders were not very well-networked.
Capital Efficient Entrepreneurship: Ranker CEO Clark Benson (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: What years are we talking now? Clark Benson: I launched the company in 1995. I started launching other businesses about a year and a half later. I opened up a record store with a friend of mine. That was somewhat of a mistake. I had that for five years. I didn’t make a
Capital Efficient Entrepreneurship: Ranker CEO Clark Benson (Part 1)
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. “I hate raising money and I am not good at it…” – says Clark Benson, with a laugh. The company is growing nicely and profitably. Read on! Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born,
Bootstrapping to $10 Million: Gesture CEO Jim Alvarez (Part 5)
Sramana Mitra: As you have built this business, are you selling through the charities directly or are there channel partners? You brought up Ritz-Carlton. Ritz-Carlton holds a lot of charity events in its ballroom and so do many other luxury hotels on behalf of major charities. Jim Alvarez: Most of our business is gained directly
Bootstrapping to $10 Million: Gesture CEO Jim Alvarez (Part 4)
Sramana Mitra: The two of you got this product going. How did you find your customers? Jim Alvarez: I literally went door to door. I said, “I have this idea to help you manage the whole fundraising process during the event. Will you take a shot?” This was a pretty big pain point that charities
Scaling to Profitability with $20 Million in Venture Capital: CloudShare CEO Zvi Guterman (Part 4)
Sramana Mitra: Let’s get back to the story. How much did your raise from Sequoia and when was that? Zvi Guterman: In early 2008, we raised $5 million. This was our A round. Later on, we did another $10 million. Later we added another $10 million. Sramana Mitra: In terms of customer acquisition and customer traction,
Bootstrapping to $10 Million: Gesture CEO Jim Alvarez (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: You basically built this on your father’s farm? Jim Alvarez: Yes. Sramana Mitra: You turned it into a theme park kind of thing? Jim Alvarez: Yes. This is our 8th year and we are still growing strong. It’s a really big operation. I’ve got eight people in the parking lot, three police officers,
Scaling to Profitability with $20 Million in Venture Capital: CloudShare CEO Zvi Guterman (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: Let’s also understand how you apply the learnings you had in your previous company when you started this one. What did you do differently? How did you navigate funding? Zvi Guterman: It was clear to me that the first market was going to be the US market. As soon as possible, I moved