The Value of Bootstrapping

Ryan Smith

I don’t think there’s a right or a wrong way to grow your business. Situations vary and the right time to raise funding is different for every startup. If you can use your own resources, then I recommend bootstrapping for as long as possible. You can never have those days back, and I believe the lessons learned are invaluable for the future of the business. Qualtrics waited 10 years and reached a $50M+ run rate before we took a financing round. In that regard we’re probably an outlier, but we did learn some lessons that are applicable to anyone: