?? Here's how to bootstrap a startup

Hi Everyone ??

This week we are going to zoom in on how to bootstrap a startup.

One of my absolute favourite topics.

So, I have invited 2 successful entrepreneurs with a lot of experience of doing this.

Today in 4 minutes or less you’ll learn:

??: 6 tips on how to bootstrap a startup

??: Common challenges when bootstrapping a startup

??????: Many great tips from two experienced entrepreneurs who both bootstrapped their startups

Meet the real heroes ????

I’m excited to introduce Melissa Kwan and Philipp Baaske to all of you.

Let's dive in!

Meet Melissa Kwan ???

Melissa is the co-founder and CEO of eWebinar.

She's a 3x bootstrapper who spent 13 years building three startups without VC backing.

Her previous startup, a real estate tech company, was acquired in 2019.

Over the last decade, Melissa has come to believe that happiness should be the foundation of one’s career, not the other way around.

Melissa, what does eWebinar do?

eWebinar is a webinar automation that saves you from doing the same webinar over and over again. We turn any video into an interactive, automated webinar that you can make on-demand or set on a recurring schedule.?

What are your top 3 tips to bootstrap a startup?

1. Find a purple ocean opportunity, i.e. take a proven business model (red ocean) and introduce it into an untouched vertical (blue ocean). This allowed us to come up with the best product in the shortest amount of time so we could make money immediately without iterating.
2. Be extremely cost conscious, i.e. focus on getting the highest ROI per dollar. This is not the same as being cheap, which slows you down usually because of poor work ethics and quality.
3. Make decisions based on revenue. Will doing this get us revenue? If not, it can wait. "Revenue" can be in the form of money, increase activation, lower churn, retention, referrals, exposure, etc.

What was the biggest challenge when you started?

I was so sick of trying to manage engineers in my last two startups spanning over a decade that I started eWebinar thinking I didn't need a CTO.

I hired a dev shop to be my "CTO" so they could focus on product and I could focus on the business (what I do best).

Yes, that was naive.

9 months into the project, it was clear that the project was way larger than the dev shop had originally anticipated and they were not going to deliver.

Turns out, a tech company without a CTO is like a restaurant without a chef. Shortly after that, David (my life partner) became my CTO, and I ended that relationship with the dev shop.

Unfortunately, it was a friend's shop, so not only was that a very expensive financial mistake, my friendship with this dev shop founder was never going to be the same again.

What’s your tips for founders who want to bootstrap?

You need to hustle a lot to bootstrap a company.

You either save up enough to fund yourself to start, or you take side gigs to make ends meet.

Or both.

A lot of people ask me how I bootstrapped 3 companies and survived throughout.

I worked hard and got creative to make ends meet.

My first two startups were incredibly difficult because I was inexperienced and chose tough businesses.

It does get easier with experience.

Not because success is replicable, but because you get better at choosing better businesses (like I did for my third startup).?

Bootstrapping is exhausting, but it's worth it.

The day you hit profitability is the day you have 100 % freedom to live the way you want.

?? RECOMMENDATIONS & SOME INSPIRATION

??: Check out Superside's take on?building resilience and smart bets, here

??: 11 tips that will save you a whole lot of time and headaches

??: 92,000+ likes and 8,200,000+ impressions, what the hell?

??: Work as we know it has changed. What's your preference? Join the poll here.

Meet Philipp Baaske????

Philipp is the founder and CEO of NanoTemper Technologies.

NanoTemper Technologies started in the cellar.

2 people, no money.

Financial crisis 2008.

It was real hard work, and the company is bootstrapped.

Today?they are 260 people all over the world.?

And profitable.?

Philipp, what does NanoTemper do?

We are a leader for biophysical tools in biotech. We are unique - we are the only 100 % founder owned company in our industry.

What are your top 3 tips to bootstrap a startup?

1. Focus everything on one single product. If you risk nothing, you‘ll risk everything.
2. Become profitable as fast as possible. Positive cash flow means freedom & independence.
3. Sales. Sales. Sales. Stop to develop - Sell.

What was the biggest challenge when you started?

1. My own ego. Had to learn to put the success of our company first.
2. Transition from scientist to entrepreneur; to do is more important than to understand.

What’s your tips for founders who want to bootstrap?

Listen to everyone. But do your own thing. Product is more important than technology. Moonshots are great to inspire. On the other side it is the small steady steps forward which will bring success.

Thank you Melissa and Philipp for sharing your experience and tips with all of us ??

Truly impressive and so inspiring to hear of both of your achievements!

I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did.

If you want to learn more about Melissa and Philipp you can follow them both here on LinkedIn.

Time's up for this week.

Before we go, if you like this newsletter, please share it with your friends and family ??

See you again next Tuesday.

Cheers ??

Hanna

?? Work with Hanna

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