Business Leader Speaks September 22 on Entrepreneurial "Bootstrapping"

HOBOKEN , NJ —What’s the secret to launching a successful software business? Is it a good business plan? Venture-capital funding? A great public relations campaign?

According to author Greg Gianforte, the secret is a concept he calls “bootstrapping,” which he’ll be discussing on Monday, Sept. 22 at 5 p.m. at Stevens Institute of Technology’s Babbio Center, located on the corner of 5 th Street and River Street.

Gianforte will be taking his cues from his book, Bootstrapping Your Business, which outlines what entrepreneurs really need to start and grow a high-tech business: a vision that requires little or no external funding.

“ Bootstrappers don’t write lengthy business plans, chase deep-pocketed investors, or indulge in overly academic market research exercises,” says the author. “Instead, they focus all of their considerable energy, brainpower, determination and skills on creating a business that can actually succeed in the real world.”

Gianforte says that too often, entrepreneurs with too much start-up capital procrastinate on the most crucial aspect of their business—selling the product. When they have little cash on hand, they’re forced to start selling their products right away, and this immediately lets them know if their ideas have any real-world value.

If sales start coming in, that revenue is then reinvested into the business, which can then grow and flourish on a solid foundation of success.

“Bootstrappers are less likely to make big, fatal financial mistakes,” Gianforte says. “Because they don’t have huge amounts of cash, bootstrappers can’t make the kinds of huge mistakes that often destroy venture-funded companies. Bootstrappers are also at less risk because they don’t have to put up the family home as collateral or jeopardize a lifetime of savings. They can start with whatever funds they feel comfortable investing to get things rolling and then fund the growth of their business with their actual initial revenue.”

Preceding the talk will be a reception. Gianforte will then speak from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; a 30-minute question-and-answer session will follow.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,040 undergraduate and 3,085 graduate students, and a worldwide online enrollment of 2,250, with a full-time tenured/tenure-track faculty of 140 and more than 200 full-time special faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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