Best of Bootstrapping: Three Co-founders Bootstrapped with a Paycheck

CEO Ganesh Shankar and his two co-founders have built Responsive with a very small amount of capital. They started by Bootstrapping with a Paycheck and are now at over $50 million in revenue. Excellent execution, much to learn on many issues.

Sramana Mitra: Ganesh, let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised? What kind of background?

Ganesh Shankar: I’m originally from Coimbatore, India, down south. My entire childhood and my studies – undergrad and postgrad – were all in Coimbatore, the place where I was born and raised. I come from a family of government employees. There’s a saying in our family: “Even if you get a quarter cent, it better be coming from the government.” This was instilled in us by my grandmother, a strong character in our family. My dad works in the agriculture department, and my dad’s brother is a retired army colonel.

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Colors: Brishti I

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 – one of my paintings – 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 – Brishti I

Brishti I | Sramana Mitra, 2022 | Watercolor, Ink | 8  x 8, On Paper

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Colors: Light II

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 – one of my paintings – 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 – Light II

Light II | Sramana Mitra, 2022 | Watercolor, Ink | 8  x 8, On Paper

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February 20 – 673rd 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 673rd FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 8 a.m. PST / 11 a.m. EST / 5 p.m. CET / 9:30 p.m. India IST.

If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to “pitch” and sell your business idea. You’ll receive straightforward feedback, advice on next steps, and answers to any of your questions. Others can register to “attend” to watch, learn, and interact through the online chat.

672nd 1Mby1M Roundtable Recording

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

Roundtable Recap: February 13 – Validation Needs to be with Customers

During this week’s roundtable, we had three really interesting discussions.

MyEra

Up first Anirudh Sharma from Gurgaon, India, pitched MyEra, an e-commerce customization app that already has key customers.

Vizhil Super App

Next Vijay Kumar from Bliedersdorf, Germany, pitched the Vizhil Super App, a concept stage idea.

Justee.ai

Then, Max Zaykov from Shanghai, China, pitched Justee.ai, a LegalTech AI product currently at MVP stage.

Remember, when you think about validation, it HAS to be with CUSTOMERS. Not vendors. Not Investors. Not Friends. Not Family. Not Advisors.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

As always, I would very much like to hear about your business, so let me invite you to come and pitch at one of our free 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtables. We will be holding future roundtables on Thursdays at 8am PST:

February 20 – Register Here.

February 27 – Register Here.

If you want a deeper relationship with me, you are very welcome to join the 1Mby1M Premium program. If you’re looking to work with Sramana Mitra in private, please check 1-on-1 Consulting.