Lisa Thorén on BabyBjörn's Bootstrap Journey - Sep 3, 2020

Live at Heart 2020 was a virtual affair (thanks COVID). But it didn't stop us from having a conversation between Örebro, Stockholm and Austin on bootstrap entrepreneurship (thanks ZOOM). The audio is on the BootRap ATX Podcast with video in the pictures below. 

Lisa Thorén, daughter of Björn Jacobsen, who started BabyBjörn in 1961 with his sister-in-law, Elsa. Lisa's arrival was an inspiration for a product! Lisa's mom, Lillemor joined the company in the 80s and Lisa joined the company in 1994. It's been a real family affair which continues to the present day. Lisa's involvement as a team member (7:38) came at a critical time, both in the company's history and during a shift in how countries outside Sweden were changing with shared parenting duties. While BabyBjörn 1.0 (pre-Lisa) was about its products, 2.0 ushered a sharing of Swedish parenting practices.  

Lisa shares how the company proceeded through the stages of the Bootstrap Map (14:25), with a description of the stages by Bijoy. The early inspiration came from Björn babysitting (21:50) his nephews and nieces and a baby bouncer purchased in the US. The first customer came about in a very special way. 

BabyBjörn Bootstrap Map

Parallels with LEGO (29:55) and Apple (35:30) emerged. Lisa explains her metaphor of climbing a mountain and identifying what/who are needed to make the ascent. What are the roles, especially for founders, as the company evolves? And the importance of complementary skills and maintaining a continuous connection with customers. 

Swedish bootstrap entrepreneurs, please join the Bootstrap Sweden Community on facebook!  

Dan Ariely on our Predictable Irrationality - Sep 2, 2008

The Bootstrap Marketing Subgroup chatted with Prof Dan Ariely, author of numerous books explaining the vagaries of human behavior and choice. Subgroup lead and BootRap Producer, Brian Massey interviewed Dan about his research and book, Predictably Irrational, and how these insights could be used in marketing and pricing. Brian provides a summary of the book in the first section and the interview begins at: 8:44. 

Topics covered include: Decoy Model, the power of comparison; social vs market exchange; price anchoring and Starbucks; TiVo v DVRs; fe/male differences in purchasing; the challenges of focus groups and bad data; anti-depressants vs placebos; the importance of moving marketing earlier in the product-creation process; design for physical AND cognitive differences; how the 2008 mortgage crisis was created by short-circuited human decision-making; how credit cards separate consumption from experience; Gucci, Prada & fakes; why consuming gas is stressful; the pain of pain; how lawyers should charge for their services; and much more. Dan also provides advice on how to appreciate the pain associated with the entrepreneurial journey. The conversation ends with a fascinating puzzle, the answer to which reveals our own proclivity to being "predictably irrational!"

BootRap ATX episode produced by Brian Massey of the Intended Consequences Podcast. 

David Galenson Bootstrap Art - April 11, 2008

Prof. David Galenson shares fascinating model of two types of artists from his book, Old Masters and Young Geniuses:  experimental/old masters and conceptual/young genius. This interview by Bootstrap Art Subgroup Lead Marcy Hoen, expanded into a conversation with Bootstrap Art members Till Richter, Roi James and others.

The old dictum "know thyself" starts with the artist understanding whether they are experimental and conceptual. This is especially important for experimentalists, because modern art is dominated by conceptualist. The blessing of being a conceptual artist who is recognized, becomes the curse, because they get identified for that innovation. On the other hand, an experimentalist often has to work in obscurity for long periods of time, before ever achieving. There's a process of actually discovering whether you are one or the other. You might spend a long time trying to be one, like Cézanne. Don't compare yourself to the other.

Artists discussed include: Louise Bourgeois, Jackson Pollock, Leonardo Da Vinci (experimental), Vincent van Gogh (conceptual), Paul Cézanne (experimental), Eric Clapton, Paul Signac, Georges Seurat, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Ignazio Jacometti, Frank Lloyd Wright (experimental), Virginia Woolf, (experimental) Pablo Picasso, Jasper Johns (conceptualist), Joseph Heller (conceptualist), Stanley Kubrick (conceptualist), Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Norman Rockwell, Camille Pissaro, Paul Gauguin, Damien Hirst,  Matthew Barney, Gerhard Richter, Kehinde Wiley, Anselm Kiefer.

BootRap ATX episode produced by Brian Massey of the Intended Consequences Podcast.

John Paul DeJoria Interview - August 27, 2008

JP has created multiple ventures, with Paul Mitchell and Patrón Tequila being just two of the most well-known. In this interview with Bootstrap Austin founder, Bijoy, he reflects on his bootstrap entrepreneurial journey building Paul Mitchell with his eponymous cofounder. He uses the lens of the Bootstrap Map and in his own inimitable JP way, renames one of the stages too!

BootRap ATX episode produced by Brian Massey of the Intended Consequences Podcast.

Barry Thornton on Ideation - August 8, 2008

 Knowledge + Action = Power (Barry's Equation)

Serial bootstrap entrepreneur Barry Thornton, "the guy that looks like Santa Claus," shares his riveting and far-ranging wisdom with the Bootstrap Austin Ideation Subgroup. ClearCube, Monster Cable, are just a couple of the companies he cofounded. He opines on the uselessness of patents, logos, education, degrees and getting consumed with ideas. Conversely, the importance of self-understanding, taking action, demonstrations, solving a pain, making decisions, customers, finding partners along the way, swapping the "sell" and "demo" steps and combatting fear and inaction by telling people. During Q&A, Barry uncovers the true game of venture capital and its evolution over multiple generations

A smattering of topics Barry covers: Jethro Tull, Joe Cocker, Gödel Escher Bach, Fugues and the mind, Thomas Jefferson, the lies people tell you and who you really should talk to, long tails, the evolution of the mind, homo sapiens as "decision maker," where ideas come from, how entrepreneurship is co-creative, being on an excursion versus being in business, starting in the garage and leaving it as soon as possible, the role of employees, changing lives, salespeople, gaining strength from the ideation process, Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm, & Inside the Tornado, creating wakes, careers versus entrepreneurs, vanity items, provisional patents and "entremanures!"

BootRap ATX episode produced by Brian Massey of the Intended Consequences Podcast.

Relaunch of Bootstrap BootRap Podcast

The BootRap ATX Podcast was hosted for many years by HearThis, an early podcasting site. The podcast was produced by Bootstrap contributor Brian Massey of the Intended Consequences Podcast. Talks and interviews given at Bootstrap Austin meetings comprised the bulk of the podcasts. While recorded a decade+ ago, they remain quite prescient and insightful for bootstrap entrepreneurs. 

The podcast is being relaunched on Spotify and other platforms for your listening pleasure. Subscribe and enjoy!

Creatives Meet Business Bootstrap Session Podcasts Available

The 6 podcasts from the CMB Roundtable guide you through the Bootstrap Map:

1. Intro
2. YOU
3. Quest(ion) 
4. Ideation
5. Valley of Death
6. Growth

Ideation didn't make the cutting floor. We also didn't cover Rebootstrap...but that's much later!