As the laptop is booted, the origin of term 'bootstrap' flashed into my mind. The word 'Bootstrap' was coined from the computer lingo ‘booting’, which means starting a chain of processes which ultimately starts up the operating system.
However, in the business world, bootstrapping essentially means funding the venture on your own and not being dependent on external investors.
At Agilytics we have differing view from the thought that only funding guarantees success.
Pros and Cons
Bootstrapping is a tough way to go but it slowly brings-in revenue and establishes a safety net that will fund future investment in the business. Also it allows business owner to experiment more with the brand, as there is no pressure from investors to get the product right the first time.
The Bootstrap Mentality
The Bootstrap mentality is critical for us to succeed. It keeps the company focused on being frugal, innovative and agile. As a bootstrapped company, we have put on the lab clothes, lab goggles, burn gloves and we experiment. We are not afraid to think out of the box, try different things, get out of the herd mentality. A few tests and trials and it (product) will shine.
At Agilytics we focus on improving our products and delight our customers. Genuine customers would always go for better products, no matter the cost. There is a constant focus on understanding customer needs and action on feedback.
Taking a reference from Guy Kawasaki’s (ex-chief evangelist at Apple) blog, the Red pill or the Blue Pill dilemma sources from Neo’s quandary in the movie The Matrix, where he is given a choice to either accept reality or be in deep dream space. Bootstrappers take the red pill with pride. They go deep into the rabbit hole to see how deep it goes.
Elaborating the terms;
Frugal: means 'sparing or economical as regards money or food'.
Innovative: means 'featuring new methods; advanced and original'.
Agile: is to be able to move quickly and easily. Relating to or denoting a method of project management, used especially for software development, that is characterized by the division of tasks into short phases of work and frequent reassessment and adaptation of plans.
We support the bootstrap mentality, irrespective of whether a company has raised funding or not. The team should be focused on being frugal and innovative and take the red pill daily.