From small beginnings to billion-dollar sports apparel giant, the story of Kevin Plank and Under Armour is proof that bootstrapping your business can succeed.

If it doesn’t sell, there’s probably something wrong with your business. If it does sell, then you don’t have to give half your company away and you can be the one making the decisions for the long term. We did that, we bootstrapped, and my first year in business, we did $17,000 in sales out of a little townhouse on the corner of 35th and O Street in Georgetown.

— When we were small: Under Armour by The Washington Post