When we mention that Kickdynamic was 100% bootstrapped (not a £/$ of outside investment), we would always get a "wow, that is amazing, how did you do it?".
When we mention that Kickdynamic was 100% bootstrapped (not a £/$ of outside investment), we would always get a "wow, that is amazing, how did you do it?"
I don't think we went into it deliberately with bootstrapping in mind - and in fact, about 3 years in, we looked at taking external investment, but we couldn't find a structure that worked for us. We wanted to be in full control, grow at our pace, and have the option to take dividends if/when we wanted.
Now - I’m a BIG believer in bootstrapping early in your business growth.
Therefore I wanted to discuss the bootstrapper mindset. As a business, particularly in the early stages, it's essential to cultivate this mindset. However, this doesn't mean you shouldn't raise funds or seek external financing. Instead, it's about adopting a mindset that sets you in a good position for running a business.
To me, a bootstrapped mindset is one that is profitable and capital-efficient. The self-funded mindset is about using your revenue for growth, being laser-focused on costs, shipping quickly, iterating rapidly, and being a scrappy business. Regardless of whether you raise millions in outside investment later on, starting with this mentality puts you in a strong position to grow profitably.
Being in a strong position means you can show profitability quickly, potentially raise funds on better terms, and weather any storms because you have cash in the bank. All these aspects are vital, embodying the essence of the bootstrapped mindset.
And if you have a bootstrapped mindset or are growing your business with this mindset, it does not mean I am not striving to build an exciting, high-growth company that generates substantial and durable returns in the millions.
I believe building a business with a bootstrapped mindset rests on 3 pillars:
The first and foremost thing you need to concentrate on is the most vital task at hand, and at the inception stage of any business, that invariably revolves around product development. It is of utmost importance to ensure that you have conceptualized and are working on the right product, one that effectively addresses and resolves a genuine problem faced by your potential customer base.
Once you have your product development on track, the next crucial element to focus on is sales, which essentially translates into acquiring customers. It is vital to understand and strategize effectively to ensure that your potential customers are made aware of your product and its benefits, convinced of its effectiveness in solving their problems, and ultimately, converted into actual customers.
Everything else, while important, should be of secondary consideration to these two pivotal aspects of setting up any business. Yes, it's true that setting up the administrative side of running a company, such as account management, managing logistics, and ensuring regulatory compliances, are important. However, these operational aspects, while necessary for smooth functioning, are secondary to the primary objectives of acquiring customers and ensuring your product is superior enough to solve their problems.
The next crucial step in the process is ensuring that product development is fundamentally based on the feedback received from the customers. This is a critical aspect as it ensures that you are not building your product in an isolated environment, detached from the needs and expectations of the end-users.
In order to successfully incorporate customer feedback into your product development, it is essential that you present your prospective customers with an initial version of your product as soon as possible. This could be a prototype, a minimum viable product, or a beta version, depending on the nature and scale of your project.
Once you've presented your product, it's time to gather feedback from the users. It's important to listen to their opinions, understand their perspectives, and identify the areas they believe need improvement. Once you've collected the feedback, the next step is to swiftly implement changes based on the feedback. This should be an ongoing process, where you continuously gather feedback, make necessary adjustments, and present the improved product back to the customers.
By maintaining this continuous feedback loop with your ideal customer, you can ensure that your product is being shaped and refined according to their needs and preferences. This way, you're not just developing a product, you're creating a solution that addresses the actual problems and needs of your customers.
This approach helps prevent the risk of building a product that, despite all the time, effort, and resources invested, ends up being unused or unwanted. Instead, you're ensuring that the final product you deliver is something that truly serves a purpose and adds value to your customers.
Another approach is to maintain a laser-like focus on costs, refraining from unnecessary spending. You don't need to attend expensive events or invest thousands in a booth to grow your brand. Your brand doesn't exist until you have 50 to 100 customers using your product and have completed about a year's worth of feedback loops. Once you've accomplished this, you're building your brand and can raise awareness because you know your product works. Plus, you have revenue from those 50 to 100 customers.
Practicing disciplined cost management sets you up for future success by preventing wasteful spending.
Assuming that you, as a founder, have sufficient funds to support yourself and your family (either from savings or a consultancy gig), you can grow a company to a £300k/£400k ARR before considering any potential outside funding. This approach allows you to tweak the product and your positioning, attract the right customer, and generate revenue. If you decide to raise money, you'll be more advanced than others who attempt to do so without these accomplishments.
Adopting this bootstrapped mindset can guide your business's growth.
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Before writing a line of code - figure out your business model
When we mention that Kickdynamic was 100% bootstrapped (not a £/$ of outside investment), we would always get a "wow, that is amazing, how did you do it?".