Bootstrapping to Exit in Israel: Eli Sasson, Founder of Minicom (Part 6)

Sramana: How did you manage your rapid growth from $5 million to $25 million? Eli Sasson: We had to expand the management layer of the company. That was the key first step. We added additional information systems to enhance reporting. We had to really build out all aspects of the company.

Bootstrapping to Exit in Israel: Eli Sasson, Founder of Minicom (Part 5)

Sramana: When did you make the pivot into the KVM market? Eli Sasson: We did that in the mid-1990s. From 1995 on, we were active in both the educational market and the KVM [keyboard, video and mouse] market. The KVM market ultimately emerged as the primary market. By the time we took on funding, our

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Bootstrapping to Exit in Israel: Eli Sasson, Founder of Minicom (Part 4)

Sramana: How did you bridge the product gap? You had built a product for PCs, and then many of your potential customers ended up using PS/2. How did you bridge the gap? Eli Sasson: Byte magazine covered the older product, but that was also at a point where we were also almost ready to release

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Bootstrapping to Exit in Israel: Eli Sasson, Founder of Minicom (Part 3)

Sramana: What were some of your lessons learned in those early days of forming the company? Eli Sasson: We had some unpleasant hiccups on our way. We did all of the design and product research. We based everything on the PC environment, but during the same time, IBM pushed the PS/2 very aggressively in the

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Bootstrapping to Exit in Israel: Eli Sasson, Founder of Minicom (Part 2)

Sramana: Who were the first few educators who embraced the concept? During the time we are talking about, it must have been difficult to get teachers to embrace technology. Eli Sasson: We spent money and hired an industrial designer. We had a clear understanding of what we wanted. We knew what we wanted the interface

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Bootstrapping to Exit in Israel: Eli Sasson, Founder of Minicom (Part 1)

Eli Sasson is the founder and president of Minicom Advanced Systems, a global leader of IT management solutions for data centers, server rooms, and rack environments. Eli co-founded Minicom in 1988 and sold it to TrippLite in April 2012. Prior to founding Minicom, he earned his MBA from Tel Aviv University. Eli was born and

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From Czechoslovakia to Silicon Valley: Roman Stanek’s Journey to GoodData (Part 7)

Sramana: What has your revenue ramp rate looked like over the years? Roman Stanek: In 2012 we were over $15 million in revenue. We also have a backlog for the next couple of years. We know we have $15 million waiting for us twice over.

From Czechoslovakia to Silicon Valley: Roman Stanek’s Journey to GoodData (Part 6)

Sramana: It is good that you have identified a process for moving into new business areas, particularly since you are a SaaS-based business. Roman Stanek: SaaS is an unforgiving business. It is a resource-intensive business, and customers can always churn. There is loyalty, but it is only gained by quality service. There is a very

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