Bootstrapper.com - Confessions of Serial Entrepreneurs

Ah….the life of a bootsrapper. You know who you are. Big ideas, limited capital, and a market window closing fast. I know the dynamics well. Since I have pretty much BootStrapped every successful venture in which I was the visionary, I decided to make my first post about this very subject.

Bootstrapping is not just a cool term for being rebellious or beating the odds. Bootstrapping is about cutting corners, crafting your vision, and being creative in order to see that vision unfold. Let’s examine the very business definition of a BootStrap found on the web:

Bootstrap

A situation in which an entrepreneur starts a company with little capital.An individual is said to be boot strapping when he or she attempts to found and build a company from personal finances or from the operating revenues of the new company. Compared to using venture capital, boot strapping can be beneficial as theentrepreneur is able to maintain control over all decisions. On the downside, however, this form of financing may place unnecessary financial risk on the entrepreneur. Furthermore, boot strapping may not provide enough investment for the company to become successful at a reasonable rate.

O.K. so what does that all mean to us? It means that we need to always examine the ups and downs and remind ourselves that as bootstrappers we aren’t just people that come up with an idea and go find investors to fund it. It doesn’t matter how good your ideas are, it doesn’t matter how much of a demand there is and it doesn’t matter how well you can sell the idea to an investor. What will really affect the the outcome of your venture is keeping yourself in touch with REALITY and VALUE. Seeing reality is on occasion, a tough thing for a bootstrapper.

I have been guilty of wanting my concept toturn in to a reality without real examination many times and I have had my “cereal” eaten as a result. Do your homework, personally reflect on and justify the value of your offering. Be sure to ask yourself tough questions. Do you really know your target market? When it is all said and done do is what I think I need really going to be enough money? Can we really pull off the timetables? Look yourself in the mirror and ask if you can really see the reality of how the future will unfold for you and what you really need to get there. Its also important to examine whether you really require some or all of the capital that you project or if there are ways to accomplish your goals in other ways without putting yourself in unnecessary risk. Don’t do it just once - make it a habit of rising above the distractions and the business plan and focus on the vision of where your concept is and where it can lead. If you can pull that together and still feel good about it, then continue on. If not then you may need to re-evaluate what you are doing. You will be a more effective bootstrapper if you do.

Somehow things work out. I’ll share a story here that is the exact opposite but to the same effect. For the last few months, I have used a new philosophy towards life & business. I call it Karmic Marketing. In past lives, whenever an interesting deal crossed my path, I’m attempt to broker it and get piece. Sure, sometimes you do great but you’re not really any value and more often then not you annoy people by getting in the middle. So i changed my tune, i took on the attitude that anyone that bothers to reach out to me and appears like a serious/smart/real etc… person, I will give an hour of time to too - for free, I will happily give free advice, help solve a problem, lend out my brain to anyone that passes by fairly low threshold. On top of that If i really like the person and get comfortable and we connect, I will volunteer to make a couple of introductions for them - without them asking. Whether its potential business partners, potential friends or investors, I will send out my “Happy Networking!” emails and see it off. When I first started this, I actually got negative feedback - can you believe someone not wanting a free introduction to an employer when they are looking for a job!? Anyhow, I got passed that and learned that my introduction approach is only meant for people with optimistic people and it works. This approach has gotten people to instantly trust me and i routinely get emails like “I am so happy i met you”, “your the last altruistic person” - not trying to brag, i really get these frequently.

So what’s the catch? None. I don’t ask for anything in return. In fact I go further when I meet people now, I tell them what I’m going to do, the normal reaction is “huh?” then i do it and show that i can follow through. Now it doesn’t matter if a deal ever gets done as a result of these introductions, its the fact that i go out of my way to try to help people that matters.

So how is this relevant to Bill’s post? Well its because good things happen randomly and life’s path is unpredictable. I’ve spent the past 2 years trying to figure out my next big move and i finally figured it out (the future of online advertising) and before i even had so much as a deck together, I’ve had a dozen investors and people that i’ve helped offer to help me back. I didn’t ask but in the next week without so much as trying to get a meeting with anyone, I have 3 meetings and was invited to a pitch thing in january.

Life happens in weird ways. Do good, stay strong and roll with it, eventually good things happen if you hold your convictions….

just my 2 cents…

richie “the bootstrapper” hecker