Bootstrappers are the Real Entrepreneurs

Posted by Tom Blue on June 15, 2009 under Companies, Funding, Investing | Be the First to Comment

I have gone to a lot of conferences and seminars over the years that were focused on startups, business plans, venture capital, etc. Not only that, but I graduated from USC with a degree in Entrepreneurship. Every single day we would have an entrepreneur or a venture capitalist present to the class.

Many times these speakers talked about how an entrepreneur is a unique breed, self reliant risk taker that goes through an enormous struggle when starting a company. This message almost always seemed to come from a VC and/or a so called chronic entrepreneur that received venture funding. I find this sort of ironic considering I believe the real entrepreneurs are the bootstrappers.

An entrepreneur is someone that assumes the risk of a company and owns all aspects of a business. First of all, almost all founders of vc funded companies get a 6 figure salary. You call yourself a risk taker? When I started my company I had nothing. If I didn’t make a profit that month I was seriously hurting. In my late twenties I was couch surfing to save money and when I did have enough for an apartment it was a literally a box with no kitchen. My car got repossessed! I am not trying to say my life has been tough(it hasn’t), but I am bit tired of the violin playing CEO of a company that got $5M in funding…

Second, once you get financing you are not in control of a company regardless of what you might think. Bootstrappers completely control their destiny… Even if you try to blame your failure on an employee you have to look at yourself. You are the one that hired them. If you fail it is because of you. You make the final decisions.

No offense to anyone that has received venture capital… I am sure I will raise money for other ventures in the future. I am just asking if we could make the struggle a little less sensational…