Bootstrapping Using Services from Russia: Ruslan Fazlyev, CEO of Ecwid (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: I’m going to ask you questions so that we can trace your journey of how you put this business together block by block. Tell me how you acquired your first customers for this business.

Ruslan Fazlyev: We didn’t really acquire customers for our business. We got case-by-case freelance requests to build an online store because there were no existing PHP platforms back then. Every store needed to be coded from scratch. We got contracts through freelance marketplaces like Elance.

Sramana Mitra: You were basically marketing your technical development skills on Elance and you were getting companies to outsource e-commerce site development work to you.

Ruslan Fazlyev: Exactly. >>>

Bootstrapping Using Services: Sylvana Caridi Coche, CEO of Gravity Pro (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of this journey in 2007. You went to SAP and said you wanted to resell. Where did you go to seek your first clients?

Sylvana Caridi Coche: My clients call me. I actually have to pick the clients. Usually people who start a company to do implementations in SAP start as an implementation company. From there, they take a project. Or, they’re like an IBM who invests in SAP and start a whole practice. For me, it was different because the customers were calling me.

Every time I’d go to SAP and say, “I have a new license.” They’d say, “Go work with the other partners.” The other partners would want to compete with me on >>>

Bootstrapping Using Services from Russia: Ruslan Fazlyev, CEO of Ecwid (Part 1)

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

We’ve discussed Bootstrapping Using Services extensively over the years. Ruslan used eLance (not Upwork) to source service projects, then built, first a platform+services business that scaled to over $10 million in revenue. Then he spun off a pure play e-commerce platform business that now has over a million merchants using it. Revenue is over $5 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?

Ruslan Fazlyev: I was born in a very little town in Russia. I grew up in Ulyanovsk, which is a city on the Russian river Volga. The city that you grew up in interests you more than the place of birth.What’s interesting about that place is it’s the place where Lenin was born – the guy who founded USSR. Because it’s >>>

How to Increase the Odds of Getting into YCombinator

YCombinator rejects 97.15% of all applications.

Is there a strategy for raising your odds of getting into YCombinator?

The short answer is yes.

Watch this 2 minutes 11 second video on how Jas Grewal, CEO of CareSkore did it.

>>>

Bootstrapping Using Services: Sylvana Caridi Coche, CEO of Gravity Pro (Part 1)

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

Sylvana has an aura of no nonsense, no bullshit confidence about her that I find immensely attractive. Read her story to feel the force of sheer energy, smarts, and execution to learn how she did it!

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as Gravity Pro.

Sylvana Caridi Coche: I’m 42. I was born and raised in France. My parents were from Italy. They moved from Italy to France to find work because, at that time, it was hard for them because they were both illiterate. I was the last kid and grew up in a very low-class environment. I studied all the way to my doctorate, but I did not do my thesis because I went to work. >>>

Bootstrapping With a Paycheck to Techstars: Nevin Shetty, CEO of Blueprint Registry (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: How much investment did you get from Techstars?

Nevin Shetty: Techstars always puts in $100,000.

Sramana Mitra: How much equity did you give for that?

Nevin Shetty: Around 7%.

Sramana Mitra: You raised more money coming out of Techstars? >>>

Bootstrapping With a Paycheck to Techstars: Nevin Shetty, CEO of Blueprint Registry (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: The customer acquisition is Facebook primarily?

Nevin Shetty: It’s transitioning now to Pinterest. You have to think about where your users live. A lot of couples, who were recently engaged, go to Pinterest for inspiration for their wedding. As they’re looking for inspiration for their wedding, they see Blueprint there. Potentially, they come bock to Facebook or find us organically.

Sramana Mitra: So you’re advertising on Pinterest?

Nevin Shetty: Yes. >>>

Bootstrapping With a Paycheck to Techstars: Nevin Shetty, CEO of Blueprint Registry (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: Facebook is unique in its targeting capabilities. Talk about how you took advantage of that. What was the segment you were going after? What segment was converting for you? What did you learn about these nuances of positioning?

Nevin Shetty: As a wedding registry, we targeted people who were engaged.

Sramana Mitra: The status says they’re engaged, and you were marketing to that status.

Nevin Shetty: Correct. Lizzie and I would go to General Assembly classes and other online classes for marketing. Even though they’re engaged, people who live in New York are different from people in Texas. People who like Vogue are different from people who like InStyle magazine. We would then break out >>>