Welcome to Bootstrap - Revision history

Bijoy: /* Bootstrap Organization Aspirations */

2010-05-13T18:28:47Z

‎Bootstrap Organization Aspirations

Bijoy: /* Bootstrapping, the Third Way */

2008-08-15T19:54:02Z

‎Bootstrapping, the Third Way

Bijoy: /* Bootstrapping, the Third Way */

2008-08-15T19:51:30Z

‎Bootstrapping, the Third Way

Bijoy: /* Realities of Bootstrapping */

2008-07-08T21:40:45Z

‎Realities of Bootstrapping

Bijoy: /* Bootstrapping, the Third Way */

2008-06-23T15:54:17Z

‎Bootstrapping, the Third Way

Bijoy: /* Bootstrapping, the Third Way */

2008-04-24T20:15:08Z

‎Bootstrapping, the Third Way

Bijoy: /* Bootstrapping, the Third Way */

2008-04-24T20:04:01Z

‎Bootstrapping, the Third Way

Bijoy: /* History and Context */

2008-04-24T19:47:57Z

‎History and Context

Bijoy: /* Bootstrap Organizational Structure */

2007-06-16T00:10:13Z

‎Bootstrap Organizational Structure

Bijoy: /* Realities of Bootstrapping */

2007-06-16T00:09:39Z

‎Realities of Bootstrapping

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:28, 13 May 2010
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	== Bootstrap Organization Aspirations==		== Bootstrap Organization Aspirations==
		+
		+	Here's a short [http://www.captureyourflag.com/interview-library/why-to-participate-in-a-bootstrap-startup-community-bijoy-go.html video interview] with Bijoy on how communities (and Bootstrap Austin) work.

	=== A Community of Trust and Support ===		=== A Community of Trust and Support ===

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 Bootstrapping takes the best from both models, using the founders' unique passions and talents, leveraging constraint to fuel innovation and allow the business model to emerge from the process.
-Another analogy are the three artistic styles: craft/conceptual/experimentalist as described by David Galenson in his book, Old Masters and Young Geniuses. Craft = cookie cutter; conceptual = funding-driven; experimental = bootstrap. Listen to the [http://www.hearthis.com/index.php/features/david_galenson_speaks_with_bootstrap_art BootRap podcast] where David speaks to the Bootstrap Art Subgroup.
+Another analogy are the three artistic styles: craft/conceptual/experimentalist as described by [http://www.davidgalenson.com David Galenson] in his book, [http://www.amazon.com/Old-Masters-Young-Geniuses-Creativity/dp/0691121095/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218830010&sr=8-1 Old Masters and Young Geniuses]. Craft = cookie cutter; conceptual = funding-driven; experimental = bootstrap. Listen to the [http://www.hearthis.com/index.php/features/david_galenson_speaks_with_bootstrap_art BootRap podcast] where David speaks to the Bootstrap Art Subgroup.
 Bootstrapping, in its many forms, is an approach taken by some of the largest and most successful companies out there. To name a few - Microsoft, Oracle, Dell, Virgin, HP, Whole Foods, The Body Shop. And indeed, there is evidence that a company's longevity correlates to whether it takes a bootstrap approach. (See [http://www.amazon.com/Living-Company-Arie-Geus/dp/1578518202 The Living Company] by Arie De Geuss.) And it's not that Bootstrap ventures don't take venture funding! It's that if they elect to do so, they do it at the right time, when they're successfully crossed the Valley of Death. Indeed, all indications are that VCs are moving back to engaging with companies in this stage of their development. This is a good thing - for the VCs, the companies and the entrepreneurs!

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:51, 15 August 2008
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	Bootstrapping takes the best from both models, using the founders' unique passions and talents, leveraging constraint to fuel innovation and allow the business model to emerge from the process.		Bootstrapping takes the best from both models, using the founders' unique passions and talents, leveraging constraint to fuel innovation and allow the business model to emerge from the process.
		+
		+	Another analogy are the three artistic styles: craft/conceptual/experimentalist as described by David Galenson in his book, Old Masters and Young Geniuses. Craft = cookie cutter; conceptual = funding-driven; experimental = bootstrap. Listen to the [http://www.hearthis.com/index.php/features/david_galenson_speaks_with_bootstrap_art BootRap podcast] where David speaks to the Bootstrap Art Subgroup.

	Bootstrapping, in its many forms, is an approach taken by some of the largest and most successful companies out there. To name a few - Microsoft, Oracle, Dell, Virgin, HP, Whole Foods, The Body Shop. And indeed, there is evidence that a company's longevity correlates to whether it takes a bootstrap approach. (See [http://www.amazon.com/Living-Company-Arie-Geus/dp/1578518202 The Living Company] by Arie De Geuss.) And it's not that Bootstrap ventures don't take venture funding! It's that if they elect to do so, they do it at the right time, when they're successfully crossed the Valley of Death. Indeed, all indications are that VCs are moving back to engaging with companies in this stage of their development. This is a good thing - for the VCs, the companies and the entrepreneurs!		Bootstrapping, in its many forms, is an approach taken by some of the largest and most successful companies out there. To name a few - Microsoft, Oracle, Dell, Virgin, HP, Whole Foods, The Body Shop. And indeed, there is evidence that a company's longevity correlates to whether it takes a bootstrap approach. (See [http://www.amazon.com/Living-Company-Arie-Geus/dp/1578518202 The Living Company] by Arie De Geuss.) And it's not that Bootstrap ventures don't take venture funding! It's that if they elect to do so, they do it at the right time, when they're successfully crossed the Valley of Death. Indeed, all indications are that VCs are moving back to engaging with companies in this stage of their development. This is a good thing - for the VCs, the companies and the entrepreneurs!

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 ==Realities of Bootstrapping==
-#The rules of Bootstrap ventures are totally different from those of Rockets - and they can be learned! At the highest level it's about seeing and exploiting the incredible non-capital resources out there. The very lack of significant funding causes the Boostrapper to INNOVATE. And as we go through the Valley of Death, we find the hidden pots of gold and competitive advantage. (Dell's model of going direct to the customer came out of the fact that Michael Dell started selling computers out of his UT dorm room and didn't have cash to buy parts.) And all the activities of building product, finding customers, team building, marketing, etc., are vastly different for a Bootstrap Venture.
+#The rules of Bootstrap ventures are totally different from those of funding-driven and cookie-cutters; and they can be learned! At the highest level it's about seeing and exploiting the incredible non-capital resources out there. The very lack of significant funding causes the Bootstrapper to INNOVATE. And as we go through the Valley of Death, we find the hidden pots of gold and competitive advantage. (Dell's model of going direct to the customer came out of the fact that Michael Dell started selling computers out of his UT dorm room and didn't have cash to buy parts.) And all the activities of building product, finding customers, team building, marketing, etc., are vastly different for a Bootstrap Venture.
-#The nature of bootstrapping means that you start the (ad)venture and then figure out what you need as you go along. This is in sharp contrast to a classic "business school" model where you take two years off to gain all the necessary skills and then start. It's much like an epic story, where the hero sets off on her journey, only to discover she needs all kinds of help along the way to achieve the goal. There's only so much preparation one can do and bootstrappers know this.
+#The nature of bootstrapping means that you start the (ad)venture and then figure out what you need as you go along. This is in sharp contrast to the other 2 paths where you take two years off to gain all the necessary skills and then start. It's much like an epic story, where the hero sets off on her journey, only to discover she needs all kinds of help along the way to achieve the goal. There's only so much preparation one can do and bootstrappers know this.
-#Support and resources for bootstrappers are virtually non-existent. Why? Well, there's no money in supporting us - certainly not while we're in the Ideation and Valley of Death stages! Business schools are funded either by large corporations or VCs and this inevitably steers the focus towards studying large firms or VC-funded ones. If we bootstrappers don't band together and mobilize ourselves as we have, it simply will not happen.
+#Support and resources for bootstrappers are virtually non-existent. Why? Well, there's no money in supporting us - certainly not while we're in the Ideation and Valley of Death stages! Business schools are funded either by large corporations or VCs and this inevitably steers the focus towards studying large firms or VC-funded ones. If bootstrappers don't band together and mobilize ourselves as we have, it simply will not happen.
 == Bootstrap Organization Aspirations==

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Bootstrapping, the Third Way==
-Entrepreneurship is a whole spectrum of activity and there are many kinds of entrpreneurial ventures.
+Entrepreneurship is a whole spectrum of activity and there are many kinds of entrepreneurial ventures.
 [[Image:3paths.png|right|thumb|400px]]
-'''Cookie-cutter''' ventures involve the entrepreneur implementing a pre-discovered business model. Franchises, lawyers, doctors, laundromats are all examples of this kind of entrepreneurship and comprise most "small business." On the other extreme '''Funding (or outcome)-driven''' ventures take pre-designed, but unproven business models and use capital to execute them. This approach is purely about creating an economic asset (the company) that can be sold down the line in an "exit."
+'''Cookie-cutter''' ventures involve the entrepreneur implementing a pre-discovered business model. Franchises, lawyers, doctors, laundromats are all examples of this kind of entrepreneurship and comprise most "small business." On the other extreme '''Funding (or outcome)-driven''' ventures take pre-designed, but unproven business models and use capital to execute them. This approach is purely about creating an economic asset (the company) that can be sold down the line in an "exit." Various tools like business are useful for cookie-cutters and funding-driving ventures. They are usually  inappropriately used for the third entrepreneurial path: the bootstrap.
-Bootstrapping takes the best from both models, using the founders' unique passions and talents, leveraging conststraint to fuel innovation and allow the business model to emerge from the process.
+Bootstrapping takes the best from both models, using the founders' unique passions and talents, leveraging constraint to fuel innovation and allow the business model to emerge from the process.
 Bootstrapping, in its many forms, is an approach taken by some of the largest and most successful companies out there. To name a few - Microsoft, Oracle, Dell, Virgin, HP, Whole Foods, The Body Shop. And indeed, there is evidence that a company's longevity correlates to whether it takes a bootstrap approach. (See [http://www.amazon.com/Living-Company-Arie-Geus/dp/1578518202 The Living Company] by Arie De Geuss.) And it's not that Bootstrap ventures don't take venture funding! It's that if they elect to do so, they do it at the right time, when they're successfully crossed the Valley of Death. Indeed, all indications are that VCs are moving back to engaging with companies in this stage of their development. This is a good thing - for the VCs, the companies and the entrepreneurs!

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 ==History and Context==
 I started the group to save myself some time - I was meeting with my fellow-entrepreneurs for coffee and lunch and thought it would be easier if we all just met up together! I also faced a distinct lack of support for bootstrappers and the bootstrap approach to building companies. In the bubble-era there was so much noise about the Venture Capital (VC) model, that it consumed all the available oxygen. This approach broadly involves: writing a business plan, raising millions of dollars, spending the funds quickly and going public/selling out in a short period of timeThere was simply no space for a dialogue about bootstrapping - and why would there be - the quick exit of the VC is so glamorous and exciting! Indeed, it was somewhat disdained - if you hadn't raised $5MM, you weren't a bona fide entrepreneur.
 Bootstrapping, in its many forms, is an approach taken by some of the largest and most successful companies out there. To name a few - Microsoft, Oracle, Dell, Virgin, HP, Whole Foods, The Body Shop. And indeed, there is evidence that a company's longevity correlates to whether it takes a bootstrap approach. (See [http://www.amazon.com/Living-Company-Arie-Geus/dp/1578518202 The Living Company] by Arie De Geuss.) And it's not that Bootstrap ventures don't take venture funding! It's that if they elect to do so, they do it at the right time, when they're successfully crossed the Valley of Death. Indeed, all indications are that VCs are moving back to engaging with companies in this stage of their development. This is a good thing - for the VCs, the companies and the entrepreneurs!

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 Jonathan McCoy is helping to articulate [[Bootstrap's Open Source Model]].
-=== Bootstrap Organizational Structure ===
+==Bootstrap Organizational Structure==
 Bootstrap is a service provided by my company, [http://www.aviri.com Aviri]. The network operates as a "for-profit with a non-profit/open-source mindset." Having investigated the non-profit world and consulted a number of people, it has become clear that a non-profit entity will kill what we've created and shackle the group with unnecessary structure and bureaucracy. Furthermore, we aim to keep the service as close to free as possible for members. We therefore do NOT have [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501%28c%29#501.28c.29.283.29 501(c)(3)] status and have no plans to do so in the future. We do not wish to collect donations from outside parties and true to the bootstrap way, would rather become self-sufficient by serving our customer. Moving forward, we plan to offer products and services, including joint offerings with some of our member companies.