Indiegogo's co-founder explains that the concept of "runway" doesn't apply to a bootstrapped startup living on savings. Instead of a dwindling cash reserve, the limit is the founders' personal willingness to continue investing their own time and money.
The founders leveraged their connection to Berkeley's business school as an institutional resource. This provided a no-cost environment for research, development, and testing, allowing them to vet and refine the business concept before launching.
Co-founder Danae Ringelman’s idea for Indiegogo stemmed from her emotional response to seeing an older artist desperately seek funding from her, a junior analyst. This personal experience with the unfairness of capital access became the company's core mission.
Indiegogo intentionally launched by focusing only on the film industry, using it as a beachhead market to prove their model, similar to how Amazon started with books. This niche focus was a strategic choice before expanding to all categories, which ultimately unlocked massive growth.
While facing constant rejection from VCs, co-founder Slava Rubin used TweetDeck to monitor organic user conversations. Hearing strangers discuss how Indiegogo was positively impacting their plans provided crucial validation and the motivation to ignore investors and focus on customers.
Indiegogo co-founder Slava Rubin was replaced as CEO by the board due to a conflict over prioritizing aggressive growth versus unit economics. He argues that removing a founder too early can handicap a company's potential and cause it to miss larger market opportunities.
Indiegogo's founders intentionally declined early investment offers, planning to use initial traction to secure a better valuation. This high-risk strategy backfired when the 2008 financial crisis hit, demonstrating how market timing can upend even a sound fundraising plan.
Co-founder Slava Rubin initially dismissed defining company values as a waste of time. Co-founder Danae Ringelman championed the process, and its success was proven when Slava later asked her to return from leave specifically to reinforce the company's culture, highlighting the essential value of this work.