SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

Most of the great software startups that I’ve been involved in have at least one technical co-founder (and many have more than one.) You should avoid spending your time here and instead focus on finding a way to generate revenue or to attract investors so that you can afford to hire someone.

Technical Cofounder 241

Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Equity Sweat Equity 241

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 24, 2015

By bootstrapping, bartering, reducing overheads (rental and manpower), and leveraging technology (especially the web), one can start one’s own business almost on a dime without being beholden to creditors or venture capitalists. Software Developer: From “App developer” to “We provide technology solutions to take your headaches away”.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Software Review South Carolina Startup 100

VC Cafe

MARCH 16, 2025

Gartner predicted in 2024 that traditional search engine volume could drop 25% by 2026 due to users favoring AI chatbots and virtual agents. NFX argues that in 2025, the consumer window has finally reopened due to advances in AI. These costs represent an ongoing tax on revenue, requiring careful consideration in business model design.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review B2C Generative AI IPO 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 22, 2013

When I started Shapeways, complex software needed to be built and when I first reached out to developers, a lot of them laughed and told me it was impossible. If your product is getting good reviews and people are willing to pay for it, you’ve got something.”. Figure out what your milestones are – customers, pageviews, revenue, etc. –

Cofounder 164

Cofounder Founder Startup Bootstrapping 164

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

The primary source of your funds should be your paying customers, i.e., your business should generate enough revenues and profits to fund the growth and expansion. Any custom manufactured IoT device would require software development as well as hardware customization. Bootstrapping. Sources of funding. ? Government programs.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 31, 2018

Here are some tips for bootstrapping your business. Maybe you’ll get better results from social media, review sites, or blogging. Don’t pay a website designer, when there’s so many good software options that can help you design your own site. Utilize the Cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS). Work in a Spare Room.

Software Review 187

Software Review Cloud Social Media Bootstrapping 187

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

The Entrepreneurial Mind

AUGUST 3, 2010

Such facilities can take a lot of cash to launch due to the cost of facility rent and equipment costs, and the aspiring entrepreneur had no ready source of cash. Once the bootstrapped launch of the play center is cash flow positive, all kinds of options for growing and expanding emerge. It was profitable within nine months. 2005 to $4.4

Bootstrapping 75

Bootstrapping Business Model Software Review Programming 75

YoungUpstarts

JULY 6, 2017

This strategy, known as bootstrapping, is ideally suited to businesses which don’t need a large influx of capital early on in order to finance growth and which are already generating revenues. Bootstrapping has a number of advantages compared to other fundraising strategies. Understand the Tax Code.

Syndication 127

Syndication Syndicate Software Review Angel Investor 127

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 24, 2012

Welcome back to Smart Bear Live, the call-in show with Jason Cohen, sponsored by Software Promotions. I bootstrapped it on my own. You’ve bootstrapped a company, so you can see all those things, and you’re skeptical of the VC side. You need traction is code word for no. Trying to learn this environment.

Silicon Valley 204

Silicon Valley Software Review Internet Technical Review 204

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Since the term “cloud computing” was coined in 1996—at least as we have come to understand its meaning—the software as a service industry has exploded. In fact, SaaS industry revenue is projected to grow from $49 billion in 2015 to $67 billion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate of approximately eight percent.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2014

This was a company that had successfully bootstrapped itself to real revenues, employees and cashflow and I thought it deserved the structure of a going concern, not a flier. They got that way due in large part to a very public founder friendly stance. It ain''t all coding, selling, and raising money, people.

Term Sheet 156

Term Sheet Founder Cofounder Software Review 156

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

First up was Brad Barrett presenting GrillGrate , a grill accessory with which Brad has built a year-to-date revenue of $400,000. Next, Umakant Soni discussed Vimagino.com , a software for Web-based Q&A support to engage customers better on sites that are trying to draw people in and convert them into customers. GrillGrate.

India 114

India Silicon Valley Incubator Bootstrapping 114

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 7, 2010

At today's roundtable we had some interesting companies and a lot of fundraising discussions, and I will review them shortly. Sub-$2 million pre-money, it is better to bootstrap. Next Igor Protsenko presented Profitero , an enterprise software product for helping retailers with price comparison and optimization.

Valuation 119

Valuation Silicon Valley Pre-Money Valuation Bootstrapping 119

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

So you’re interested in raising capital from a Revenue-Based Investor VC. A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors (“RBI”) are emerging. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Our wheelhouse is bootstrapped (or lightly capitalized) SMB SaaS. Bigfoot Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

They already have several customers including some telcos, and are at about $350,000 in revenues. Because customer financing equals revenue, not equity. That's why, I advised Gio to keep going with further execution on his business and build more revenue traction. In 1M/1M, our preferred financing strategy is customers.

Cloud 115

Cloud Silicon Valley Incubator Bootstrapping 115

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

For this article, we asked 14 SaaS CEOs a simple question: “How much did you spend on your MVP before you had your first dollar of revenue?”. An engineer by training, Founder and CEO Larry Gadea built the MVP of Envoy’s first product, Visitors, by himself using only free versions of software. “I million in revenue a year. .

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 78

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 2, 2010

Well, 1M/1M is focused on helping businesses generate $1M in annual revenue, whatever be the nature of the business. But our goal is to make sure that these businesses are sustainable, have customers, revenues, and profits. She is also considering developing software to address these issues.

India 116

India Green Silicon Valley Massachusetts 116

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 8, 2012

Welcome back to Smart Bear Live, the call-in show with Jason Cohen, sponsored by Software Promotions. Don’t forget to sign up for the wonderful Business of Software conference to hear Jason speak in person. So it’s property management software? Our software will do that. I don’t get this.

API 220

API Software Review Hosting Technical Review 220

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

Jason: Okay, so that’s a very small company in which the CEO is pulling out the credit card for meeting software because even people with a hundred people, the CEO is not the person pulling out a credit card for the meeting software. I don’t care about what the software looks like yet. Edwin: I tend to disagree.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Rob Go

DECEMBER 28, 2011

So I thought I’d jot down some of the highlights I have seen from my vantage point in this 2011 Boston Consumer Web Year in Review. 61M in Q3 revenue, up 28% YoY. Zipcar: Ok, not exactly consumer web/software, but a great consumer tech company nonetheless. IPO’s/Exits. Tripadvisor: An amazing entrepreneurial story.

Technical Review 54

Technical Review Boston Software Review IPO 54

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

Download our free Startup Checklist and review the complete guide for starting a small business. While you may be enamored with becoming an entrepreneur and bootstrapping your business, don’t quit your day job. According to a report from the Harvard Business Review , entrepreneurs who plan are 16% more likely to achieve viability.

Forecast 154

Forecast Software Review Bootstrapping Finance 154

YoungUpstarts

JULY 16, 2019

No matter how fantastic your innovations are or excellent your new ideas appear to be, you will always need capital to bootstrap any business innovations you might have. Taking advantage of the tax code. Let’s now take a look at some of these situations and facts. New product or service development. Stay in charge.

Software Review 113

Software Review Startup Equity Bootstrapping 113

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 21, 2011

At Smart Bear we were selling a code review tool, and if you paid $600 for Perforce, it was very hard for me to charge $600 hundred for an add-on to Perforce that did code review. I would work full-time making software all day, and at night I would go home and give ski instructions here in Michigan. Jason: Woo.

Widget 204

Widget Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 204

Tim Keane

OCTOBER 19, 2006

Due diligence: An Entrepreneurs Perspective » October 19, 2006. Of course, everyone understands that somewhere in the equation theres revenue, whether directly or indirectly. We tried to buy some software recently that the vendor wanted to price on the basis of third party uses, a category of activity uncontrolled by us.

Software Review 60

Software Review Wisconsin Technical Review Angel Investor 60

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 17, 2011

Adrian wants to build a location-based service focused on assembling, and then reviewing and rating various services from fixing roofs to plumbing. He needs to bootstrap it to a certain level, and following the 1M/1M methodology would be a good start. First up, Adrian Montero from Belen, Heredia, Costa Rica, presented FinqIt.

Costa Rica 114

Costa Rica America Silicon Valley Entrepreneur 114

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 11, 2021

With a simple 30 second video posted on social media, business owners have the opportunity to build major traffic and revenue from their sites. Kids in middle school and high school can now learn things like coding and e-commerce. 17- Saturated with bootstrapped businesses. Thanks to Chris Caouette, Gorilla Bow !

Entrepreneur 127

Entrepreneur Technical Review Social Media Bootstrapping 127

ConversionXL

JANUARY 29, 2014

of businesses are actively seeking & collecting customer reviews on an ongoing basis. Customer loyalty expert Fred Reichheld also reports in his book “ The Ultimate Question ” that businesses saw an average of 2x revenue growth by simply increasing their overall brand advocacy by only 12%. when influencing purchasing decisions.

Software Review 126

Software Review Stock Video Advertising 126

crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 19, 2011

Turning an Addiction into a Bootstrapped Startup – [link]. Legal Contracts for Software Developers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template tco use today) – [link]. If accurate, remarkable projections of how much Kindle contributes to Amazon’s revenues/profits – [link].

Social Media 94

Social Media Small Business Design Media 94

Software By Rob

MARCH 26, 2015

The interesting part is that my own path moving from consulting to products followed the same steps, as you can see in my product revenue chart from the past decade: Each revenue jump is when I made the move to the next step of the Stairstep Approach. Step 3: Recurring Revenue. Step 2: Rinse and Repeat.

Bootstrapping 41

Bootstrapping Technical Review SEO Revenue 41

www.singlefounder.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

I’d like to take a few minutes to dispel the top five myths of software startups. I could point to countless examples of mediocre software being unleashed upon the general population, after which people like you and me have to help replace it with something decent. In fact, not having one can be more helpful than anything else.

Software Review 40

Software Review Software Startup Massachusetts 40

crowdSPRING Blog

JANUARY 4, 2013

Don’t Accidentally Bootstrap Yourself to Death | saastr – [link]. Revenue is the new black | Gigaom – [link]. Revenue Doesn’t Matter – [link]. IAB: US Interactive Ad Revenues Hit $9.3 Legal Contracts for Software Developers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – [link].

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Design Media 100

Up and Running

MAY 15, 2019

Review your business plan regularly. Committing to regularly reviewing your business plan and financials is a good step toward making more informed, smarter spending decisions, that can have a big impact on a new business’s long term viability. Many brewers avoid that due to perceived qualitative differences,” says Patrick.

Oregon 24

Oregon Jordan Software Review Distribution 24

Software By Rob

MARCH 26, 2015

The interesting part is that my own path moving from consulting to products followed the same steps, as you can see in my product revenue chart from the past decade: Each revenue jump is when I made the move to the next step of the Stair Step Approach. Step 3: Recurring Revenue. Step 2: Own Your Time.

Bootstrapping 36

Bootstrapping Technical Review SEO Revenue 36