MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1190434
private equity round to scale up the management team and put the infrastructure in place for staff expansion. It's worth noting the approach allowed him to retain 57 percent of the company's stock – an impossibility for any VC- funded firm. We discussed the "alternative" way to star t and build a company with a friend we'll call Larry. He bootstrapped his company more than 30 years ago, starting on a kitchen table using his own money as well as "loans" from friends/family. He built the company slowly, developing quality products that people needed/wanted and focused on standing behind the products 100 percent by focusing on customer service/support. We've seen photos of him balancing customer orders/ questions while his young son bounced on his knee. To him, family and customers had the highest priority and it's the philosophy that permeates the company. Today, the company is a highly successful and respected global firm in the technology industry. We find it somewhat ironic that CB Insights - an organization that leads the field in capturing and serving up information on startups for folks who want "a piece of the action," actually avoided and purposely rejected outside investors during the early days. They're now wildly successful, serving startups and VCs around the globe. All three of the individuals emphasized that fighting bureaucracy and keeping the company's culture were their most difficult challenges. They grind it out, invest long hours to build something from nothing and make their toughest decisions with only themselves as their own final counsel. Over our years of working with folks like these, the most important personality trait in successful entrepreneurs is not creativity or charisma. It's grit. Each of the self-funded entrepreneurs said building their organizations sounds fun, almost romantic; but stuff happens. No matter the funding route or depth of management/planning challenges still arise that money can't solve - technological roadblocks, logistical challenges,