Hey bootstrappers,

>> Can you beat the law of diminishing returns?

When you launch your business, one thing soon becomes clear:

Growth, the increase of revenue and profits, is seldom linear. 

In the early stages, it’ll likely be in fits and starts. A customer here, another there, followed by brief bursts as they respond to your sales and marketing campaigns. 

Predictable growth, however, can help you derive the most value at exit. Your business should scale over time to show potential acquirers that your success is ongoing.

This begs the question: Do you keep investing in marketing to maintain momentum, which might mean raising capital, or find another way?

One of the biggest advantages of bootstrapping is that it forces you to think your way out of problems, including the one of scale and predictable growth. 

This week’s founders all took radically different approaches to scaling their businesses, and yet all three now earn millions of dollars:

• One built a global cloud-engineering firm with freelancers only.

• One said yes to all of his clients’ requests – no matter how challenging.

• Another spent seven years educating customers of their product’s value. 

Plenty of scaling secrets lie within these stories. Just click the links below to reveal them. 

– Chris Roper

Josh Haynam and Matthew Clark help companies connect with their customers through meaningful interactions in their seven-year journey to build a multimillion-dollar business.

These Founders Spent Seven Years Convincing Customers of the Value of Quizzes to Earn Their First Million Dollars

“That saying of needing seven touchpoints with a prospect before they convert is very real. But because there was no market or industry for our type of business yet, no one else was talking about it. As a result, we had to be all seven of those touchpoints.”

David Riggs started growth agency Pneuma at nineteen years old, doing everything his clients asked, including recruitment and on-site tools, because he loves the challenge.

To Build a Million-Dollar Business, You Have to Take Risks, Says Founder of SEO and Social Media Startup, Pneuma

“When clients say yes or no, it’s never about price but about how well you articulate your value. Because I’m young, if I’m going to win deals, I have to be radically different. I sold more because I was honest and direct with my clients.”

After winning a multinational client as a freelancer, Diego Woitasen needed to scale his team fast. Today, his team of over 40 former contractors now make up his team running cloud apps for clients.

Post-Seed Founders Who Want Fast App Deployment Are Flocking To This Startup Staffed Entirely of Contractors

“We call ourselves a ‘staffing plus’ service right now because we provide professional engineers to do all the building and operation of the cloud. I think in the future we will start packaging services in a bit more of a productized way so revenue doesn’t rely so much on headcount.”

“Invest in the rest of your life as well as your business. The answers to business questions often come from somewhere else. If you’re only thinking about your business, you’re going to get stuck. It’s also easy to feel like nothing is going right in your life if nothing is going right in your business.”

 - Josh Haynam, Interact

If you've got a great story about your bootstrapped company, we want to help tell it. Fill out this form and we'll be in touch soon. 

What did you think of this week's stories?