EXCERPT:

One of the differences between big companies and startups is that big companies tend to have developed procedures to protect themselves against mistakes. A startup walks like a toddler, bashing into things and falling over all the time. A big company is more deliberate.

The gradual accumulation of checks in an organization is a kind of learning, based on disasters that have happened to it or others like it. After giving a contract to a supplier who goes bankrupt and fails to deliver, for example, a company might require all suppliers to prove they’re solvent before submitting bids.

As companies grow they invariably get more such checks, either in response to disasters they’ve suffered, or (probably more often) by hiring people from bigger companies who bring with them customs for protecting against new types of disasters.

It’s natural for organizations to learn from mistakes. The problem is, people who propose new checks almost never consider that the check itself has a cost.

Bootstrappers are smart. We are creators, we’re innovators, we’re survivors.

Sure, bootstrapping isn’t realistic for every business. In fact many need to raise outside funding. Funded companies are the Air Force dropping bombs from 30,000 feet in the sky. Bootstrappers are the Navy SEALs being dropped in hostile territory with little more than a knife and a rifle. It’s life or death.

Everyone knows your best work comes when your back is to the wall. We wouldn’t have it any other way…

Raza Imam
http://www.BoycottSoftwareSweatshops.com