I attended a panel discussion on Friday at the MIT Club of Northern California, Convergence, Community and Commerce (C3) program moderated by Sramana Mitra, strategy consultant and Forbes columnist, on the Art and Science of Bootstrapping. This topic is near and dear to my way of thinking about building a business.
The panel was marvelous, the kind of entrepreneurs that set the benchmark for others. They called themselves doers not managers, and ran very P&L orientated businesses. They didn’t build business plans with years and years of red ink baked in. While they recognized that some business models need that injection of rapid capital from a VC, this group charted their own course. Some called it freedom; others called it a different kind of control, the one you set for yourself. Each grew their business in a different way:
Have a Plan
Michelle Munson, President, CEO of Aspera Software, had a really good idea for a great technology, and the determination and discipline to stay the course. She and her co-founder knew their market and hit their sweet spot. In other words, they had a plan and stuck to it.
Follow your Skill
Paul Kocher, Founder, President and Chief Scientist, Cryptography Research, has great skills and I would say even better business acumen. He funded his business through consulting, learning about customer needs and market opportunities.
Be Opportunistic
Sridhar Vembu, CEO and Founder, Zoho, said he didn’t have a business plan, he just started. He stayed frugal and persistent.
Throw out the Plan
Beatrice Tarka, CEO, Mobissimo, and her co-founder were building an enterprise software application when their own internal application, built so Beatrice could find cheap tickets between France and the Silicon Valley, took off.
Sramana Mitra has captured their stories in her book series, Entrepreneur Journeys. Meanwhile, here are some takeaways from the panel discussion that every entrepreneur can take to heart, and to the bank:
Be stubborn, disciplined and obstinate
Be constantly learning
Build a team with complementary skills
It’s not about the money
Know your funding options
Remember serendipity and luck are also needed
Have a big vision and break it down into small, actionable steps.
And, of course,
Build the capability to execute.
