Bootstraps & Spinoffs

Academic research and media coverage of business management predominantly focus on large corporations or venture capital (VC)-funded startups. Large companies benefit from a vast industry of specialized business consultants, while startups have access to an extensive network of accelerators and investors eager to back the next unicorn.

However, two types of entrepreneurial ventures are often overlooked:

Bootstrap - a business that successfully establishes a profitable business model early on, foregoing or rejecting external funding and the associated commitments. This choice may stem from operating in a market too small to attract venture capital (even markets worth hundreds of millions of dollars) or from a personal desire for independence and greater control over work-life balance.
Spinoff - a venture originating within a large company, targeting a different, often unfamiliar market. While it faces growth challenges similar to traditional startups, raising capital is typically not a primary concern. Successful spin-offs often evolve into independent, focused subsidiaries. The entrepreneurs and managers leading these ventures must navigate a delicate balance: leveraging the parent company's resources while maintaining the autonomy necessary to adapt to their specific market and size.

These entrepreneurs and managers often experience three distinct forms of loneliness: the inherent isolation of the CEO role, the difficulty of finding peers in similar situations for consultation, and the scarcity of consultants specializing in this unique type of entrepreneurship.

Like startups, these ventures require strategic decision-making across various functional areas as they grow. However, unlike large corporations, they cannot afford a large team of specialized consultants. Instead, they need a "Swiss Army Knife" consultant—someone who can provide guidance through the complexities of growth, seamlessly shifting between strategic vision (defining what needs to be done) and tactical execution (determining how to do it).

Historically, bootstrapping has been the standard model for business growth. However, processes that once unfolded over decades or generations are now compressed into months and years. The accelerated pace of change required for rapid growth is anything but normal.

Managers of these bootstrapped businesses and corporate spin-offs are my primary clients for CEO coaching.