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How Open Source Drives Down Startup Costs
prostoalex writes "Reuters Plugged In article (usually syndicated to your local paper's Technology section) talks about the real impact of open source in the technology world -- cutting down startup costs for other developers. New ventures are coming out, where the startup costs range in five-digit numbers, not seven-digit figures, where venture capital financing would be required. The article talks about Project for Open Source Media, Blogger.com, Odeo and Asterisk telephone system."
If you can get a company going for five figures, you have my respect. I am trying to get a startup going and after doing alot of analysis, the cheapest I think I can do it is for just over 7. Each business if different but getting one running for 90K is just about impossible. That won't even cover two people for six months. I guess you would need a product already written and a customer already signed up to even think about this. But FOSS does make running a software business alot cheaper. If you have five developers, it would save probably 5K a year at least and that is assuming you don't need anything special that can be replaced with a FOSS alternative. Good luck.
"Those that start by burning books, will end by burning men."
- 1) Programmer willing to work for percentage.
This is one of the biggest challenges. Not everyone can work for no or minimal salary for a year or two, but it's a huge win if you can.Salaries are really expensive. Fully loaded costs (including benefits, etc.) are $10k/month. A few salaries and you'll have burned through all your cash before you know it.
Burn rate is like a ticking clock on your startup. When you hit 0, it's game over, man. Keeping the burn low is key.