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Bootstrapping Start-ups

Posted by michael on from the he-travels-the-fastest-who-travels-alone dept.

An anonymous reader writes "How many of us wanted to follow our dream and start our own start-up? How many of us thought that it can't be done due to costs, the need of big bucks and convincing some snotty VC? Well it didn't stop these guys. The most current success story is social networking software Huminity which has been on /. before. The recipe for their success was: open source, clustering $100/mo servers, using the web to find native translators instead of using over priced local ones and hiring GUI designers from popular skins download sites."

2 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Prepare for SPAM! by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is a brand new account reposting a highly moderated comment from the previous slashdot story.

    While the comment remains true, I hope the mods will send him right back down to -1. It looks like a troll charging up karma to me.

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    There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
  2. Yes (Re:Only problem... by dmorin · · Score: 4, Informative
    • Sketch out a business plan that gives you some clue of how much money you really need. Hint, you do not need a million dollars.
    • Pretend you're optimizing code and shrink the hell out of it. You don't need to pay for a hosting service above and beyond your cable modem in the basement. You don't need brand new machines when you can buy from ebay. You don't need an office, or business cards, or a travel budget. You don't need to hire person X if you can convince them to do it for free for version 1. Repeat ad nauseam.
    • Go out and get the stupid money. Ask relatives. Rack up credit card debt. Tell them you're making an independent film or something. Move back in with your parents if you have to.
    • Get customers. You may even find yourself a sugar daddy that likes your idea so much that they will pay up front, enabling you to do more sooner. This is how many startups get started, when a big company says "I am willing to be your only customer for awhile, even though I know you have no product, and I will pay you to build it, on the promise that I will get lots of profit once you really do have product."
    It's been done plenty of times before. It's not inconceivable once you have a better handle on how much you need. Everybody thinks they need a million dollars to start, but in reality you can probably get started for a few hundred or a few thousand. And if your idea has any legs, then raising a few thousand bucks should not be out of the realm of possibility.
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    www.HearMySoulSpeak.com