3 ms·
It really depends on the niche. This is pretty much the opposite of pg's essay about startups and growth from a couple of months back. Unless you're already e
by mason55 14y ago
It really depends on the niche. This is pretty much the opposite of pg's essay about startups and growth from a couple of months back. Unless you're already exceedingly wealthy it will be very, very, VERY difficult to sustain the growth needed to succeed solely on scale (aka a "startup"). If you're self-funding then you'll have to succeed on other merits besides growth. This is neither good nor bad, it just means that you're a lot less likely to hit a grand slam.
- Terretta 14y agoAs the only "bootstrapped" CDN to survive from 2001 till now, we couldn't agree with this more. During that time, the number of CDNs has gone from a half dozen, to 60, to a half dozen, to 60, to a couple dozen. Each of the expansion phases has been on VC or public market money, with deep pockets buying market share until no more market share can be readily bought. At that point, if the business model doesn't prove out, the CDN implodes or gets acquired. This is ruinous for the space, but especially difficult to compete against if you're bootstrapped. When self funded and profitable (or at least break even in lean years), the need for fiscal discipline means you have to simply out execute the competition to win and keep clients, and hope to beat the competition by outlasting them (or, to be more accurate, outlasting the will of those funding them). Ideally, of course, you'd have the discipline needed to last, but also have ample ready funding to pour into growth. Then you can ratchet up and down as market conditions support.