categories
HOT TOPICS
- The Accelerator Conundrum
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Platform as a Service
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
Bootstrapping Using Services
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services to $20 Million
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
VisiQuate Founder CEO Brian Robertson is a serial bootstrapper. In fact, he always bootstraps using services. A terrific entrepreneur to learn from. This conversation is from 2020.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?
Brian Robertson: I’m from Northern California. We’re not in the heart of Silicon Valley, but up in Sonoma County. I was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but I was only there for two weeks. My dad was in the Navy. His family was from the Midwest and we were there for a short period.
Best of Bootstrapping: Co-Founders Bootstrapped to $10 Million
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
In 2020, Coalition Technologies was still largely a services company, but also had a few products. Co-founder Jordan Brannon shared the company’s well-managed 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?
Jordan Brannon: I was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I grew up primarily in Washington state in a smaller community. It’s about an hour and a half south of Seattle. I have three brothers and we largely stuck to the northwest throughout my childhood.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped with Services from Sweden
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
European entrepreneurs often bootstrap using services successfully. The chasing of investors from the get go is less prevalent on the other side of the Atlantic, although this obsession from Silicon Valley has traveled to all corners of the world now. Dapresy Founder Tobi Andersson and CEO Rudy Nadilo shared their journey in 2016, when they had crossed $7 million in annual revenue with minimal outside financing. Forsta acquired Dapresy in 2021.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your personal journey. It sounds like, Tobi, you’re the founder. Maybe, we’ll start with you and let’s go back to the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?
Tobi Andersson: I was born in Sweden, in the Swedish countryside. Very early on in my life, I decided that one day I would like to earn the money to have the opportunity to buy a really big farm. That has always been my vision – to create something that, on one hand, can give me money but on the other hand, I can create opportunities for people to develop. I’m very much like HR focused on life. I would like everyone an opportunity to feel that they have a good life.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a Fast Growth Company with Services
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
Gurman Hundal, Co-founder of MiQ, had bootstrapped a fast growth company using services when we spoke in 2016. Read about his impressive 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?
Gurman Hundal: I was born in England in a town about 30 miles from London. My family is from the northern state of Punjab in India. Even though I was born in England, I couldn’t speak English till I was about six years old. I have a British-Indian upbringing. My parents owned their own shoe shop in a shopping mall near where we live. I got an early exposure to family-run organizations. I went through the educational system within England. I went to University of Kingston where I studied Business. It was there where I started my career.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services to $12M and an Exit
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
You know that we believe in the Bootstrapping Using Services methodology quite firmly. Here is Square Root Founder Chris Taylor’s story from 2016 – a great example of how and why bootstrapping using services works. In 2021, CDK Global acquired Square Root for $25 million.
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?
Chris Taylor: I grew up in rural West Virginia. You won’t meet a lot of entrepreneurs out of West Virginia. When I was four, my father passed away, so my brother and I were raised by our mother. She did a fantastic job. My brother is also another entrepreneur. In college, I went to Carnegie-Mellon and studied Computer Science, Psychology, and Mathematics.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services First from London
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
Rich Waldron, Co-founder and CEO of Tray.io, was building an authentic tech company from London when we spoke in 2020. While the company could have become a so-called Unicorn by loading up on liquidation preferences, they chose not to do so. Excellent story.
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?
Rich Waldron: I was born in the UK in a place called Southampton, which is right down on the South Coast. Its most famous claim to fame is where the Titanic set off from. I was born there 35 years ago.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped with Services from Wisconsin
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
SignalWire Founder CEO Anthony Minessale is building a very interesting programmable communication platform company that has its roots in Wisconsin. This conversation is from 2020.
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?
Anthony Minessale: I’m from the Midwest. I live in Wisconsin where I’ve lived all my life. I have been involved in computers since high school. After high school, I became interested in how the internet works. At that time, the internet was starting to take off. I started to teach myself programming.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services to a VC-funded SaaS Marketplace
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
Booksy Co-founder and CEO Stefan Batory started a software development company in Poland with a few other partners. Today, he’s running a high-growth, VC-funded SaaS and marketplace business in the US. Awesome journey! Here is our conversation from early 2020, plus you can listen to our podcast interview from 2021 here.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s go back to the very beginning of your journey. Tell us where you’re from, where you were born, raised, and in what kind of background.
Stefan Batory: I’m from Warsaw, Poland. I was born and raised in one of the poorest parts of the country. I got a scholarship and went to a high school here in the US back in 1994.
