Where can I meet other entrepreneurs running successful bootstrapped small businesses?

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1

Hi all,

I’m looking to meet entrepreneurs who are running their own bootstrapped businesses. I don’t know if it’s the right place to ask, but I figure someone might know something here :smiley:

I’m feeling rather isolated on that journey as I’m starting out and would enjoy meeting other people who have successfully done it for support and input!

I play on harder difficulty because I live in German Swtizerland but don’t speak German well enough to casually converse… Which drastically limits my options locally.

Anyway, anyone here running and living off one of these businesses? Or do you know of a community (Swiss focused, or at least EU focused; I feel like the landscape is very different here than the US) where I could meet such people?

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2

Maybe a dumb question: What’s a bootstrapped business?

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It’s a business that you started without borrowing any money and that is profitable shortly after starting it. It’s usually a one person affair, sometimes 2–3 but not very many more.

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4

Hi,

Would be useful to mention which area of Switzerland you are around. I wish your business and yourself a good start and much luck.

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I did that.
I did not borrow and got only 2000-3000 CHF from my mum to tide me over dry months.
Profitable from the start is a bit debatable, as I had a second job and unemployment benefits for a while.

If it fits your bill: What are you interested in?

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Which industry? There is a huge start-up scene in Basel must mostly healthcare I think.

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Technology/software consulting

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I’m interested! Can I send you a PM?

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I started two companies in IT consulting, without borrowing any money. Feel free to drop me a PM.

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Sounds like a good conversation topic during one of the forum meetups, which reminds me to start scheduling one in Lucerne :slight_smile:

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Events are starting to happen again more and more. You have several websites to check if there are any good ones happening near you such as meetup.com. You can also check the startupticker.ch website and newsletter.