Ask HN: How much did you invest in your bootstrapped startup?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3971393

by drewrv • 14 years ago

8 14 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Just curious how much others have put into their own business.

Also, did you see a return on that money? In other words, get the investment back plus some?

devtestapp5• 14 years ago

So far, I've spent about $40, all on hosting charges. As someone with design and development skills I was able to do all the work myself. I can't imagine how a non-developer could do anything similar without a huge budget.

Having said that, I haven't had much success. Although I've had a fair amount of traffic and a significant number of comments to the effect that my site is really well executed, I haven't had any sales so far two weeks after launch. I guess it's early days but it's hard not to be disheartened and question if the idea is viable. It's hard working alone and not having anyone to motivate and bounce ideas off of.

My site is http://www.devtest.net if you're interested in having a look.

shloime• 14 years ago

Your site is really great. Give it some time. It'll catch.

devtestapp5• 14 years ago

Thanks. This means a lot to me.

japhyr2• 14 years ago

Do you mind sharing a little of your hosting details? How are you hosting it? How much traffic/ how many users do you think you can manage at this hosting level?

I am asking because I expect hosting costs to be my most expensive item while in the MVP stage, and I don't have a lot of cash to throw at my project.

devtestapp5• 14 years ago

I'm hosting it on linode, using 2 vps instances at the moment, one for the site and another isolated instance to run the code. The code running VPS is disposable so I can boot up new ones / restore from a snapshot if there are any problems with it.

With this setup, I've tested 200 concurrent users with no major problems, and would support easily tens of thousands of hits per day.

Having too many users is a problem I would love to have!

nickpyett• 14 years ago

Yeah looks great - maybe it's just taking employers a while to adapt their recruiting practices.

devtestapp5• 14 years ago

Thanks :)

chadyj• 14 years ago

I have invested $70k, and spent around $15k so far over the last few months.

I am a unique case because I am also applying for a E2 Investor visa, and $70k was the number recommended by my immigration attorney to satisfy the visa application. If I didn't have that requirement I would have spent less on legal fees and hopefully would have launched the MVP for around $10k. I still haven't launched, but am about to start a closed beta program.

fabiandesimone• 14 years ago

Would love to get in touch with you regarding the visa application. Got an email?

lachyg• 14 years ago

I would also like your email. I'm incredibly surprised that your attorney considers $70k enough, all the attorneys I have talked to have said upwards of $120k~.

Very interested to hear how it goes!

davyjones• 14 years ago

So far, about 1100 USD. A MacBook Pro and the domain name. It is an open source project and there is no biz angle as of now really.

Ask HN: How much did you invest in your bootstrapped startup?

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