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Ask HN: Micro investment capital (~$50k) for a solo bootstrapped SaaS?
I'm a bootstrapped solo founder in Kyiv, Ukraine running a profitable SaaS that is about 2 years old and shows solid steady (slow) growth. I need a small capital injection for equipment upgrades (still using an old iPhone 7!) and moving expenses. $50k would be a life changing sum of money for me, enabling me to move to a safer area (e.g. rural Western Ukraine) and set up a productive work environment. Any idea where I can find a small investment? Happy to trade some equity or something.
Incorporated as a Delaware C-Corp using Stripe Atlas. Business loans (Pipe, TinySeed, etc.) aren't an option for a business of my size and location, and YC isn't interested in a solo founder in a warzone, I guess.
- nicbou 3y agoWhat are your willing to give in return for that investment? What's your end of the deal?
- _xnmw 3y agoEquity or developer consulting hours.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- tixocloud 3y agoWhen you say business loans aren’t an option because of size and location, is it because you’re a 1 person company or because you’re in Ukraine? Just trying to understand where these companies consider risk.
- _xnmw 3y agoBoth, and the fact that my previous startup went bankrupt (maxed out personal credit) so my credit score is shot.
- quickthrower2 3y agoWhat about a kickstarter (or similar) or lifetime offers on appsumo. Might bring in extra cash fast.
- _xnmw 3y agoThanks for the lifetime appsumo idea. Never thought of that!
- jmstfv 3y agoI'm also a founder who started a C Corp using Atlas. I see two options here: * Do you process transactions through Stripe? Have you received an offer from Stripe Capital? It probably won't be enough, and their APR is unfavourable compared to typical loans, but it could be a starting point. * Doing part-time consulting. That's what I had been doing for 3-ish years before I managed to get my business off the ground. Start from the monthly freelancer threads on HN and work your way from there. If it doesn't work, try Upwork (not a fan, but you gotta do what you gotta do).
- _xnmw 3y agoHaven't got an offer from Stripe Capital, revenue probably doesn't meet their criteria.
- FrenchDevRemote 3y agohave you tried messaging business angels?
- _xnmw 3y agoNo, have no idea who/where/what to say.
- FrenchDevRemote 3y agowell linkedin, you can also find mailing lists try to first look at people from your country/close people idk try to invite a 100 business angels on linkedin with a small intro message like "hey, I'm X from Y, we do Z, we have N users with X revenue, looking for a small investment, would love to chat about it"
- prakhar897 3y agoYou can cold email Beginner Angel Investors. You can find them as senior/staff engineers at FAANG/Successful startup on LinkedIn. Since the equity is basically worthless in this deal, I'd suggest going the "Mr Wonderful" way. Give equity + regular dividends until the (amount x 2~4)$ are paid.
- leandot 3y agoYou haven't said what the SaaS business is, maybe start with that?
- turtle_head 3y agoWhat sort of niche do you operate in? And what’s the ballpark MRR? You might find someone here.
- _xnmw 3y agoEmail is on my HN profile, not comfortable with sharing publicly.