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Sramana Mitra is a technology entrepreneur and strategy consultant in Silicon Valley. She has founded three companies, writes a weekly column for Forbes, the business blog Sramana Mitra on Strategy, and is the author of the Entrepreneur Journeys book series. Recently, I caught up with Sramana to chat with her in regards to her latest book – Bootstrapping: Weapon of Mass Reconstruction. Check out our conversation below.
[Manoj:] What was the inspiration behind writing this book?
[Sramana Mitra]: I have been observing the dysfunctions of the venture capital industry for years, and in parallel, I notice that in America and elsewhere (especially India), entrepreneurs are quite hung up on raising money, without fully understanding the pros and cons. I felt that if entrepreneurs understood the financing options better, they would bootstrap a lot more, eliminating one of the primary mental blocks to entrepreneurship.
[Manoj:] Tell us how you came up with the title: BootStrapping: Weapon of Mass Destruction
[Sramana Mitra]: Capital markets have slowed, there is a draught in credit and equity financing. Yet, we need entrepreneurship more than ever to jumpstart the job creation engine. Bootstrapping is the only way to do that in this environment. I have recommended policies to support bootstrapped entrepreneurship.
[Manoj:] Why did you choose to interview the individuals you did: Rafat Ali, Wayne Krause, Ramu Yalamanchi, etc…
[Sramana Mitra]: I have interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs in the last 3 years. I included Rafat’s story because he managed to “create a job” amidst a recession, a story that I felt would be inspiring for others. Wayne, Ramu, Greg, and others are tremendously resourceful people with enormous resilience. They are great role models with much wisdom to share. That’s why I included them in this volume on bootstrapping. They represent the key virtues I wanted to celebrate in this book, including frugality.
[Manoj:] I personally liked the interview with Om Malik (as I read his blog regularly) – what was it like hearing is story and how he achieved success
[Sramana Mitra]: I have known Om quite well for almost a decade. I knew a lot of his story, and I invited him to tell the story to a broader audience because I knew that it was a good, inspiring story, and one that many journalists and writers could draw energy from.
[Manoj:] What would be 3 big things you would want new entrepreneurs to walk away with after reading your book?
[Sramana Mitra]: Inspiration. Confidence. Resolve.
