Ron Wiener, founder and CEO of Earth Class Mail, has more skin in the game than most entrepreneurs.
He's refinanced his house more than once and gone into seven-figure debt to help fund the company.
"It's not for everyone," says Wiener, who's financed previous companies with six-figure credit card debt and says of his current experience -- "it's just more zeros."
"I have to laugh when I hear people say... they've gone three months without salary. We went two-and-a-half years."
His persistence comes after he sold a a previous company for $50 million during the dotcom boom, but ended up in the red after paying taxes and after the stock tanked before he could sell due to a lock-up.
After all that, Wiener is confident his own investment in Earth Class Mail will be worth it, given that the company is signing up customers, has raised $20 million from VC and angel investors, including two rounds from the Keiretsu Forum, and is in the process of raising another round of at least $20 million.
Ron also writes about how to raise money on his blog, earthclassmail.com/blog
