"What started as a one-person operation helping students in our local community has grown into a seven-figure, global company with nearly 100 team members. We've supported over 14,000 students, partnered with school districts and institutions in multiple countries and built one of the most trusted brands in college admissions - all without a single outside investor."
"In elite academic circles, starting a business often goes hand in hand with chasing venture capital. I pictured the high-stakes pitch rooms, the dramatic investor meetings - scenes straight out of The Social Network. But after our early efforts fell flat, we stopped trying to win someone else's approval and turned our focus inward. We obsessed over our product, our client experience and our outcomes - not "scale.""
"One month before our one-year mark, we hit $100,000 in revenue. It wasn't a headline-grabbing number by Silicon Valley standards, but it proved something more important: we didn't need permission to grow. We just needed to execute. Related: Most Startups Ignore This One Asset That Makes or Breaks Their Success What bootstrapping taught us In hindsight, bootstrapping didn't just work - it shaped the business in ways VC money never could. Every dollar mattered, which meant we tested fast and paid close"
Prepory began as a dorm-room, one-person operation and scaled into a seven-figure, global company with nearly 100 team members. The company supported over 14,000 students and partnered with school districts and institutions in multiple countries while remaining entirely self-funded. Early attempts to secure venture capital failed, prompting a focus on product, client experience and measurable outcomes rather than external approval or rapid scaling. One month before the one-year mark, the company reached $100,000 in revenue, demonstrating that disciplined execution and bootstrapping enabled sustainable growth without outside investment.
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