

Report and Analysis from 107 Bootstrapped Startups - moses1400
http://www.founderspeak.com/

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habitatforus
It would have been nice to seen which startups were surveyed. I don't need to
know there answers, but it's great to know who else is trying to make this
work.

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philgainley
hey guys..

yep, this is anonymous survey

I created different options for bootstrapping to see the participants
behavior, remember this is a general survey to see general responses

everyones approaches are different, the order is different depending on the
person

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edw519
Maybe I'm a little mixed up, but OP and I must have very different definitions
of "bootstrapping". I am really confused by 3 of his graphs.

 _Support for start-ups_

    
    
      1. Savings              - 33%
      2. Savings + Consulting - 41%
      3. Consulting           - 15%
      4. Angel Investment     -  5%
      5. Friends & Family     - 15%
    

Category 1 sounds like they're true bootstrappers. Categories 2 and 3 sound
suspiciously like service businesses and side projects. Categories 4 and 5 are
not bootstrapped.

 _I define a start-up as having about 6 different stages I define them as
follows:_

    
    
      1. Early Stage Concept  -  7%
      2. Developing Prototype - 32%
      3. Pitching             - 13%
      4. Finish Prototype     - 15%
      5. Start Selling        - 29%
      6. Scale Up             -  8%
    

Why isn't "Start Selling" first? Better yet, why isn't "Find Out What People
Want and Will Pay For" first? Why are so many people building stuff that may
not even be wanted?

Why not:

    
    
      1. Find Out What People Want
      2. Show Them a Prototype
      3. Collect Deposits
      4. Build It
      5. Find Other Instances of Those People and Convert Them
    
    

_What is holding you back?_

    
    
      1. Prototype not ready             - 28%
      2. Prototype needs to change       -  9%
      3. Can't find customers            -  9%
      4. Not enough time (consulting)    - 12%
      5. Need cash injection to scale up - 37%
      

It sounds like most of the companies either (a) haven't sold anything or (b)
haven't sold enough to keep bootstrapping. Are these start-ups or are these
side projects?

I wonder how many of the 107 companies raised the same questions I did.
_That's_ something I'd really like to know.

