Bootstrapping is thinking long, not small
Published in 2014, this chronicle by @awicklander details the mechanics of building a profitable, self-funded business without venture backing.
Core Principles for Independent Builders:
Charging customers from day one acts as the ultimate filter for building software that solves genuine, high-urgency problems.
Keeping fixed overhead low and leveraging lean infrastructure allows founders to stay alive until market tailwinds kick in.
Small, repetitive improvements in customer retention and conversion rates yield massive returns over multi-year horizons.
Community Debate Themes:
The community focused on B2B customer acquisition channels, cold email vs SEO distribution, and balancing full-time employment with side-project development.
CATEGORY Bootstrapping & MRR →
HISTORICAL ERA Cloud & Mobile Era (2014–2019)
COMMUNITY SCORE 5 points
TOTAL DISCUSSIONS 2 comments
I couldn't agree more. I'm glad the OP took the time to write this up, as I've been thinking something very similar recently. In fact, as recently as earlier today, I saw some comment about bootstrapping that hinted at this "bootstrapping == small" thing.
Sorry, but that's just wrong. TFA here nails it... going the bootstrap route doesn't mean you don't intend to build a billion dollar business, it just means that, if you do, you plan to do it on your schedule, not a VC's. That's it.
FWIW, we're proudly bootstrapped / self-funded at Fogbeam Labs, and anybody who knows me can tell you that I don't do small dreams. As far as I'm concerned, we're on our way to being a public company with a multi-billion dollar market cap. I can't tell you when we'll get there, but that's the goal.
Now, that said... I don't think "bootstrapped" or "not bootstrapped" is something that's intrinsic and unchangeable. We haven't taken any outside money yet, but I'm not saying we never will. We might do it tomorrow if the circumstances dictate that it's the right thing to do, relative to our goals. Or maybe next year. Maybe never. Outside money is just a tool, like a screwdriver or an Open Source library... we may need that particular tool, we may not. If we do, we'll use it. If not, we won't use it just for the sake of using it.