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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
Bootstrap First from Belarus, Raise Money Later from Silicon Valley: PandaDoc CEO Mikita Mikado (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: You got the business going while you were in Hawaii – the business that you are running now? Mikita Mikado: Somewhat. I tend to believe that what we have now is a consequence of what happened back then. I’ve been running a web design agency. That agency got me and my co-founder to
Bootstrap First from Belarus, Raise Money Later from Silicon Valley: PandaDoc CEO Mikita Mikado (Part 1)
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. As you know, I love stories of entrepreneurs in different parts of the world finding success through grit and creativity. Mikita’s story gives us an insight into what’s happening in Belarus, and how he has navigated his way to Silicon Valley. And our Bootstrap First, Raise
Bootstrapping from Finland: Vainu CEO Mikko Honkanen (Part 5)
Sramana Mitra: How many customers do you have in all? Mikko Honkanen: A little bit more than 1,200 customers. Sramana Mitra: What has been your experience with the US? Three markets are Scandinavian markets where the policy is open data. Is the Dutch market open data as well? Mikko Honkanen: There’s actually a site called
Bootstrapping from Finland: Vainu CEO Mikko Honkanen (Part 4)
Sramana Mitra: What about the product that had to be localized? Mikko Honkanen: Yes. We had to localize the product. All the Nordic countries are pretty good with open data. We were able to buy and open the basic data. We had to add lots of local data sources and translate the UI and make
Bootstrapping from Finland: Vainu CEO Mikko Honkanen (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: You had a bunch of paying customers before building the product. How much were they paying for the annual upfront payment? How did you find these companies? Mikko Honkanen: We used our own product. To find the first unaffiliated customer, you need to do sales and marketing. So, we focused on all the
Bootstrapping from Finland: Vainu CEO Mikko Honkanen (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: I would like to zero in on exactly that. I’ll give you some context. My second company was a lead generation and web research company, exactly solving the same problem, except that it was very early and the web didn’t have anywhere near the level of data that it has today. I’m talking
Bootstrapping from Finland: Vainu CEO Mikko Honkanen (Part 1)
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. Mikko has steadily built an excellent SaaS company from Finland and is now expanding into the US as well. Read on for more. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your personal journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in
Entrepreneur Couple Bootstrapping to $10M from Colorado: AdCellerant Co-Founders Brock Berry and Shelby Carlson (Part 6)
Sramana Mitra: I can totally see that. The follow-on question from there though is that the wounds of the media industry are very deep. Their monetization problems are very deep. Their existential crisis is very deep. To what extent do you view that issue as a threat to your long-term sustenance? Brock Berry: It’s an
