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We bootstrapped our SaaS company (www.cbinsights.com) and while profitability is not a goal as we reinvest any excess back into hiring, technology, etc, we're d

by asanwal 13y ago

We bootstrapped our SaaS company (www.cbinsights.com) and while profitability is not a goal as we reinvest any excess back into hiring, technology, etc, we're doing 7-figures of annual recurring revenue. We launched 4 years ago with 3 folks and should be 20 by this summer assuming we find the right folks (we're 15 now). Just hired our first biz dev guy a couple of months ago. I'd sold the first couple of million in subscriptions. While I'm not sure if we should have hired a BD guy sooner, my co-founder and I did feel like we needed to understand the sales process first. The good news is that I'm pretty far from a natural salesperson so if we get this product into the hands of someone who really knows how to sell, we'll be on an even better path. That said, I brought a really solid understanding of the product to sales calls which def helped us. It's been a great and rocky road. We're about to reach escape velocity I think, and I'm really looking forward to that. As an aside, I try to convene a group of bootstrapped SaaS entrepreneurs for lunch/dinner periodically to exchange ideas/tips/help one another so if you fit the bill and are based in or near NYC or going to be in NYC, please reach out. (details in profile)

ericthegoodking 13y ago
Congrats on your success! Its ironic that your product is a database of "vc's" yet you are bootstrapped. :).
- asanwal 13y ago
  Thanks and yes, we get that a lot. We're not religious about bootstrapping. We may raise funding at some point but want to do it when we find the perfect partner(s) whose interests are aligned with ours. Ultimately, we think bootstrapping and building the company up to be real gives us leverage down the road, i.e., we're not raising money to survive or test a hypothesis but to put more fuel in the tank so we can accelerate growth. Because of what we do, our 1 requirement is that they have o have been a customer of the product. We need believers :) We'll see. Right now, the focus remains squarely on the product, customers and the team. Thanks for the kind words.

by asanwal 13y ago

ericthegoodking 13y ago

Congrats on your success! Its ironic that your product is a database of "vc's" yet you are bootstrapped. :).

asanwal 13y ago
Thanks and yes, we get that a lot. We're not religious about bootstrapping. We may raise funding at some point but want to do it when we find the perfect partner(s) whose interests are aligned with ours. Ultimately, we think bootstrapping and building the company up to be real gives us leverage down the road, i.e., we're not raising money to survive or test a hypothesis but to put more fuel in the tank so we can accelerate growth. Because of what we do, our 1 requirement is that they have o have been a customer of the product. We need believers :) We'll see. Right now, the focus remains squarely on the product, customers and the team. Thanks for the kind words.