New Year's Resolution - Bootstrap to $1 Million Revenue with Your Startup

I publish this series to discuss the nuances of bootstrapped entrepreneurship. Please subscribe to my Best of Bootstrapping series to never miss an article.

Can you hit $1M+ in Revenue in 2025?

In working through the current landscape of our industry, a few trends become evident:

A large percentage of VCs are chasing Unicorns.

Too much money chasing too few deals capable of delivering hyper growth bids up valuations.

Many Death by Overfunding tragedies have emerged.

My observation, having covered Bootstrapping for 20 years, is that the industry doesn’t fully understand Bootstrapping.

No, Bootstrapping and Venture Capital are NOT necessarily mutually exclusive.

The savviest and most successful entrepreneurs have Bootstrapped First, Raised Money Later.

VCs LOVE to invest in bootstrapped startups that have validated and de-risked their ventures before institutional capital is invested.

There is nothing wrong with that approach, as long as entrepreneurs understand a few key principles:

VCs love to come to the rescue of victory

Do not go to VCs as beggars, go as kings

Excess is not a requirement for success

Entrepreneurship = Customers + Revenues + Profits; Financing and Exit are Optional

Hypergrowth is not a natural phenomenon, but VCs demand it

If you think you need help, consider a free online mentoring session with me. I will diagnose your roadblocks and recommend a path forward.

You can also jump into a full-year Acceleration by joining the 1Mby1M Premium program with me.

Looking For Some Hands-On Advice?

If you’re looking to work with Sramana Mitra in private, please check 1-on-1 Consulting. If you are comfortable discussing in public, you can also come to our Free Mentoring Roundtables.