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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 an IoT Company from North Carolina
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
North Carolina, at one point, had a large concentration of cellular technology companies. Some of that talent then came together around IoT, including Bob Witter, CEO of Device Solutions. He shared his journey with me 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 circumstances?
Bob Witter: I was born in Springville, New York. It’s in the western part of New York. I grew up in central New York. I went to school at State University of New York and graduated in 1981 with degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics. I started my career in Rochester with Eastman Kodak company in the medical products division that was brand new at that time. I learned a great deal about how to do medical products that has certainly served me well even today at Device Solutions.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped an Education Company
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
Tod Browndorf, CEO of Coggno, has built an interesting online education company focused on specific niche course types. Read on to learn more from our conversation in 2016.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your personal journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?
Tod Browndorf: Wow! We’re really going way back. I’m originally from the east coast. I was born in South Carolina but was raised in New York and New Jersey for most of my life. I lost my father when I was 10 and a half years old. I started working very early in life. He was in the manufacturing business. I started working early through school. I travelled the world pretty extensively. I lived in Australia for quite a while. I lived in the Middle East and eventually started my career in Finance. I started off as a trader on Wall Street, then later here in San Francisco.
Best of Bootstrapping: Co-founders Bootstrapped with a Paycheck from Indiana
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
One Click Ventures Co-founders Angie Stocklin and her husband built a portfolio of e-commerce businesses using a very unusual strategy. I had a lot of fun learning about their journey back in 2016, and hope you will as well. One Click Internet Ventures was acquired by Foster Grant, International in July of 2018.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your personal journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?
Angie Stocklin: I was born in a small town called Paisley in Indiana. It’s a town of about 2,500. My mom was a teacher and my dad is a farmer and somewhat of an entrepreneur in the fact that farming is a self-employed type of business. My dad and his brothers owned an implement dealership. They sold tractors. I grew up with a little bit of an entrepreneurial spirit. I went to college at the University of Evansville and started studying Psychology. I went on to get my Masters and my educational specialist degree in School Psychology. I worked as a school psychologist for three years before starting One Click.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped to $100M from The Netherlands
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
Pierre and Fred Guelen bootstrapped Planon, a very significant company from The Netherlands, using the bootstrapping using services principle. Read this conversation from 2016 to learn more.
Sramana Mitra: We’re going to start at the very beginning of your personal journeys. One of you please start by telling us where you’re from, where you were born, and in what kind of background, and then we’ll do the same thing with the other person.
Pierre Guelen: I’m the CEO of Planon group. Fred is my brother. We were born in The Netherlands in a small town near the German border. We were raised in an entrepreneurial family. My father owned a large building company. He was already the fourth generation in that building company.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a Niche E-commerce Venture
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
I’ve always been bullish about niche e-commerce. Here’s the story from 2016 of an entrepreneur who has successfully bootstrapped a company in high-end light fixtures, Elite Fixtures CEO Steven Annese.
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?
Steven Annese: I’m a child of an Italian immigrant. I was born in New Jersey. It was in the 70s when most of the Italians migrated.
Best of Bootstrapping: Ukrainian Entrepreneur Bootstrapped to Global Scale
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
This is a fascinating story from 2016 of a Ukrainian entrepreneur bootstrapping her CRM Software company to global scale. We’re thrilled to bring you Creatio (formerly BPMOnline) Founder CEO Katherine Kostereva’s inspiring and super intelligent entrepreneurial journey.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s get going. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? Let’s go to the very beginning of your personal journey.
Katherine Kostereva: I was born in Ukraine. Since childhood, I’ve been traveling a lot and visited many countries worldwide. I graduated in 1999 with a Bachelors in Computer Science. Shortly after that, I got my MBA. Even from high school, I was obsessed with technology. I was thinking of the ways to transform business through technology. Technology has always attracted me.
Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped and Managed a Successful Pivot
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
Oomnitza Co-founder CEO Arthur Lozinski talks about an excellent pivot that is quite enlightening.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?
Arthur Lozinski: Both my parents were from the Soviet Union. I was born in the Soviet Union in a country called Latvia. It was in 1989 right before the wall fell. Both my parents grew up in the Soviet Union. There is a quote by Napoleon Bonaparte that says, “If you want to understand a man, you have to understand where he was in his 20s.” My parents grew up in communist Russia and my upbringing was influenced by that. Education was really important. I grew up in Germany. My parents emigrated to Germany when I was a small child and then we moved to the Silicon Valley just before high school.
Best of Bootstrapping: Following the Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later Strategy
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
“My journey was as unexceptional as you can imagine,” says Rukkus Founder CEO Manick Bhan, in describing how he got to $1 million annual revenue rate in transactions before raising financing. He shared the whole story with me in 2021. Rukkus was acquired in 2018.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by going back to your very beginnings. I want to hear about where you were born, raised, and in what kind of background.
Manick Bhan: Both my parents come from Kashmir. They raised me in Baltimore, Maryland. That’s where I was born. I’ve grown up mostly in the United States. In the very early days, I liked to take things apart. When I was nine, they bought me this bicycle. The first thing I did was I opened the whole thing up. I took out all the screws and basically dismantled the beautiful bike. They were a little horrified about it because it was a birthday present. This has been pretty constant in my life. I like to take things apart and figure out how they work.
