Child Entrepreneur David Koretz, Now CEO Of Mykonos Software (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: By this point of your career you had founded three successful companies. What are some of your tips on customer acquisition and how to build businesses?  David Koretz: There is an interesting challenge of risk. For a long time BlueTie was way out ahead of Google and Microsoft. When they began doing Web-based

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Child Entrepreneur David Koretz, Now CEO Of Mykonos Software (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What was the concept behind the business you founded just as you went to Babson?  David Koretz: It was an information sales business. It was a Dun and Bradstreet and Axiom type of company. At the time all of those products were all offline products and we were going to take them online.

Child Entrepreneur David Koretz, Now CEO Of Mykonos Software (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: You navigated a sizable business from 14 to 18 years of age. Did you parents get involved in it?  David Koretz: My parents and my grandfather were not involved and that was intentional on my part. I went to high school on various schedules. It was not official, but I just did it.

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Child Entrepreneur David Koretz, Now CEO Of Mykonos Software (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: How did you learn about home automation and energy efficiency at the age of 14?  David Koretz: I used to read trade journals such as CES Today and Asian Trade Sources. I signed up for some journals as a distributor, and it allowed me to see all of the latest technologies coming out

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Child Entrepreneur David Koretz, Now CEO Of Mykonos Software (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.  Sramana Mitra:  David, let’s start at the beginning of your story. What is the genesis of your entrepreneurial roots? David Koretz: I grew up in Rochester, New York. Like a lot of entrepreneurs, my journey started earlier, more informally than it did formally. My parents owned a

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Bootstrapping To 20 Million: Replicon Co-Founders Raj And Lakshmi Narayanaswamy (Part 7)

Sramana: Why did you decide it was so important to physically move to Silicon Valley? I have been here for 16 years and I love it, but why does a $20 million profitable company move here? Lakshmi Narayanaswamy: The transition to a SaaS company was painful, both on the technology and business side. We could

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Bootstrapping To 20 Million: Replicon Co-Founders Raj And Lakshmi Narayanaswamy (Part 6)

Sramana: What techniques have been the most consistent for you? Lakshmi Narayanaswamy: We tend to be very opportunistic. We would market to accountants hoping they would recommend our software to their clients. Sramana: You said you cleanse your leads in India. How does that work? Lakshmi Narayanaswamy: We use a team in India to receive

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Bootstrapping To 20 Million: Replicon Co-Founders Raj And Lakshmi Narayanaswamy (Part 5)

Sramana: Was there external consulting work or was that just part of the sales cycle? Raj Narayanaswamy: It was part of the sales cycle because the product need not meet every single need for extremely large organizations. We found that these larger organizations would give us a lot of money to customize the product to

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