With VC funding down, B2B companies might have to think about how to self-finance new projects. Jenny Sagstrom at Sköna explains why this is all the more reason to invest in your brand.
B2B boostrapping isn’t for the faint-hearted, but might be necessary, explains Sagstrom
Back in February, I attended a SaaS-focused event in London where questions around ‘bootstrapping’ echoed throughout the day. Which makes sense – European VC funding saw significant decreases in H2 2024, total funding plateaued in Q1 2025, and by May, global venture funding was down 13% quarter over quarter.
While bootstrapping may be an anomaly in the capital-intensive tech world, for most entrepreneurs, it’s just life. As someone who has spent the last 20 years building an agency (admittedly, a notable distinction from scaling a tech company), the idea of bootstrapping is table stakes. That doesn’t make it any easier, but it is possible – it’s just going to look different from the path of raising capital.
For those who are brave enough to answer the call of the bootstrapped wild, it’s important to know the role that brand can play in your journey’s success.
If we parse 2024’s VC funding trends by industry, SaaS held relatively steady with just under $11.8bn (€10bn) in total funding. When you dig a bit deeper, however, you find that over 70% of these rounds were just $5.9m (€5m) or less, and that’s across over 620 deals.
The reality of a crowded market with low chances for high funding rounds, paired with holding on to more of your own creation, adds to bootstrapping’s appeal. But just because you’re not competing for VC dollars doesn’t remove the competition for customers. More importantly, when bootstrapping, you need to start turning profits immediately. This is why investing in your brand is critical for companies foregoing fundraising: having a strong brand is how you’re going to stand out from that crowd.
To do so, you must get crystal clear on why you exist and what makes you different. You have to be able to communicate what you can offer that others can’t, and your answer cannot be about product specs. No one remembers product descriptions, and in two years, when future customers are ready to buy, those will likely be outdated anyway.
Instead, prioritize what you are offering your very human users. The chance to be a rockstar? Or tech money royalty? Or the power to outsmart a nightmare client? Those are the specs that stick with future buyers.
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There’s a difference between sustainable growth and hyper-scaling at all costs. If your brand is chasing scale for the sake of money, it’s going to be obvious – today’s consumers see through the bull.
But more importantly, 95% of B2B brand customers aren’t currently shopping around for your product, so you can’t afford to skip out on building brand awareness. Even if you manage to craft a compelling lead-gen campaign that results in a bunch of new clients in the short term, you will inevitably plateau.
Just look at Nike – an iconic brand in the consumer space, but even they fell prey to the lead-gen lie. After over-investing in performance marketing for direct-to-consumer sales, they’ve seen falling revenue for three consecutive quarters. Their plan to rebuild? Reinvesting in brand marketing.
If it’s true for Nike, it’s certainly true for a bootstrapping B2B SaaS company: maintaining a sustainable pipeline requires meaningfully and consistently standing out, which is only possible with strong positioning and brand strategy.
Building a business, regardless of industry, geography, or growth metrics, is extremely challenging. Even the most passionate among us will have days that make us question choosing this path. Thankfully, brand building also serves as a cushion to soften the landings when we fall.
This primarily happens in two ways. The first is that authentic brand building forces you to get to the bottom of what Simon Sinek calls your ‘why.’ When times get tough, this is going to be the life force that keeps you moving ahead. Briefly, if you’ve built a business with brand values that don’t align with your personal values, you’ve set yourself up for failure.
Secondly, a strong brand acts as an insurance policy against competing on price alone. Instead, these brands build relationships with customers who stay loyal. In fact, recent survey data reflects that customer attachment to B2B brands is much stronger than to B2C brands.
When you think of the consequences, it makes a lot of sense. If your favorite shoe brand went out of business tomorrow, though sad, it’s ultimately inconsequential. Conversely, 85% of B2B professionals responsible for purchasing decisions feel as though they can: “influence the evolution of their company.”
With such high stakes in B2B, bootstrapping isn’t for the faint of heart, but those who embrace it with a strong brand at their core are far more likely to build something that lasts. In a world of fleeting trends and fierce competition, branding isn’t just a marketing tool; it’s a survival strategy.
Sköna
Sköna is a B2B creative agency specializing in marketing, branding, and design for innovative tech companies. Founded in Silicon Valley in 2003 and with offices...
