I am a big believer in Seed-Strapping. You need some initial capital to get you started (can be as low as a few months of your own salary). But you should aim to bootstrap your solution.
Being forced to bootstrap with your own funds is the best bullshit business filter I am aware of. I also think it says a little bit about the founder's ability to maintain some amount of stability in their life and put their money where their mouth is. Everyone can come up with ideas. How sure are you of yours? Are you willing to use some of your own money to prove it out? No? Then I guess I'm not that interested either.
The way I am trying to do this now is to only ask for money if I can obtain at least one paying customer who is willing to vouch for me. If I can't market an MVP to at least one small shop, I don't know why a non-fraudulent business partner would want to work with me. In any case, I wouldnt feel great about that relationship.
I've done the burn someone else's fifteen million bucks thing on tech stack shiny rabbit chases. It's really not a fun time in retrospect. Mostly just a sick feeling all the way to the bottom.
bob1029|10 months ago
The way I am trying to do this now is to only ask for money if I can obtain at least one paying customer who is willing to vouch for me. If I can't market an MVP to at least one small shop, I don't know why a non-fraudulent business partner would want to work with me. In any case, I wouldnt feel great about that relationship.
I've done the burn someone else's fifteen million bucks thing on tech stack shiny rabbit chases. It's really not a fun time in retrospect. Mostly just a sick feeling all the way to the bottom.
LikeAnElephant|10 months ago
It really comes down to being willing to start small and grow within your means (even if that means a SMB loan or small investment).
But if you can’t find even 1 customer then it’s likely you’ve started building without talking to actual customers.
zupa-hu|10 months ago