Capital Efficient Entrepreneurship: Ephesoft Founder Ike Kavas (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Wonderful capital-efficient entrepreneurship. Where do you want to go from here?

Ike Kavas: We’re in the final stages of Series A. I’d like Ephesoft to remain a technology company and keep innovating. In 2013, we came up with a web service API. It brought new ways of thinking around what we do for our customers. In 2015, we came up with mobile capture where you can actually do your work on the phone offline.

Last year in November, we announced our new edition. It’s called Ephesoft Insights. We have the domain expertise on how to find >>>

Navigating Through Multiple Pivots: Convercent CEO Patrick Quinlan (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What was it about your background that gave you any affinity towards that industry?

Patrick Quinlan: I wish I had a great answer to that, but I don’t. I love to eat out with my wife. We have a very funny way of going out to dinner. We get in a car. We pull out of the driveway. If we go left on the street called Cofax, there’s a bunch of immigrant non-US food joints. If you go right, you go to the cool bistros, farm-raised stuff, two blocks down that street. Once we decide right or left, we just go somewhere.

Even when we’re in different cities, we just walk in places. Where I’ve ended up in my companies is very much that same thing. >>>

Capital Efficient Entrepreneurship: Ephesoft Founder Ike Kavas (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What happens in 2012?

Ike Kavas: We got a few more sales people. We continue to expand in every location in America. If I remember correctly, our revenues went up to $550,000 that year. From there, we went to $1.1 million. The next year, it was $2.4 million.

Sramana Mitra: So $2.4 million in 2014?

Ike Kavas: Yes. >>>

Navigating Through Multiple Pivots: Convercent CEO Patrick Quinlan (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: The truth is, you can learn income statement. Learning leadership is a much harder thing. Leadership is something that is either you have it naturally or don’t. It’s not so simple.

Patrick Quinlan: I would agree. We certainly see people who are uncomfortable leaders who have done good. At the end of the day, you can learn it. You either have that ownership or you don’t. You can get better at it.

Sramana Mitra: You can get better at it with experience. I think people are either natural leaders or not natural leaders. I don’t know. That’s just my bias. When this company was sold, what year was this happening? >>>

Capital Efficient Entrepreneurship: Ephesoft Founder Ike Kavas (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: How much money did you get from your friends and family to start this company?

Ike Kavas: Less than $200,000.

Sramana Mitra: How did you find these four people in India?

Ike Kavas: I did a lot of research on companies that can develop software. I interviewed companies from Ukraine, Russia, and India. This company passed my test. >>>

Navigating Through Multiple Pivots: Convercent CEO Patrick Quinlan (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What was your next move after you came out of school? It sounds like you came back to Denver?

Patrick Quinlan: I did. I’d been planning on joining the Peace Corps and was accepted, but due to some health issues, I was not able to go forward with my training. I needed a job. So, I got a job at a small company that sold recording systems for businesses. But I got fired within a week, because it didn’t make sense to me what they were asking me to do.

I apparently gave too strong of an opinion to the owner on how he should run his business. I ended up getting a job a couple of >>>

Capital Efficient Entrepreneurship: Ephesoft Founder Ike Kavas (Part 1)

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

Ike has bootstrapped Ephesoft and turned a relatively small $3.2 million investment into $12 million in 2016 revenue. Excellent execution.

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?

Ike Kavas: I was born and raised in Turkey. I’m from a very small village. My dad was a math teacher at the same school that I went to. Right after high school, I left to study Electronics Engineering. After graduating, I worked for a few companies and I got introduced >>>

What is the Difference Between Business Model and Exit Strategy?

Watch this 41 second cartoon video.

A Business Model is how you monetize your value proposition.

Exit Strategy is how investors (including founders) monetize their shares.

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