The Secret to Entrepreneurial Success: Bootstrapping
"The advice I’d give to anyone wanting to start a company today would be just the opposite of what they tell you in B-school. I’d tell you to “Bootstrap” it.
I define “Bootstrapping” as the act of starting a business with little or no external funding. Bootstrappers don’t write lengthy business plans, chase deep-pocketed investors, or indulge in overly academic market research exercises. Instead, they focus all of their considerable energy, brainpower, determination and skills on creating a business that can actually succeed in the real world.
In fact, I can offer at least eight solid reasons why Bootstrapping will consistently deliver better results than the “fund-and-burn” model that has become entrenched in Silicon Valley and elsewhere:
1. Bootstrapping ensures that you build your business on a legitimate, real-world value proposition...
2. Bootstrappers initiate the critical sales learning process sooner, not later...
3. Bootstrappers don’t waste money; they make it...
4. Bootstrapping accelerates time-to-market and time-to-profitability...
5. Bootstrappers are less likely to make big, fatal financial mistakes...
6. Bootstrappers are forced into unconventional thinking...
7. Bootstrappers have more freedom and flexibility...
8. Bootstrappers wind up owning much, if not all, of what they create."
Read more in this SandHill.com article.
