Resilient

A Wall Street Journal Bestseller

Discover how to overcome anything, bootstrap, and go from initial concept to Series A funding with this firsthand look at entrepreneurship

Resilient delivers an invaluable collection of private journal entries mapping out a path from bootstrapping a multi-million dollar business to raising millions in Series A funding for another. Entrepreneur and Resilia CEO Sevetri Wilson describes her journey from self-funding to venture capital success. Written for ambitious and aspiring entrepreneurs like herself, Wilson covers a wide variety of topics about the entrepreneurial journey:

• How to go from idea to product
• The correct way to dive into the hiring process
• Preparing to raise money
• Building a tech company as a non-technical founder
• How to select the right accelerators, programs, and pitch competitions
• Creating wealth while building a business

The author also shares her “Simple Agreement for Future Equity” (SAFE) agreement and first pitch deck. Perfect for entrepreneurs, startup enthusiasts, and founders, Resilient belongs on the bookshelves of anyone interested in the process of bootstrapping and/or raising capital to grow a business in any sector.

Introduction 1

1 Coming From Where I’m From 3

Triple Threat 6

2 The Difference 16

Focus 25

3 Bootstrapping versus Raising Capital 28

Professional Services to Startup 28

On the Bootstrapping Process 31

Repeatable and Predictable Revenue, Regardless 38

Money Can’t Be the Only Motivation 39

4 Idea to Product: Building a Startup 42

Starting With Funding 42

Starting Without Funding 43

What Not to Do When Starting a Company 44

You’ll Never Get Going Unless 45

5 Building a Team 49

Hiring and Finding Freelancers and Others 49

Out of the Gate 57

Contingency versus Retained Recruiters 59

Get Out of the Way 62

6 I Hear You, But I Need Capital 67

Financing Terminology 68

Preparing to Raise 70

What Legal Documents Should I Use? 71

7 Raising a Pre-Seed $400,000 79

Pre-Seed, Better Known as a Friends-and-Family Round 79

The Pitch 85

8 Accelerators and Pitch Competitions? Bang or Bust 89

9 Raising My Seed Round 98

10 Product Market Fit 103

Sales: Remember Predictable, Repeatable Revenue? 103

11 Raising a Series A 107

12 Holy Crap—A Pandemic! 113

Prioritizing Mental Well-Being 116

13 The Murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and BLM 119

The Talk I Had With My Team 123

The Role of Philanthropy in Creating Equity 125

Systemic Issues Facing Black-Led Technology Companies 126

14 My Hopes, and Losing an Icon 129

The Role Technology Plays 129

On Building Generational Wealth 132

Appendix 137

Glossary 139

Rate Sheet 145

Online Resources 149

About the Author 151

Index 153

Sevetri Wilson is an entrepreneur and the founder of two companies: Solid Ground Innovations and Resilia. She bootstrapped her first company, SGI, to seven figures with zero capital and has raised over $11M to date for Resilia. She is the first Black woman in New Orleans to raise over $1MM in venture capital, and has raised the most of any female founder from her home state of Louisiana. She has been featured in Forbes, Black Enterprise, Essence, Inc., Entrepreneur, CNN, and USA Today.

For many, the entrepreneurial road is long and winding, and attempting to go from nothing to a successful and profitable enterprise is a difficult path. In Resilient, entrepreneur and Resilia CEO Sevetri Wilson provides a roadmap for the entrepreneurial journey. From bootstrapping to raising capital, Resilient delivers a step-by-step guide to succeeding at entrepreneurship regardless of your industry or background.

The book offers an invaluable collection of private journal entries mapping Wilson's journey from bootstrapping her first business, Solid Ground Innovations, to raising millions in capital for Resilia, the technology startup she founded in 2016. The journal entries contain priceless advice from building a profitable business without investment capital to navigating periods of market uncertainty and volatility while seeking funding for your very own startup.

You'll learn about how to go from idea to product, how to properly dive into the hiring process, preparing to raise money from pre-seed to Series A, the benefits and drawbacks of accelerators, and her take on pitch competitions. You'll also discover the exact Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) the author used, along with her first pitch deck to help guide your efforts.

Resilient walks you through the company creation process from start to present day. You'll learn about the differences between starting a company with capital and starting a company without capital, as well as how to build a team and structure compensation agreements in a way that retains value in your company.

Perfect for startup founders, entrepreneurs, and anyone seeking a firsthand account on how to start and grow their ideas, mindset, and business, Resilient will also earn a place in the libraries of managers and executives at growing companies looking for a robust roadmap to entrepreneurial success.

"Sevetri Wilson emerged as a rising star among a new generation of entrepreneurs when she founded her first company, Solid Ground Innovations LLC, with zero capital, and grew it into a seven-figure enterprise—at the age of 22. Chief among these lessons, she declares: 'This is a game of resiliency.'"
—Alfred Edmond, Jr., SVP/Editor-at-large, Black Enterprise

"Entrepreneurs worldwide are sure to gain a lot of value from consuming Sevetri's stories, anecdotes, and guidance laid out in this book."
—Ismail Maiyegun, cofounder / CTO, Hingeto (Acquired)

"'If you want to become a millionaire, you have to take risks.' Sevetri gives us her story and advice on how to create generational wealth."
—Business Insider

"Sevetri is creating technology that is going to drastically change the way nonprofits and grantmakers engage. Cities and communities will be transformed by the execution of the vision she has created for Resilia. Her rise in business, technology, and philanthropy has been captivating to watch."
—Walter Isaacson, Former President and CEO of Aspen Institute/Former chair and CEO of CNN and Editor of Time

"Sevetri knows how to turn her passions into opportunities. Her work has been included in the White House report on volunteerism in the U.S., she's been honored as Business Woman of the Year in Louisiana, one of the youngest to receive this recognition, and the list goes on. Yet, beyond her business achievements, it is her desire to uplift everyone around her that is truly most admirable."
—Cedric Richmond, Senior Advisor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement