Half a million businesses are started every year in the US and less than 5 percent will successfully raise outside capital. Ninety-five percent of ideas will have to bootstrap to survive.

A bootstrapped entrepreneur is someone willing to build what they have to, so they can then build what they want to. It’s a powerful mindset aimed at survival above all—even if you decide to go raise money. Bootstrappers are better equipped to work within their means, maintain control of their vision, and maximize their own shareholder value.

In Be Your Own VC, serial entrepreneur and CEO James Benham shares ten business principles and the story of testing them over two decades. He describes how bootstrapping led his tech company to a multimillion-dollar exit and the freedom to build what they love. This guidebook is for innovators with a goal—and those who advise them.