Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services to $15M in Venture Capital

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

We continue to see exciting enterprise software companies being built by entrepreneurs who have roots in the consulting business and who have taken their domain knowledge and customer insights to develop compelling products to solve specific problems. Gravitant is yet another case in point. Before Gravitant was acquired by IBM in 2015, I spoke with Gravitant CEO Mohammed Farooq about his journey.

Sramana: Mohammed, let’s start our discussion by reviewing your background. Where do you come from? What are the roots of your entrepreneurial journey?

Mohammed Farooq: I am originally from India, close to Hyderabad. I went to engineering school in India and came to the United States in 1991 to attend graduate school. I was born in 1967 and went to school locally in India. I attended Gulbarga University in India where I studied mechanical engineering. I attended graduate school in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, I completed a dual degree in operations research and computer science. I then did an MBA in finance as well.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped to $20M in Charleston, South Carolina

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As part of our coverage of entrepreneurship far away from Silicon Valley, we bring you a conversation with Mike Carter, Founder of eGroup, in Charleston, South Carolina. Typically, these environments have bred bootstrapped companies, and bootstrapping using services continues to be a popular method. Here is our conversation from 2014.

Sramana Mitra: Mike, let’s start with the beginning of your story. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of circumstances leads up to the entrepreneurial story?

Mike Carter: I was born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina which is a coastal town here in the Southeast. My parents are both originally from the area but I grew up all around the country and some places abroad. My father was a career air force fighter pilot. That meant that he spent a lot of time traveling to different military installations around the world and as a by-product, I grew up in that environment. When I returned to Charlestown for college, I went to a military college called The Citadel. I ended up staying and getting a degree in Computer Science. I’ve been an enthusiast with technology. My passion is what got me into business. That’s what my classical education along with a desire to succeed coming from a military household brought.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a Robust SaaS Company from India

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

RateGain is one of the top global SaaS companies built out of India. This interview from 2014 captures Founder Bhanu Chopra’s entrepreneurial journey.

Sramana: Bhanu, let’s start with the beginning of your story. What kind of circumstances where you raised in? What is the genesis of your entrepreneurial journey?

Bhanu Chopra: I am a Delhi boy, I was born and raised in a business family in Delhi. Right after I completed school, I went to the US for my undergraduate studies. I went to Indiana University and have a double degree in finance and computer science. When I was growing up, I was very good with numbers. The advice that my father gave me was to get into something like finance. Computers are a derivation of mathematics. That is why I got interested in computers.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping with Services, Two Products, Splitting and Scaling

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

Bootstrapping with service, then building two products, then splitting up the company into two, and finally, scaling a sizable product company – not the kind of stories we hear often. This story is a rare window into the journey of a group of entrepreneurs who have achieved amazing feats. This conversation with Ajay Sharma, Co-founder and CEO of Srishti Software Applications, took place in 2014.

Sramana: Let’s start at the beginning of your story. Where are you from and what kind of family do you come from?

Ajay Sharma: I was brought up in a village in Bihar. My father was a college professor in a rural college. It was actually rather common at that time for professors to pass through rural areas at some point of their career to help bolster those smaller, rural colleges. I attended rural schools until the tenth class. I then moved to another small, sleepy agricultural town for the eleventh and twelfth classes.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services to Exit

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Krish Kupathil is the Founder of Mobiliya Technologies. When we spoke in 2013, the company was known as AgreeYa Mobility, an enterprise mobility and mobile system integration company providing solutions for collaboration and communication products for mobile platforms. QuEST Global acquired Mobiliya in 2018.

Sramana: Krish, let’s start with your personal story. Where are you from? What is the story to your personal journey?

Krish Kupathil: I was born and brought up in Delhi, India. I did my schooling and college in India. I started dabbling in software in 1987 and did some initial work in India. I got into software related businesses surrounding finance. I did some work out of Europe and Singapore before landing in the U.S. ten years ago. I was involved in a few startups in earlier years as well.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped to $12M+ and Exit

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

Aaron Fulkerson Founded MindTouch, a company that offers a cloud-based self-service help center and knowledge-as-a-service platform. He grew the business to eight figures as a bootstrapped company with no venture, no debt. The company was sold to Nice Systems in April 2021. Here is our conversation from 2013.

Sramana: Aaron, tell us where you are from and a bit about your background. What are the roots of your entrepreneurial story?

Aaron Fulkerson: I grew up in a small town south of San Jose, California. Back then it was very rural and was still a farming community. At the same time, Silicon Valley was starting to blossom. In the 1980s, as a kid, I would dial into bulletin board services. I also wrote quite a bit of code. I did all of this from the farm I was growing up on.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping a SaaS Company in India

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

Girish Rowjee is the Co-founder and CEO of Greytip Software, a company that specializes in HR software. Girish is responsible for strategic direction, day-to-day operations, product delivery and international business. His “never say die” attitude and excellent analytical skills have made him indispensable to the organization.

Greytip has pioneered the SaaS model in India. They successfully bootstrapped a SaaS company while keeping their primary focus on Indian corporations. In spite of numerous challenges they have proven that with perseverance and strategic adjustments the SaaS model does indeed have a place in India. While valuable for everyone, this conversation from 2013 is a key case study for Indian entrepreneurs.

Sramana: Girish, what is your background? Where do your entrepreneurial roots come from?

Girish Rowjee: I was born in a small town about 300 kilometers from Bangalore. I did my basic education there before moving to Mysore. My family has generally been an entrepreneurial family. My grandfather ran a bus service between several small towns, which was the first time bus service had been made available [in that area]. He then branched out into several retail shops where he sold electronic goods. Today my father runs operations of the electronics retail business that my grandfather founded in 1937.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Solo Founder Bootstrapped to $7M in India

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Paras Chopra is Founder and Chairman of Wingify, a company that builds web analytics and optimization technology to include its flagship product Visual Website Optimizer. Here is our conversation from 2013.

Sramana: Paras, let’s start with the very beginning of your story. Where were you born and what are your family circumstances? What leads up to the Wingify story?

Paras Chopra: I was born in Punjab. I have been very lucky to have very forward-looking parents. I was introduced to computers very early on. I got access to a computer in my eighth standard year of school. My father had been playing with computers for a long time. He has an agriculture and biochemistry background, but he needed to use computers to conduct his work. He had a computer back when a 200Mhz computer was best in class!

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