Selling a Bootstrapped Startup for $22M, Building a Marketplace, Manufactured Housing - Dave Bowen / CEO of Purchasing Platform

Tech In Chicago

Dave Bowen is the CEO of Purchasing Platform, an online marketplace for real estate developers to buy products for their properties. Before Purchasing Platform, Dave was the founder of Market Maker 4 (MM4), an e-sourcing tech startup, which he bootstrapped and sold for $22M in 2016. Dave is taking a different approach with Purchasing Platform and they just raised their Series A.

Topics Covered:

• Selling a bootstrapped business for $22M

• Deciding to join an established business vs starting a new one

• Issues with joining an established business as a CEO

• Changing a startup’s culture

• The revolution of mobile home communities and manufactured housing.

• Building a niche marketplace

• Losing & winning back their biggest customer

• Focusing on internal communication as much as external

Sponsored by:

• Starting Line VC: A new Chicago-based venture capital firm, founded by Ezra Galston, one of our top early podcast guests and trusted partner of many of Chicago’s hottest startups. Check out what they’re up to at StartingLine.vc.