Building A Startup From Scratch With No Money

http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/blog/2009/01/21/how-to-build-a-startup-from-scratch-with-no-money/

by vp • 17 years ago

16 8 17 years ago

mikeyur• 17 years ago

The biggest part of building a bootstrapped startup is doing a lot of the work yourself. So if you're a web startup this means learning how to code.

Without money all you have is time. If you want to save money in life you need to figure out how to do things on your own. One example is changing your oil, if you know how to change your own oil you can save a few bucks over going to a mechanic.

vaksel• 17 years ago

The oil example is a bad one. Yes you save a few bucks by doing the oil change yourself, but thats only true if you find the sale for $.99/quart oil. Otherwise the $14.99 oil change at a dealer is cheaper.

Then you have the time commitment, it takes you the time to drive to the store, shop and drive back and the time to do the oil change. Overall you'll probably spend an extra hour overall. Which is better spent working.

And don't forget, if you plan to be proper, you'll need to drive that old oil back to the store instead of dumping it down the storm drain.

So basically changing the oil yourself is not worth it. The only thing it gains you, is the ability to thump your chest and look down at all the "pussies" who can't change their own oil.

cedsav2• 17 years ago

I guess the point is that very early on, having $0, you're better off trading time for knowledge.

anamax• 17 years ago

What dealer does oil and filter for $15? At least $35-40 is more like it for the least expensive (petroleum).

The franchises charge around $30, with occasional discounts to $25, and the independents are that.

It's easy to find oil under $2, but at $5/filter and $2/qt, a 5qt oil change costs $15. Most foreign cars take less oil and both the oil and filter price are high, so $10 is more like it.

So, we're looking at saving $15-20 after taxes for less than 30 minutes work.

If you want synthetic oil, you can save even more. Dealers charge >$10/qt for high-grade synthetics which are readily available for around $7 (and, if you pay attention, $5),

It's easy to always buy oil and filter on sale because oil changes are not a surprise. (You can take the old oil back when you buy new if your community doesn't have curb-side recycling - San Jose does.)

Is it worth it? That depends. What were you actually going to do with that 30 minutes?

hs• 17 years ago

you save more bucks on product-creation-or-substitution than service ... let's call it "leverage"

cooking food is a good example, on average you can have leverage up to 10x over dining

generic drug is another, 2-50x leverage over branded one

chemistry ... up to 10000x -- i invested $3 for a kg of washing soda and citric acid (many use weaker base like baking soda and weaker acid like vinegar) which could last me a lifetime. now i rarely go to personal care (shampoo, soap, toothpaste) while at grocery

imagination ... up to infinity (free) -- coding, writing, entertain oneself, etc

changing oil is "service" ... as such, the leverage is low, 5x top

many say it's better to buy than make since you have to spend time making it yourself ... they conveniently forget that they too have to waste time buying (going to seller, making selection, putting order, waiting, paying, reordering)

cedsav2• 17 years ago

I've been through the exact same stages (I guess I'm at #7 now). I couldn't emphasize enough the importance of hiring part-time help if you can and then moving them to full time if things go well.

You're going to make mistakes running your first business. Once you start hiring, the stakes get much higher. It's just not about you anymore. Someone's else livelihood is on the line. Take your time. Use abundance of caution with your first hires.

mannicken• 17 years ago

I'm going to play against the article here. If you are a completely insane entrepreneur -- in a good way -- you won't need money to create value. If you aren't, no "7 tips" or "10 things you should know" will help you get there.

Given depression, I think that there's a profitable market nowadays on telling people they can get rich without money, while living in their parents' basements, and jacking off. Of course you can do that. However, if you have to read articles to motivate you, or give you those good, warm and fuzzy tips you probably aren't ready to start business because no fuzzy article is going to save you.

Let the downmotes begin.

gne1963• 17 years ago

No downmoting here, Just an observation that these tips are not fuzzy. They actually are tried and true by many a successful business owner. And then asked the failed business owner and he'll tell you he failed because he tried to grow too fast by putting in processes she didn't understand, by using someone else's money...

Building A Startup From Scratch With No Money

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