OEN Webinar: Chanin, Mitch, + I Chat on Bootstrapping

Ryan Buchanan — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:55:56 +0000

Guy Kawasaki bootstrapping image

Yesterday, Chanin Ballance (founder/CEO of viaLanguage), Mitch Daugherty (founder of Morange Design), and I (the eROI guy) got together to plan what we’d talk about for a webinar about Bootstrapping and our personal experiences with self-induced starvation and endurance thru the early days. It was like catching up with old friends after a couple years – the instant bond entrepreneurs share in dredging up old stories that weren’t fun at the time, but are great memories in retrospect. The OEN Webinar is set for June 17 (registration isn’t live yet, but will be shortly) and we’re going to use a different format than the usual put-your-audience-to-sleep-with-powerpoint. We are going to try to re-create the casual, round-table discussion among entrepreneurs sharing candid stories. Some of the topics will include:

– Risk vs Reward – How do you know if it makes sense to bootstrap your idea?
– Keep your Day Job – The stress of self funding with no income can sometimes lead to failure
– Cash Flow – How to get a handle on your most important business aspect
– How to market your business on a shoestring budget
– Why most business models don’t need funding as it can be a big distraction

Guy Kawasaki, in his old-school days before Alltop, delivers some awesome advice on this on his 2006 blog post titled “The Art of Bootstrapping”

Greenlight Greater Portland – I’m Inspired

Ryan Buchanan — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:43:34 +0000

Yesterday, I joined the Board of Greenlight Greater Portland, an economic development group represented by Portland’s private-sector business community. Greenlight’s goal is to recruit and retain growing companies in the Greater Portland region. I was inspired by Greenlight’s mission and the approachability and competence of the Board – titans of industry in this town – I was inspired to write a thank you email to them last night. It went something like this:

From: Ryan Buchanan
To: Tim Priest ; Mark Ganz ; Malia Wasson ; Eric Parsons ; Pat Reiten ; Peggy Fowler ; Steve Stadum ; Roger Hinshaw ; Bill Stoller ; Bob Jesenik ; Wes Lawrence ; Jim Mark ; Dennis Rawlinson ; Keith Leavitt ; Lindsay Desrochers ; Wally Van Valkenburg ; Don Krahmer ; Alan Johnson ; Randy L. Miller ; Scott Campbell ; John Bradley ; Jay Platt
Sent: Tue Sep 09 23:51:47 2008
Subject: RE: September 9 Greenlight Board Meeting: thank you

I wanted to thank each of you for welcoming me onto the Greenlight Board today. Truly, I’m honored. I knew a few of you before today’s Board meeting, but was really encouraged to meet and connect with many of the rest of you. It goes without saying that it is an incredibly prestigious group of individuals and I’m the young guy in the room – willing to listen, learn, and be mentored. I think my initial role will primarily be the voice of the scrappy entrepreneur who I think is Greenlight’s likely target audience from a company recruitment standpoint. And also, I can be a liason to key partners in the community whether it is SAO, OEN, PAF, PDC or other groups.

But, most importantly, I’m in love with this city, the people, the business community here, its proximity to the awe-inspiring outdoors. We, as Portlanders, define ourselves by what we enjoy doing, not solely by our occupation. It is this powerful emotional connection to the region we represent that differentiates us most from other business communities and I am a huge advocate of bringing that passion, positive energy, and relationship-building to the table so that we collectively can be the magnet that draws and retains “A” talent, innovative entrepreneurs, companies, and entire divisions of companies to and in Portland.

Again, thank you. We all get wrapped up into the hundreds of things happening in our companies, community involvement, and families, but you should all take at least 30 seconds of time to be proud of creating a new organization that has gained significant early traction and will, with its partners in the region, be the driving force behind taking the Portland business community to the next level over the next 10 years.

I almost forgot, I know many of you are inundated with emails, so this will be my only “reply to all” email unless requested.

Thx,

Ryan

Ryan Buchanan | CEO
www.eROI.com | Inc. 500 Company
505 NW Couch, Suite 300, Portland, OR 97209
TEL 503.290.3199 FAX 503.228.4249

eROI Days Email Agency » oen

OEN Webinar: Chanin, Mitch, + I Chat on Bootstrapping

Greenlight Greater Portland – I’m Inspired