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)