Are you bootstrapping your business? Why?
I want to hear from my fellow founders who are boostrapping their ventures. In a world where raising funds, burning cash, chasing exits get all the limelight; bootstrapped founders rarely get attention.
I've personally known several founders who are happily running their $20 - $100K MRR businesses either as solo founders or with a small team and highly profitable.
So my question is: What is your main reason to bootstrap and not chase funding?
Replies
IXORD
My main reason is to help people like me, sometimes some decisions can be more difficult. And if I had my tool at that time then I would have worked differently.
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@ixord - you are absolutely right. My SaaS is the one I wish had existed and my life would have been differernt.
With funding, you experience a high level of commitment, and it feels like you work for others (investors) rather than from your motivation. (I just don't like that feeling.) :D
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@busmark_w_nika - 100%! I've worked with founders who were running after the targets set by the investors. They made hiring and firing decisions just to keep the 'numbers' up. I didn't like that. But I understand - not every business can be bootstrapped or funded.
After ~20 years in the industry; I'm after freedom. Building the next unicorn isn't my goal; but I'm chasing freedom by doing what I love doing - and that's helping people build amazing, high-growth communities.
@kaustubhkatdare Everybody is exhausted from chasing something :D
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@manu_goel2 haha - you are right. I've seen the funded startups actually 'working' for their investors. Growth projections and pressures to keep growing ain't for everyone.
For me personally, I have a very big, challenging, yet passionate vision pertaining to my startup, as well as an ethical philosophy etched into it.
I've heard the stories about investors only caring about a return and introducing anti-consumer practices, pressuring for things to shift in the name of breakneck speed growth, diluting the equity and stake in the company. So for me, I'm choosing for my startup to bootstrap and intentionally seek out funding once I believe we've found investors that connect with our ethos and understand the larger vision at hand.