What is Bootstrapping?
Bootstrapping means building a company without external funding, relying on personal savings, revenue, and creative resource management.
Advantages
- Full ownership: No equity dilution
- Full control: No board or investor pressure
- Flexibility: Pivot freely without permission
- Sustainable: Forces focus on revenue early
- Better terms: If you raise later, from strength
Challenges
- Slower growth than funded competitors
- Personal financial risk
- Limited resources for hiring
- May miss market windows
Bootstrapping Strategies
- Consulting to Product: Fund development with services
- Pre-sales: Get customers to pay upfront
- Side Project: Build while employed elsewhere
- Revenue First: Launch simple, paid version early
Famous Bootstrapped Companies
- Mailchimp
- Basecamp
- GitHub (initially)
- Atlassian