I’ve been subconsciously trained by the Private Equity and Venture Capital world to talk about the state of my company using my stage in fundraising, that is, pre-seed, seed, Series A, etc.
But, how does one define the state of a bootstrapped company?
What’s the fulcrum for someone to show publicly they’re growing as a bootstrapped company?
What’s the objective milestone of achievement for a bootstrapped company? The number of paying customers is a subjective milestone. Fundraising is an objective milestone.
The answer does matter.
It helps first-time founders to deal with their anxiety building a bootstrapped company in the real world where the news is filled with articles of fundraises.