The comparative advantage of bootstrapping a startup vs VC funding is the freedom and flexibility it gives the founder to move in any direction. Entrepreneurs often come across this roadblock of choosing between bootstrapping and venture capital as two primary means of funding their startups.

The comparative advantage of bootstrapping a startup vs VC funding is that it gives the founder the full control over their vision, strategy, and decisions. When entrepreneurs take on outside investors, they often have to give up some control of their businesses in exchange for funding. This can be difficult for entrepreneurs who are passionate about their businesses. And want to have a say in all aspects of its operations. By bootstrapping their startups, entrepreneurs can avoid this issue altogether.

Furthermore, the Financial stress of 2023 has affected banks and venture capital. Thereby making entrepreneurs to turn to bootstrapping their startup as the lasting solution. This is to get things off the ground. This is one of the comparative advantages of bootstrapping a startup vs VC funding. 

In this article, we’ll delve into the definitions of bootstrapping and venture capital funding, different methods of bootstrapping, stages of Bootstrapping a startup. And in our next article , we’ll delve into reasons why entrepreneurs choose to bootstrap their startups, the advantages of bootstrapping, and considerations of VC funding at some stage of development. We’ll also explore tips on how to determine which form of funding could work best, depending on your situation.

What’s Bootstrapping a startup? 

Bootstrapping a startup is the process of building a business from scratch. It comes without attracting investment or with minimal external capital. It is a way to finance small businesses by purchasing and using resources at the owner’s expense, without sharing equity or borrowing huge sums of money from banks.

Imagine you’re an entrepreneur with a big idea for a business that offers a better solution to an existing business model, automate processes faster and easier for customers, better visibility and centralized approach that enhance business decision making for businesses or a fresh new business niche, out of the box. Where do you turn for the precious startup financing to see you through the early stages of turning your dream into a durable commercial success?

In other words, bootstrapping is a process whereby an entrepreneur starts a self-sustaining business, markets it, and grows the business by using limited resources or money. This is accomplished without the use of venture capital firms or even significant angel investment.

An individual is said to be bootstrapping when they attempt to find and build a company from personal finances or the operating revenues of the new company. Bootstrapping also describes a procedure used to calculate the zero-coupon yield curve from market figures.

The year 2023 is shaping up to be difficult for small businesses. Many banks have collapsed following a run on assets. The Federal Reserve also keeps raising interest rates, with current rates at 4.75%-5.00%. All of these financial stressors add up to a banking climate that is lending less. The World Bank surveyed banks and found lending was down 18.3% in the first quarter of 2023. If businesses can’t get money from banks or venture capital firms, more small-business owners might need to turn to bootstrapping. https://blog.hubspot.com/the-hustle/bootstrapping-a-startup

What are Venture Capital Funds?

Venture capital funds are pooled investment funds that manage the money of investors who seek private equity stakes in startups and small- to medium-sized enterprises with strong growth potential. These investments are generally characterized as very high-risk/high-return opportunities.

While bootstrapping involves self-financing and balancing modest growth with profitability, venture capital funding entails seeking external investment in exchange for equity. Venture capital funds seek to invest in firms that have high-risk/high-return profiles, based on a company’s size, assets, and stage of product development.

In the past, venture capital (VC) investments were only accessible to professional venture capitalists, but now accredited investors have a greater ability to take part in venture capital investments. Still, VC funds remain largely out of reach to ordinary investors.

Venture capital funds take a more active role in their investments by providing guidance and often holding a board seat. VC funds, therefore, play an active and hands-on role in the management and operations of the companies in their portfolio.

And they have portfolio returns that tend to make small bets on a wide variety of young startups, believing that at least one will achieve high growth and reward the fund with a comparatively large payout at the end. This allows the fund to mitigate the risk that some investments will fold.

The investments are considered either seed capital, early-stage capital, or expansion-stage financing depending on the maturity of the business at the time of the investment. However, regardless of the investment stage, all venture capital funds operate in much the same way.

Bootstrapping Methods of startups 

The bootstrap method of startups is a statistical technique for estimating different ways or methods to minimize the amount of outside debt and equity financing needed to start a business. The technique involves averaging estimates from multiple small data samples. Importantly, samples are constructed by drawing observations from a large data sample one at a time and returning them to the data sample after they have been chosen. 

By using a collection of methods to minimize the amount of outside debt and equity financing needed from banks and investors, companies that are bootstrapping will look at:

Owner Financing:

The use of personal income and savings. Owner financing is a transaction in which a founder finances the startup directly with their co-founder and team, either in whole or in part. This type of arrangement can be advantageous for entrepreneurs because it eliminates the costs of a bank intermediary.

Personal Debt:

Usually incurring personal credit card debt. Your “personal debt” is how much money you owe to other people, businesses, banks, credit card companies, and other creditors in the course of starting your business. It depends on how you use and manage it. One guideline to determine whether you have too much debt is the 28/36 rule. The 28/36 rule states that no more than 28% of your gross income should be spent on your business. And no more than 36% on your business plus debt service, such as credit card payments.

Sweat Equity:

A party’s contribution to the company in the form of effort. The term refers to your team contribution toward a business venture or other project. Sweat equity is generally not monetary and, in most cases, comes in the form of physical labor, mental effort, and time.

Operating Costs:

Are the expenses incurred by a business that it uses to conduct its operations. These expenses may include payroll, rent, insurance premiums, utilities, and equipment maintenance. Operating costs do not include capital expenditures or depreciation. Bootstrapping a startup will entail keeping costs as low as possible.

Inventory Minimization:

Is a set of best practices for organizations wanting to use less capital while maintaining a saleable inventory. This is a vital part of inventory management that factors in the volatility of supply and demand. It is a method of balancing investment constraints against business objectives and fulfillment targets across a large variety of inventory stock-keeping units. It requires a fast turnaround of inventory.

Subsidy Finance:

Subsidized financing is a mode of financing in which the interest on the loans for sourced funds are paid partially or completely by the government or other public/private organizations such as NGOs. The subsidized financing process is a way to help companies grow and achieve efficiency in financing. It can take the form of government cash payments or tax reductions. 

Selling or Revenue Streams:

Are the various sources from which a business earns money from the sale of goods or the provision of services. While sales are always considered a revenue stream for any business, not all revenue comes from sales. It provides the cash to run the business which comes from sales or other means. 

Stages of Bootstrapping a Business/Company

The process of bootstrapping your small business can be divided into three stages: beginner stage, customer-funded stage and credit stage. You use your own savings or money from friends and family to start the business. Owners in this stage typically will continue working at their main job. A bootstrapped company usually grows through three successive funding stages:

Beginning Stage:

The founder continues to work a day job as well as start the business on the side, starting with some personal savings, debt, or investment money from friends and family. Maintaining a stable income can ease some of the stress of bootstrapping, as some businesses may take years to become profitable. You may want to keep a full-time job and work on your startup in your free time. Or you may want to focus on your new business while holding down one or more side hustles to help fund your venture.

Customer-Funded Stage:

A business arrangement between a vendor and its customer wherein the customer agrees to provide the vendor with some level of up-front funding in advance of delivery of the product or service. In this stage, money from customers is used to keep the business operating and, eventually, funds growth. Once the business is up and running, it’s time to generate revenue through sales of products or services. This stage involves using money from customers to keep the business operating and fund growth. Aiming for a smaller number of dedicated customers who generate consistent revenue can be a more sustainable goal for bootstrapped businesses than trying to reach thousands with lower spending habits. Once operating expenses are met, growth will speed up. 

Credit Stage:

In the credit stage, the entrepreneur must focus on the funding of specific activities, such as improving equipment, hiring staff, etc. At this stage, the company takes out loans or may even find venture capital, for expansion. To deal with the tradeoff , founders can consider a two stage logistic regression method based on the Bayesian approach. https://christopheclark.com/