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Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

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Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#31

Post by davidw »

sixtofour wrote: post #28
jswinghammer wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say don't do it. I'm in a similar position (profitable company with an interesting back-story) and it seems like a bad idea to start giving out your personal financial details to the world.

But there's probably an interesting middle ground.

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.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#32

Post by blantonl »

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 innovation. It instead lines the pockets of a select few with millions of dollars. Just a slick redistribution of wealth.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#34

Post by byoung2 »

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/services where you could scale your expenses (servers, bandwidth, etc) with revenue. But some businesses need money upfront to get started. The most obvious example would be anything involving hardware. You could bootstrap while building a prototype, but you would likely need outside investment to manufacture and distribute your product. Even a web only business might need lots of investment to break into a market through advertising or partnerships.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#35

Post by uurayan »

I was just discussing this with my wife last night. My 2 friends and I bootstrapped our company for $300. Knowing that all the success we are enjoying now came from our hard work and that no one else can take any claim to our any part of our success is such an awesome feeling. I talk to a lot of local angels and VCs now and what they offer really doesn't seem that interesting to me anymore. The business I have now will probably never make hundreds of millions of dollars, but I don't feel the need or desire to hit those kind of numbers if it means I have to sacrifice my lifestyle now (a very awesome lifestyle).

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#36

Post by truthseeker »

davidw wrote: post #31
sixtofour wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But there's probably an interesting middle ground.

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 the short term but not customers.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#37

Post by uurayan »

diolpah wrote: post #8
vaksel wrote: post #5

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

Those of us who are running profitable bootstrapped companies tend to put less effort into getting our name in the tech or business press. It is more important that we get our name into the minds of our customers, as our cash flow does not come from Sand Hill Road. So, this lack of coverage should come as no surprise.

100% true. You don't really need tech blog press if your market is not tech blog readers.

Re: Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups

#40

Post by Hisoka »

diolpah wrote: post #8
vaksel wrote: post #5

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

Those of us who are running profitable bootstrapped companies tend to put less effort into getting our name in the tech or business press. It is more important that we get our name into the minds of our customers, as our cash flow does not come from Sand Hill Road. So, this lack of coverage should come as no surprise.

Agreed. Just look at the Techcrunch Deadpool and you'll see many examples of companies that have "Featured in Techcrunch, NY Times, etc" in their homepage, yet managed to fail. Winning a popularity contest isn't what it's all about. Boosts your ego, sure, but not necessarily revenue. If you get featured in a publication, great, if not don't fret about it. Maybe <1% of people who find you thru Techcrunch will become loyal customers.
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