Whitepapers and Articles.

Knowing When & How to Approach VC Firms

Bootstrapping happens when a company develops with little or no outside funding. The company opts to fund its primary development and growth through internal cash flow using real customer revenues. The founders and a restricted set of early employees often forgo salary payments for equity in the company.

Bootstrapped companies find ways to generate revenue and sustain growth through consulting engagements, non-recurring engineering (NRE) engagements, value-added reseller (VAR) agreements, customer retainer fees, divestitures or protected supplier contracts with a parent company for a defined period of time, the classic “moonlighting,” and even waived compensation. They learn to generate revenue that funds growth and expansion until reaching a level of growth where it no longer makes sense to go it alone.

In this white paper we explain why bootstrapping creates better companies and explore the key issues around bootstrapping, including how to choose the right time to raise capital.