Talked to a founder who bootstrapped for 7 years before taking VC. Made me question the whole 'raise early' mindset around here.

Was grabbing coffee at Dessert Oasis on the weekend and ended up chatting with this guy who started a logistics software company back in 2016. No funding, no angels, just him and a laptop in his Hazel Park apartment. He finally took a Series A last year after hitting $4M in recurring revenue. Said he wanted to prove the model worked before giving up any control. I've been reading all these startup blogs saying you gotta raise before you need it, build buzz early, all that. But hearing him talk about 7 years of slow growth and zero board meetings sounded kind of appealing honestly. Anyone else here taken the long route on purpose or is that just me? How did it work out?

2 comments

2 Comments

aaron74012d ago

7 years of slow growth and zero board meetings" - bro that's not slow growth lol. $4M ARR from scratch in 7 years is actually pretty solid, definitely above average for bootstrapped SaaS.

john_fisher12d ago

Wait, hold up - he was living in a Hazel Park apartment? That's like, the most bootstrapper thing I've ever heard.