Bootstrapping without dying in the attempt

By Neb Kovacevic

When Alex Grin, CTO of kiban and my partner and friend, and I started this project, the decision to sustain ourselves through bootstrapping was very organic: to begin with, in those years (2008) in Mexico there was no possibility of seeking investment rounds. In those days, my desire for entrepreneurship went hand in hand with my great passion for sales and prospecting. To build kiban, I set myself the task of meeting my clients in person. My interest was such that I visited several remote communities in Mexico to establish direct contact. This effort was invaluable because it was the only way I could get to know first hand the problems and needs of those who would later become my clients.

Bootstrapping: a path of freedom and responsibility

The knowledge I gained about my prospects was so profound that the service we created (klin, with Nkonect) was well accepted and the business went smoothly, which allowed us to sustain ourselves without seeking help. So bootstrapping came as a natural alternative, it was almost a consequence of the previous period of working with prospects.

Today we are somewhere else, but we still choose bootstrapping as a path for many reasons: both Alex and I want to be able to decide which direction to take, which strategy to use; neither of us wants to feel obliged to act in a certain way in exchange for immediate exponential growth. It's not that we don't want to grow, but the years have helped us to understand that sometimes time is essential to develop a good product. An example of this is what we are experiencing today in the company: only by respecting the processes we were able to reinvent ourselves and launch kiban cloud.

A business that can be enjoyed

Another reason why Alex and I decided to follow this path is our love for this project. We don't want to be a money-making machine that doesn't care about its employees. Our dream has always been to maintain a workplace where we like to develop, that our employees are happy working in our company and that together we can experience achievements and enjoy life. Obviously making money is one of our objectives, but we don't wake up in the morning thinking that this is the goal. What we want most of all is for this extraordinary adventure to live on and help others achieve their dreams as well. That was and still is our true motivation.

Entrepreneurs who do not know which path to follow could opt for bootstrapping if they focus on products or services that have the potential to convert to an immediate sale.

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