Should you bootstrap or raise capital to launch and grow your business?

Should you bootstrap or raise capital to launch and grow your business?

It's the chicken or the egg dilemma for most entrepreneurs.

Short answer: You should prepare for both.

Founders who enter into a state of investor readiness are the most prepared. It's like they focused on preparing for the pros.

But, less than 1% of those who seek funding, get funded. Why? Most don't understand the standard for investor readiness.

So do you really want to create a plan that has a less than 1% chance of succeeding. And 90% of those who get funded — still fail.

>> on to bootstrapping

To be successful at bootstrapping your business, you have to get really good at customer acquisition, aka RevOps. No customers, no revenue, no paycheck. Simple.

If you want your business to thrive, you have to learn RevOps. It's how you learn to become a great entrepreneur.

>> doing both

My hat's off to the founders who figure how to do both. 

- They bootstrap to reach product market fit

- They bootstrap to get a paycheck

- They learn what investors want ... aka investor readiness

- They raise capital to scale

This is exactly what we do in our elevate incubator and CG venture studio.

It's what we teach at our entrepreneur school, and what we often discuss at Church for Entrepreneurs.

-Gerald