Bootstrapping to $10 Million: Gesture CEO Jim Alvarez (Part 1)

Jim has bootstrapped a $10M company by providing a software solution to the charity auction management problem. Interesting 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?

Jim Alvarez: I was born and raised in the south side of Chicago. I went to college at the Indiana University.

Sramana Mitra: What did you study? >>>

Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later from Udupi, Karnataka: Rohith Bhat’s Exhilarating Journey with Robosoft (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: Fantastic. That’s your big hit from the product company. You’ve built about $18 million worth of revenue across these three businesses. I believe you have raised some financing. Can you tell me a bit about the financing history about the company?

Rohith Bhat: We raised our first round in 2013 from Kalaari Capital. That was a $4 million round.

Sramana Mitra: What was the thinking behind raising money at that point? You were already revenue-

>>>

Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later from Udupi, Karnataka: Rohith Bhat’s Exhilarating Journey with Robosoft (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: Both of them were structured as subsidiaries of Robosoft?

Rohith Bhat: Yes.

Sramana Mitra: You continued Robosoft with the regular format of doing services projects?

Rohith Bhat: Yes.

Sramana Mitra: What was the revenue level of Robosoft at this point when you launched these two companies? >>>

Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later from Udupi, Karnataka: Rohith Bhat’s Exhilarating Journey with Robosoft (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: These were projects that Apple gave you to build these apps?

Rohith Bhat: We had customers of our own. We built it for them. Apple gave us the SDK.

Sramana Mitra: This was very early. My question is how did you find clients to build products for the Apple App Store?

Rohith Bhat: Because it was new, some of our clients also felt that this might be something that might become big someday. >>>

Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later from Udupi, Karnataka: Rohith Bhat’s Exhilarating Journey with Robosoft (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What kind of revenue levels were you operating at?

Rohith Bhat: We were still at a million dollars.

Sramana Mitra: You were steady at a million dollars from 1998 to about 2002.

Rohith Bhat: In 1998, we were much smaller. By 2002 to 2003, we hit a million dollars in revenue. We were steady at that level for the next two years. >>>

Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later from Udupi, Karnataka: Rohith Bhat’s Exhilarating Journey with Robosoft (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Chronologically, we are in the 1996 to 1997 timeframe?

Rohith Bhat: Yes. From 1996 to 1998, we worked for, at least, five to six companies. I have not met any of these folks from the United States. I was in Bombay. Getting talent for my startup was now becoming a little bit difficult because I had to compete with bigger companies. I figured that my customers didn’t bother where I am because they didn’t bother to meet me in person. It didn’t make any difference if I was in Bombay or in another part of the country.

That’s when I decided that maybe I should go back to my hometown because back then, Internet had just come into my hometown. >>>

Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later from Udupi, Karnataka: Rohith Bhat’s Exhilarating Journey with Robosoft (Part 1)

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

Rohith started a services company in his hometown – a small town on the west coast of Karnataka, India. Fifteen years later, the company is generating $18 million in revenue and has raised two sizable rounds of VC funding. I found the story exhilarating!

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

Rohith Bhat: I was born in Udupi, India. It’s a small town on the west coast of the country. Then I went to the local school and >>>

Building a Robust Niche Business: FilmTrack CEO Jason Kassin (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: How much money did you raise in 2013?

Jason Kassin: Our Series A was $20 million.

Sramana Mitra: How many companies did you acquire?

Jason Kassin: We acquired two companies. The first one was a company called Jaguar. In between, we acquired a third company, but that was of a slightly different complexion. It was a smaller acquisition that involved another raise where the >>>