Introduction 11 Coming From Where I'm From 3Triple Threat 62 The Difference 16Focus 253 Bootstrapping versus Raising Capital 28Professional Services to Startup 28On the Bootstrapping Process 31Repeatable and Predictable Revenue, Regardless 38Money Can't Be the Only Motivation 394 Idea to Product: Building a Startup 42Starting With Funding 42Starting Without Funding 43What Not to Do When Starting a Company 44You'll Never Get Going Unless 455 Building a Team 49Hiring and Finding Freelancers and Others 49Out of the Gate 57Contingency versus Retained Recruiters 59Get Out of the Way 626 I Hear You, But I Need Capital 67Financing Terminology 68Preparing to Raise 70What Legal Documents Should I Use? 717 Raising a Pre-Seed $400,000 79Pre-Seed, Better Known as a Friends-and-Family Round 79The Pitch 858 Accelerators and Pitch Competitions? Bang or Bust 899 Raising My Seed Round 9810 Product Market Fit 103Sales: Remember Predictable, Repeatable Revenue? 10311 Raising a Series A 10712 Holy Crap--A Pandemic! 113Prioritizing Mental Well-Being 11613 The Murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and BLM 119The Talk I Had With My Team 123The Role of Philanthropy in Creating Equity 125Systemic Issues Facing Black-Led Technology Companies 12614 My Hopes, and Losing an Icon 129The Role Technology Plays 129On Building Generational Wealth 132Appendix 137Glossary 139Rate Sheet 145Online Resources 149About the Author 151Index 153
Sevetri Wilson is an entrepreneur and the founder of two companies: Solid Ground Innovations and Resilia. She bootstrapped her first company, SGI, to seven figures with zero capital and has raised over $11M to date for Resilia. She is the first Black woman in New Orleans to raise over $1MM in venture capital, and has raised the most of any female founder from her home state of Louisiana. She has been featured in Forbes, Black Enterprise, Essence, Inc., Entrepreneur, CNN, and USA Today.