Bootstrapping a High Growth Cyber Security Venture with a Paycheck: Christian Geyer, CEO of ACTFORE (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Were you aware of this regulatory requirement in your original business?

Christian Geyer: Yes. I was part of a cybersecurity incident response company back in 2016 at the Crypsis group I had talked about. We sold it for $260 million to Palo Alto Networks, a cyber security company.

Bootstrapping a High Growth Cyber Security Venture with a Paycheck: Christian Geyer, CEO of ACTFORE (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What was the subsidiary doing that warranted spinning it out into its own company?

Bootstrapping a High Growth Cyber Security Venture with a Paycheck: Christian Geyer, CEO of ACTFORE (Part 1)

Christian convinced the Board of his employer to let him incubate a Cyber Security startup idea as a division of the company with an express intent of spinning it off.

Now, the company has been spun out, doing almost $20M in bootstrapped annual revenue, and may soon find a lucrative Exit. This is a phenomenal story for entrepreneurs considering the Bootstrapping with a Paycheck route.

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped to $26M and a Fabulous Exit

When we spoke in 2021, Founder CEO Vamsi Kora had bootstrapped Gathi Analytics to over $26 million in revenue in four years and exited at a fabulous multiple. Much to learn from his journey.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Vamsi Kora: I’m from south India, from a village in Rajamundry, which is very close to the Bay of Bengal. I did Mechanical Engineering. Right after it, I went to have one of the very few well-paid careers at that time. I couldn’t afford to come to the US. So I went into merchant shipping and roamed around the world for about three years. I made two and half rounds around the equator.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped with Services to $10M and an Exit

Among the biases of the Venture Capital industry that need to be categorically ignored, Bootstrapping Using Services happens to be on the top of the list. Zimit Founder and co-CEO James Cramer shared yet another fantastic textbook case study when we spoke in 2021. Zimit was acquired by Workday in September 2021.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?

James Cramer: I was born in Southern California. I grew up in a family that moved around a lot. My dad worked in the automotive industry, and so every few years we would change locations. That put me in Seattle, Southern California, the Carolinas, and then ultimately in Florida.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped with Services, Raised Money and Exited

John Stewart and his co-founder built MapAnything from Charlotte, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia. When we spoke in 2018, he had raised over $40 million in funding, proving that you can build sizable VC-funded SaaS businesses from anywhere. MapAnything was sold to Salesforce in May 2019.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where did you grow up? Give us some early story.

John Stewart: I’m from upstate New York. I’m from a middle class background. My mother was a stay-at-home mom. My father was in the construction business. He was an architect. I went to school in New England for Mechanical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in western Massachusetts and graduated in 1997.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped to Exit, Raised Money and Exited Again

Wendy CEO Lance Neuhauser bootstrapped his first company to an exit. He venture funded his second company and exited after 10 years. He is about to launch his third. Read on, great story.

Sramana Mitra: All right, Lance, let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised? What kind of backgrounds? What brings us to the entrepreneurial journey?

Lance Newhauser: Thank you for having me here. I really appreciate the opportunity. Your mission is admirable, and I love that you’re helping companies grow across the world.

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2025 Resolution: Bootstrap Your Startup to an Early Exit

Over the past decade, I’ve had the privilege of working with many bootstrapped entrepreneurs. I’ve helped several of them find Early Exits.

I love working with self-financed startups and modestly capitalized ones that operate in a capital-efficient manner applying the principles of bootstrapping.

I’ve also interviewed hundreds of investors, especially micro-VCs and angels who are playing in the early stage game.

I’ve asked all of them the following questions:

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