Bootstrapping a Virtual Company to $25 Million: Percona CEO Peter Zaitsev (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: You had a virtual company with developers mainly from Eastern Europe.

Peter Zaitsev: Initially, yes. We gradually expanded to other countries. Now we have about 35 different countries.

Sramana Mitra: It’s still a virtual company though.

Building a Capital Efficient Startup from Nashville: David Stange, CEO of Beachy (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: How did you finance this company?

David Stange: I started the company with $7,500. I lived in one of my warehouses. I traveled around to my offices with an air mattress in my trunk. I showered at truck stops for two years. Every morning, I’d wake up and go to a truck stop to shower. I’d come back, fold my air mattress, and be ready for all of my employees to show up.

Bootstrapping a Virtual Company to $25 Million: Percona CEO Peter Zaitsev (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What did you start in London?

Peter Zaitsev: I started Percona as it is now. It was a different company with different ideas.

Sramana Mitra: When you founded Percona, what was the idea?

Building a Capital Efficient Startup from Nashville: David Stange, CEO of Beachy (Part 1)

As you know, I love doing stories on entrepreneurs from different parts of the world, especially from geographies that have insignificant presence on the entrepreneurship map of the world.

Here’s a wonderful story from Nashville, Tennessee.

Bootstrapping a Virtual Company to $25 Million: Percona CEO Peter Zaitsev (Part 1)

I am a huge fan of virtual companies, and here is one that has been built with excellent execution from London by a Russian entrepreneur.

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?

Peter Zaitsev: I was born in what was the Soviet Union. I studied Math and Computer Science in Moscow State University. I started my first startup company while studying.

Best of Bootstrapping: Freightwise Bootstraps to $33 Million

Freightwise was No. 2 on the Inc. 5000 for 2018. Amazing bootstrapping story from Freightwise CIO/CTO Richard Hoehn.

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?

Richard Hoehn: I grew up in Switzerland. I did an apprenticeship as a machinist – the tool and die maker. After three years, I decided I wanted to go back to school and learn more about computers and technology.

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping a Marketplace to Over $10 Million

Home Alliance CEO Sardor Umrdinov has bootstrapped a marketplace of home appliance technicians to over $10 million in revenue. Great 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?

Sardor Umrdinov: I was born and raised in Uzbekistan. I went to Russian kindergarten and school. When independence came, my parents moved me to a national school. I was there for one year. After that, they moved me to the Lyceum for boys. I studied there for another six or seven years.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping to Y Combinator and $10 Million Series A

UpKeep Maintenance Management CEO Ryan Chan took a hobby project that he bootstrapped with a paycheck and managed to get into Y Combinator. From there, he raised a $10 million Series A from a top-tier Silicon Valley firm, Emergence Capital. Excellent execution thus far.

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

Ryan Chan: I was born in Kentucky. My family moved there for my father’s job. But then, we quickly relocated to California. I grew up and was raised in a small suburb in Los Angeles called Oak Park. Not many people know where that is, but it’s about 20 miles west of downtown Los Angeles.

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