With funded startups often founders get into business purely because there’s a big opportunity. Some growing market in need of a solution. Or perhaps a model is copied from a successful startup in a foreign market, and executed in a home market. Personally I can’t imagine working on a problem that I am less than fanatical about solving. I can’t imagine coming into work every day trying to solve a problem that is alien to me just because of a potential pot of gold waiting somewhere. That’s not why I’m running a business.
When you self-fund you are on a crusade. You’re working on something because you believe in it to the point where you’re willing to take on personal risk. It’s not a place for random opportunists. I’m running a business because I love making software, I love the problem space we’re in and I love the solution that we’ve built. There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.
— Yong Fook on why he self-funded
P.S. I just wrote a book on bootstrapping indie startups called MAKE. And I'm now on Twitter too if you'd like to follow more of my adventures. I don't use email so tweet me your questions.