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Without question the bootstrapper. You almost never hear about them but there are thousands of them out there. They don't have huge PR VC teams behind them, hen

Without question the bootstrapper. You almost never hear about them but there are thousands of them out there. They don't have huge PR VC teams behind them, hence you never hear about them.

idlewords 3y ago
Also there is a lot of risk and not a lot of benefit to talking loudly in public about how much money you're making as a bootstrapped business.
- gnicholas 3y ago
  This thought crossed my mind. But wouldn't there be chatter about this sort of thing within the startup community, as bootstrapped businesses get snapped up? There are podcasts like Built To Sell, which tell the stories of small companies that have been sold. I've noticed that many of them are service businesses, and there aren't as many SaaS companies as I would have expected. Presumably the incentive to keep quiet about your lucrative niche would end after you've sold the business?
gnicholas 3y ago
> Without question the bootstrapper. I think you mean the opposite, given the phrasing of the question. > They don't have huge PR VC teams behind them, hence you never hear about them. This seems like half an argument. I get that PR teams have an incentive to talk about their company, which is why they are in the news sometimes. But it doesn't explain why non-VC backed companies that are swimming in cash would be so elusive. Would they be in the news? Perhaps not — though they might still want to generate PR for themselves, to grow their business. But you'd think that people in the startup world, who spend lots of time reading about startup strategies, examples to follow, etc., would have heard of such companies if there were many out there. I've been at this for a number of years, and I rarely hear about bootstrapped startups that are quite so successful. I guess PE folks would have a good sense, since such businesses would presumably make great acquisition targets. And perhaps that's what keeps them so rare — someone making a couple million a year would rather sell the whole thing for $20M and move onto their next thing (be it a startup or a private beach), and there are plenty of acquirers who are happy to make that trade.
- dabeeeenster 3y ago
  Sorry yes - thank you - I meant bootstrappers are far more common. My main point is that there's an enormous amount of survivor bias with VC backed companies. Bootstrapped: not so much.
- dabeeeenster 3y ago
  There are thousands and thousands of private bootstrapped business where the founders are banking 1-10M EBITDA every year. You almost never hear about them.
- tchock23 3y ago
  The reason why you don’t hear these stories is because no one making meaningful money as a bootstrapped founder wants to invite unnecessary competition. Take a look at any sub-reddit related to entrepreneurship. The minute someone even hints they are making a lot of money in some area you see multiple replies asking about the product, niche, etc. People will clone what works. Why would anyone create that kind of exposure if they didn’t need to? [Edit: just read the rest of this thread and there are three people asking the $4 million guy how he did it, so I guess point proven?]
  - gnicholas 3y ago
    Yes, there is curiosity. I'm not sure if that proves the point that one would not want to reveal details about the business, or if it indicates that perhaps the commenter's claim strikes many people as somewhat outlandish, or at least rare. I'm sure there are some folks out there clearing $4M/year with their bootstrapped business. But I'm also sure there are folks out there who tell tall tales on the internet.

Without question the bootstrapper. You almost never hear about them but there are thousands of them out there. They don't have huge PR VC teams behind them, hence you never hear about them.

idlewords 3y ago

Also there is a lot of risk and not a lot of benefit to talking loudly in public about how much money you're making as a bootstrapped business.

gnicholas 3y ago
This thought crossed my mind. But wouldn't there be chatter about this sort of thing within the startup community, as bootstrapped businesses get snapped up? There are podcasts like Built To Sell, which tell the stories of small companies that have been sold. I've noticed that many of them are service businesses, and there aren't as many SaaS companies as I would have expected. Presumably the incentive to keep quiet about your lucrative niche would end after you've sold the business?

gnicholas 3y ago

> Without question the bootstrapper. I think you mean the opposite, given the phrasing of the question. > They don't have huge PR VC teams behind them, hence you never hear about them. This seems like half an argument. I get that PR teams have an incentive to talk about their company, which is why they are in the news sometimes. But it doesn't explain why non-VC backed companies that are swimming in cash would be so elusive. Would they be in the news? Perhaps not — though they might still want to generate PR for themselves, to grow their business. But you'd think that people in the startup world, who spend lots of time reading about startup strategies, examples to follow, etc., would have heard of such companies if there were many out there. I've been at this for a number of years, and I rarely hear about bootstrapped startups that are quite so successful. I guess PE folks would have a good sense, since such businesses would presumably make great acquisition targets. And perhaps that's what keeps them so rare — someone making a couple million a year would rather sell the whole thing for $20M and move onto their next thing (be it a startup or a private beach), and there are plenty of acquirers who are happy to make that trade.

dabeeeenster 3y ago
Sorry yes - thank you - I meant bootstrappers are far more common. My main point is that there's an enormous amount of survivor bias with VC backed companies. Bootstrapped: not so much.
dabeeeenster 3y ago
There are thousands and thousands of private bootstrapped business where the founders are banking 1-10M EBITDA every year. You almost never hear about them.
tchock23 3y ago
The reason why you don’t hear these stories is because no one making meaningful money as a bootstrapped founder wants to invite unnecessary competition. Take a look at any sub-reddit related to entrepreneurship. The minute someone even hints they are making a lot of money in some area you see multiple replies asking about the product, niche, etc. People will clone what works. Why would anyone create that kind of exposure if they didn’t need to? [Edit: just read the rest of this thread and there are three people asking the $4 million guy how he did it, so I guess point proven?]
- gnicholas 3y ago
  Yes, there is curiosity. I'm not sure if that proves the point that one would not want to reveal details about the business, or if it indicates that perhaps the commenter's claim strikes many people as somewhat outlandish, or at least rare. I'm sure there are some folks out there clearing $4M/year with their bootstrapped business. But I'm also sure there are folks out there who tell tall tales on the internet.