Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrap, Fund Raise, and Exit

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Co-founder Mads Jensen started working on Sefaira while an MBA student at INSEAD Business School. When we spoke in 2016, he had gone on to launch a sustainable architectural design software product, raised $18 million in funding, and exited the company. Read on to learn more.

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?

Mads Jensen: I was born and raised in Denmark. I’m from a family with several generations of entrepreneurs. I grew up with business in my blood. I was fortunate enough that my grandfather, in the early 80s, thought this computer thing might have some potential. He bought me a computer when I was quite young. All kids these days grow up with computers.

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1Mby1M Udemy Courses with Sramana Mitra: Bootstrapping

Over the course of two years, we have released over 70 courses on Udemy with the aim to democratize entrepreneurship education at scale globally. This series of posts aims to help you find the one you need easily and provide you with discount coupons.

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Niche E-Commerce Business to $54M and Exit

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Dara Greaney bootstrapped BuyAutoParts to $54 million in profitable revenue and sold the company to private equity. Yet another story of success in the niche e-commerce domain.

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

Dara Greaney: I was born and raised in Ventura, California. I was the first one in my family to be born in the US. My family is all Irish. My grandfather got a visa and came to New York. My father immigrated in ’78 and I was born that year. I’m a first-generation American. I went to school in Ventura. I enjoyed beach, surfing, and soccer. I was always fascinated by technology and marketing. I went to University of San Diego for undergraduate studies. I got a degree in Marketing and Finance there. Then I went to San Diego State’s entrepreneurship school and graduated there in 2002. At that time, I did a startup with an e-commerce company that quickly got bought by a bigger company, but I didn’t want to move to Chicago.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped an AI Software Company to Exit

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Artificial Intelligence startups are very hot these days. Read how CEO Dave Copps built Brainspace from Dallas. After we spoke in 2016, Brainspace was acquired by Cyxtera Technologies in 2017.

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

Dave Copps: I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. My dad was an eye surgeon. My parents had moved down from Wisconsin. They were snow birds, as they called themselves. My mom was a community leader. My dad was very smart. He graduated from college at 17. His dad had the same background. He went to the Navy while his friends were graduating.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Cyber Security Company First Bootstrapped with Services

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Following up on our ‘Bootstrapping Using Services‘ and ‘Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later’ case studies, here is the story of PhishMe, a cyber security company that has scaled nicely. Following my conversation with Co-founder Rohyt Belani in 2015, PhishMe was acquired by BlackRock in 2018.

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

Rohyt Belani: I am originally from India. I was born and raised in India. I was there till the age of 22. I did my engineering in India.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a Significant Software Company to Exit

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

When we spoke in 2015, Emagine CEO Dave Peters had managed to bootstrap a significant software company from Australia. The focus was on TELCO churn management, and the customer base was primarily Australian, Asian, and African. Read this interview to learn more of the nuances. In September 2017 Emagine was acquired by Comviva.

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

Dave Peters: I’m Australian. I grew up in a little town of 8,000 people, about five hours west of Sydney. It was a farming community and my father was an Anglican minister. That’s a pretty unlikely starting point for an entrepreneur.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services to Exit from North Carolina

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Ateb CEO Frank Sheppard and his co-founders had built a sizeable bootstrapped business in North Carolina when we spoke in 2015. Read on to learn what worked for Ateb and what you can learn from them. Ateb was acquired by Omnicell in 2017.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of your story. Where do you come from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of circumstances?

Frank Sheppard: I was born in Florida but I was raised in Atlanta in a typical middle-class suburban environment.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Serial Entrepreneur Bootstraps First

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Joe Speiser, Founder and CEO of LittleThings bootstrapped his first digital media/ad network business to $50 million in revenue and then sold it to private equity. Later he started a second business, an e-commerce company, that he bootstrapped for a year and then raised venture capital. His third business, LittleThings, is a spin-off within the second business that took him back to his digital media roots. Since our conversation in 2015, LittleThings was acquired by RockYou Media, an entertainment and media company aimed at millennials, in 2018.

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?

Joe Speiser: I’m from New York and I went to school in the city. I studied at the Columbia University. I’ve been doing all sorts of businesses from a very young age. I always had a passion for trying to start something from scratch and make a living. My dad is an entrepreneur. I used to work in his warehouse for most of my summers. It definitely taught me a lot watching my dad run a business. I don’t know if it’s something that’s taught or something that you’re just genetically predisposed to. I enjoy it so much.

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