Ask HN: How much have you spent on your 'bootstrapped' startup

14 points by leslyn 14 years ago | 18 comments

Startup community: I am wondering how much of a budget is considered 'bootstrapped'? And, I am curious to know how much personal capital (or debt) it took to generate something profitable. Of course I understand that the product/service can make all the difference in the world but your experience and numbers will still offer a valuable perspective.

I know there are no guarantees and that past performance is not indicative of future results! I also realize that everyone's risk tolerance starting financial situation is different. Just laying that out so that the comments can focus on individual experiences.

Thanks!

zeynalov 14 years ago |

I copied this info from our bootstrapped startup annual report. This info covers development and first month revenues.

Money and hours spent:

10$ + 2 days - domain+naming

9$/m - hosting

0$ - 1 week - webdesign (~ 3000$ value)

0$ - 1 day - front-end development (~ 300$ value)

0$ - 1 week - development (~ 1500$ value)

0$ - 6 days - copy writing (~ 500$ value)

- Facebook official page created 05.05.2011

- Money and hours spent on advertising : ~ 200 $ + 1 month work (~ 4000$ value)

- Over 800 emails received and replied

- 12 paying costumers. (450x12=5400 euro)

- 3 refund (250x3=750 euro)

- Profit - 4650 euro

P.S. Actually I should spend 10000$ for the launch, but because I did everything myself, I didn't spend so much money. I spent too much time learning graphic design, marketing, seo and my expertise on my startup subject. And some coding skills. But because all of them were already familiar to me as a hobby, I dont't count the time spent on learning developing my startup.

cdvonstinkpot 14 years ago |

I'm starting a sound reinforcement company- for those who don't know what that is, we rent the sound systems that are used at concert events to promoters of such events.

It's an extremely capital-intensive endeavour, and alot's gone into it. I recently inherited 6 digits after both my parents died, and I figured it was a better idea to try to build a money making machine than to just live off it for as long as I could, so I created an LLC, and started building a sound system.

So far after 2 years, I'm just over halfway through building the sound system, and a little less than halfway through building the backoffice IT infrastructure. And I've already spent $160k!

I'm working with a SCORE counselor, and intend to get an SBA loan to cover what I need to finish the sound rig- the IT's in a state where it's just enough to get by until I make some money, so I don't need to spend anymore on that thank goodness.

ohashi 14 years ago |

I don't meet your profitable metric yet (hell, I haven't even launched it yet), but I've been working for a year.

The biggest question is what do you consider spent on the startup? Do living costs count or just direct expenses?

I'd say most of the cost has definitely been in the living costs. My total bill for direct costs (not living costs) so far is probably under <5k.

leslyn 14 years ago | |

Thanks. I did mean above and beyond living costs; expenses such as hosting, legal, advertising, etc. Next question - how much money AFTER launch will you be committing to your startup and what is the amount (in your mind) that you see yourself spending in order to make it happen?

ohashi 14 years ago | | |

As much as I can afford. Honestly, that's the best answer I've got for you. If I need money for something and don't have enough, I will earn it.

nalidixic 14 years ago |

I was able to profitably launch http://www.committeebox.com for around 500 dollars. That cost includes hosting and such while testing. If I counted all the hours that I've put in we'd have a whole different story :P

What have you been working on for a year without launching?

leslyn 14 years ago | |

Nalidxic: I really like the simplicity and design of your site - it is really inviting! How have you advertised this?

zht 14 years ago | |

How much do you charge?

ecaroth 14 years ago |

Been working on FitBolt (fitbolt.com) for about a year, spent ~$200 setting up credit card processing & recurring payments, $50 on business cards, and about $150 on legal fees. LOTS of optimization has kept my appengine costs well within the free quotas, and everything else has only been my time.

revorad 14 years ago | |

Filbolt looks interesting. I know it's not nice to get unwarranted design criticism, but I found the text on your site quite hard to read. You should consider making the text of the main value proposition (The problem and The solution) much bigger and more prominent. Right now, it's just lost in a sea of other similar looking text.

leslyn 14 years ago | | |

I just wanted to add (I know you didn't ask) but I agree that the white text in the bright yellow is hard to read. I think the suggestion to make that bigger and more prominent will be helpful!

fourmii 14 years ago | |

$150 on legal fees? What was that for, did you use some online templates to incorporate? I gather you're a solo startup?

AznHisoka 14 years ago |

I've spent over $20,000 of my own money and have yet to launched officially. I'm able to afford it because of a lifestyle business I set up years ago (that has closed down since).

dnpmonitor 14 years ago |

This is interesting, does it count if you're bootstrapping looking to go on to raise VC? As I'm 'bootstrapping' now?

leslyn 14 years ago | |

Sure, the question is still valid. How much have you spent, or are you willing to spend to get you to the point that an investor will be interested in talking to you? (assuming that the profits are not funding the growth that an investor will be interested in)

warehouse 14 years ago |

I spent $5k and it failed.

gdhillon 14 years ago |

About $3K cash and about 100+ man hours.