This is a post by Jesse Pujji. Jessi a serial entrepreneur that lives in the US. He has:
- Bootstrapped to an 8-figure exist with his previous startup, Ampush
- Is currently building GatewayX, a venture studio that he plans to bootstrap to $1B+
- Executive Chairman & Founder of GrowthAssistant.com
- ex-McKinsey Consultant
Guest Author: Jesse Pujji
She turned $70K into a company worth over $30 BILLION and broke every rule along the way.
Story time about one of my favorite bootstrapped GIANTS
In 1979, Judith Faulkner (by herself) founded Human Services Computing, Inc which became Epic in Madison, Wisconsin with a $70K investment.
She was a computer science nerd and passionate about healthcare.
After 4+ years of development, she created the first electronic medical records system.
But Epic was ahead of it’s time.
It took another 2 years before the company hit $1M in rev.
Judy was known for high standards, determination and a “yes if” culture.
But growth still wasn’t huge.
Until..
In 1990, the business took off. With the PC revolution, every doctor and hospital started using computers and the EMR and Billing were the “hit” product.
Judy resisted buyout offers, competitive threats (e.g., MSFT, Oracle) while building a unique culture in the midwest.
Epic hasn’t done any major acquisitions, ever. They invest >32% of their revenue in R&D and are completely founder/employee owned.
What has this led to?
Today, Epic has over $3.2BN in revenue and is super profitable (as it always has been.) It’s powers over 250 M electronic medical records and >54% of US EMR’s are held in Epic’s software. KLAS #1 ranked software
Epic’s team is 10K+ mostly in a large HQ in Verona, Wisconsin.
Epic’s culture has been described as “idealistic” – stay private to focus only on patients + doctors, developers first, have lots of fun.
Its campus includes castles, harry potter fantasy land and a train station. Epic’s dresscode? “wear clothes if you will see other people.”
Judith Faulkner actively runs the company which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2019.
Forbes estimates her net worth at $6BN.
I love this story because it reminds me there are no “rules” for the “right” way to build. She was a single founder, female (in the 80s!), an engineer, in the midwest, in healthcare and she outlasted nearly everyone… incredible.
