#13 Bootstrapping – Sabba Keynejad (VEED) | Builders’ Studio: a Founder School by Slush

Interested in coming to Slush 2022? Look no further. You can pre-register today here: https://www.slush.org/#pre-register While it has seemingly never been a better time to raise capital, it has also never been a better time to bootstrap - the cost of developing products has dramatically reduced. Bootstrapping is driven by the idea of not reaching for external capital in the early phases of growth, but instead relying on savings and your startup’s cash flows to sustain growth. Joining us for an inside look into the bootstrapping process is Sabba Keynejad, Co-founder and CEO of VEED. Bootstrapping has the benefit of avoiding dilution, but is not without its hardships. In this talk Sabba takes us through the turbulent VEED journey which took them to 6.5m ARR in two years. VEED is a testament to true founder grit - along the way the founders had to take full-time jobs to fund the business, they were kicked out of their first office, were rejected from YC (twice in one weekend) but eventually reached product-market fit through aligning on their user acquisition channel. -- Europe lacks a culture of company building mentorship. At Slush 2021, we dedicated a whole stage for horizontally applicable insights. Born out of the talks is Builders’ Studio: a Founder School by Slush. In thirty episodes, we go through the lifecycle of how iconic companies are built. Beginning with the early days of a startup and ending with exit, with everything in-between. Put together, these talks cover a startup’s journey, forming a playbook on building sensational companies. To explore the series, visit: https://www.slush.org/events/resource-bank/builders-studio Check us out on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SlushHQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slushhq/ Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/slush