Thanksgiving Meditations: Fire

This has been a year full of curve balls.

On the afternoon of April 2, I was getting ready to head out of the house to a meeting at Facebook. My husband, Dominique, had already left for a meeting at Morgan Stanley.

I was upstairs.

The fire alarm went off.

I thought to myself, “Another false alarm. How do I turn it off?”

And then, I smelled burnt plastic.

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Best of Bootstrapping: How RainmakerForce CEO Mack Sundaram Bootstrapped Decisively to $5 Million+

Mack has built a successful business optimized for autonomy and profitability. Excellent navigation!

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of your journey. Tell us where you’re from. Where did you grow up? Where were you born and raised?

Mack Sundaram: I was born in South India in a village near Chennai. I spent some time of my childhood in Chennai and Pondicherry. I later went to school in New Delhi. Since then, I moved over to the United States where I had an opportunity to pursue a doctoral degree in Economics. That’s where the transition happened.

We’re a middle class family from India. There was a lot of support and pressure for doing well in education. I appreciate my parents for doing that, but there was always the push to find something that you really like to do. I still remember my parents telling me many times as a child that I’ve got to find something.

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Colors: Rough Sea, Aquamarine Night

I’m publishing this series on LinkedIn called Colors to explore a topic that I care deeply about: the Renaissance Mind. I am just as passionate about entrepreneurship, technology, and business, as I am about Art and Culture. In this series, I will typically publish a piece of Art – a painting, a poem, a piece of music, so forth – and I request you to spend a minute or two deeply meditating on it. I urge you to watch your feelings, thoughts, reactions to the piece, and write what comes to you, what thoughts it triggers, in the dialog area. Let us see what stimulation this interaction yields. For today – Rough Sea, Aquamarine Night

Rough Sea, Aquamarine Night | Sramana Mitra, 2017 | Water color and Pastel | 18 x 24, On Paper

Related Reading:The Next European Renaissance

Best of Bootstrapping: Seed Investors Who Like Bootstrapped Businesses

I would like to encourage bootstrapping entrepreneurs to start thinking about certain investors as bootstrapping partners. These investors, typically, LIKE capital efficient businesses.

They do not want to force feed capital into companies, unlike certain larger funds.

Their fund sizes are small, and they are set up to make money off smaller exits. [Re: Bootstrapping to Exit]

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Best of Bootstrapping: How Algo.ai CEO Amjad Hussain Bootstrapped using Services from Michigan

I am always thrilled to see great entrepreneurship in various parts of the world that are off-center. Well, Algo.ai CEO Amjad Hussain’s journey is 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?

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Colors: Rice Terraces, Reflections

I’m publishing this series on LinkedIn called Colors to explore a topic that I care deeply about: the Renaissance Mind. I am just as passionate about entrepreneurship, technology, and business, as I am about Art and Culture. In this series, I will typically publish a piece of Art – a painting, a poem, a piece of music, so forth – and I request you to spend a minute or two deeply meditating on it. I urge you to watch your feelings, thoughts, reactions to the piece, and write what comes to you, what thoughts it triggers, in the dialog area. Let us see what stimulation this interaction yields. For today –Rice Terraces, Reflections

Rice Terraces, Reflections | Sramana Mitra, 2017 | Water color, Ink and Pastel | 18 x 24, On Paper

Related Reading: Six Books That Have Offered Me Significant Insights

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping with a Paycheck

As I started analyzing various paths to success via bootstrapping, one became absolutely obvious: holding onto a job and doing a startup part time. We gave this a name: Bootstrapping with a Paycheck, and published a book on the subject:

Entrepreneur Journeys Bootstrapping With A Paycheck (Available for order from Amazon Kindle)

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Best of Bootstrapping: How Under30Experiences Bootstrapped to $5 Million

Under30Experiences CEO Matt Wilson 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?

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