A comprehensive guide for tech entrepreneurs to acquire vital resources while delaying or entirely avoiding the need for highly dilutive equity sales. In today's start-up environment a common mindset among tech founders is to raise investment funds through an equity sale as a first option whenever acquiring additional resources becomes necessary. Indeed the amount of investment funds secured has become a measure of success. In reality the subsequent equity dilution and loss of decision-making control suffered by the founders only reduces the potential ROI for the founders and increases the probability that the original vision of the venture is not pursued and/or achieved. Consequently raising investment funds through an equity sale should not be the first option and when successfully executed is nothing to boast about. What is boastful and impresses most sophisticated investors is the ability to garner as much traction as possible before "settling" for an equity sale.Another recent prevailing notion amongst founders the author counters is that every aspect of a start-ups' existence can be approached scientifically and the need for strategic financial planning is no longer necessary. This could not be further from the truth. Although new processes and methodologies such as Lean and Agile give valuable guidance on how to conduct customer and product development efforts successfully, ultimately fits well within an overall bootstrapping strategy and may serve as a decisive factor on whether the innovation created by a tech start-up is commercially successful it still does not sufficiently address the issues of securing the necessary resources in a timely manner nor ensure a successful exit in financial terms for the founders.In his new book David presents an alternative mindset allowing founders to devise a bootstrapping strategy whereby the optimal amount of traction can be accomplished before an equity sale becomes necessary. Drastic changes in the start-up landscape during the past few years have increased the importance of bootstrapping as start-up cycles have lessened and the Lean era has commenced. Subsequently a premium is placed on "good" money as opposed to "bad" money and a challenge to the wealth vs. control dilemma is in order. In this new start-up environment there is less margin for error in decision-making, an increased need for efficiency and greater reliance on alternative sources of funding. All of this has necessitated a revised definition of the term "bootstrapping" from merely a descriptive term to an overall strategy that can be pursued by founders of tech ventures to increase both the probability of commercial success and a lucrative financial exit for all shareholders.
About the Author: David possesses twenty years of entrepreneurial experience as a founder, co-founder, board advisor and mentor to numerous tech start-ups in both America and Asia. He currently resides in Bangkok, Thailand where he serves as a private equity advisor at MBMG Group, a leading corporate advisory firm. David continues to be an active advocate and participant in the Thai start-up scene frequently participating as a key note speaker, panelist and pitch judge at local start-up events. Additionally, he has lectured on entrepreneurship and has advised entrepreneurial students at several of the leading university programs in Thailand. David has also been an active participant in start-up events throughout Southeast Asia. In 2013 David was selected to serve as a key note speaker and judge at the UN-Sponsored 2013 World Summit Awards held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He continues to be a WSA Eminent National Expert and following the competition he successfully petitioned to have Thailand join the WSA Nomination Process, serving on the first WSA Thailand Nominating Committee. Recently he served on the WSA global online jury for the 2015 competition. David has written extensively on advising tech start-ups. In 2012 David founded Finance for Geeks, his first blog imparting strategic and financial advice to start-ups. Shortly thereafter his first book was published by John Wiley & Sons titled Start-Up Guide for the Technopreneur. In 2013 David co-founded Thailand Startup Review, a comprehensive blog covering the Thai start-up community. David is the Publisher & Editor of the Thailand Startup Funding Report available at Thailand Startup Review. David will soon resume conducting his expanded Finance for Geeks Workshop Series and his second book, Bootstrapping Strategies for Tech Startups, will be published soon. David holds a B.A. Degree in History and Political Science from the State University of New York at Albany, a M.S. Degree in International Affairs from Florida State University and completed the coursework for the Masters in International Business Studies Degree from Georgia State University. He was formerly Series 3 and Series 7 Licensed as a registered broker in the American equity and futures markets respectfully.