The case for bootstrapping, w/Mailchimp's Ben Chestnut
Masters of Scale
WaitWhat
4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2019
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
You can bootstrap your business to scale, but you'll have to make your own luck. Nobody knows this better than Mailchimp's Ben Chestnut. He used a DIY ethos to grow a $600M company without ever raising a dollar of outside funding. The Mailchimp story is the exception to Reid's rule (always raise more money than you think you need!). The episode explores a range of options for those who don't fit the VC-funding mold. Cameo appearances: LeVar Burton (Star Trek, Reading Rainbow, LeVar Burton Reads), Don MacKinnon (Milq), Karen Cahn (iFundWomen).
Read a transcript of this interview at: https://mastersofscale.com/ben-chestnut-the-case-for-bootstrapping/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's Bob Safian. You've been hearing me as the host of rapid response in this feed for a few years now, |
| 0:07.8 | with short newsy interviews alongside the deeper dives of Masters of Scale. Well, I'm excited to share that rapid response is expanding into its own feed. |
| 0:17.0 | We'll be putting out shows twice a week, focusing on the urgent issues that business leaders are dealing with in real time. |
| 0:24.8 | So search for rapid response in your podcast player |
| 0:28.0 | and subscribe to make sure you get all our episodes. |
| 0:31.2 | I'll see you on the other side. |
| 0:33.8 | To be an artist has always required that you find a way to solve for the financial equation of the cost of producing your art. |
| 0:49.0 | In the old days, it was a sponsorship system, right? In medieval medieval times which was one of the greatest |
| 0:55.2 | explosions of art culture on the planet it was all about finding a rich patron to |
| 1:02.0 | support you, right? |
| 1:05.0 | That dynamic has always been present in the creation of art and the stories that are so important to the advancement of culture. |
| 1:17.0 | If you grew up in the 80s or 90s, you probably recognize that voice from Star Trek, |
| 1:26.4 | the next generation, or the kids show Reading Rainbow. |
| 1:30.4 | It's LaVar Burton. |
| 1:32.0 | Over the years, he's emerged as a steadfast champion. It's |
| 1:33.0 | a steadfast champion of literature and the arts. |
| 1:36.0 | He has a podcast now called |
| 1:39.0 | La Var Burton Reeds and a company called La Var Burton kids. He thinks a lot about the power of stories. |
| 1:46.0 | It is literature that ultimately connects us to our imaginations and our own |
| 1:50.7 | innate birthwriters storytellers. |
| 1:53.0 | Like artists and writers through the centuries, |
| 1:57.0 | Lavaar has grappled with that age-old question. |
... |
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