Monday, February 18, 2008

Bootstrap Sessions at RISE and SXSW

The second RISE Austin is March 4-6 (next week) as part of National Entrepreneurship Week. Bootstrap Austin is excited to be a partner in the event. A number of bootstrappers are leading sessions including Nancy Schill, Maura Thomas, Chris Greta, Michael Strong, Maggie Miller, Bjorn Billhardt, Kevin Koym and Bijoy. RISE is free and open to the public and a great way for potential and active entrepreneurs to learn and get inspired.

Bootstrap is also hosting 2 panels at SXSW Interactive:

Bootstrapping 101

Contrary to simple definitions centered around eschewing investor funding, bootstrapping is a third way of entrepreneurship. Differentiated from the cookie-cutter/franchise and VC/funding-driven approaches, it is an integration of these two paths. Bootstrapping brings together the low-cost features of the cookie-cutter, while generating the innovation of the VC. It can be described by its stages, actions and principles. The key stages are Ideation, Valley of Death and Growth; the key actions of each stage are Demo/Sell/Build; its principles include: right action right time, constraint creates innovation, dance with duality & use everything. Bootstrappers delay funding rather than reject it outright and bootstrap business models emerge from the process, rather than from up-front design or mimicry. Active bootstrappers working on our ventures, the panel will debate the differences between bootstrapping and other models and explain the unique bootstrap approach and mindset. You will gain a conceptual and hands-on understanding to get started on your venture.

Bootstrap Collaborations

Are you building a business, a non-profit, or artistic endeavor? Through building their businesses together, entrepreneurs can get to success faster. We will share examples of how entrepreneurs can use less financial capital and more social capital to make their businesses successful, drawing upon our experiences with Bootstrap Austin, and other "enterprise tribes". Our panel's diverse backgrounds will show how this way of building businesses is having an impact on artist, non-profits, and startup businesses.

Look forward to seeing folks at these sessions!

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