Bloomberg was started by Mike with his own money from his Salomon Brothers departure.
Ask HN: Do bootstrapped billion-dollar companies exist?
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Re: Ask HN: Do bootstrapped billion-dollar companies exist?
#12Pure conjecture, but is it reasonable to think that bootstrapped companies might be more likely to be bought out than ones backed by major VC bucks?
I suspect a disproportionate number of bootstrapped companies that fall into the might-become-$1BN category get an offer they can't turn down at some point before they arrive.
Re: Ask HN: Do bootstrapped billion-dollar companies exist?
#13I'm part of one, Atlassian, which was last valued at $3.3 billion and started with $10,000 in credit card debt, taking $60 million in venture funding eight years in . (For more on valuation and the background, http://www.businessinsider.com/atlassian-helps-employees-poc... )
Does "bootstrapped" include "investors begging to throw money at it"? or purely self-made?
To me, the strict definition would be "purely self made". But I guess it's reasonable to say that a company that has been around and very successful for 8 years, without external investment , is bootstrapped.
Re: Ask HN: Do bootstrapped billion-dollar companies exist?
#14Yes, AirWatch was bootstrapped and was founded in 2004. They raised a huge round 200 m in 2013 I believe. IT was sold to Vmware for 1.6 B dollars.
Re: Ask HN: Do bootstrapped billion-dollar companies exist?
#15Well I'm reaching back pretty far but I believe Standard Oil was mostly debt financed in the early days: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_oil . The company grew with the oil industry. In a growing market, slower growth allows less aggressive financing.
Re: Ask HN: Do bootstrapped billion-dollar companies exist?
#16GoDaddy was entirely bootstrapped before a large chunk of it was sold to private equity firms in 2011. The founder self-funded it based on a $MM sale of a previous company, though - so they're awfully nice boots to be strapped up by. :)
As a result of being bootstrapped, the 2011 sale single-handedly put its founder, Bob Parsons, on the Forbes billionaires list: http://www.forbes.com/profile/bob-parsons/
Re: Ask HN: Do bootstrapped billion-dollar companies exist?
#17Re: Ask HN: Do bootstrapped billion-dollar companies exist?
#18Valve Corporation is valued at a couple billion USD and was bootstrapped using the founders' equity from being early MS employees. It's still privately owned.
Re: Ask HN: Do bootstrapped billion-dollar companies exist?
#19Plenty of Fish? I think I read they were making hundreds of millions at one point, per year, with a handful of employees. That would put their valuation north of a billion most likely.
Re: Ask HN: Do bootstrapped billion-dollar companies exist?
#20Wizards of the Coast was bootstrapped without nearly any cash, in the unusual way that artists had been payed in shares. It was sold to Hasbro for US$325 million in 1999.