Blog

The Bootstrap Blog shares news about the bootstrap community updated by Contributors who post directly to the blog. It is also a place where Bootstrap members can share their expertise and gain readers for their own blogs. Why blog? Well, it's good for you! But more than the purported health benefits, blogging serves as a way to lock in your own learning about whatever it is you write about. It also is a fantastic way to communicate with the outside world and evangelizing your product/service leveraging the Bootstrap Austin brand. If you aren't blogging for your business, perhaps this will help spur you on. Regardless of your stage, blogging is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to build credibility and notoriety for you and your venture.

BD Tech Daily

BD Tech Daily is a daily email newsletter (see below) produced by Jason and his team at Business District Magazine. Bootstrap has a weekly post on Fridays, which also appears on the Bootstrap Austin blog. I kicked off the weekly posts last year with a series on the stages of bootstrapping from Preideation, Ideation, Valley of Death, Growth and Rebootstrap. I concluded by describing bootstrapping as the third way of entrepreneurship, integrating the best of the other 2 models, the cookie-cutter/franchise and the funding/VC. This was part of a year-long PR/Branding exercise developed with Jason. If you want to do an extended PR/branding campaign similar to what we did for Bootstrap, look into Jason's Get Fully Exposed service with ABD Mag. This service is appropriate for companies in the Growth stage.

We are creating an opportunity for the bootstrap community's expertise to be heard with the ability to post to BD Tech Daily and the Bootstrap blog. See below for some of the past posts. Content varies from reporting on a Bootstrap Austin meeting, to reflecting on an aspect of bootstrapping. The idea is that you will promote bootstrapping/the community AND your business. Ideally, you give people a place to continue the conversation with you as Brian did on his post on David Ansel, the Soup Peddler.

Steps to Get your Post on Bootstrap Austin

1. Pick a date from the calendar below
2. Create a post on a Google doc. See Brian's post for pointers on content and format. Your post should be educational, relevant to some aspect of the bootstrap process and appeal to a broader business audience beyond the bootstrap community. You should also include a personal description at the end with appropriate links to you/your business. This is a promotional activity!
3. Share your google/Word doc with me at along with the expected date: sendbijoynews AT gmail
4. Go back and forth on editing
5. Once it's good to go, we will add it to the queue and post it on the Thursday before the due date. If you have an existing post that you think would be appropriate send the link.

Those who have already blogged may post whenever you feel compelled!

Post Schedule

January - Getting Started

• Jan 18, Brandy Rainey: Bootstrap Film Subgroup
• Jan 31, Brian Massey: If You're Selling to Humans, You've Got to Tell Stories

February

• Feb 7, Kevin Koym: Building Business in Austin Despite a Possible Recession
• Feb 14, Geoff Chudleigh: Paul Carrozza Talk

March - SXSW Panelists

• Mar 7, Dan Gutknecht, founder InHouse Assist: Bootstrapping, Art and SXSW
• Mar 14, Marcy Hoen, founder Austin Art Start: I am Bootstrap (and so can you!)
• Mar 21, Jonathan McCoy, founder Perception Labs: Entrepreneur vs. Wild
• Mar 28, Nancy Schill: Moving Safely into Collaborations

April - Innovative Web Apps

• Apr 4, Mark Smith, founder Mikons: Mikons and the Hijacking Maven
• Apr 11, Marcus Mateus: Value Creation vs Value Capture
• Apr 18, Kyle Johnson: Bootstrap Hero's Journey in Bumper Stickers
• Apr 25, Miles Sims, founder innerTee: innerTee Postmortem and Lessons Learned

May - Right Action, Right Time

• May 2: Turning B.A.D Visions into Reality, Sarah Siddiqi, founder Experience Bangladesh,
• May 9: Building an Effective Web Experience, Jon Lebkowsky, founder Social Web Strategies
• May 16: Bootstrap Presentation at Rice Alliance, Josh Baer, founder OtherInbox
• May 21: Zen and the Art of Entrepreneurship, Mason Arnold, founder Greenling Organic Delivery
• May 23: Bootstrapping Your Back Office, Rey Madolora
• May 28: Right Action Right Time for Funding, by Nancy Schill
• May 30: Bootstrap Film Fest, Jason Howell, founder Quality of Touch

June

• Jun 6: Lou Ellman, founder Play with Pride and RoyaltyZone, The Accidental Licensor
• Jun 9: Bijoy Goswami, evangelist youplusU Model, Total Leadership
• Jun 11: Edward Cruz, founder Molecular Thinking, How to Bootstrap your Business by Playing Pinball
• Jun 13: Reuben Swartz, founder Mimiran, Bootstrap Mantra, "How are we different" NOT "How are we cheaper"
• Jun 18: Michael Wilson, founder Small World Labs, Brazlian Jiu-Jitsu for Bootstrappers
• Jun 20: Brandy Rainey, founder Strapped Entertainment Entrepreneurs take Filmmaking to the Next level
• Jun 23: Steve Harvey, founder Cleantegrity, "Introducing Bootstrap Sustainability"
• Jun 27: Neelan Choksi writes about Rick Engel's June Talk: Entrepreneur Who's Done it His Way
• Jun 30: Tina Schweiger, founder Spoonbend

July

• Jul 9: Josh Baer, founder SKYLIST and OtherInbox, Necessity is the Mother of Invention (and Winning Chinese Battles)
• Jul 11: Neelan Choksi, founder SolarMetric, VC Money in Bootstrap Companies
• Jul 21: Barry Thornton, Don't Rock the Boat!
• Jul 25: Alex Cavalli, The Inner Journey
• July 28: Bijoy Goswami on Bootstrap's 5yr anniversary
• July 30: Dara Chambers, on Bootstrap Art's Discussion with David Galenson, author of "Young Geniuses, Old Masters."

August

• Aug 1: Don Jarrell:
• Aug 4: Barry Thornton on I Must Be Crazy
• Aug 8: Damon Flowers, founder Dwellgo:
• Aug 15: Tania Cowher, founder Celeb 4 A Day:
• Aug 22: Gavin Wilson
• Aug 29: Dee Copeland

September

• Sep 5: Allen Beuershausen
• Sep 12: Andy Meadows, founder Live Oak Interactive
• Sep 19
• Sep 26

October

• Oct 3
• Oct 10
• Oct 17
• Oct 24
• Oct 31

November

• Nov 7
• Nov 14
• Nov 21
• Nov 28

December

• Dec 5
• Dec 12
• Dec 19
• Dec 26