Category: Uncategorized

Bootstrap Funds: Post-Traction Investments, Access to Experts, Islamic Finance

A cowboy boot with US currency superimposed on it

There’s a big gap between billion-dollar unicorns and small businesses.

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🔍 Problem

Founders of niche businesses struggle to find smart, aligned advisor networks.

Venture capital funds provide capital and guidance. But this comes with billion-dollar expectations.

💡 Solution

Bootstrap funds are built to provide funding, connections and thrive without billion-dollar exits.

In order to survive, VC funds rely on one or more companies to return the fund.

VC funds are built on the premise that most investments will fail or break even. This is a feature not a bug. But VC doesn’t work for most companies.

This model may work when major network or scale effects are at play. These are powerful forces that blunt competition and protect margins. Think Google, Facebook and Uber.

Bootstrap funds are designed for less extreme outcomes. They tend to invest post-traction and operate in niche markets.

Think Castos (podcast hosting), MakerPad (education) and StaticKit (developer tools).

These are not billion-dollar rocket ships or traditional small businesses.

🏁 Players

Bootstrap Funds

Portfolio Companies

Advisors

🔮 Predictions

  • Advisor networks will make or break bootstrap funds. Post-traction companies have no shortage of funding options. Founders are choosing bootstrap funds to align interests with and get access to experts.
  • Nearly all bootstrap fund LPs (limited partners) will be experienced advisors. Operators have capital to invest. Bootstrap funds will prefer to feed the flywheel rather than add deadweight.
  • Some companies will harness network/scale effects and jump from bootstrap funds to VC funds. Bootstrap funds will have a chance to exercise equity rights.

☁️ Opportunities

  • Study Islamic Finance to make better shared earnings agreements. Specifically profit and loss sharing. Sharia law prohibits interest payments and creates a natural experiment to study the history and practices of profit sharing.
  • Invest in a bootstrap fund.
  • Start a bootstrap fund in a meaningful niche.

😠 Haters

“Bootstrap funds?! That’s an oxymoron.”
Yes. What’s life without a little cognitive dissonance? So roll with it.

“These companies have traction. They should not give up equity.”
Some founders beg to differ. They can find cheaper, non-dilutive capital but opt for bootstrap funds instead. Hint: It’s not about the capital. They want help.

🔗 Links

  1. The Alternative Funding Options For SaaS Start-ups Cheat Sheet — Geoff Roberts
  2. For Investors: What is a Shared Earnings Agreement and How does it compare to a SAFE? — Tyler Tringas
  3. AMA with Tyler Tringas from Earnest Capital — Jacob Peters
  4. Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company — Sahil Lavingia
  5. Why We’re Putting A Bunch of Our Savings into TinySeed — Rand Fishkin
  6. Funding for Bootstrappers 2: What we learned — Tyler Tringas
  7. Why Smash.vc is not vc — Travis Jamison
  8. My Next Act: Building The First Startup Accelerator Designed for Bootstrappers — Rob Walling
  9. Why venture capital doesn’t work for everyone — Eric Johnson


Co-Living: Sharing Economy, Downsizing, Experiences

Picture of a living room from a co-living facility.

The sharing economy, downsizing and a focus on experiences set the stage for co-living.

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🔍 Problem

The cost of living in major cities is rising faster than wages.

🏁 Players

Co-Living Spaces

Co-Living Networks

Co-Living Directories

🔮 Predictions

  • Co-living networks (such as Selina and Outpost) will continue to grow.
  • Co-living network members will be able to travel the world with low switching costs. (Predictable revenue from subscriptions will enable this.)
  • Co-living spaces will form around interests, i.e., house music lovers, startup founders, tennis players and more.
  • Niche co-living spaces will be used for mentoring. A community of retired lawyers may provide legal advice to startup founders. (Prediction by Keith Bradley)
  • Many who can afford to live alone will choose community over seclusion
  • Equity firms will do ‘co-living rollups’ to form networks. Branding, booking, accounting and other services will be consolidated.
  • The next recession will lead to more co-living. (EDIT: Unless the next recession is caused by a pandemic 🥴)

☁️ Opportunities

  • Start a co-living space (See this guide)
  • Develop hardware for co-living spaces (Check out SALTO)
  • Create a co-living quiz to match residents to spaces 
  • Create subscription services for co-living residents (snack packs, dry cleaning, curated clothing boxes)
  • Develop value-add services for co-living spaces (fitness training, massages, cleaning, shuttles, catering, tours)
  • Invest in a REIT with co-living holdings
  • Create specialized furniture for co-living common areas
  • Build software to solve co-living problems such as security and shared resource booking

😠 Haters

“This is no different than roommates.”
Co-living approaches shared space from first principles. These spaces accommodate more people with better unit economics. And without the annoyance of bill splitting.

“This is no different than dorms.”
Similar concept. Both demographics are skewed young. But many co-living residents are young professionals not college students.

🔗 Links

  1. Co-Living Is Not a Trend, It’s How Everyone Has to Live Now — Liz Steelman
  2. ‘Co-living’: the end of urban loneliness – or cynical corporate dormitories? — Will Coldwell
  3. Millennials are paying thousands of dollars a month for maid service and instant friends in modern ‘hacker houses’ — Melia Robinson
  4. The Case for Co-living — Joe Frabotta
  5. “Co-living” is the new “having roommates” — Rani Molla
  6. The Coliving Code Podcast — Christine McDannell
  7. Co-Living 2.0 Trend Stronger Than Airbnb and WeWork? — Gord Collins
  8. Hacker houses offer shared living for the young, green, and tech-obsessed — Samantha Larson