Taking on Giants in the Contact Center Space: UJET CEO, Anand Janefalkar (Part 1)

We’re seeing new SaaS companies emerge that are taking on giant categories. In such businesses, positioning is extremely important. Read how Anand has positioned to get to 40 customers in the contact center software category.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning. >>>

Bootstrapping from Arizona to $10 Million: Joshua Strebel, CEO of Pagely (Part 1)

We recently did a Spotlight on Entrepreneurship in Arizona. Here is one more terrific story of bootstrapping success from Arizona.

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?

Joshua Strebel: I was born in a little town in Idaho called Soda Springs. I’m the youngest of nine children. I grew up primarily in Las Vegas, Nevada and was splitting time within Salt Lake City, Utah. My parents were divorced when I was younger, so I went back and forth between households. I finished high school in Salt Lake City and ended up in Arizona where I went to college at Northern Arizona University. >>>

Bootstrapping from Denmark: Camilla Ley Valentin, Co-Founder of Queue-It (Part 1)

Camille tells a wonderful story of capital-efficient entrepreneurship, including scaling a company born in Denmark that now has 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. >>>

A Fat Startup from Virginia: Andrew Rose, CEO of Compare.com (Part 1)

Andrew has raised $185 million for his insurance comparison shopping business. Read on to see how.

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?

Andrew Rose: I’m from the mountains of West Virginia. I grew up in a town that is rather famously called the Greenbrier. There’s an incredible resort facility there. I grew up on the wrong side of the fence. I didn’t grow up in the Greenbrier side of the fence, but my mother was an elementary school teacher there. It was a wonderful place to grow up and that’s where I have my foundations. >>>

From Zero to a Market Cap Bigger than General Motors: Keith Krach, Founder of Ariba (Part 1)

Ariba was the first B2B internet company in history. In this interview, we go back through one of the iconic ventures that shaped Silicon Valley, paving the way for much that came later.

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?

Keith Krach: I was raised in a small town in Ohio right outside of Cleveland. My father had a five-person machine shop in the good times. It was just me and him in the tough times. >>>

Concept Financing for a Fat Startup: Tomer Shiran, CEO of Dremio (Part 1)

Yes, concept financing still happens from time to time, especially for fat startups, but you need to have deep domain knowledge, and strong investor relationships, to pull one off.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey.  Where are you from? Where were you born and what kind of background?

Tomer Shiran: I was actually born in Israel. At the age of one, I moved to the United States so that my dad could do his Ph.D. at Stanford. I spent the next 10 years living in the Bay Area. This was early 80’s. I was on Stanford campus most of the time. Then, we moved back to Israel when I was about 11. I then went through middle school and high school there. I did my military service and undergraduate at the Technion. >>>

Bootstrapping to $5 Million: Under30Experiences CEO Matt Wilson (Part 1)

Matt has built a fan business using content marketing to sell travel experiences to a millennial demographic. Very cool!

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where did you grow up and in what kind of background?

Matt Wilson: I grew up in upstate New York. I grew up in a little tiny town called Stormville New York. It’s about 60 minutes outside of New York. It’s not really that close to the city where there was much happening yet. It wasn’t extremely rural. I just started being an enterprising young man whether it was mowing lawns or picking golf balls out of the local ponds. Selling them on eBay was my first online business. That really ignited the >>>

Bootstrapping with Services from Michigan: Amjad Hussain, CEO of Algo.ai (Part 1)

I am always thrilled to see great entrepreneurship in various parts of the world that are off-center. Well, here’s a great one from Detroit.

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?

Amjad Hussain: I was born in a very small village of Pakistan.

Sramana Mitra: Where in Pakistan?

Amjad Hussain: A town about a hundred km south of Lahore. >>>