90: Bootstrapping Vs Raising Capital with Ankur Nagpal of Teachable

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

The closest thing Ankur Nagpal has ever had to a job was a summer internship at Amazon when he was 18. Ever since then, he's been his own boss at companies that he's built. Outside of that brief fling as an employee, Nagpal has wholly dedicated his life to being a serial entrepreneur.

In his early years as an entrepreneur, he entered the highly competitive startup scene in Silicon Valley as a very successful Facebook app developer. Only he didn't make individual apps. Instead what he was selling was the platform that everyone used to create their own apps. From there, he bowed out with a cool seven figures to his name when that company had run its course.

Just as the real winners of the gold rush weren't those who found gold but the entrepreneurs who sold the tools, Nagpal has made a living as the one people turn to when they're looking for development tools.

Fast-forward to today and he is now the founder and CEO of Teachable, a business that teaches and trains other entrepreneurs on how to create their own online courses with his easy-to-use platform and teaching methods. What once started as a fun side project has now turned into a multimillion-dollar business with more than a million students!

With years of experience in the startup capital of the world, Ankur lets us in on how he became the powerhouse entrepreneur he is today.

In this interview you will learn:

• What to do to turn your side project into business succcess
• The things you need to know about creating a successful online course
• How to create a successful business based on empowering others
• Tips to finding paying customers if you've just launched
• Where to go to find the best investor for you and what that means
• & much more!