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I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

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Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#21

Post by benjaminlotan »

whiddershins wrote: post #15

If you are doing 6 figure monthly revenues, one thing worth considering might be to read some mr money mustache and really contemplate what you want for your life ... You aren't required to grow 10 or 100x ... You also have the option of pocketing profits, living frugally, and retiring young. That's one of the big advantages of bootstrapping.

just really hard to turn down opportunities which don't even seem that difficult to achieve, and customers asking so much for so many things i want to give them to make THEM happy :-) plus the goal of wanting to actually have some more impact in the space. As an entrepreneur the success of the company quickly blurs so much with having an impact in the world, whether thats true or not... i feel it. Plus, i owe it to my company to keep us growing. We all want to share in on this success. I have actually not even taken a real salary yet, and was never really in this for the money.

Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#22

Post by benjaminlotan »

jacquesm wrote: post #18

Beware of the sharks, a call out like this will bring them on like blood in the water. Best of luck, the golden rule for me has always been that anybody that approaches you is not to be trusted by default.

thanks, hah, already got a call from a shark! ;-)

Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#23

Post by radiusq »

faramarz wrote: post #20

Are you saying you guys are making $10m a year printing Instagram pictures? That is incredible. This company must not have existed a few years ago.. pat yourself on the back and get yourself some local angels on board. they get to wet their beacon and you reap the rewards of a business coach.

He said revenue, not profit

Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#24

Post by kayoone »

benjaminlotan wrote: post #4
johnny22 wrote: post #3

you should mention your current technology stack for the web dev.

it's all over the place since we have been building and rebuilding things, but currently it's mostly rails and node.js. Hosted on Heroku.

Doesnt sound Bad, what are your technical struggles about exactly?

Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#26

Post by methehack »

beachstartup wrote: post #8

i'm running a $2 million and growing company, and i can say that if you're doing $10 million dollars in 2 years (TWO YEARS) and think you have a "lack of technical and managerial skills" you are being intellectually dishonest with yourself, and possibly being disingenuous to your audience here. from what we've seen and what we've heard, basically starting at $1 million/year in revenues, you will hit a serious new set…

I agree that obviously they're doing a lot right. But I agree with the OP that revenue scale, organizational scale, and technical scale are all really different. It sounds like they've gone as far as they can with a handful of people. I think they're probably right that if they don't scale, someone will eat their lunch (maybe more likely after this post). I also think asking for help when you feel you are over your head is an excellent sign of some kind of maturity not everyone has.

Have you guys (talking to the OP here) thought about reaching out to 37signals for mentoring/advice? They seem to know or at least think a lot about avoiding VC and bootstrapping. They also seem very plugged in.

Part of what you guys are feeling might be the lack of support/advice/mentoring from investors. For that matter, you might consider looking at a relationship with a VC you think you can trust that doesn't involve financial investment (at least not yet). They may be willing to get involved just for mentoring without any financial obligation on the chance that when and if you do need funding they will be first in line at a shot. Maybe.

Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#27

Post by microcolonel »

I'm having a hard time understanding what exactly it is that you do, from your confusing web site introduction.

Concerning your scaling pains, lots of people probably already do some form of what you're trying to do; you may do better to assimilate/enfranchise them rather than competing.

Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#28

Post by rosser »

paulsutter wrote: post #7

Be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. You're probably doing a better job than you realize. Try working with an executive coach - I work with Bryan Franklin. It's easier for you to develop leadership and management skills than it is for an outsider to really grok your business and share your vision. Regarding the marketing role, be sure to get the right kind of marketer: https://medium.com/on-startu…

An empty seat is better than the wrong person.

This. So very, very much this.

A bad hire at the executive level won't merely slow you down. You might lose ground, or possibly even crash and burn. I've seen it happen, and I'm sure I'm not the only person here who can say that.

Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#29

Post by blantonl »

Ben, first, you are NOT in over your head, you are simply questioning whether or not to grow your company to some preceived "next level" by looking for funding to take on major players in your field.

Why not continue to innovate your successful bootstrapped business?

The most important thing for you to consider is whether or not you actually want to compete with the major players in the field. It sounds like you are doing well managing your boutique operation, and frankly, based on what you've provided it sounds like you are killing it. Boutique operations often destroy their larger competitors, and are far more nimble to have the next best thing that becomes popular and doesn't require "funding" to generate revenue.

Yes, you could hire a new CEO to help track down funding and manage all the acquisition inquiries that you've received. But, if you have a successful bootstrapped business that is generating profits, why would you want to deviate from your current course?

Re: I bootstrapped a $10 million company and need serious help

#30

Post by ArekDymalski »

paulsutter wrote: post #7

Be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. You're probably doing a better job than you realize. Try working with an executive coach - I work with Bryan Franklin. It's easier for you to develop leadership and management skills than it is for an outsider to really grok your business and share your vision. Regarding the marketing role, be sure to get the right kind of marketer: https://medium.com/on-startu…

Exactly. Your revenue is a proof of your entrepreneurial skills and that's an asset worth exploiting :) Before considering the new CEO stop for the moment and think about the challenges your company is about to face (both right now as well as in a following year). Then analyze what exactly do you need to cope with each of them. I bet sometimes you'll need just an encouraging advice, sometimes filling the competence gaps with some learning and probably most of the time it'll be coaching (your post below about decisions that seem to be bad suggests that you might be in that phase of your development). Sure, transitioning to the managerial role isn't a piece of cake but also it isn't that hard if you really commit yourself to the work on own develoopment. For the beginning, you may find this post http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/psychological-pitfalls-and-l... inspiring, as you're a designer too I guess. Good luck!
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