About BootstrappingStories.com

We're finally up and running on our own host and involved with "beta" testing!

Here's what we are doing now:

We are creating our Editorial Team and Advisory Board â€“ see our links for more information.
We are arranging additional Sponsorships, advertising/product placements, and/or other mutually beneficial collaborations with appropriate entities. We would like to thank the individuals (and their organizations) who have already embraced our vision of promoting the message of entrepreneurial bootstrapping.
Presently, we are introducing the site through word-of-mouth while we continue to negotiate the above relationships. We anticipate the need for doing so in advance of any large-scale public announcements, such as through media releases.
We would like a small number of stories, as long as story submitters understand that we are still testing our systems and processes.
For any others, do realize that we are testing our systems and ironing out glitches. If you have problems, you may contact our Founder and Executive Director using our online form (and please do).

About Entrepreneurial Bootstrapping

Entrepreneurial "bootstrappers" use creative methods to start and operate businesses. Some entrepreneurs have no other choice, lacking capital or the ability to obtain financing through traditional methods such as collateralized business loans. On the other hand, bootstrapping can be a philosophy, a way of business life based on values such as individualism, self-sufficiency, and a desire to grow a business organically through initiative, ingenuity, and hard work.

Bootstrappers may use financing resources such as credit cards, home equity loans, or money from friends, family members, or personal savings, intentionally. They might also use the cash that they generate from customers or the generous repayment terms that they negotiate with suppliers to launch their bootstrapped business. Dealing with venture capitalists and bankers always entails giving up some control, or perhaps all of it. Most loans come with strings attached!

While estimates and definitions vary, here's what we do know: According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the vast majority of businesses (99.9 percent) can be characterized as "small" businesses, with fewer that 500 employees. 72 percent of the 25.8 million businesses in existence today have no employees. We also know that 27 percent of employing businesses have their primary location in a home (as estimated by the National Federation of Independent Business). Finally, we know that most businesses use some form of bootstrapping to get started and to manage their ongoing operations.

It's been said that bootstrappers do have one advantage over traditionally financed businesses: Bootstrappers tend to find creative workarounds. As underdogs, they've got to be clever enough to outsmart the big dogs. They learn to drop-ship, barter, partner, share space, and how to otherwise employ good, old-fashioned do-it-yourself methods. BootstrappingStories.com provides a place where entrepreneurial bootstrappers can be recognized. Their successes provide a source of inspiration for all of us who may be looking for heroes, especially in hard times. When a bootstrapper starts a business from scratch, and makes that business take off, powered by courage, passion, blood, sweat, and tears, he or she creates something to be admired. Others may struggle, and their stories should be noticed, too. We may learn from these negative examples, what not to do.

As this site continues to collect Bootstrapping Stories, it is becoming more and more a valuable resource and repository. We wish to reward consummate bootstrappers with an Awards Program, and by promoting their stories in additional outlets through an aggressive outreach program.

Each time a bootstrapper's story is posted on this site, we hope that he or she will gain additional recognition and local publicity by sharing this information with media contacts in his or her community. The most recent submissions appear on our home page, and our Editors--aided by a sophisticated "boots" popularity and ratings algorithm--periodically select the best stories to disseminate in other formats, such as printed publications and with the media. In short, BootstrappingStories.com is the place where entrepreneurial dreamers and doers come to share, find new friends, and to be recognized.