What companies that are making at least $1 million a year didn’t take funding?
I'm looking to learn from companies that were started in the last 2 - 3 years that are making at least $1 million a year but didn't take any outside funding.
I'm looking to learn from companies that were started in the last 2 - 3 years that are making at least $1 million a year but didn't take any outside funding.
Comments
You could try the Inc 5000 list:
http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2009/the-full-list.html
It's not exactly what you want, as these companies will have been in business a little longer, but you can filter the list by earnings and number of employees to see some higher-earning small businesses from recent years.
For example, there's Logik, discussed here a couple of days ago:
http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2009/company-profile.html?id=2009...
You might also try Mixergy, which has a bunch of profiles.
You sir win at being useful, I can't wait to get this list scraped in.
?
it's interesting and well structured data, but it's basically impossible to query for interesting things in the presented format...
37Signals [Signal vs Noise blog] has a feature called "Bootstraped, Profitable, and Proud" latest is below, there is at least one more I've read.
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2385-bootstrapped-profitable-...
That one is Logik and the other one is Campaign Monitor
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2342-bootstrapped-profitable-...
I think that the common thread for many businesses that have bootstrapped to high-profit profitability in very short order, with little startup capital is enterprise software that the founding team has either A) created and has a very good unique value proposition or B) services very well and in either case, has dedicated sales staff.
Most other businesses take a fair amount of money for either equipment or marketing. Logik talks instead about how it's first sale was around $45,000.
I'm amazed you weren't able to get more responses to this, but after racking my brain it took a bit to come up with one.
How about Threadless? Though I can't seem to find anything that says when they were founded, I'd guess it's about 3 years, but could be more.
37 Signals didn't taking funding until after they were already successful, and of course they've been around for more than 3 years.
threadless was founded in 2000ish. they didn't take money until around 2007ish.
37signals is about the same (time period and what not)
and of course there are many non-funded, non-tech, startups that make that much after 2-3 years too.
I spent a few years managing a bar that grossed that much. It's not a lot of money for a business.
Are we talking about gross or net here? It isn't clear. But yes, most capital intensive ventures are going to get a big gross.
Net
I know it's not a lot, but I am trying to learn from these company.
I've known a specialized contractor who has done as well in his first year.
what type of contractor?
hazardous materials removal.
can you list any you can think of please?
Balsamiq - http://www.balsamiq.com
I'm pretty sure PlentyOfFish.com qualifies.
They're more than three years old.