Maybe I'm a little mixed up, but OP and I must have very different definitions of "bootstrapping". I am really confused by 3 of his graphs. Support for start-

Maybe I'm a little mixed up, but OP and I must have very different definitions of "bootstrapping". I am really confused by 3 of his graphs. Support for start-ups 1. Savings - 33% 2. Savings + Consulting - 41% 3. Consulting - 15% 4. Angel Investment - 5% 5. Friends & Family - 15% Category 1 sounds like they're true bootstrappers. Categories 2 and 3 sound suspiciously like service businesses and side projects. Categories 4 and 5 are not bootstrapped. I define a start-up as having about 6 different stages I define them as follows: 1. Early Stage Concept - 7% 2. Developing Prototype - 32% 3. Pitching - 13% 4. Finish Prototype - 15% 5. Start Selling - 29% 6. Scale Up - 8% Why isn't "Start Selling" first? Better yet, why isn't "Find Out What People Want and Will Pay For" first? Why are so many people building stuff that may not even be wanted? Why not: 1. Find Out What People Want 2. Show Them a Prototype 3. Collect Deposits 4. Build It 5. Find Other Instances of Those People and Convert Them What is holding you back? 1. Prototype not ready - 28% 2. Prototype needs to change - 9% 3. Can't find customers - 9% 4. Not enough time (consulting) - 12% 5. Need cash injection to scale up - 37% It sounds like most of the companies either (a) haven't sold anything or (b) haven't sold enough to keep bootstrapping. Are these start-ups or are these side projects? I wonder how many of the 107 companies raised the same questions I did. That's something I'd really like to know.