Colorado startups do a great job raising money, with more than three quarters of a billion raised last year. But not every company wants to take on outside funding.
Companies big and small have avoided taking venture capital money. For some, it’s because the nature of their product was easily self-sustaining, while others wanted autonomy to keep their product in line with a mission. We rounded up a selection of Colorado’s bootstrapped companies below.
Sometimes, business travelers have to stay on location for extended periods of time. But living out of a hotel isn’t always the most enjoyable experience. Travelers Haven provides full-featured short-term housing for corporate travelers, offering more homey perks that hotel living leaves out. The company’s tech allows them to pass on savings of up to 34 percent off corporate rates — with no annual contract, no minimum spend.
If you’re looking for a way to carry stuff around, eBags has you covered. The ec-ommerce company is profitable but maintains a startup mindset by always improving on how to meet their customers’ needs. By foregoing VC money, the original co-founders have been able to maintain their vision for the company for over nearly 20 years.
Another company with a long legacy of bootstrapped success, SurveyGizmo has stuck to its roots and now provides a survey platform to companies as big as Microsoft, FedEx and ESPN. Its services are available in more than 200 countries and collect more than 7.5 million responses each week.
Investing in real estate is a lucrative way to make money, but it can be hard to get started. BiggerPockets offers tools for everyday investors to get into real estate investing, helping more than 600,000 members stay wise to the latest industry info.
Adding a blog to a company website can be a boon, but it can be a difficult and time-consuming endeavor. BlogMutt crowdsources blogs, letting clients focus on their product. The company has avoided VC funding — but has also given stock to its stable of writers, allowing them to co-own the product they’re working on.
One of the best parts of the internet is that you can find a community for anything. Inversoft helps clients manage their online communities with customizable software. The company’s various software options let companies integrate the community-building software into their existing products or help them create new options.
Technology has changed the advertising industry, and AdCellerant has helped drive that change. The company's suite of proprietary technology solutions provide small- and medium-sized businesses a way to compete with big names in their industries. The bootstrapped company knows the struggles and needs of their clients, who are often in the same boat.
Images via listed companies, Shutterstock
Know of any other bootstrapped companies killing it in Colorado? Let us know with a tip of a tweet @BuiltInColorado
