Lessons in Bootstrapping
Posted on February 25, 2010
Tonight I attended an event put on by the DFW chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum titled Bootstrapping 2010. It was very interesting to hear from a number of entrepreneurs who have bootstrapped (or are currently bootstrapping) their way to success.
Here are some of the things that stood out to me:
- some alternative financing options are… SALES! Focus on getting paid.. SBIR–> $2B federal program fo small biz
- you must be nimble and able to adjust quickly
- surround yourself with great advisors, they will be invaluable
- you gotta be able to suck it up (ie, cut costs, be patient)
- if you are going to bootstrap you have to be willing to get your hands dirty (ie do work you wouldn’t normally do)
- bootstrapping [successfully] is about making decisions based around capital efficiency
- every employee in your company is a brand ambassador. Make sure they know how to use twitter, linkedin, etc
- speaking at any event is a great biz dev opportunity
- ideal YouTube video is 1m30s long. Don’t underestimate video..Sound quality is more important than video quality
- blogging allows you to develop your voice for talking about your company and delivering your value prop
- the ideal blog post is 250 words. Get blogging!!
- Engagement is key both online and offline
- if you are a small company YOU are the company. Personal branding is important
- cost of online marketing is your time
- More of a pain to convert LLC to Corp than to just start with the corp
- watch out for unregistered broker-dealers / finders for investments. deal could be undone by SEC
- don’t over-engineer your startup docs
- Don’t have your attorney do your taxes and don’t have your CPA incorporate your startup
- Incorporate when you are serious about your company
- In DFW we are force to be capital efficient (this is a good thing)
- Look for ways to turn cost centers into profit centers
- Ask yourself what kind of business YOU can start/build
- VC money [too early] can damage your business