[j45]

As a lifelong bootstrapper, bootstrapping seems to be generally self-funded. Which involves seeding some money yourself, often from another source, because it involves going from 0 to 1 with as little resources as possible and using income to grow the business.

In the early stages of bootstrapping the only goal is to nail down what customers will pay for. Spending as little as possible to reach such a lightbulb is bootstrapping in my experience.

It's easy to get distracted with too much free time and funding on one's hands, especially in the hands of an inexperienced founder with little to no business experience.

Bootstrapping also necessarily doesn't need to grow fast. YC itself also says to start small and get the business down before focusing on growth.

Lots of businesses are self-funded and start as a freelance -> part time -> full time.

Here's an article about how 98% of Canadians fund their startups. It's pretty funny considering how we think it's 98% not this way based on the marketing of the 2%.

http://www.techvibes.com/blog/how-canadian-entrepreneurs-fin...