4 guys to watch

Alex Tolbert, David Box, William Griggs, William Paddock... four bootstrappers pushing their startups along. Catch up with 'em here.

Blasingame on business basics in bad times

Small-biz advocate Jim Blasingame offers these oldies-but-bear-repeating-goodies on things to watch for in your business, during bad times.

Extreme Bootstrapping 'Food Equity'

The Mercury News reports on how tight money and easy access to willing talent have fueled the 'extreme bootstrapping' trend.

SWOT for entrepreneurs

Chattanooga columnist John Riddell writes of the importance of entrepreneurs undertaking a strengths and weaknesses assessment. The TFP has it.

Pitch investors, or pitch yourself

Tuesday, March 31, has a little something for everyone, whether you're looking to hone your investor presentation skills or redouble your self-help bootstrapping efforts... or, via a third event, get a piece of Oak Ridge NL's Stimulus funding. Here's the lowdown on two venture events in Nashville, and here's the KNS update on that Oak Ridge NL "Industry Day."

Bootstrapping amid adverse economy

Sramana Mitra says the current "recession" is a good time to start a business, particularly if you bootstrap and don't lose control of your firm to investors, in a panic. See her post here in Forbes.

Paranoiia as Strategic Asset

John Riddell's (at left) columns on business fundamentals in the Times Free Press (Chatta.) have delighted readers for years. This morning's offering stresses if you are now suitably unimpressed by the financial acumen of the folks who got us in our current predicament, and you're realizing that previously 'tight' money is getting even tighter, it's time to bootstrap your business through what, for the moment, passes for our economy. No need to relinquish your dreams, Riddell says, echoing Belmont Prof/Author Jeff Cornwall, who this morning offers the latest report on sentiment among NFIB members, which he believes suggests this recession will not be as bad as the "two other major downturns of the past half century."

Cornwall: 'Keep credit cards in your wallet'

Jeff Cornwall, the director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University, isn't talking-down the importance of borrowing money, when that makes sense. If fact, he told VNC during an interview Friday, he works closely with some of the companies in the portfolio of Southeast Community Capital, on which VNC reports here. But, Cornwall (above right) told VNC that even though lenders' criteria have gotten tougher, entrepreneurs should "keep the credit card in the wallet." He said the tightening of credit and the "real shortage of true seed money" -- with many Angels and VCs moving downstream toward bigger deals -- provides further reinforcement for Cornwall's argument in favor of "bootstrapping." He said that "now that there's not money falling out of trees, most entrepreneurs have to rely on their wit and their craftiness" -- and that "plays right into" bootstrapping. Cornwall said he's passionate about bootstrapping because, "first of all...it's a critical skillset for all entrepreneurs" and those who create businesses need to "understand that this is going to be a major part of their ability to manage the resources they have," going forward, no matter the state of the economy. Bootstrapping, he said, can help avert crushing debt, minimize the need for partners, help companies survive between financing rounds, reduce the drain of personal energy and other resources, and generally help entrepreneurs "find a way to be the most efficient you can with the money that's at your hands." Cornwall's next book -- a textbook bluntly titled, Bootstrapping -- is due out soon from Prentice-Hall. No catchy subhead for Cornwall's book? "One word says it all," said the professor.