Best of Bootstrapping: Queue-It Bootstrapped from Denmark to the US

If you haven’t already, please study our 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.

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From Developer to Serial Entrepreneur: Michael Morris, CEO of Torc (Part 1)

Michael has not only transitioned successfully from a developer to an entrepreneur, but he has also built communities of developers and 2-sided marketplaces around them over and again. Torc is his third run at this overall mission of enabling and empowering developers to have great careers.

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?

Best of Bootstrapping: An English Major who Bootstrapped a Tech Company

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

Kevin Groome, Founder of Pica9, had done an excellent job of bootstrapping his tech company without a tech background when we spoke in 2019. Inspiring story for many in his shoes.

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?

Kevin Groome: I grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. I went to school there. I had the good fortune, in those early years, to be around a bunch of people who weren’t famous at that time but went on to be very famous. I went to History class with Jeff Bezos. I went to English Literature class with Michelle Obama, and I even went to acting class with Brooke Shields.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped in Europe, Raised Money and Went Global in the US

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

We’ve seen some excellent European companies make successful transitions into becoming global software companies. MP Objects CEO Martin Verwijmeren shares an excellent and inspiring story for European startups to emulate.

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?

Martin Verwijmeren: I’m from the Netherlands but living in Boston these days. Before moving to Boston, I lived in Amsterdam. I was working for our European headquarters in Rotterdam. Nowadays, I’m working from our US headquarters in Boston.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped First to $5M, Raised $10M Later

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

In 2019, French entrepreneur and Toucan Co-founder CEO Charles Miglietti told me the story of how he bootstrapped first to $5 million and then closed a $10 million round.

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?

Charles Miglietti: I’m from France. I grew up in Normandy. I did engineering. I’m married with three kids. 

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping Freightwise to $33M

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

Freightwise was No. 2 on the Inc. 5000 for 2018. Amazing bootstrapping story from my conversation in 2019 with Freightwise CTO Richard Hoehn.

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?

Richard Hoehn: I grew up in Switzerland. I did an apprenticeship as a machinist – the tool and die maker. After three years, I decided I wanted to go back to school and learn more about computers and technology.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a Marketplace to Over $10M

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

Home Alliance CEO Sardor Umrdinov had bootstrapped a marketplace of home appliance technicians to over $10 million in revenue by the time when we spoke in 2019. Great 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?

Sardor Umrdinov: Iwas born and raised in Uzbekistan. I went to Russian kindergarten and school. When independence came, my parents moved me to a national school. I was there for one year. After that, they moved me to the Lyceum for boys. I studied there for another six or seven years.

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Student Developers Bootstrapping with a Paycheck, Then Growing to a Million Users: Ben Spring, CEO of TryHackMe (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: Can you talk to me about the competition? There is a whole bunch of players in the EdTech space who also cater to the same customers that you are interested in. Pluralsight is a very good example. Who else do you consider as a competitor?

Ben Spring: There are a couple of labs in the industry. They all have their own USP. Where TryHackMe is really strong is delivering training content to an individual. We heavily embed gamification into the product to make it engaging and fun. A lot of our competitors are catering to the enterprise space.