Summary:

Welcome to another great episode of Startup Junkies!

On this episode, hosts Caleb Talley, Jeff Amerine, and Davis McEntire sit down with Will Trapp, founder and CEO of Gratavid, a tool for collecting and sending personalized videos. Before Gratavid, Will became a recognized expert in web development and design systems as the director of technology at Saatchi & Saatchi X. Throughout the episode, Jeff, Davis, and Will discuss the variety of ways customers utilize Gratavid, the process of being acquired by a private equity firm, and the benefits of bootstrapping. 

Shownotes:

(1:12) Introduction to Will

(2:02) About Gratavid

(3:45) Acquisition by Private Equity Firm

(5:28) Bootstrapping Gratavid

(8:04) Finding Your Niche

(13:07) Pros and Cons of Being Acquired

(15:05) Integration Period While Being Acquired

(21:10) Different Ways Customers Use Gratavid

(22:45) Building the Gratavid Team

(24:26) What’s Next for Will

(25:42) Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

(30:30) Advice to Younger Self

(35:28) Closing Thoughts

Links:

Caleb Talley

Jeff Amerine

Davis McEntire

Will Trapp

Gratavid

Quotes:

“And I remember my lawyer, he said, ‘Start a business to run a business. Don’t start a business to try and sell a business.’ And I genuinely never intended to sell Gratavid.” – Will Trapp, (4:07)

“Companies that want to stay relevant have to embrace the fact that they’re going to have entrepreneurial people if they want to maintain a competitive advantage. And those entrepreneurial people are going to have side hustles going on.” – Jeff Amerine, (12:09)

“There’s just two different ways to go about it. You can raise money or you can bootstrap. I think your chances of success are so much higher if you can figure out how to bootstrap for as long as you can.” – Will Trapp, (34:27)

Bridging the Virtual Gap with Gratavid 

On this episode, hosts Caleb Talley, Jeff Amerine, and Davis McEntire sit down with Will Trapp, founder and CEO of Gratavid, a tool for collecting and sending personalized videos. Before Gratavid, Will became a recognized expert in web development and design systems as the director of technology at Saatchi & Saatchi X. Throughout the episode, Jeff, Davis, and Will discuss the variety of ways customers utilize Gratavid, the process of being acquired by a private equity firm, and the benefits of bootstrapping. 

Gratavid’s Path to Acquisition

Gratavid provides a way for customers, mainly higher education institutions, to send personalized videos as a way to foster relationships virtually. Most organizations utilize Gratavid’s software to thank their donors or sponsors with a customized video.  

Gratavid launched right before the pandemic was at its worst. However, where the shutdown hurt a lot of businesses, Gratavid benefited because it was no longer possible to hold fundraising events in person. As a result, Gratavid started seeing more success because companies still needed a way to raise funds and thank those that donated.   

Will didn’t start Gratavid with the mindset that he was going to sell it. His mentality was that Gratavid was going to be a medium-sized software business. However, with Will’s focus on developing great margins and a scalable plan, along with being in the right place at the right time with the pandemic, Gratavid found itself being acquired by a private equity firm. This acquisition has grown Gratavid quicker than it would have been able to do on its own. 

“And I remember my lawyer, he said, ‘Start a business to run a business. Don’t start a business to try and sell a business.’ And I genuinely never intended to sell Gratavid.” – Will Trapp, (4:07)

When an organization is acquired, it requires the acquired business to relinquish some of its control and trust that the acquisition company knows what the best practices are. It’s imperative that the leaders of acquired businesses learn to step back and learn where they can collaborate to add value instead of working against the acquisition company.

The Benefits of Bootstrapping vs. Raising Funds

The typical path taken when developing a startup is to raise seed funds, then obtain venture funding when they can prove their business’s revenue model. This is the preferred plan of action promoted by the media because that’s all they think there is to promote. However, bootstrapping is another method that doesn’t get enough credit. The clearest path for any entrepreneur to become financially stable is to bootstrap their business for as long as possible because this allows for more control. 

“There’s just two different ways to go about it. You can raise money or you can bootstrap. I think your chances of success are so much higher if you can figure out how to bootstrap for as long as you can.” – Will Trapp, (34:27)

Once business owners hop on the venture capital treadmill, they’re stuck on it until they’re told they can get off because their money is not the only asset at stake now. Whereas, if they bootstrap, they can take the risks they want to because they are only risking their capital. Bootstrapping allows for more freedom and creativity when it comes to decision-making.

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