Innovative Ways to Bootstrap Your Startup Company

Entrepreneurs’ Network – 6:30PM, Tuesday, 6 October

Innovative Ways to Bootstrap Your Startup Company

Meeting Location – Constant Contact, 1601 Trapelo Road, 1st Floor, InnoLoft, Waltham, MA .

PRE-MEETING DINNER at 5:15 PM (sharp) at Bertucci’s, Waltham.

Entrepreneurs often think that the only way to grow their business is to raise capital from VCs or angel investors. While outside capital can fuel growth, it also carries a considerable cost in terms of time expended, loss of equity and loss of control. Surveys indicate that for the year ended 2011, of the 543,000 new business created in the U.S., only 29,626 (that is, only 5%) received VC or angel investor funding at the seed or early stage startup phase. And for many companies, the lack of VC or angel investment did not impede growth. In August 2012, Inc. Magazine published its list of the 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in the U.S., and 77% of the founders of those companies set up using only their own personal savings, with two thirds needing less than $100,000 to get started. And while 34% stated that access to external capital has been essential for growth, 42% have not utilized external funding in developing their business. Also, 74% have financed their growth over the past three years largely through cash flow from operations. So, how do you do it? In a word – Bootstrapping. That is – using your own resources and effectively managing your cash flow to internally generate the funds that you need to operate your startup business.

Apple, Google and HP all began in garages with free rent and we will hear from three experienced CEOs who have also built their business using bootstrapping techniques without VC or angel investment until they achieved important milestones and were well on their away. In some cases, they progressed all the way through to a successful acquisition exit without external funding.

Speaker: Joanne Lang, Founder and CEO of AboutOne, www.aboutone.com/about/our-story/

Joanne is the founder and CEO of AboutOne a gamified online organizer that adds filing and reporting capabilities to popular calendar and contacts applications. Using AboutOne products, users can quickly store and manage multi-media memories and household paperwork. Before starting AboutOne in 2010, Joanne was an executive on SAP’s original cloud technology team. She recognized that she had Facebook for friends and LinkedIn for business, but nothing in the middle to help manage her home life. She designed AboutOne based on her experiences as the mother of four. Joanne was named one of Forbes Top Ten Female Entrepreneurs to Watch, and Philadelphia Magazine’s 20 Coolest Start-Ups Oct 2013, received seed funding from Ben Franklin SEP, Series A funding from Golden Seeds and MAG, and was accepted in the Astia and DreamIt portfolios. Joanne shares her insights on both what to do and *not* to do when launching a product and marketing. Her talk will be on “How to Bring Your Product to Market Bootstrapped Style”. For those bootstrapping their companies, hers will be a talk you won’t soon forget. Joanne is a graduate of the University of Manchester Business School, and her passion is her four children, all boys aged 5 to 11. Joanne will be flying in special from Philadelphia where she lives to give this presentation and returning that night to be with her family – so ENET is most grateful for her to come and share her insights with us on October 6!

Speaker: Craig Bloem, Founder and CEO, LogoMix, Inc., www.logomix.com

Craig is an experienced serial entrepreneur focused on marketing and product strategy. He has over 10 years experience in marketing, business development and product management for developing internet businesses. From 2009 to 2011 her was co-Founder and CEO of Performable, a marketing software platform for businesses looking to optimize their marketing, sales and customer service efforts. Performable was acquired by Hubspot for a reported $20 million. Then, in 2011, Craig launched LogoMix to provide small businesses with easy-to-use tools to design and purchase identity products including logos, business cards, pens, polo shirts and other promotional products. Bootstrapped from the get-go, LogoMix has successfully scaled to reach more than 300,000 customers worldwide, and 25 million global users. Craig will relate his best techniques in successfully bootstrapping his companies. Craig is a graduate of Ithaca College, with a BS, Marketing and Management.

Speaker: Dr. Neil Goldfine, Founder, JENTEK Sensors, Inc., http://www.jenteksensors.com

Dr. Neil Goldfine is the founder, president and chief engineer of JENTEK Sensors, Inc., an Engineering Science company with award winning products for non-destructive testing and structural health monitoring used on a wide variety of industrial, commercial, and government applications. For JENTEK, SBIR grants provided financial resources and infrastructure that have been critical to the company’s growth. The company now employs 27 and the SBIR programs hasvebeen credited with allowing the company to grow to critical mass in 10 years rather than 30 years. The program also allowed JENTEK direct access to DoD customers and their defined needs which has also been important to the company’s success. Neil will speak on the SBIR programs and related benefits to bootstrapping companies. Neil has a Ph.D. MIT (1990), M.S. MIT (1985) B.S.E.E. University of Penn, B.S.M.E. University of Penn. (1981), and also has to his credit over 50 patents, numerous publications and technical awards

Moderator: Robert Adelson, business and tax attorney and partner at the Boston law firm of Engel & Schultz LLP (www.ExecutiveEmploymentAttorney.com ), is the Chairman of the IEEE Boston Entrepreneurs’ Network. Rob has been an attorney for over 30 years specializing in business, tax, stock and options, employment, contracts, financings, trademarks and intellectual property. Rob began as an associate at major New York City law firms before returning home to Boston in 1985 where he has since been a partner in small and medium sized firms before joining his present firm in 2004. Rob represents entrepreneurs, start-ups and small companies, independent contractors and employees and executives. Rob is a frequent speaker on business law topics and author of numerous articles published in Boston Business Journal, Mass High Tech and other publications. He has been named among the “Top 20 Boston Startup Lawyers” by ChubbyBrain.com, a website that provides tools for entrepreneurs. Rob has been on the ENET Board since 2002 and Chairman since 2009 and is also a Co-Founder and Board member of the 128 Innovation Capital Group. He holds degrees from Boston University, B.A., summa cum laude, Northwestern University (Chicago), J.D., Law Review, and New York University, LL.M. in Taxation.

Meeting Location: Constant Contact, Inc., Reservoir Place, Main Building InnoLoft Great Room, 1st Floor, 1601 Trapelo Rd., Waltham, MA (Exit 28B, I-95/Route 128)

Pre-meeting Dinner at 5:15 PM (sharp) at Bertucci’s, Waltham, (Exit 27B, Route 128)

Check for Updates at: Boston Entrepreneurs’ Network Website at ( http://www.boston-enet.org )

Directions: http://www.constantcontact.com/about-constant-contact/office-location-waltham.jsp

Reservations: ENET Constant Contact meetings are free to ENET members and $20 for non-members. No reservations are needed for the dinner. To expedite sign-in for the meeting, we ask that everyone — members as well as non-members — pre-register for the meeting online. Pre-registration is available until midnight the day before the meeting. If you cannot pre-register, you are welcome to register at the door.