Bootstrap. Digital image. Colorlabs. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2014. <http://colorlabs.lemuel.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/bootstrap-guest-post-helga.png>.

Bootstrap your startup. No, I don’t mean get Bootstrap, a technological framework for developing your first projects on the web. Neither do I mean Boostrap Bill from Pirates of the Caribbean. Bootsrapping is a business concept which involves starting your own company up, from scratch, using your own funds or those you obtain from your startup. Entrepreneurs would be most interested by this concept of bootstrapping. However daunting it may seem, Forbes actually encourages the idea of bootstrap.

Forbes described the three main reasons for bootstrapping to be focus, purpose and iteration.

With focus, Forbes argued that CEO’s would be able to place most of their attention on creating value for their customers rather than “pitch, pitching, and improving their pitch.” I believe that this is a very relative argument, as many CEO’s of startup’s would be aiming to raise funds instead of actually placing their attention into how the company could better serve its consumers. In some cases, the funds are necessary in order to do so. Purpose relates to the fact that there will come a time when there are more and more shareholders within a company, and the true company culture may begin to become diluted as ownership does. Finally, iteration does not have as much of an effect on startups that bootstrap, as they are “more effective at making constant course corrections” primarily due to the fact that they are not politically and financially caught up with various shareholders.

I personally believe that all entrepreneurs should strive to boostrap, and feel that Forbes hits it on the nail with their evaluation of Boostrapping.

Sources:

Weber, Derek. “Why You Should Bootstrap Your Company.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 27 Jan. 2014. Web. 06 Nov. 2014.