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"Which one is easy?" None of them. I am sure you are an industrious hard worker. And to do this successfully, you need to expand your determination, resourcef

"Which one is easy?" None of them. I am sure you are an industrious hard worker. And to do this successfully, you need to expand your determination, resourcefulness, and sheer visceral grit far beyond what you have ever done before. It is not easy. AND, you can do it, if you decide to. Allow me to advise you: for each of these three options, write out all steps in the process of building an MVP through that method. As much detail as you can. Get to the point where you can imagine being successful using ANY of them. Then you will have clarity to choose. And then: follow it to the end, regardless of what it asks of you. Then you will change your HN username. You will see yourself as a true entrepreneur; not because you want to be one, but because you KNOW you are. Best of luck building your MVP. Keep at it, and you will be successful. (Source: I am an entrepreneur who bootstrapped my company to 6-figs revenue while retaining 100% equity, expecting to break 7-figs in 2022, and believe I will reach 8 figs by 2023 or earlier.)

codegeek 5y ago
"expecting to break 7-figs in 2022, and believe I will reach 8 figs by 2023 or earlier" That will be something and would love to learn why/how you think you can achieve that being bootstrapped. Going from 1M to 10M in 1 year being bootstrapped has to be something special. Not doubting but just wondering how you believe you can achieve this without funding/extra money ?
- redsymbol 5y ago
  Different business models have different capitalization requirements; some (e.g. a grocery store chain) are nearly impossible to rapidly scale without massive outside investment. If a business model has (a) a high enough gross margin, and (b) good-enough intrinsic economies of scale, then by the time it reaches several $100k in revenue, there is a good chance it will be crystal clear how to scale up 7 and then 8 figures. And you will be sitting on a big enough pile of cash that there is no need to take outside funding to implement that. Many B2B SaaS business models in particular can find themselves in this excellent situation. You can still take outside funding; after all, a growing business at that point is attractive to outside investors. But then it becomes a choice about growth rate in exchange for keeping equity and strategic control. I decided in my case it was completely unnecessary, so I am not doing it.

codegeek 5y ago

"expecting to break 7-figs in 2022, and believe I will reach 8 figs by 2023 or earlier" That will be something and would love to learn why/how you think you can achieve that being bootstrapped. Going from 1M to 10M in 1 year being bootstrapped has to be something special. Not doubting but just wondering how you believe you can achieve this without funding/extra money ?

redsymbol 5y ago
Different business models have different capitalization requirements; some (e.g. a grocery store chain) are nearly impossible to rapidly scale without massive outside investment. If a business model has (a) a high enough gross margin, and (b) good-enough intrinsic economies of scale, then by the time it reaches several $100k in revenue, there is a good chance it will be crystal clear how to scale up 7 and then 8 figures. And you will be sitting on a big enough pile of cash that there is no need to take outside funding to implement that. Many B2B SaaS business models in particular can find themselves in this excellent situation. You can still take outside funding; after all, a growing business at that point is attractive to outside investors. But then it becomes a choice about growth rate in exchange for keeping equity and strategic control. I decided in my case it was completely unnecessary, so I am not doing it.