Bootstrapping for 30 Years: Dean Guida, CEO of Infragistics ( Part 4)

Dean Guida: We got out there and we were in a room with 12 people. These were the guys who wrote the compiler, debugger, linker, and then there’s me and my girlfriend. I was like, “Oh my god. Don’t hold my hand. Don’t look at me. Don’t do anything.” Chris, a guy that was there, went on to create the C# language. I was a hardcore developer at the time.

My girlfriend was in the tech space but not as hardcore as us. It turns out that she solved more problems than I did. Everything went well. I created a better relationship with all the guys there. We did a deal with Borland. Borland put our product, a code generation visual design tool, into all their Borland C, Turbo C, Turbo Pascal, and all their boxes.

Bootstrapping for 30 Years: Dean Guida, CEO of Infragistics ( Part 3)

Dean Guida: When we finally finished our first version and were going to bring it to market, everybody was reading this Charles Petzold book. It was this 600-page book. You had to learn all these APIs. We were going to market with this framework to help people build business applications faster, but no one was going to want to learn more APIs.

Before we went to market, we created this tool around it where you can visually build menus and screens and connect them to data. We then generated a C code. We created this development environment and then we went to market. What is amazing is that 33 years later, we are still building UI controls.

Bootstrapping for 30 Years: Dean Guida, CEO of Infragistics ( Part 2)

Dean Guida: When I graduated from school, I moved up to New York City because I wanted to work for all the smart people. There is a lot of money in New York City. I started my company when I was 23. It was 1989. All the smart people like Microsoft and these other companies were in New York.

I was a freelance consultant. I first had a job with GE Consulting. I was very young, so they were saying; “We can’t hire you with the rates we hire. You are just too young.” I said, “Look, I am really good. I love writing software. Wherever you put me, I’ll not only do a good job but I will also get more consultants here for you.”

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping CloudSense with Services on Force.com from London

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

When had this conversation in 2014, the Force.com platform (now Salesforce Platform) was a great bootstrapping device for entrepreneurs. Read how Co-founder CTO Alex Fuller and Co-founder CEO Richard Britton bootstrapped CloudSense to a sizable product company on the platform.

Sramana: Alex, let’s start with your personal journey. Where were you born and raised? What are the roots of your entrepreneurial story?

Alex Fuller: I was born in Wimbledon in the UK where the tennis championship is held. My educational background was not focused on technology. I studied classics at Oxford University, which focused on Latin, Greek, and Linguistics. Before that, I had already acquired an interest in technology. I got into computing as a child when I was 12 years old. I had a keen interest in computing throughout my school years.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping a Web Hosting Company to $60M

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

When we spoke in 2014, Christopher Aker, Founder CEO of Linode, had already had many opportunities to raise money along the way while bootstrapping to a $60 million revenue level. Find out why he chose not to.

Sramana: Chris, let’s start with the beginning of your story. Tell me where you are from and set the stage for your entrepreneurial journey.

Christopher Aker: I was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. We lived on the main land off of a coastal barrier island. I had a traditional American, South Jersey coastal upbringing. We had a lot of summer jobs and a huge amount of people would flock to our town in the summer to enjoy the beach.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Founder Krishna Kumar Bootstrapped App Orchid Using Services

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

See how a serial entrepreneur used the ‘Bootstrapping Using Services’ methodology repeatedly to get companies off the ground. Krishna Kumar, Founder of App Orchid, I’ve learned, is now deceased. From this conversation from 2014, you can imagine that he has left behind quite a legacy.

Sramana: Krishna, let’s start with the beginning of your personal story. Where are you from, what is your background? What leads up to your entrepreneurial story?

Krishna Kumar: I was born in India. I came to the US in 1996. I worked my way up the consulting chain from an SAP consultant to the Vice President of Ness, a consulting firm based in New Jersey. Ness was also primarily an SAP shop. It was a NASDAQ-listed company and I had exposure to both the strategy and product sides of the house.

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536th Roundtable Recording on June 24, 2021: With Rajeev Singh-Molares, Alma Mundi Ventures

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording here:

Best of Bootstrapping: Co-founder Dan Hermann on Bootstrapping Paint Nite

Social media is great, but human beings also love to socialize in person. Paint Nite has thrived by tapping into the desire human beings have to ‘hang out’ and do creative things. Since speaking with Co-founder CEO Dan Hermann in 2014, Paint Nite has evolved to become a part of Yaymaker.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with telling our audience a little bit about your personal background. Where were you born and raised? What kind of background?

Dan Hermann: I am now 43 years old. I was born in Boston and grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. I attended the University of Wisconsin. I started my first business at the age of 21. That business is a pick-up and delivery laundry service, which I still own today. We’re in six different states. I learned a great deal about operational businesses in that business.

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