She ditched her elite networks to build a $250k biz Matt Gira October 16th, 2025 It's all becoming a little more real this week. I'll be back in Michigan later next week! Hopefully I'll see more of you in person soon! Let me know if you want to meet up for coffee. In the meantime, excited to share this deep dive on Jessica Lackey's business, Deeper Foundations. She's built a really cool operations strategy business that was built in such an intentional way. A lot of great planning in this...
2 days ago • 2 min read
One bootstrapped business is solving the nursing crisis Matt Gira September 30th, 2025 I want to get a better sense of where you are in your journey. Where are you right now in building your business? Where are you right now in your journey? Still at the idea stage $0k–$25k annual revenue $25k–$100k annual revenue $100k–$250k annual revenue $250k+ annual revenue Here's a lie that won't die: bootstrapping means staying small and you can't build anything meaningful without investors. NurseHub,...
18 days ago • 2 min read
How a $5,000 Lean Startup Experiment Became Michigan’s Innovation Hub Matt Gira September 16th, 2025 This deep dive is one of the most unique ones I'll ever draft. That's because I'm announcing that I'm joining this business... But this isn't me stepping back from The Quarter. If anything, it's going to make The Quarter better. I'll be meeting more founders who've bootstrapped from $0 to $250k in annual revenue, and I think there are going to be great opportunities to do things in real life...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
From Classroom to $25M Software Agency Matt Gira August 19th, 2025 One of the most strategic founders I’ve ever met almost flew under my radar. I always thought Atomic Object was a solid software agency and Carl Erickson a kind leader. But when I worked closely with him in 2019, I realized just how sharp and intentional he really is about building both a company and a culture. Atomic turned out to be far more impressive than I ever imagined. Not just in the work they do, but in how they’ve...
2 months ago • 2 min read
A Baby's Sleep Problem Led to a $3.5M Business Matt Gira August 7th, 2025 This week's deep dive is a fun one. Who said you can't bootstrap a physical goods company?? Also fun because I've known Liz for such a long time and saw this all happen live. It was so cool talking with Liz about the journey and seeing her manufacturing space in Holland, Michigan of all places. Check out this week's deep dive 👇 "Liz, you are gonna sell a million of these." That was Liz Hilton's husband's reaction when...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Why This Founder Said NO to Easy VC Money Matt Gira July 24th, 2025 This week's deep dive is a fun one for me. This company was being built while I worked with this guy on a daily basis. We were working on my last startup together and on the side, he worked on this venture. Ironically, his venture was the successful one. This deep dive is jampacked. Reply and let me know what you think :) In 2020, raising money was easier than ever before, and yet, Bryce Kaiser and his wife Lauren did...
3 months ago • 2 min read
She Got Paid for Her MBA Instead Matt Gira July 1st, 2025 This deep dive was an adventure to create. I was prepped to record and then a bunch of Stuart Little's decided to take over my recording studio at home. So, you all get to see what my childhood bedroom was like in this one. No, my high school trophies are not still in my bedroom. Sorry for disappointing. Enjoy this week's deep dive with Layla Pomper! Let me know what was most helpful. "By saying it's my MBA business, I basically gave...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Sleeping in Boats Led to This $300k Studio Matt Gira June 3rd, 2025 Quick idea I'm testing: What if I did a monthly report on bootstrapped companies? Different focus each month. Examples could be data on how founders spend their time, growth channel deep dives, the most popular tools among bootstrapped companies. Similar vibe to The Bootstrapped Report 2025. Would you pay $20/month for something like that? Would you pay $20/month for more reports on boostrapped businesses? YES. I'd buy this!...
5 months ago • 2 min read
NASA Writer to $1M Founder Matt Gira May 20th, 2025 Hello! The newsletter has an updated look :) Reply to this email and let me know what you think? Brandi Bernoskie didn’t set out to build a million-dollar business. In 2011, she was writing content for NASA and running a small blog on the side, mostly for herself. As she taught herself to code websites and friends started asking for help, a small side project grew into something more. A couple of key mindset shifts turned that side hustle...
5 months ago • 2 min read
Hi friend! Welcome to The Quarter! Yep, the new name for this newsletter. Thanks, all for your help on this! And yes, I'm working on these deep dives as official podcasts. More on that soon :) What hurdle are you trying to overcome with your business? I'm happy to help! Here's this week's deep dive: In 2018, when Uku Täht was asked to set up Google Analytics for his company, he asked a key question: "Can we just use something other than Google Analytics?" At the time, the answer was no. But...
5 months ago • 2 min read