Best of Bootstrapping: CEO Bootstrapped Sitecore Using Services from Denmark

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

Sitecore not only reached global scale, but was competing with Oracle, Adobe, IBM, and Salesforce.com when I spoke with then CEO Michael Seifert in 2014. European software companies were seldom reaching global scale at that time. Read on to learn how he navigated the market.

Sramana: Michael, where are you from? What is the background to your story?

Michael Seifert: I was born in the Copenhagen area where I lived until first grade. I then moved to a little island in Denmark with a population of about fifty thousand people. I lived there with my mother and her brothers through high school. My father moved to the US when I was 8 or 9. I spent my summer vacations in the Bay area with my father. My first flight to the US was at age 11.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Gravitant CEO Bootstrapped Using Services to $15M in Venture Capital

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

We continue to see exciting enterprise software companies being built by entrepreneurs who have roots in the consulting business and who have taken their domain knowledge and customer insights to develop compelling products to solve specific problems. Gravitant is yet another case in point. Before Gravitant was acquired by IBM in 2015, I spoke with Gravitant CEO Mohammed Farooq about his journey.

Sramana: Mohammed, let’s start our discussion by reviewing your background. Where do you come from? What are the roots of your entrepreneurial journey?

Mohammed Farooq: I am originally from India, close to Hyderabad. I went to engineering school in India and came to the United States in 1991 to attend graduate school. I was born in 1967 and went to school locally in India. I attended Gulbarga University in India where I studied mechanical engineering. I attended graduate school in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, I completed a dual degree in operations research and computer science. I then did an MBA in finance as well.

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5 Courses on the 1Mby1M Bootstrapping Methodology

At 1Mby1M, we’ve been advocating bootstrapped entrepreneurship for 15+ years.

Throughout that journey, we have done extensive research on how entrepreneurs are successfully bootstrapping companies and finding different degrees and nuances of success.

These 5 courses are great starting points for you to efficiently learn synthesized lessons from the trenches. To apply current discount coupons, click on the courses found HERE.

Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later with Sramana Mitra

Bootstrapping a Startup with a Paycheck with Sramana Mitra

Bootstrapping a Startup with Services with Sramana Mitra

How to Bootstrap Startups by Piggybacking with Sramana Mitra

How To Succeed As A Solo Entrepreneur with Sramana Mitra

Learn what to expect from 1Mby1M.

Roundtable Recap: June 17 – Two Excellent Bootstrapping Case Studies

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest San Banerjee, Co-founder of ADDA. San talked about her entrepreneurial journey as a bootstrapped entrepreneur tackling heavily funded competitors.

Tech Adaptika

As for our entrepreneur pitch, we had Hosni Zaoual ifrom Toronto, Canada, pitch Tech Adaptika. The company has bootstrapped very well to a $2M ARR level and has a strong pipeline. They’re getting traction in the virtual conferencing market.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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449th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Kristi Herold, JAM

Kristi Herold, CEO of JAM, built a thriving bootstrapped business over twenty years until Covid hit. Listen to how she is surviving.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped eGroup to $20M in Charleston, South Carolina

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

As part of our coverage of entrepreneurship far away from Silicon Valley, we bring you a conversation with Mike Carter, Founder CEO of eGroup, in Charleston, South Carolina. Typically, these environments have bred bootstrapped companies, and bootstrapping using services continues to be a popular method. Here is our conversation from 2014.

Sramana Mitra: Mike, let’s start with the beginning of your story. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of circumstances leads up to the entrepreneurial story?

Mike Carter: I was born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina which is a coastal town here in the Southeast. My parents are both originally from the area but I grew up all around the country and some places abroad. My father was a career air force fighter pilot. That meant that he spent a lot of time traveling to different military installations around the world and as a by-product, I grew up in that environment. When I returned to Charlestown for college, I went to a military college called The Citadel. I ended up staying and getting a degree in Computer Science. I’ve been an enthusiast with technology. My passion is what got me into business. That’s what my classical education along with a desire to succeed coming from a military household brought.

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533rd 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Gene Caballero, GreenPal

Gene Caballero is Co-founder of GreenPal, a company that was bootstrapped with a paycheck, and has built a sizable two-sided marketplace.

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Best of Bootstrapping: How Robust SaaS Company RateGain was Bootstrapped from India

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

RateGain is one of the top global SaaS companies built out of India. This interview from 2014 captures Founder Bhanu Chopra’s entrepreneurial journey.

Sramana: Bhanu, let’s start with the beginning of your story. What kind of circumstances where you raised in? What is the genesis of your entrepreneurial journey?

Bhanu Chopra: I am a Delhi boy, I was born and raised in a business family in Delhi. Right after I completed school, I went to the US for my undergraduate studies. I went to the Indiana University and have a double degree in finance and computer science. When I was growing up, I was very good with numbers. The advice that my father gave me was to get into something like finance. Computers are a derivation of mathematics. That is why I got interested in computers.

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