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HOT TOPICS
- The Accelerator Conundrum
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Platform as a Service
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
Bootstrapping
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped from College to $8M
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
Waveform CEO Sina Khanifar started tinkering with bootstrapped entrepreneurship way back in college. When we spoke in 2020, this had certainly paid off.
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?
Sina Khanifar: I was born in Iran. We moved to the UK when I was one. My parents did their PhDs in the UK. After they returned to Iran, the war broke out. They thought the best choice would be to go back to the UK. They ended up not returning.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a Subscription Service to Significant Scale
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
Before the pandemic in 2018, ButcherBox Founder and CEO Mike Salguero shared a fascinating story of a subscription service for high-quality meat being delivered to consumer homes.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of your story. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?
Mike Salguero: I was born in Paraguay. I’m the youngest of four kids. My parents divorced when I was six months old, and my mom moved up to western Massachusetts with her four children.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services to a VC-funded SaaS Marketplace
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
Booksy Co-founder and CEO Stefan Batory started a software development company in Poland with a few other partners. Today, he’s running a high-growth, VC-funded SaaS and marketplace business in the US. Awesome journey! Here is our conversation from early 2020, plus you can listen to our podcast interview from 2021 here.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s go back to the very beginning of your journey. Tell us where you’re from, where you were born, raised, and in what kind of background.
Stefan Batory: I’m from Warsaw, Poland. I was born and raised in one of the poorest parts of the country. I got a scholarship and went to a high school here in the US back in 1994.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped to a Public Unicorn using Services
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
Bootstrapping with Services is a tried and true strategy, including for building Unicorns. In our 2012 story, Alteryx Executive Chairman Dean Stoecker talks about raising a Series A with $10 million in the bank. Today, Alteryx is a $3+ billion market cap public company. Dean bootstrapped with services early on, and then raised VC money.
Sramana Mitra: Dean, let’s start at the beginning of your personal story. What is the context for your entrepreneurial journey? Where are you from?
Dean Stoecker: I grew up in a family business in Colorado. I would sit around the table every day and hear about the trials and excitements of owning a business. I went to school at the University of Colorado. I had the opportunity to travel the world through a program called Semester at Sea. That was where I got the idea that I wanted to have my own business. After I graduated, I moved to California and got involved in the information business.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services to $40 Million First
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
ActiveCampaign Founder CEO Jason VandeBoom had built a disciplined, profitable business when we spoke in 2019 and had scaled it to $40 million in 2017 revenue. The company was first bootstrapped using services, and later raised ~$20 million in funding.
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?
Jason VandeBoom: I was born and raised in a small town in Wisconsin about an hour out of Milwaukee, and started in technology from a consulting side of things at a very early age. Around 13 or so, I started taking on small projects. I was always interested in engineering and design. That ultimately led me to go to art school. I chose a school in Chicago for art school. That’s what brought me to Chicago.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a Virtual Startup to $25M
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
I am a huge fan of virtual companies. Here is a conversation from 2019 about a virtual company built with excellent execution by a Russian entrepreneur, Percona Founder CEO Peter Zaitsev.
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: Bootstrapped from Denmark to the US
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
In 2019, Queue-It Co-founder Camilla Ley Valentin shared this wonderful story of capital-efficient entrepreneurship, and scaling a company born in Denmark to having 40% of its business in the US.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background?
Camilla Ley Valentin: I come from a creative family. My father was a child TV star back in the 70’s and 80’s, which was when I was born in 1973. At that time, you can imagine that there weren’t many TV stations in Denmark where I’m from. We were part of a mini celebrity family and worked a lot in the entertainment industry.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped with a Paycheck to $15M
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
In 2018, GreenPal Co-founder Gene Caballero shared a fantastic story of a founder duo bootstrapping with a paycheck, growing from $5M to $15M in one year, with a virtual team of freelancers. Your classic 21st century internet business. No outside financing whatsoever!
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?
Gene Caballero: I was born in Lima, Peru. My dad’s side of the family are all entrepreneurs. My grandfather had his own propeller business. We made propellers for boats. My dad actually has that business now. I’m the black sheep. I’ve gone into the technology side as opposed to the manufacturing of propellers.
