Author Description

Entreprenerd is both a biography and a business book. It describes the history of iText, an open source PDF library, and its founder, Bruno Lowagie. 1. The first part consists of the origin story of iText: why was it created and what was the background of its creator. 2. The second part starts with the historical context of free and open source software, but quickly focuses on iText, more specifically about developing a business for the technology. 3. The third part shows the strategy that was used to prepare the iText companies for an exit and how the exit was realized. It also discusses the aftermath of the exit. The book brings the story in (almost) chronological order. Along the way, small nuggets of information are added, explaining terms and concepts such as EBITDA, recognized revenue, transfer pricing... providing the vocabulary that is indispensable to engage in a conversation with investors and accountants. You will love this book if you want to know more about entrepreneurship, startups with technical founders building innovative technology, monetizing open source software, bootstrapping versus venture capital, growing the business toward an exit, mergers & acquisitions, and so on.