The Rise of Bootstrap Independence in Entrepreneurship

Throughout the first year of indie’s return, I’ve felt a real sense of tension.

That tension sat at the intersection of what indie was and what indie wants to be.

In its earliest days, indie was often framed as an anti-VC, profit maxi path. Rigid in its philosophy and dogmatic in its practices. This positioning served as a counterbalance to the investor-focused narratives at the time of "always be raising" and building towards the next fundable milestone.

We had a point to make, but the point was often overshadowed by an undercurrent of disenfranchisement from various corners of founderdom.

So what was the point?

In 2017 we wrote:
We want to enable a world where founders don’t need permission from an increasingly small group of fickle funders to exist. We want to see companies thrive that live more than 30 min from Sand Hill Rd. or San Franciso. We want to see entrepreneurs who don’t look like, talk like, think like, or see the world like they do achieve their full potential. We want a world that isn’t simply trying to get in front of the product road maps of Google, Facebook, Amazon, or Microsoft.

There’s a wild, weird, and wonderful world of opportunity that will go unrealized if we continue running the current VC-backed startup playbook of asking permission to exist every 12–18 months.

In 2018 we wrote:
The Basecamp way is NOT to never raise money or dogmatically bootstrap a pure and independent business even if it means putting your, or your family’s, financial well-being at risk. No, the Basecamp way is to put yourself in a position that should you choose raising money is in your best interest that it can be done on your terms and on your timeline and embody your own definition of success. And, far more founders should follow it.

In 2019 we wrote:
“We’re not anti-V.C.,” said Akshay Kothari, the Notion's chief operating officer. “We’re just thinking for ourselves, rather than for them or other peers.” The rules of engagement around investment are changing as quickly as the dollars are shifting to various stages for deployment. Retained ownership and optionality are slowly replacing amounts raised and artificial valuations as the ultimate signal of ambition. If you’re an investor or entrepreneur not taking notice of these changes you’ll be left flat-footed in the months and years to come.

Hopefully, you’re starting to see a pattern.

Historically, we anchored on fundraising to tell that story. But I think we’ve hit the expiration date for that.

Indie was never about fundraising. It was, and is, about independence. Not having to rely on outside funding just to exist is one way to do that. Not having to ask anyone for permission to build the thing you can't not build is another. But I'm excited to start telling other dimensions of what this "indie era" has in store.

As I’ve been telling the indie story this year I’ve continued to feel the tension between the old indie and the path ahead. Trying to square what people wanted indie to be and what it wants to become.

As a final send-off to the old indie, we recorded a little video capturing some of the ups, downs, and a hahs of the journey so far. It was surprisingly cathartic to recount the indie lore and felt like a proper end to the new indie’s first year.

2024 was an incredible year for indie generally and for me personally. I can’t thank all of you enough.

— Bryce