Bootstrap Calgary Launch!

Join us as we launch the Bootstrap Calgary network at the home for founders, House 831!

Inspired by the Boostrap Austin Network that helped shape Austin into a national entrepreneurship hub.

"I started the group to save myself some time - I was meeting with my fellow-entrepreneurs for coffee and lunch and thought it would be easier if we all just met up together! I also faced a distinct lack of support for bootstrappers and the bootstrap approach to building companies. In the bubble-era there was so much noise about the Venture Capital (VC) model, that it consumed all the available oxygen. This approach broadly involves: writing a business plan, raising millions of dollars, spending the funds quickly and going public/selling out in a short period of time. There was simply no space for a dialogue about bootstrapping - and why would there be - the quick exit of the VC is so glamorous and exciting! Indeed, it was somewhat disdained - if you hadn't raised $5MM, you weren't a bona fide entrepreneur." - Founder of Bootstrap Austin

The Bootstrap Network introduces an innovative framework for building a venture for long-term success. We use The Hero's Journey adapted for the entrepreneurial journey founders go through those who survive it come out as successful founders.

Too many founders have only a classic venture-scaling business as their model (and it's primarily the accelerators/incubators' fault for this), and it forces poor decisions and too much lost opportunity across the whole suite of players in the ecosystem.

What we learned in Austin is that in the end having founders who are trained in the bootstrap approach makes the job of accelerators, angels, and VCs easier and helps de-risk investment and create higher-quality deal flow.

Bootstrapping takes the best from both models, using the founders' unique passions and talents, leveraging constraint to fuel innovation, and allow the business model to emerge from the process.

Bootstrapping, in its many forms, is an approach taken by some of the largest and most successful companies out there. To name a few - Microsoft, Oracle, Dell, Virgin, HP, Whole Foods, The Body Shop. And indeed, there is evidence that a company's longevity correlates to whether it takes a bootstrap approach. (See The Living Company by Arie De Geuss.)

It's not that Bootstrap ventures don't take venture funding! It's that if they elect to do so, they do it at the right time, when they've successfully crossed the Valley of Death. Indeed, all indications are that VCs are moving back to engaging with companies in this stage of their development. This is a good thing - for the VCs, the companies, and the entrepreneurs!