How this Indian Entrepreneur Bootstrapped his Company for Six Years Being a profitable company, helped us bootstrap so long
By Sneha Banerjee •
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While funding generally creates all the noise, this entrepreneur feels it's the business that makes the right kinda noise. Musthafa PC, who hails from a remote village in Wayanad, Kerala, is the founder of iD Fresh Food and has bootstrapped his business for the first six years.
Started in 2006, as a little establishment in the bustling streets of Bangalore, iD Fresh Foods has come a long way and set several milestones along the way. It's presence in 9 cities across India and now manufactures 50,000 kilograms of idli / dosa batter(rice batter) per day besides other products and supplies around 50,000 packets to more than 15,000 retail outlets across 9 cities in India and UAE.
Initial peg of money
The first round of money came from Musthafa selling his property back home and investment from his previous job, using which he made his initial investment for his business. While everyone in the ecosystem chatters about funding, he strongly believes that if a business can't make money today, it can never make money.
"I am a stronger believer of a profitable business. I am a strong advocate of profitability. From day one we ensured we care cash flow positive and we have a good business model," he adds.
Tricks to bootstrapping
"It's not rocket science! In our case we started with a very small capex of Rs. 50,000 with some basic amenities within the range of Rs. 5,000 in small room of 50 square feet. The amenities included a TVS scooty, mixer grinder and weighing machine and we achieved our target in the span of 9 months," he said.
"My understanding of the market is that if people see you have a real business, and not merely a valuation-based business, then funding is always available. Being a profitable company, helped us bootstrap so long," he adds.
iD Fresh is headquartered at The Hive, a co-working space located at VR Bengaluru, which Musthafa believes is part of the whole idea of minimizing costs as he believes every paisa counts.
iD Fresh was bootstrapped for the first eight years of its existence and the business touch a turnover of Rs. 60 crore without the help of external funding. When he decided to expand to other cities, that's when the company decided to get external investors.
