Mini Case.

Below is a summary about Qualtrics, a firm launched in 2002 and acquired by SAP for $8 billion in 2019, based on excerpts from Inc. and Management Today. "What then of Qualtrics - a tech unicorn that's both profitable and bootstrapped? Qualtrics was founded in a basement in Utah, not Palo Alto. "We had a 20-person team in the basement.... No one knew who we were, we didn't have any money," said co- founder Ryan Smith. "We created a bootstrapped business that was making $50 million in sales and $30 million in profits every year," he says. "You need to know how to be scrappy. You've had the experience of recruiting someone to work for $8/hour when they had been a $70,000-a-year employee." "If you think back to when you were in college and didn't have any money, that's when innovation happens," Smith says. "You get resourceful." For instance, he says, Qualtrics went after the low- paying academic market because the company lacked the resources to sell to more attractive customers. "I don't think we would have gone to that strategy if we'd had money." Smith remained committed to the bootstrapped approach, building up a customer base and business model before pitching a VC. It was only in 2012 that he accepted VC funding, after getting through the recession with three years of triple digit growth." Based on the above excerpt, explain what entrepreneurial bootstrapping is (5 points) and how Qualtrics used bootstrapping as a strategy, analysing at least three specific actions used by the company (15 points). Discuss the advantages (5 points) and disadvantages (5 points) of bootstrapping based on the case above, module materials, and recommended readings