Wikipedia, while not a for-profit company, had to operate in a lot of ways from day one like any other startup. They control costs quite well given their immense scale.
Microsoft was fanatical about controlling costs. They were very profitable from early on.
GitHub was founded in 2008, and only took their first major venture capital in 2012. The business funded (or close to funded) itself from very early on.
Craigslist never took venture capital. Funded itself by very low costs of operation, and a minimum revenue approach.
37signals, from what I know, never took any major venture capital and was bootstrapped.
Wikipedia, while not a for-profit company, had to operate in a lot of ways from day one like any other startup. They control costs quite well given their immense scale.
Microsoft was fanatical about controlling costs. They were very profitable from early on.
GitHub was founded in 2008, and only took their first major venture capital in 2012. The business funded (or close to funded) itself from very early on.
Craigslist never took venture capital. Funded itself by very low costs of operation, and a minimum revenue approach.
37signals, from what I know, never took any major venture capital and was bootstrapped.
Here's another list:
http://37signals.com/bootstrapped