“Head west, young man”
Twelve years ago, I embarked on my own Lewis and Clark Expedition, going from the East Coast to Oregon. My journey featured a plush ride in a 1991 Ford Taurus emblazoned with neo-hippie band stickers. Portland drew me in, with its promise of rugged adventure, and the potential to do things differently. The other big reason for the move was getting a job at Nike, a culture that to me epitomized an innovative, entrepreneurial, and irreverent spirit. And free shoes of course!
Combine the two together, and I had a perfect platform to incubate my business ideas spanning the intersection of design, organizational change, and technology. From the early days of exploring BBSes to putting my university newspaper on the web, to working on intranet projects at Nike, I was fascinated by how to connect people online, help them communicate, and catalyze action.
But ideas aren’t worth much unless you can bring them to life. Once I had refined the concept enough through meetings with friends, basic drafts of the (now useless) business plan, and developed some connections, the vision came together. Bootstrap a company through client revenue, have an authentic brand, build a great team, and integrate sustainability. In short, our “common sense” plan born out of not knowing any other way of doing it.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be blogging on the top ten things I’ve learned through the startup experience. I don’t think any entrepreneur feels like the startup feeling ever ends. You’re always looking for new plateaus and solving new challenges. So why am I writing about it now? With the worst economy in generations and so much continued attention on VC/Angel funded startups, I figured this was the time to focus on a topic that’s all about finding opportunities and going after them the old fashioned way when resources are tight — bootstrapping. You may not need to head west to do it, but I can guarantee it’ll be an adventure!
August 14, 2009
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