Opportunities for Calm Bootstrapping

Hi Indie Hacking Community!

TLDR

I’m a software engineer consultant with 15+ years of experience. I have also bootstrapped a startup on the side for 2.5 years. Bootstrapping on the side has been quite unsustainable from my past experience to balance family/job/health/side hustle. I recently learned about Fractal Software which raises 1Mil for a CEO/CTO pair 1year to startup but they take a 60/70% equity and seems they have a VC mentality when it comes to running the startup. Do any bootstrapping focused investment studios / micro funds exist where they would provide lesser funding (maybe one year salaries) and invest in super motivated entrepreneurs while taking a fair equity stake in these startups? This feels mutually beneficial.

Long Version

I’m a Software Dev with 15+ years of experience working in a Custom Software Consulting company. I’ve been hands-on coding for many years and also lead teams of developers to build software from the ground up. This includes websites, backend systems, APIs, mobile apps, and everything in between.

Outside of my work life I’m also a husband and father of 2 young children (7 and 4). I strive to be a good family man.

Additionally, I’m also super motivated to start a bootstrapped lifestyle business. I’ve tried to create a SaaS over the past few years and our business never found product market fit. I’ve internalized many lessons from this experience and been educating myself in various areas for my next venture. I’ve read Make (Peiter Levels), Traction, Start Small Stay Small, The Embedded Entrepreneur and been studying methods of applying Lean Product and Customer Development in order to decide what problem to solve next.

Having said that, last time around I had to really hustle with the job, the startup, the family duties besides my own mental and physical well being. It was a lot of sacrifices! I’m not sure I can do that again. I am seeking calmer ways to reach my goals. I recently came across a company called Fractal Software (https://www.fractalsoftware.com/). They are a venture studio that will give a pair (CEO/CTO) 1mil and 1yr to start a vertical SaaS using one of their vetted ideas.

With something like Fractal, given I can replace my job hours with an opportunity is really tempting. Because they let you draw a salary from the investment money. This would let me take on my new venture in regular working hours and still be a good husband/parent and continue to maintain my lifestyle (mortgage/kids classes/etc).

Now, I’ve always been a big believer in bootstrapped vs venture backed startup. And I am reaching out to see if opportunities like this exist with bootstrapping founders in mind. Where the expectation would not be to raise more money after the first year but rather to have a sustainably profitable business.

Regards
Karan