Featured Videos

Bootstrapping with $120k Credit Card Debt to $7m Revenue: Scott Skinger, CEO of TrainSignal (Part 6)

Sramana: What assumptions are you making in terms of what percentage of your existing customer base will convert to the new business model?

Scott Skinger: I have been very conservative building financial models. We did not have real data prior to the launch, and as of today I have 10 days of data collected. Prior to launch, I made as few assumptions as possible. We are planning on 10% to 20% of our customer base adopting the new monthly business model. We also think we are going to convert more of our daily site visitor traffic. >>>

Bootstrapping with $120k Credit Card Debt to $7m Revenue: Scott Skinger, CEO of TrainSignal (Part 5)

Sramana: You mentioned that you now have about 55 employees. What are the functional skill sets of your employee groups?

Scott Skinger: Over the last two years we have hired a lot of developers. Two years ago we had zero people on our development team, and now we have close to 15. We are a content company, so content, naturally, is very important to us. We put a lot of emphasis on creating high-quality content. We just brought on four people to join our product team, which now has around 25 people on it. We also work with close to 25 full-time contractors on our product team. That team creates content for us. Marketing makes up 8 to 10 people. We also have another dozen people doing the typical operations and management functions. Most of our focus is on development and product. >>>

Bootstrapping with $120k Credit Card Debt to $7m Revenue: Scott Skinger, CEO of TrainSignal (Part 4)

Sramana: Earlier you mentioned that you were making money by up-selling new products to your customer base. Where did your initial set of customers come from?

Scott Skinger: My earliest customers came from a variety of sources for a variety of reasons. The organic traffic and pay-per-click traffic both brought in customers. In 2003 our revenues were right around $100,000. In 2004 our revenues were $500,000 and in 2005 our revenues were at $1 million.

During that revenue ramp, I experimented with a few different things. One was affiliate marketing. I partnered with a couple of people to try something different. They sent out emails to their large lists of customers, and I only had to pay them when a sale was made. That was a big help. >>>

Bootstrapping with $120k Credit Card Debt to $7m Revenue: Scott Skinger, CEO of TrainSignal (Part 3)

Sramana: How did you take your initial courses to market? How did you access customers?

Scott Skinger: In 2002 I was building courses. Before I could get a course to market, I ran up close to $120,000 in credit card debt.

Sramana: Whoa! What were you doing with $120,000 of credit card debt?

Scott Skinger: Everything that I was trying to do cost more money than I expected. I spent money on server infrastructure, on DVDs, and some of the money was used on my personal living expenses that I needed just to get by. Over the course of nine months, I accumulated close to $120,000 of credit card debt. By the end of 2002 I had $120,000 of high-interest credit card debt. >>>

Bootstrapping with $120k Credit Card Debt to $7m Revenue: Scott Skinger, CEO of TrainSignal (Part 2)

Sramana: How long did you continue in your certification teaching job?

Scott Skinger: I worked at Computer Learning Center until it went out of business in 2001. I was still working as a network administrator. I moved on to work at an independent school as a technical instructor. I started working with more diverse curriculum, teaching topics like Linux, CompTIA A+ Certification, and Microsoft material. The one thing I found in all of my teaching positions is that there was a lack of care for the student. >>>

Bootstrapping with $120k Credit Card Debt to $7m Revenue: Scott Skinger, CEO of TrainSignal (Part 1)

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

Scott Skinger is the founder and CEO of TrainSignal, a Chicago-based company that makes computer training for IT professionals. Founded in 2002, it has grown to exceed $7 million in revenue after being bootstrapped on personal credit cards. Prior to founding TrainSignal, he was the president of SAS Technology Advisors, and prior to that position, he worked with Computer Learning Center. He studied psychology and graduated from Northern Illinois University.

Sramana: Scott, let’s start at the very beginning of your story. Where were you born, and what kind of environment where you raised in that led to your entrepreneurial journey?

Scott Skinger: I was born in Chicago Heights, Illinois. My parents got divorced when I was five. I lived with my mother for most of my life and then moved in with my father when I was in high school. I went to college at Northern Illinois University and graduated with a bachelor of arts in psychology. After I graduated, I decided not to pursue a doctorate. I really struggled for six years trying to find myself and find a career I could be passionate about. >>>

India’s Flagship Global Product Story: Druva CEO Jaspreet Singh (Part 7)

Sramana: You are still quite young and you are managing people who are a lot older than you. How does that dynamic play out here?

Jaspreet Singh: I have found that I have to constantly evolve. When I got funded I asked a VC how long I should be CEO of the company. He told me that the company was growing at “x pace”, and that I would grow at “y pace”. There would be a point where my growth would outperform the company. He told me they were not paying me to work; they were paying me to think. My thoughts would lead the company and I would be respected for my thought leadership. He also told me that when I was not longer able to provide the thought leadership to the company that I should step down. >>>

India’s Flagship Global Product Story: Druva CEO Jaspreet Singh (Part 6)

Sramana: Did you have members of your board with you in the US helping you build your team?

Jaspreet Singh: None of my founders of board members were in the US. I was alone and I struggled hiring my first team. In the Bay area getting a team together is a struggle. In India getting your first few people is difficult if you are not a large brand. The same is true in the Bay area. You have to sell yourself hard enough to be attractive. I was lucky enough to hire a few really good people. One of them is the VP of Product and the other is heading our North American market. The rest of the people who joined us came because Sequoia backed us but they were not necessarily the best fit for our culture. There is a lot of hype around the startup culture in the Bay area. People think about food and ping pong tables but they forget about the hard work that goes into startups. >>>