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kristin quinlan
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping an Evergreen Business from Oregon
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping course and the Investor Introductions page. There is a trend among entrepreneurs wanting to keep running companies without seeking an exit. Kirstin Quinlan, CEO of Certified Languages International (CLI), tells us about one such evergreen company. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your
Bootstrapping an Evergreen Business From Oregon: Kirstin Quinlan, CEO of Certified Languages International (Part 6)
Sramana Mitra: What is the current thinking now that you’re approaching $30 million? Many companies at your stage start thinking about selling a portion of the company… Kristin Quinlan: There has been a lot of interest in our company from outside. We’ve been through two exercises on what that would look like. That was about
Bootstrapping an Evergreen Business From Oregon: Kirstin Quinlan, CEO of Certified Languages International (Part 5)
Sramana Mitra: Where are you right now revenue-wise? Kristin Quinlan: Last year, we were at $23.2 million. We’re on course to do, at least, $27 million this year. We can be as high as $30 million. Sramana Mitra: Is this a highly profitable business? Kristin Quinlan: Yes, it’s highly profitable. All of our growth has
Bootstrapping an Evergreen Business From Oregon: Kirstin Quinlan, CEO of Certified Languages International (Part 4)
Sramana Mitra: Besides that differentiator, how do you acquire customers? Kristin Quinlan: A lot of our growth has been through outreach from our sales team as well as from leveraging the relationships with one entity and being recommended to others. We are really good at what we do and we have got an exceedingly strong
Bootstrapping an Evergreen Business From Oregon: Kirstin Quinlan, CEO of Certified Languages International (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: You came on board in 2000. The business was about $1.9 million. Kristin Quinlan: Yes. In 2001, it was about $1.9 million. We had a slow incline. We’ve never had a year that has gone down. Every year has been an increase from the previous year. The first early years were very slow.
Bootstrapping an Evergreen Business From Oregon: Kirstin Quinlan, CEO of Certified Languages International (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: We’re doing an Entrepreneur Journey story. We’ve got to focus on a bit more chronological telling of the story of how you put one foot before the other. I realized that you didn’t become the CEO of the company until 2006 but I do need to capture some of the beginning story of
Bootstrapping an Evergreen Business From Oregon: Kirstin Quinlan, CEO of Certified Languages International (Part 1)
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping course and the Investor Introductions page. There is a trend among entrepreneurs wanting to keep running companies without seeking an exit. Certified Languages International (CLI) is one such evergreen company. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your story. Where are you from? Where
