Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups • Hacker News Board

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#41

Post by davidw » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 5:10 PM UTC

truthseeker wrote: post #36

davidw wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would that be, though? Either you're talking about your company and making some information public, or you aren't. If you're going to go down that route, granted you may not want to reveal everything , but you should probably do enough to get some attention, if that's the point. Otherwise you're just revealing information for no benefit.

I find Rand Fishkin incredible in sharing all the details of SeoMoz. It takes guts to do that. Balsamiq, Bingo Card creator and a few others on HN are transparent when it is not a great deal of money. (I haven't seen Balsamiq post detailed revenue and their breakup lately.) I would say do what feels comfortable to you. Most likely, it is to keep revenues etc. secret. Revealing those details might get some eyeballs in…

I think the distinction is between getting some eyeballs who are easy to convert into customers, like Balsamiq or SEOMoz, and something like BCC, where the publicity is less obviously useful, because no one at HN would buy it. LiberWriter is definitely in the latter category.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#42

Post by studiofellow » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 5:16 PM UTC

byoung2 wrote: post #34

blantonl wrote: post #32

Bootstrapped startup owner here... I am of the opinion that if a business on the Web needs millions of dollars to get off the ground, then it's probably a business that isn't worth getting off the ground. I realize that there are exceptions and there are ideas that need funding to get going, but the whole incestious culture of venture capitalists, investors, and startup idea owners often doesn't foster real innovatio…

if a business on the Web needs millions of dollars to get off the ground, then it's probably a business that isn't worth getting off the ground There are some businesses that you could simply not start without significant upfront investment. True, there are lots of businesses you could start with just very cheaply ($100's or $1000's) and grow organically over time. The easiest of these would be paid online apps/servi…

That's completely true, but I think you missed the point. Most startups still focus on finding funding. People seem to think that's the right way to do it, maybe because that's all you read about on tech blogs.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#43

Post by diolpah » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 5:16 PM UTC

kevinburke wrote: post #38

Surprised no one's mentioned Atlassian - started by two guys in their garage with $10,000 and now earning over $100 million in revenue per year. More info here: http://blogs.atlassian.com/news/2009/02/from_startup_to.html

Because Java shops/developers were their initial target customer, and Java is decidedly uncool among the current crop of startup kiddos. Additionally, there's not a significant social or mobile aspect to what they do.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#44

Post by studiofellow » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 5:19 PM UTC

holdenc wrote: post #19

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #13

Bootstrapped, solo founder, and older-person-founder startups are very rarely mentioned in the press. Strangely enough, some stats show these startups are also the most prevalent. Thanks Rob!

Also, not especially popular in the press are non-exciting start-ups that are none-the-less profitable. There are many mom-and-pop web hosting companies and online stores for niche products doing just fine. But alas, this doesn't seem to be news.

It is news, and I'd love to read about those kinds of businesses. Someone should start a blog about that.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#45

Post by studiofellow » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 5:25 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #6

vaksel wrote: post #5

half of them I never even heard of...just goes to show the lack of coverage for self funded companies

I think the companies you've never heard of are the most interesting of all, in some ways. It means that "being famous" isn't part and parcel of their success. 37signals, while being a good group of people, seem to have found success in a way that I'm not sure is as easy to repeat as some of those companies that just crank away doing their thing and making their money without needing a hugely followed blog, books, we…

Fair point about 37signals, but remember they didn't start with the popular blog, books, and framework. it took years to get to that point. Everyone starts somewhere.

That said, I've noticed some of the advice (mostly about marketing) doesn't really apply when you're just starting out.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#46

Post by studiofellow » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 5:27 PM UTC

jswinghammer wrote: post #11

vaksel wrote: post #5

half of them I never even heard of...just goes to show the lack of coverage for self funded companies

Right but in many cases the companies don't really want to share their revenue numbers. It's sort of saying to people who would like to compete here is how little it cost to build, how much people have been willing to pay, and how big of a win starting this business would be. I don't really see myself talking about revenue numbers for my company. Not sure how I benefit from it besides the ego and status boost which i…

I think the main reason to share numbers is to encourage others starting businesses. I don't care at all when someone says they make millions. But when I see someone who started out by making $100 a month and grew from there, I can learn from what they did. Others can do it too.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#47

Post by byoung2 » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 5:35 PM UTC

studiofellow wrote: post #42

byoung2 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if a business on the Web needs millions of dollars to get off the ground, then it's probably a business that isn't worth getting off the ground There are some businesses that you could simply not start without significant upfront investment. True, there are lots of businesses you could start with just very cheaply ($100's or $1000's) and grow organically over time. The easiest of these would be paid online apps/servi…

That's completely true, but I think you missed the point. Most startups still focus on finding funding. People seem to think that's the right way to do it, maybe because that's all you read about on tech blogs.

I agree that many startups focus on getting funded as an end, rather than a means to a greater end. I think investment should be seen as a force multiplier, something that will get you to your goal (market dominance, acquisition, IPO, etc) faster than you could without it. I think startups could use more advice on when and if it is appropriate to seek investment or bootstrap, but I don't agree with the sentiment that startups should avoid investment like the plague.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#48

Post by Maro » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 5:41 PM UTC

I have a bootstrapped startup, I work long hours for 1/3 my market value (1/25 if I'd move to the US).

But, I wrote a distributed database and when we show it to prospective clients and they compare it to the competition and they benchmark it, we always come out on top in terms of performance and architecture. So, although it's not "happy times" right now, it's worth it.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#49

Post by studiofellow » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 5:53 PM UTC

byoung2 wrote: post #47

studiofellow wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's completely true, but I think you missed the point. Most startups still focus on finding funding. People seem to think that's the right way to do it, maybe because that's all you read about on tech blogs.

I agree that many startups focus on getting funded as an end, rather than a means to a greater end. I think investment should be seen as a force multiplier, something that will get you to your goal (market dominance, acquisition, IPO, etc) faster than you could without it. I think startups could use more advice on when and if it is appropriate to seek investment or bootstrap, but I don't agree with the sentiment that…

Not like the plague, but it shouldn't be first priority. On that point, I think we're saying the same thing.

I'd argue the end goals you mentioned can be harmful to the startup itself (not to mention the tech community), but that's a different debate. If your goals start smaller, you don't need funding in most cases.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#50

Post by eda » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 6:00 PM UTC

I'm glad to see coverage of bootstrapped startups and the supportive comments. I've worked at both highly funded startups and most recently I've worked at a profitable bootstrap for the last 3.5 years. The bootstrap startup is definitely more fun... It's nice that we don't have any investors to answer to and micro-manage every aspect of our business and that also have their hands out to get paid first when an acquisition event occurs.