Bootstrapped Entrepreneurship

The early-stage startup industry has fundamentally changed. Today, very few VCs practice real venture capital, so startup financing has moved largely to the entrepreneurs. Angels and small VCs do come into the picture, but even that takes a significant amount of validation work ahead of time. As such, in One Million by One Million, we teach the fundamentals of bootstrapping, and we believe that you need to do significant idea validation in the bootstrapped mode.

Here are interviews with some entrepreneurs who have successfully bootstrapped their ventures. We encourage you to  learn from them and replicate their business development strategies.

• Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu
• RightNow CEO Greg Gianforte
• eClinicalWorks CEO Girish Navani
• Andrew Fox’s 100% Owned $30M ClubPlanet
• Jerry Rawls, Finisar
  

The Seed Capital From Angel Investors and Business Incubator series of interviews are designed to help entrepreneurs to understand how angel investors think; what companies are most likely to attract angels’ attention and why; what matters the most when angels evaluate a company; and how the entire process works.

These interviews are a must read if you ever consider angel funding. Here you will find straight facts that will allow you to make intelligent choices.

• Business Incubator Series: Interview With Ebony Johnson, Entrepreneurial Programs Champion, TechTown — Detroit, Michigan
• Business Incubator Series: Interview With Ken Kousky, CEO, MidMichigan Innovation Center, Midland, Michigan
• Business Incubator Series: An Interview With Paul Bragiel, Managing Partner, i/o Ventures, San Francisco, California
• Business Incubator Series: An Interview With David Cohen, Founder And CEO, Startup Accelerator TechStars – Boulder, Colorado
• Business Incubator Series: An Interview With Dr. Tom O’Neal, Executive Director, University of Central Florida’s Business Incubation Program — Orlando, Florida
• Business Incubator Series: An Interview With Skip Simms, President And CEO, Ann Arbor SPARK — Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Tim Cartwright, Chairman, Tamiami Angel Fund – Naples, Florida
• Business Incubator Series: An Interview With Chris Heivly, Executive Director, LaunchBox Digital
• Jason Stoffer, Principal at Maveron
• An Interview With Marianne Hudson, Executive Director, Angel Capital Association
• Revenue-Based Financing (RBF) For Entrepreneurs: Andy Sack, Co-Founder, RevenueLoan
• Saad Khan, Partner, CMEA Capital
• Working Capital (Debt) Financing For Entrepreneurs: Heather Onstott, Director Of Small Business, LaunchCapital
• Jim Jaffe, CEO, National Association Of Seed And Venture Funds
• Kiki Tidwell, Board Member, Northwest Energy Angels
• Brian Garrett, Co-Founder And Managing Director, Crosscut Ventures
• Michael Gruber, Founder and Managing Director, Cornerstone Angels
• Christina Brodbeck, Silicon Valley
• Mike Hirshland, General Partner, Polaris Ventures
• Eric Pozzo, Fund Manager, Oregon Angel Fund
• Kindra Tatarsky, Director of Operations, Golden Seeds
• Dave Whorton, Founder, Tugboat Ventures
• Lewis Hower, Executive Director, University Impact Fund
• Dave McClure, Founder, 500 Startups
• Ira Weiss, Hyde Park Angels
• Elizabeth Marchi, Frontier Angel Fund
• Dick Reeves, Executive Director, Huntsville Angel Network
• Raymond Chan, Tech Coast Angels
• George Zachary, General Partner, Charles River Ventures
• Nova Spivak, West Coast
• Russ Fradin, The Bay Area
• Geoff Ralston, Silicon Valley
• Larry Chaityn, Keiretsu Forum, New York Tri-State Chapters President
• Amit Grover, Member, Mumbai Angels
• Eric Paley, Managing Partner, Founder Collective
• Manu Kumar, Founder And Chief Firestarter, K9 Ventures
• Ho Nam, General Partner, Altos Ventures
• Brad Feld, Managing Director, Foundry Group
• Jeff Clavier, Founder And Managing Partner, SoftTech VC
• Alan Rossiter, Vice Chairman, Springboard Capital
• Mike Maples, Founder And Managing Partner, Floodgate
• Basil Peters, CEO and Fund Manager, Fundamental Technologies II
• Peter Birkeland, RAIN Fund Program Manager, RAIN Source Capital
• Padmaja Ruparel, President, Indian Angel Network
• M. Todd Dean, Keiretsu Forum, Northwest Chapter President
• Corey Silva, Assistant Manager, River Valley Investors
• Randy Williams, Founder and CEO, Keiretsu Forum
• Malvern D. Lusky, Individual Angel, Houston Angel Network
• Paul Olliver, Wider Wake Networks
• Bob Aholt, Pasadena Angels
• Nicola Corzine, Band of Angels Acorn Fund

The government also provides access to seed capital through its various agencies and programs. It can also be a source of government contracts. Read interview with Sean Greene, associate administrator for investment and special advisor for innovation at the U.S. Small Business Administration, for details:

• SBA’s Sean Greene

There are a number of organizations that provide working capital and other types of debt financing for entrepreneurs.  You should also consider these.

Remember, startup financing does not equal to venture capital.

Now, if you do want to consider venture capital, here are some interviews with VCs as well:

• Gus Tai, General Partner, Trinity Ventures – On the Future of Venture Capital
• Brian Jacobs, General Partner, Emergence Capital – On SaaS/Cloud-Focused Investment Strategy
• Ashish Gupta, General Partner, Helion Capital – On Venture Capital in India
• David Chao, General Partner, DCM – On Venture Capital in China
• Randy Komisar – On Getting To Plan B

Comments

[…] not every business is likely to become the next Facebook, Mitra and her network of venture capitalist and angel investors still favor technology companies that produce software, mobile applications, e-commerce and social […]

Before you Pitch an Investor, Pitch Here: Free Strategy Round Tables for Entrepreneurs - WebNewser Friday, October 1, 2010 at 12:45 PM PT