Company TBD

Sramana Mitra wrote a great article on Forbes asking why there aren’t more bootstrappers. And asserting that bootstrappers can help America out of our current economic funk.

She raises an important question – Why don’t we have more bootstrappers? Why are so many entrepreneurs interested in raising VC funds – especially for ultra-light web startups that don’t require a ton of capital?

One issue is bootstrapping is just not sexy. It takes many years to grow your company. You have to grind out revenues with meager funding from friends and family…all while eating PB&J sandwiches. Its much more sexy to say I have raised $X millions from well known VC firm while you cater in tuna tar tare into your trendy loft office space…right?

If so, then its a marketing problem. We need to make bootstrapping more sexy. Borrowing from the current Organic/Green hype – maybe the new term should be ‘The Natural Entrepreneur’ – no preservatives added. Think about it – slow food, grow your own, reduce waste, maximize your resources, minimize the impact on earth. All of this is the opposite of the grow fast, raise millions, hit the home run or go home crowd.

OK, more seriously though, I think there are three parts of the solution to this issue:

1. The media (both mainstream and blogs) needs to talk more about the everyday heroes who grew their companies slowly (or naturally)…as opposed to the current fascination with being the next Google. All the young budding entrepreneurs out there need to hear about these heroes as much as we hear about the guys and gals who hit the home runs and now worry where they are going to park their new jet.
2. Schools and Universities​ need to teach entrepreneurship as a real career option, not as a ‘roll the dice and you might get rich’ education. I think some schools have figured this out, we need more. Entrepreneurship is a teachable skill. Just like any other subject, some people are better at it than others, but the skills can be taught and learned.
3. Most importantly, Government needs to more actively support the bootstrappers with funds, incubator office space, tax credits, legal help, etc.

Clearly, lots more needs to be thought through with the above solutions and I plan on posting more on these topics. And what role should VCs have? Hey, someone has to fund the hundreds of millions for the large scale solar, wind and bio-mass plants that we need!

So next time someone asks you how much VC money you are raising – just say “nah man, I’m doing it Naturally”.

Update 8/31: Looks like there are others who believe too many entrepreneurs and VCs are chasing short-term money as opposed to looking to build long-term successful companies. Judy Estrin is a serial entrepreneur who thinks Silicon Valley is in trouble because of this mindset. Read her article in the NY times here.

Heard of the Slow food movement? Maybe we should start talking about the ‘Slow Revenue Movement’…