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- The Accelerator Conundrum
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Bootstrapping
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped First, Scaled with VC Funds to an Exit
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
When we spoke in 2019, Faction Founder Luke Norris had executed a tremendously effective Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later strategy from Colorado. Faction was recently acquired by ORIX.
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?
Luke Norris: I was born in Nevada.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped by Piggybacking to $6M from Romania
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
You may have read our PaaS coverage, as well as Bootstrapping by Piggybacking posts. Well, when we spoke in 2020, 123FormBuilder CEO Florin Cornianu had built a $6 million SaaS business using this methodology with just $1 million in funding. What’s more, he had done it entirely from Romania and selling to largely a US customer base. Excellent 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?
Florin Cornianu: I’m the CEO and Co-founder of 123FormBuilder. We are a form-building SaaS. The company is in Romania. I was born in a small city in the northern part of Romania. I’m an engineer by profession. I graduated with computer science degree from a large university in the city where I live.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped with Services from Wisconsin
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
SignalWire Founder CEO Anthony Minessale is building a very interesting programmable communication platform company that has its roots in Wisconsin. This conversation is from 2020.
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?
Anthony Minessale: I’m from the Midwest. I live in Wisconsin where I’ve lived all my life. I have been involved in computers since high school. After high school, I became interested in how the internet works. At that time, the internet was starting to take off. I started to teach myself programming.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a Virtual Business to Scale
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
When we spoke in 2020, Lilia Stoyanov, CEO of Transformify, had built a virtual company with zero employees, all freelancers and scaled it without outside financing. Read on for more.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to you. Where are you from? Where did you grow up? Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey.
Lilia Stoyanov: I was born in Bulgaria. It was part of the communist block before 1989. After that, I moved to the UK and I traveled a lot.
Best of Bootstrapping: What is the Best Bootstrapping Tactic for B2B Startups?
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
What is the best bootstrapping tactic for B2B startups? Solve an acute customer pain. Get paid an advance to do so. Leeyo Software Founder Jagan Reddy followed this strategy to bootstrap to $20 million. He built a niche software that solved a very specific problem and started selling it to enterprises for a lot of money. This story from 2016 is a textbook case study of how well you can scale with no outside financing if you can identify a burning pain point and customers who are willing to pay a LOT to solve that pain. Leeyo Software was acquired by Zuora in 2017.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?
Jagan Reddy: I was born in India. All my schooling was done in India.
Best of Bootstrapping: Founder CEO Bootstrapped to $35+ Million
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
During these unusual times, many who once dreamed of funding are forced to bootstrap. Well, bootstrapping is good during good times, and necessary during bad times. Here, BannerBuzz Founder and CEO Nishant Shah shares how he bootstrapped to over $35 million in 2019 revenue.
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?
Nishant Shah: I was born and raised in Ahmedabad, India. I studied civil engineering at the university, and then went on to do my masters in construction management from Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped to $20M+ and an Exit
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
We’re big fans of bootstrapping to exit case studies. Imagine Easy Solutions’ Co-founder and Co-CEO Neal Taparia shares his wonderful journey. They scaled the business to over $20 million in revenue without investment and sold to Chegg in 2016.
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?
Neal Taparia: I was born in the suburbs of Chicago. My parents were immigrants from India. I’m first-generation in the United States. I did my undergraduate education in Chicago. After that, I settled down in New York where I’ve been ever since.
Best of Bootstrapping: From Laid-Off Engineer to Startup Co-founder and Exit
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
Aspera Co-founder Michelle Munson started the company she began after being laid off. Aspera was her realization that she could not only control her own career path, but also create jobs for other people in a culture she established. I hope this conversation from 2009 inspires everyone who has been let go by their employers. Aspera was acquired by IBM in 2014.
SM: Michelle, where does your story begin?
MM: I grew up in Kansas, on a farm. My family is a five-generation farm family that raises Angus cattle as well as wheat, corn and soybeans. There is a long-standing family tradition in both the line of business and the location. My mom is a retired university professor. I grew up in Kansas, went to school there and went to college at Kansas State University. That is an interesting point with me; I was accepted to MIT and went to Kansas State.
