Bootstrapping With a Paycheck to Techstars: Nevin Shetty, CEO of Blueprint Registry (Part 1)

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

In a previous story, we showed you how Jas Grewal bootstrapped his company CareSkore with a paycheck and then got into YCombinator with a validated business. With Blueprint, we show you the same strategy as executed by Nevin Shetty to get into TechStars.

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?

Nevin Shetty: I was born in Alabama but the first memory I have is of Saudi Arabia. I spent five years in Saudi Arabia. My dad is an aeronautical engineer. I grew up in an American compound in Riyadh and had an amazing childhood. Growing up, I remember my mom teaching English to some of the Saudi princes. >>>

Managing a Successful Pivot from B-to-C to B-to-B: Jifiti Co-Founder and CMO Shaul Weisband (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: Once you figured out that there was demand, how did the business ramp?

Shaul Weisband: It started running on a B2B level, which is identifying who those partners are. That partner can be a retailer who we want to work with in order to sell their gifts, or it can be a platform that has a reason to put this gifting commerce on their platform. Then we had to build a strategy of tiering based on who this would make the most sense for, how we would get to that contact,  and how to position ourselves as thought leaders in that space. So we had to put all of those three components together.

Sramana Mitra: What was the first year when you actually started generating revenue off the B2B business? >>>

Managing a Successful Pivot from B-to-C to B-to-B: Jifiti Co-Founder and CMO Shaul Weisband (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What was the thought process in your pivot? How did you arrive at whatever was the pivot strategy?

Shaul Weisband: The pivot happened in two stages. The credit mainly goes to the team that was able to roll the punches and figure out exactly what was wrong and the Board. We have one of the most incredible support from the Board who realized that we were still onto something. The number one thing we did was cut the gap between someone downloading the app or interacting with our platform to the actual gift purchase.

Instead of asking the initial consumer to share a wish list and hope someone buys it, we allow them to purchase gifts and send it via email to a friend wherever >>>

Managing a Successful Pivot from B-to-C to B-to-B: Jifiti Co-Founder and CMO Shaul Weisband (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What about your co-founders? How did the three of you come together?

Shall Weisband: One co-founder, who’s now the CEO, comes from the retail space. Similar to me, he was born in the United States and moved to Israel. We went to school together a long time ago but lost touch. I happened to run into him in a shopping mall. I told him about this idea. He said, “Shaul, you won’t believe it. I had something so similar. I even have a business plan for it.”

He came to my house that night. We jumped into it full time. Our third business partner was born and raised in Israel. >>>

Managing a Successful Pivot from B-to-C to B-to-B: Jifiti Co-Founder and CMO Shaul Weisband (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Talk to me about things in a sequential order. Let’s go to the beginning of the company. How did this company get off the ground? How did you pull this together? What worked? What didn’t work? Tell the story.

Shaul Weisband: What encouraged us to start the company was the gift registry. This was 2011. If you remember, one of the hot topics in e-commerce space was Amazon and how brick-and-mortar companies are going to battle Amazon, and what was called showrooming where people walk into a store, use the sales people to learn about the items that they like, and then end up buying online on Amazon.

We came to realize that the link between in-store and online made a lot of sense was in the gift registry space. We noticed that the gift registry >>>

Managing a Successful Pivot from B-to-C to B-to-B: Jifiti Co-Founder and CMO Shaul Weisband (Part 1)

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

Jifiti started life as a B-to-C gift-giving service. That didn’t work. Read how they maneuvered their way to a successful B-to-B business.

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?

Shaul Weisband: I was born the United States. I moved with my family, when I was seven, to Israel. Israel is pretty much where I was raised and went to school. That’s where I founded our company Jifiti at the end of 2011. Our development and operations teams are still there. Our US office is based in Columbus. That is where I relocated with my business partner around four years ago to head our local offices here in the US and focus on our business development and marketing. >>>

Raising Funding on AngelList: Contactually CEO Zvi Band (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: You talked about working with a syndicate on AngelList. Did 500 Startups introduce you to the AngelList syndicates personally, or did you do that cold?

Zvi Band: We did a very good job of building relationships with our customers. One of our customers said, “Hey, I actually know someone who’s a part of syndicate on AngelList. Could I introduce you?” We got connected that way. I always recommend to entrepreneurs to look at your own users and customers first because, oftentimes, there are some well-connected people who already believe in your mission.

Sramana Mitra: In general, you have to be introduced. That’s the experience we have. So in 2015, you raised $8 million, and you now have $2.5 million in ARR. Is that a VC round? >>>

Building a Fast Growing FinTech Company from Utah: MX CEO Ryan Caldwell (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: Who was this angel investor?

Ryan Caldwell: I don’t have the permission to mention him by name. He’s a rather private person. I had worked with him in the past. He invested in a previous startup of mine. We had a good working relationship. He was familiar with me and my management style. He’s invested in a few companies but keeps a low profile.

Sramana Mitra: Which venture firms and which banks did you raise money from in your series A?

Ryan Caldwell: USAA was part of leading that round. Digital Garage (DGI), TTV Capital, and Commerce Ventures also came in.

Sramana Mitra: What was the total round? >>>