Best of Bootstrapping: Building an AI Software Company from Dallas

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

Artificial Intelligence startups are very hot these days. Read how CEO Dave Copps built Brainspace from Dallas. After we spoke in 2016, Brainspace was acquired by Cyxtera Technologies in 2017.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with the very beginning of your story. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Dave Copps: I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. My dad was an eye surgeon. My parents had moved down from Wisconsin. They were snow birds, as they called themselves. My mom was a community leader. My dad was very smart. He graduated from college at 17. His dad had the same background. He went to the Navy while his friends were graduating.

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Bootstrapping to Exit, Then do a VC-Funded Venture: Cordial CEO Jeremy Swift (Part 1)

A very effective way to dance the entrepreneurial Waltz is to do a bootstrapped company first, sell it, and then do another with a more ambitious agenda. Jeremy’s journey is a great case study in this method.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

How to Teach Technology Entrepreneurship Using the 1Mby1M Methodology and Case Studies: Startup Ideation

Teachers need to inspire their students to ideate, guide them on how to evaluate their ideas and make sure they are viable and scalable. 

How to Teach Technology Entrepreneurship Using the 1Mby1M Methodology and Case Studies: Bootstrapping

In teaching the 1Mby1M methodology of building technology startups, we recommend you start with Bootstrapping. If you’re teaching within a quarter or a semester system, an entire quarter or semester should be dedicated to driving home the importance and the mechanics of this critical subject.

19 Udemy Courses on How To Build a Startup in India

There are now thousands of entrepreneurs in India, and many more Indians are starting their own businesses as we speak. Even with mistakes, disappointments, and setbacks, all things considered, startup founders continue to want to realize their ambitions, no matter what.

Bootstrapping a Two-Sided Marketplace: Mort Fertel, CEO of SudShare (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: So, from 2017 to about 2020, that’s the phase when you crossed the million dollar milestone. Then COVID accelerated your situation. What happened?

Mort Fertel: On the customer side, I mentioned what happened there. It’s a hypothesis. I can’t prove it. I think that with life being so precious and that idea being so in the front of people’s minds, people have become more intentional about how they want to spend their time. Laundry is just this burdensome task that we just have to get done. If you can present them with an alternative like we have, they’d rather spend time with their kids and spouses.

Bootstrapping a Two-Sided Marketplace: Mort Fertel, CEO of SudShare (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: I’ve got two nuggets out of your initial story. One is using Indeed to get some of the sell side going. Then really building in virality into the app. On the buy side, laundry services Google keyword search. I take it you were self-funding this company. 

Mort Fertel: Yes.

Sramana Mitra: The business model is a commission on the transaction size?

Bootstrapping a Two-Sided Marketplace: Mort Fertel, CEO of SudShare (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What about on the sell side?

Mort Fertel: It might be interesting to note that the first sudsters – what we call the washers – were my wife and I. That didn’t last long. That’s how we started. The key to the growth of the platform has been the same thing. Create a phenomenal experience for the workers and they will tell their friends and family. It’s been primarily word of mouth.