Bootstrappers need fresh perspective

Filed in archive Bootstrapper Tips on November 16, 2007

As business coach Stefan Topfer suggests all entrepreneurs should routinely attempt a fresh and distanced prospective even of their own enterprise in order to ride the trends and take advantage of new opportunities in a changing market.

But in this demonstration video following publication of his book Rules for Revolutionaries, startup guru Guy Kawasaki also warns about the need to jump the curves or even create your own instead of simply following existing trend. (Guy also gives some insight into the bootstrapping process that launched Macintosh fueled by Apple II.)

For bootstrappers who may start with no existing business or expand into a business where they have no current positioning, this fresh perspective becomes even more critical.

For a great primer on looking at things in a completely new way see Paul Williams' post on Problem Solving with a Ghoti. (No, not the beard the alternate spelling of fish.)

Here are some examples of why the bootstrap entrepreneur may have little or no choice in the matter when it comes to seeing business problems (and opportunities) in a whole new way:

• Bootstrappers start with no customers (at least no customers for their new product or service) and so there is no conventional perspective of an existing customer base possible. (You'll have to get creative and find them first.)

• Bootstrappers have no money or little money to invest and so conventional methods used by competitors may not be an option. (You don't have a 100 member sales force, so how do you plan to get your product to market?)

• Bootstrappers must make up for a lack of distribution, advertising and marketing budget, sometimes even a finished product all at once. (You're beginning from nowhere so a conventional perspective would be pretty gloomy.)

• Bootstrappers have no business plan in the conventional sense. (No history of revenue, no direct experience in the market, no real way to project revenue or expenditure over the next one/two/three years except by guestimating.

• Bootstrappers have belief. (Belief in an idea, a concept, a way to change the world and absolutely no backing to make it happen.)

As Guy Kawasaki suggests, the next big thing could start with very low investment. Take a fresh perspective and it might be you!