1. a person who starts a business or project with minimal external resources or funding, relying on personal effort and ingenuity
Usage: common in business and entrepreneurship contexts
2. a computer program or routine that loads and initializes an operating system or application
Usage: technical; computing

Examples

• She was a true bootstrapper who built her tech startup from her garage with almost no initial investment.
• Many successful entrepreneurs are bootstrappers who refused to give up despite limited resources.
• The bootstrapper loaded the operating system into memory when the computer was powered on.
• He admired bootstrappers in the startup community who achieved success through determination alone.
• The bootstrapper program initializes the kernel before the main system processes begin.
• As a bootstrapper, she reinvested every dollar of profit back into growing her business.