This is my company Drifty (http://drifty.co/). We make make HTML5 dev tools Codiqa and Jetstrap.
In 2012 my best friend and I bootstrapped the company while working full time (we just charged for our products). We made enough to go full time later that year and we employ one person and are hiring more.
We are actually in TechStars right now (score one for great value-add seed investors), but we are saying "no" to extra money beyond that. Why? We think bootstrapping it fits who we are and what we want this company to become.
Does that mean we are a "lifestyle" business? I don't see it that way. We are still insanely motivated and have high aspirations for this company, but we don't think throwing tons of cash in it will have the best result for us, our happiness, our customers, or our long-term sustainability.
We go back and forth every day about raising, but we have a lot of support not to right now, so we'll see what happens.
Great to see you and other companies head in this direction. If you have revenue early enough it's a game changer. Glad TechStars is supporting you in this decision.
In 2012 my best friend and I bootstrapped the company while working full time (we just charged for our products). We made enough to go full time later that year and we employ one person and are hiring more.
We are actually in TechStars right now (score one for great value-add seed investors), but we are saying "no" to extra money beyond that. Why? We think bootstrapping it fits who we are and what we want this company to become.
Does that mean we are a "lifestyle" business? I don't see it that way. We are still insanely motivated and have high aspirations for this company, but we don't think throwing tons of cash in it will have the best result for us, our happiness, our customers, or our long-term sustainability.
We go back and forth every day about raising, but we have a lot of support not to right now, so we'll see what happens.