Bootstrapped Legends: David Williams & Merkle

To his mind, it was Merkle’s culture that has propelled his company to approximately $2B in revenue and 15K employees. David believed in the importance of culture so much that he would personally train every new employee on the 25+ beliefs of the company. 

The belief in his team and in his company also started with a belief in himself. He acquired Merkle when he was 24 years old for $5.3M. To save money while he was raising the money to buy out the company, he moved his family into his grandmother’s house in a retirement community for almost an entire year. From there, he bootstrapped the company for another 20 years before raising outside capital. 

Ultimately David and Merkle’s story is about the power of compounding. What happens when you consistently, constantly, relentlessly give your best to a company for multiple decades? The answer is simple: magic happens.