Understanding how you can bootstrap your startup and logic & process that can be used as the firm develops in the “0-60mph” (early startup) phase of growth. I used these slides for my session at the Startup Leadership Program (SLP) 2018.

1. Bootstrapping
Your Startup
Ahimanikya Satapathy
Technologist, Entrepreneur,
Nature Lover

2. So Why Startup?
● You are passionate about a problem
● You have skills to solve it
● And someone is willing to pay for it

3. Do you want to become a Doctor or you want
to cure people, which one first?
Doubt your Intentions
Money is a scale to measure value, if you are
solving someone’s real problem, they will pay.
Do people value your solution

4. So, Why Bootstrap?
● Lack of Money will force you
build something that works
● Retain Control till you can
demonstrate a working Idea
● Coworking space is the new
garage, All cloud providers
have startup options

5. Bootstrap Definition: A situation in
which an entrepreneur starts a
company with little capital. An
individual is said to be bootstrapping
when he or she attempts to found
and build a company from personal
finances or from the operating
revenues of the new company.

6. OK, So how do I get started?
Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle and require
discipline, the most important one is financial
discipline. You need money all the way.
Over time I have developed something
called MLP (Minimum Livability Plan); this
could be one of ways to get started...

7. So, how do I really do it?
● Understand, Customer Money is the Cheapest Money
● Personal branding - help others - someone will help you
● Dig deep into competitors public content - don't build
product based their features, but know their weak
points
● Host in-house, it works - use basic linux machine
● Don't waste time in all free stuff, only get free things
thats is required for your business
● Don't give anything free to customers - remember
customers money is cheaper than VC money

8. Myths
Entrepreneurship = Venture Capital
Bootstrapping = Not Funded Yet

9. Bootstrap Business Models
● Sometime there are ideas or products that are niche but
may not provide scale to attract VCs; but it still can be a
viable business
● Sometime startup could stay bootstrapped in initial days
and while creating a stable product acquire customers
and then decide to scale with external fund
● Lifestyle business owners could choose to stay
bootstrapped for long

10. Tools to Bootstrap
Effectuation Principles

11. #1: Bird In Hand Principle
To build a new venture - start with your means:
● Who I am — my traits, tastes, and abilities
● What I know — my education, training, expertise, and
experience
● Who I know — my social and professional networks.
Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity. Start taking action, based on what you have readily available

12. #2 Affordable Loss Principle
● Think about affordable loss rather than expected returns. When required bring other
stakeholders on board and leverage what they can afford to lose together.
● By allowing estimates of affordable loss to drive decisions about which venture to start,
entrepreneurs stop depending on prediction.
● Cultivating opportunities that have a low failure cost & that generate more options for the future.
● The combination enables cheap failure and learning that can be applied to the next iteration of
the opportunity.
● An estimate of affordable loss does not depend on the venture but on the person. It varies from
person to person
Set affordable loss. Evaluate opportunities based on whether the downside is acceptable, rather than
on the attractiveness of the predicted upside

13. #3: Lemonade Principle
If you come across lemons, make lemonade!
Invite the surprise factor.
Instead of making “what-if” scenarios to deal with worst-
case scenarios, interpret “bad” news and surprises as
potential clues to create new markets.
Leverage contingencies. Embrace surprises that arise from uncertain situations, remaining flexible
rather than tethered to existing goals.

14. #4: Crazy-Quilt Principle
● Start the process without assuming the existence of a predetermined market for your idea
● Take the product to the nearest potential customer.
● Obtain pre-commitments from key stakeholders, suppliers or customers to reduce uncertainty in
the early stages of creating an enterprise.
● The partnership principle goes well with the affordable loss principle to bring the entrepreneur’s
idea to market with very little cash expenditure.
● Don't wed to any particular market so that the expanding network of strategic partnerships
determines, to a great extent, which market or markets the company will eventually end up
entering or creating.
Form partnerships with people & organizations willing to make a real commitment to jointly creating the
future-product, firm, market-with you. Don’t worry about competitive analyses & strategic planning.

15. #5: Pilot in the Plane Principle
The four specific earlier principles represent different ways
entrepreneurs interact with the environment to shape the
environment.
Not everything can be shaped or controlled, but effectuation
encourages you, as the pilot of your venture, to focus on those
aspects of the environment which are, at least to a certain
degree, within your control.
Control the controllable. Be the pilot of your venture, to focus on those aspects of the environment
which are, at least to a certain degree, within your control.

16. Effectual Cycle Effectuation isn’t a static,
one-time exercise.

17. Who can use this tool?
It is a logic & process that can be used as the firm develops in the “0-60mph” (early startup) phase of
growth
Existing business follow the process to gain early customers and committed partners who then create
new means and new goals as resources and viewpoints are added to the mix.
Thus, instead of having a stated goal and finding means to reach it, entrepreneurs use the new means
and new goals to drive the creation of the venture in ways they hadn’t expected, leveraging surprises
as they present themselves.
Effectuators use the process to lower the risk of the venture (by getting customers and income early,
setting affordable loss, and spreading risk to others) and finding truly new and useful market
opportunities by leveraging constraints and new information.

18. Thank You !!
I did an interview with Sridhar Vembu -
https://youtu.be/lXKqzWA5BUQ