Bootstrapping is specifically about pursuing revenue instead of investment. So no, I think many tech companies definitely don't bootstrap until they get investor money. The common model is investor money first, revenue later.
On the East coast, I've heard of many small businesses that self-funded (savings and/or spouse) to get started, and never took any funding. Never heard of even one incident of a small business that was invested in. Obviously it's a different world in Silicon Valley, but if we look at the nation or globe, what is more common?
Sorry if I was unclear. When I said "the common model" I was referring to the context of the previous sentence (and also this article and this site), tech startups. I agree that most normal businesses are self-funded.
That was part of his point, right? That bootstrapping and taking funding are not mutually exclusive - you can (and often should) seek customers before funding, and then if you ever want to accelerate your growth, you can always take funding later.
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Not exactly the most honest title, BigCommerce was bootstrapped until $7m in revenue.
In theory, everybody bootstraps until they get funding, don't they?
Bootstrapping is specifically about pursuing revenue instead of investment. So no, I think many tech companies definitely don't bootstrap until they get investor money. The common model is investor money first, revenue later.
Is it more common? Citation requested.
On the East coast, I've heard of many small businesses that self-funded (savings and/or spouse) to get started, and never took any funding. Never heard of even one incident of a small business that was invested in. Obviously it's a different world in Silicon Valley, but if we look at the nation or globe, what is more common?
Sorry if I was unclear. When I said "the common model" I was referring to the context of the previous sentence (and also this article and this site), tech startups. I agree that most normal businesses are self-funded.
That was part of his point, right? That bootstrapping and taking funding are not mutually exclusive - you can (and often should) seek customers before funding, and then if you ever want to accelerate your growth, you can always take funding later.