CNBC interviews Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines, about his company and the airline industry in the face of rising fuel prices. watch
What do founders Amar Bose (Bose), Scott Cook (Intuit), Richard Branson (Virgin), John Paul DeJoria (Paul Mitchell), Michael Dell (Dell), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple), George Lucas (Lucasfilm), Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines), John Mackey (Whole Foods Market), Anita Roddick (The Body Shop) and Oprah Winfrey (Harpo) have in common? They are all entrepreneurs who took a bootstrap approach to building their companies. Bootstrapping is often contrasted with the Venture Capital model of entrepreneurship and much of the discussion centers around avoiding funding from investors. This commonly used definition falls far short of the true essence of bootstrapping. Phrases like: right action right time; constraint creates innovation; use everything; power of 2; demo/sell/build - all hint at what is really at work. Bootstrapping is simple yet mysterious, obvious yet subtle, tactical yet enduring. Neither cookie-cutter nor funding-driven, it is a third way of entrepreneurship invol watch
