
Is Bootstrapping Becoming Sexy Again? - newsit
http://www.sramanamitra.com/2007/03/09/is-bootstrapping-becoming-sexy-again/
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fallentimes
Bootstrapping is always sexy.

Revenue and profits are becoming sexy again. Hopefully dividends too.

~~~
webwright
Dividends for who? Startup investors? Even conservative/revenue-centric
startups have a staggering failure rate. What kind of dividends would be
necessary for surviving startups? i.e. I invest $100,000 each in 10
scrappy/revenue-centric startups. 6 die or fail to generate meaningful profit
(a much better rate because they aren't "swing-for-the-fences" startups). What
sort of dividends would the other 4 have to produce to seem appealing to an
investor to compensate for the fact that $600k is lost forever and $400k more
is sunk into the survivors. I'd love someone to lay down some math that would
make investors say, "Wow-- dividends ARE sexy!"... Any takers?

If you mean traded stock dividends, then nevermind. ;-)

~~~
fallentimes
I meant traded stocks, as many companies who issue dividends are trading at
historic lows. Makes for good yields.

Depending on the situation it could bode well for some startups...

Also, sometimes there's no where else to invest profits (within the Company)
without expanding outside of what you're good at (I think MBAs call this core
competencies).

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JoelSutherland
_"Gone are the days when entrepreneurs boasted at cocktail parties"_

Surely there is at least some negative correlation between "Good Ideas" and
"Things Boasted at Cocktail Parties." The mythical (and hypothetical) cocktail
party that pops up in everyone's mind once and a while is always a block on
logical thinking.

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sachinag
Bootstrapping was never sexy. It's not sexy now. What's going on is that most
VC firms have no idea how to actually identify themes or teams in which to
invest and times like this expose them.

Unlike Dan, I'd love to get funding, even as we have a revenue model that
doesn't require scale to get profitability. What VC funding does is dual risk
mitigation - money reduces my personal risk of paying the bills and the very
_act_ of investing in the company makes the opportunity less risky by
providing a cushion to try and make a few mistakes. I am, and most
entrepreneurs, are grateful to bear less risk so that they can focus on making
a great product.

At the end of the day, however, I'm well aware that eBay didn't need a dime of
the Benchmark money they took, and that allows me to say no to the scrubs that
come a-knocking.

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brandnewlow
My abundance of ramen noodles, lack of $$$ to take girls out on dates and
bulging belly from giving up the gym membership all point to "no" on the
"sexy" question.

~~~
beastman82
go outside and run. works wonders.

~~~
brandnewlow
I do when I can. City sidewalks wreak havok on the knees etc.

~~~
jcromartie
Bike!

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cedsav
It's nice to own 100% of your company and turn a profit, especially given the
current economy, but you really need to have faith in the 'less is better'
philosophy.

The pace of development feels excruciatingly slow when you have to multitask
on everything. I sometimes wish I had someone's else millions to speed things
up a bit.

~~~
josefresco
Try not being a developer and having no movement at all. Having some money to
pay a programmer would be nice ;)

~~~
cedsav
we only have developers

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iamelgringo
Out of all the people that have filtered through the Hackers and Founders
Meetup this past year, the only people that I know of that took funding were
the 2 Y Combinator companies we had speak at an event last fall.

As far as I know, only one member has been actively looking for funding for an
enterprise app. It may be selection bias. But, the rest of us are
bootstrapping.

------
biohacker42
March 9 2007?

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eli_s
It really surprises me how many companies seek VC funding. I can't imagine
giving away part of my business.

I understand that for some businesses to work they need to start off big, but
IMHO loads of YC and other VC backed businesses just aren't in that boat.

Maybe I'm a different kind of business person though. My goal is to build a
small business that will sustain me and my family and get me out of the office
grind - seems like a much more realistic and attainable goal than the "go big
and exit with millions" strategy :)

