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Wahler rejected outside investment and acquisition offers to bootstrap Beyond Yoga

Michelle Wahler · Beyond Yoga: Michelle Wahler · Feb 10, 2025 · at 30:58

Michelle Wahler, co-founder and former CEO of Beyond Yoga, describes the company's financial discipline and decision to bootstrap rather than raise additional venture equity.

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“We were just reinvesting every dollar back into the business. We never took on any additional outside investment. We had a lot of people offer to invest, and a lot of people offered to buy us at different points and we just turned everybody down, and we worked with some great banking partners.”

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