WebInno 27 Breakout Session - Self-Funded Success Stories

When I received an email from WebInno organizer David Beisel asking if I would like to be on a panel featuring local “Self-Funded Success Stories” for WebInno 27 I was immediately psyched.  Last summer, BuySellAds.com was a main dish presenter at WebInno; winning the audience choice award that night did great things for our confidence, and I have always enjoyed WebInno’s as an attendee.  I would say WebInno is Boston’s best startup related event.

What I really liked was how David put the panel together.  There was a behemoth of a self-funded startup with Steve Conine’s CSN Stores - they’re doing over 300mm in revenue.  Next was David Hauser with Grasshopper, who has helped over 100K (WOW!) entrepreneurs with their expanding suite of tools.  And last but not least me with BuySellAds.com.  Looking at the lineup it goes from super big -> large -> small.  And, we were very lucky to have a great moderator: Laura Fitton of OneForty, author Twitter for Dummies, and overall well known face in the startup scene.  I was obviously thrilled to be included among this group.  Even though I was on the panel, I picked up some nice things from the other guys and also had time to process some more of my own thoughts since the event:

• Bootstrapping vs. Raising Money: they are just two sides of the coin.  It’s like the difference between entering the World Series Of Poker with only $100 by working your way up through a series of tournaments or just entering the World Series Of Poker with the 10K buy-in.  Winning with either method is really hard to do.  An while both make for a good story, the guy/gal who worked his/her way up on their own makes for a GREAT story.
• Relentless Customer Support was a key driver for us all early on in establishing a solid brand and building community.  It’s an overall theme of “helping people” that is responsible for some of the passion behind each company.
• Good PR and good karma we have attracted through truly caring about every nook and cranny of the business is critical for hiring.  More so for the big guys than BSA, but I can see how this will play into our future hiring plans.  People like to work for company’s that are well liked and do good business.
• We all built the first version of our product.  This was the most important common thread between the three of us that Steve Conine pointed out.  Without the ability to create that initial version to get in customer’s hands, we might not have been able to start our businesses.
• Confidence.  It was easy to see how the confidence graduated from BSA -> Grasshopper -> CSN Stores.  While we certainly have confidence at BSA, it’s not the same level of confidence that Steve Conine has at CSN Stores.

All-in-all, it was a very fun night, and I’m very honored to have been included on the panel.  Hopefully those in the crowd got some good takeaways.

Nick Goggans has some much better notes over here: Bootstrapping Pros Provide Hard Truths at WebInno27.