Bootstrap Fund launched - a new type of incubator / fund / business club

Today, September 29, 2011, we are launching the Bootstrap Fund . The Foundation selects young St. Petersburg projects in four directions: venture start-ups, small business, non-profit organizations and innovation projects within large organizations. At the moment, we do not take shares in companies, and do not invest in them money. But we provide all other forms of support: personnel search, “packaging” for investors, the board of directors, a network of mentors, a physical platform for meetings and work, communications, PR support, educational events. Bootstrap Fund was launched on the basis of the HomeWork Apartment Project - the leading coworking center of St. Petersburg.



The fund has two managing partners. Yuri Lifshits is known for launching the HackDay Russia movement, conducting the first IT open air of Geek Picnic , the ShouldKnow.ru project, the HomeWork co-working center and the Attention award . Alexander Shtuchkin worked as Scartel Star Lab CEO, Yota development center.
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Fund Portfolio - under the cut.

The goal of the Bootstrap Fund is to help strong Petersburg projects become even stronger. The main focus is on the “mutual board of directors”. Foundation projects regularly report to each other on their progress. Another important activity of the foundation is a business seminar. We analyze and apply in practice such modern techniques as Customer Development and Lean Startup.

The format of the fund has no direct analogues and is not a copy. The individual features of BootstrapFund echo the ideas of Founder Collective , Advise.me and IO Ventures .

At the moment, there are 11 projects in the fund portfolio:

• Attention Media is preparing a national award for the best video lectures.
• Shtuchkin Music Ventures is engaged in audio advertising for Internet radio and music recommendations
• DrinCash makes a system for donating drinks online. Also makes loyalty systems and special offers for cafes and bars.
• ResumUp launches a visual resume service.
• Next Media blogs about entrepreneurship, organizes conferences and conducts SMM campaigns.
• GameChangers prepares the future stars of the IT industry in a format reminiscent of the “Star Factory”.
• Animating Touch allows you to draw cartoons right on your phone.
• UploadCare integrates Amazon S3 into the site development process.
• PhotoFactory.me creates websites of photographers with an individual domain and design for only 3000 rubles a year.
• 7.21 lab deals with custom web development and design.
• Youth Business School provides business education for schoolchildren and students aged 14-18.

All information about the fund can be found on the website bootstrapfund.ru . We are open to cooperation and acceptance of new St. Petersburg projects. We will be happy to answer all questions in the comments. Or write to yury@yury.name.