Kristian Tapaninaho: bootstrapping his way to success
Kristian Tapaninaho grew Ooni, his pizza-oven business, through "bootstrapping" – quick and successful growth with very little external funding.
Kristian Tapaninaho wanted to achieve the perfect homemade pizza. But there was one thing stopping him from creating the “perfect pepperoni”, says Peter Evans in The Times – his oven wasn’t hot enough. He began looking into pizza ovens, but the cheapest one cost more than £2,000 and was too big to fit inside his house. And so Ooni, the multi-million-dollar company that sells portable pizza ovens, was born. His invention reaches 500˚C and costs from £199.
Tapaninaho (pictured) runs the business alongside his wife, Darina Garland, both 38, from their headquarters near Edinburgh. They employ 51 people and made sales of £10m in 2018. Ooni is “unusual” in that it has achieved its success through bootstrapping – it grew quickly and successfully with very little external funding. The couple raised a small amount from family and friends and have run three crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter, but they “made a conscious decision to grow the business within its own means and have so far resisted the temptation to take venture capital, despite several offers”. In an age of “unicorns and multimillion-pound funding rounds”, and record levels of investment seeking the next big thing, bootstrapping can seem “old-fashioned”, but it paid off for Ooni. “It can feel like it’s more about how much money you’ve raised than how successful you are,” says Tapaninaho.
Bootstrapping ensures that founders remain in control and reap the rewards, even if they don’t make as many headlines. It works, too – what started as a “passion project” was named the fastest-growing private business in Scotland, says John-Paul Clark in the Daily Record.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Its sales have grown by an average of 148% every year. Three-quarters of Ooni’s customers are men. “It’s something to do with mastering fire in the great outdoors,” says Garland.
Sign up to Money Morning
Our team, led by award winning editors, is dedicated to delivering you the top news, analysis, and guides to help you manage your money, grow your investments and build wealth.
Nic studied for a BA in journalism at Cardiff University, and has an MA in magazine journalism from City University. She joined MoneyWeek in 2019.
-
5 steps to shield your money from the taxman before the Budget
Experts have warned Labour is planning a tax raid in its upcoming Budget. We share five steps to shield your money from the taxman
By Katie Williams Published
-
The trading apps that let you put fractional shares in an ISA
Advice HMRC is set to change ISA rules to allow fractional shares to be included in the tax wrapper. Here are the trading platforms and trading apps that support this.
By Marc Shoffman Published