At Suplos we value that they are considered self-sufficient companies – bootstrap in English – and that do not require external capital rounds, in recognition of the 30 promises of Forbes businesses for the 2023 edition.   

It is likely that given the current VC – Venture Capital crisis, companies like Suplos (a SaaS+ company) will now have more interest  

Learnings we have obtained 

We would like to share 7 learnings from this self-sufficient adventure so far. The journey has been one of ups and downs, but in these 7 years we have consolidated a company with an average annual growth rate of 108% (we double every year), with profitability and with more than 150 collaborators in Latin America. The VC path is one option for accelerated growth, but it is not the only one. 

1- At first it is difficult to attract talent

 In early stages, talent acquisition becomes scarce and difficult due to capital constraints, but for us, it has always been a priority to invest in attracting and retaining the best talent, whenever we could. Today we have a very solid team with extraordinary talent. 

2- It takes much more time 

Without going too far, we are probably the oldest company on the Forbes list. Patience and perseverance must be lifestyles. When building a company brick by brick, it is unlikely that a single event will change the company forever. 

3- Adjustment of products towards specific clients  

 We typically leverage new products and lines of business with customers willing to pay. So we are launching our custom product for a customer first, which we hope to turn into a market product that we can scale. It doesn’t always happen. 

4- There is fear of seeing the wave pass without us in it 

For many years, it was difficult to look around and see how similar companies raised large amounts of money. It wasn’t a conscious decision, but looking back, doing nothing about it was the best thing we could do. 

5- Capital efficiency 

There is no correlation between a greater amount of capital raised and better results. Having capital restrictions means less waste, and we diligently monitor every expense. Significant early-stage raises have high waste as the best way to gain growth and market share is still being explored, along with the capital dilutions that come with it. 

6- Optionality 

It’s better to raise money when you have a strong position with a healthy company, which means much less dilution. A self-sufficient company can continue like this, waiting for dividends , or at some point start another option like the VC path. 

7- Luck 

We have been lucky to find talented people along the way, lucky to have demanding clients to be focused on the operation, which have not allowed us to dedicate efforts to raising capital, and lucky to find people with a common purpose.