Bootstrapped Focus

Why Bootstrapped?

You’ve built a company and culture you are proud of and the market has validated your product. And you’ve done it all without taking venture capital. But there’s more you want to achieve. We can help. Here are just a few of the reasons we choose to partner solely with bootstrapped companies:

Successful bootstrapped companies inherently have strong core products that have been validated by the market. These companies typically benefit from word-of-mouth which creates tailwinds for sales and growth early on in a specific segment of the market. The next phase of expansion requires a different approach. Mainsail helps companies formalize their product development process, optimize pricing and evaluate and attack new market opportunities through product strategy and innovation. Getting this right is often the key lever for accelerated growth in the future.

Bootstrapped founders place a high value on maintaining independence through financial discipline in the early years. We have great appreciation for this disciplined approach to growth. At some point, however, the opportunity warrants investing ahead of the curve to capture market share that will not be there forever. We believe additional capital combined with our operational expertise and powerful network can help bootstrapped companies capture these opportunities more efficiently.

For many bootstrapped entrepreneurs, their companies are an extension of themselves. For this reason, it’s common for a company to have a unique culture based on the founder’s vision and personality. But how do you maintain this culture when the founder no longer knows the name of every employee? When you open branch offices and have global customers? Mainsail respects the role culture plays in the success of every company. We help our partners define, systematize and celebrate culture to ensure the original spirit that helped the company succeed in the first place is maintained as the company scales.

Bootstrapped companies are unique and face specific challenges owed to their disciplined approach to growth. We help companies anticipate and overcome obstacles to growth such as underinvestment in sales and marketing, incomplete management teams, deferred investment in technology and infrastructure, and lack of actionable financial reporting. Our exclusive focus on bootstrapped companies has generated expertise and resources specifically relevant for helping companies like yours grow.