Comments on: Bootstrapping: What it is and how to do it.

By: Apolinaras "Apollo" Sinkevicius | LeanStartups.com

Apolinaras "Apollo" Sinkevicius | LeanStartups.com — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:02:20 +0000

I have spent my entire career in self-funded startups. Not an easy thing to do, but it teaches you things.
Bootstrapping is nothing new. It has been done for ages. Bootstrapping was the only way for new immigrants to make it in US (heck, it still is). Except it is much easier to do it now with all the free resources (for example, I chose to opensource a lot of my knowledge and share it in a blog for new entrepreneurs) and plenty of people willing to help.
Let us not forget about places like FreeCycle. I have gotten thousands of dollars worth of stuff from there (and gave away some too). I have an article on how that too: “How Freecycle helped me bootstrap” http://leanstartups.com/how-freecycle-helped-me-bootstrap.html

By: Chad Engle

Chad Engle — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:34:16 +0000

Thank you for the link! I will have to check it out and add some resources to the post!

By: Heather Coull

Heather Coull — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:05:35 +0000

Great article! Fundingpost had a conference, on August 11, where the panelists covered all about bootstrapping. Check out some of the other conferences that we have lined up:
https://www.fundingpost.com/

Thanks for the article!

Thanks,
Heather Coull
Marketing Manager
617-688-0440
FundingPost.com
Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/CreativelyCoull
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/FundingPost
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By: A Month In The Creative Community: An August Roundup | Fuel Your Creativity

A Month In The Creative Community: An August Roundup | Fuel Your Creativity — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:36:22 +0000

[...] Bootstrapping: What it is and how to do it. [...]

By: App Marketing Series: Your Groundwork For Success | Fuel Your Apps

App Marketing Series: Your Groundwork For Success | Fuel Your Apps — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:47:02 +0000

[...] them. They are perfectly capable of designing some marketing materials after all going cheap and bootstrapping is not too shabby. Now I am not saying you have to be full fledged with a Press-Kit but you can [...]

By: Martin Leblanc

Martin Leblanc — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:12:55 +0000

Cutting cost is incredible important in startups – go for the hosted solutions when it comes to server – you can never do it cheaper or better yourself.

By: Chad Engle

Chad Engle — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:16:47 +0000

Sorry to hear about that! However I guess some lessons are learned the hard way. I think that you prove a really good point and what is “necessary” isn’t always “what you want”.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:31:21 +0000

Nice article Chad. From my experiences there is an important lesson in the Dell Server story you mentioned. Just a bit before I started freelancing, I started a small graphic apparel company. (Since put on indefinite hold) Had a decent idea, some good outlets and a few contacts that could have been pretty helpful. Long story short I got all hyped up and before I even made my first sale I went out and started purchasing equipment and inventory (etc). Although it made me feel like I was really doing it, I learned quickly that it was money that would have come in handy elsewhere. Bottom line is be careful, spend where needed to get going. When the income starts arriving you can begin to consider some of those things you thought you absolutely could not succeed without. Chances are you will be able to cross about half of them off the list realizing they were not ever necessary.

Ah well, lesson learned.

By: Chad Engle

Chad Engle — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:16:02 +0000

Great! There is a ton of good resources on the web about it. I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel but rather show some good resources. Cheers for reading!

By: printedproof

printedproof — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:23:41 +0000

great read Chad. Bootstrapping is something I have been working on for a while. Now I know what to call it.