6 ms·

Building a startup for $5k? Really?

16 points by turoczy 18y ago

Portland's David Abramowski provides some insight on how he's working to keep his startup costs low.

GrandMasterBirt 18y ago
Its funny because that is the total budget of my project. :) It can be done, I just have to survive on instant noodles for only a few more years!
vaksel 18y ago
The last place we had to spend money before we could launch our very first version was on legal advice. Terms of use, privacy policies and refund policies all needed to be reviewed by a expert. You most likely don't even need that, just copy paste stuff from other websites
- jmtulloss 18y ago
  Sure, if you can't afford the real thing. Otherwise, having a pro do it is a good idea.
- lionheart 18y ago
  IANAL, but I believe that those policies are copyrighted by the respective websites. This means its illegal to just copy and paste them. I've known people that have gotten sued for large sums because they just copied and pasted those kinds of things.
  - nanexcool 18y ago
    I've seen (haven't used though) Privacy Policy / Terms Of Service Generators all over the web. For example: http://www.bennadel.com/coldfusion/privacy-policy-generator.htm http://www.bennadel.com/coldfusion/privacy-policy-generator.... I don't know how good these really are, but I assume they suffice for starters if you don't want to pay a lawyer.
  - anotherjesse 18y ago
    Automattic (Wordpress) put their documents under a creative commons license: TOS: http://en.wordpress.com/tos/ Privacy Policy: http://automattic.com/privacy/ And everyone seems to use the same DMCA document, but I'm not sure who created it: http://secondlife.com/corporate/dmca.php IANAL either, but I've used these on userscripts.org
iamcalledrob 18y ago
I think it's very possible – if you have another source of income to pay for rent, computers, food etc.. My development has going strong with no extra investment on my part, other than time.
- rs 17y ago
  True, the post does say that $5k went directly to "design, hosting & legal" which didn't include the development costs (time, etc) of the 4 founders. Yeah, it's $5k that was spent, but surely the development of the product itself has to be accounted for.
abyssknight 17y ago
You know, I think you can do it for far less. The key is human assets and time. Legal copy you can acquire for free, or if a founder is a lawyer everyone wins. Marketing is free, provided you're willing to do it. Hosting is really all you have to pay for, and that starts at a paltry $20/month at SliceHost or lower on shared hosting. What is it that costs so much? Sure, rent, food and everything isn't free but my day job covers that. I guess a good designer might cost you some cash, but even that doesn't amount to $5k if you do some leg work yourself (i.e. sketches, html breakdown).

16 points by turoczy 18y ago

Portland's David Abramowski provides some insight on how he's working to keep his startup costs low.

Its funny because that is the total budget of my project. :) It can be done, I just have to survive on instant noodles for only a few more years!

vaksel 18y ago

The last place we had to spend money before we could launch our very first version was on legal advice. Terms of use, privacy policies and refund policies all needed to be reviewed by a expert. You most likely don't even need that, just copy paste stuff from other websites

jmtulloss 18y ago
Sure, if you can't afford the real thing. Otherwise, having a pro do it is a good idea.
lionheart 18y ago
IANAL, but I believe that those policies are copyrighted by the respective websites. This means its illegal to just copy and paste them. I've known people that have gotten sued for large sums because they just copied and pasted those kinds of things.
- nanexcool 18y ago
  I've seen (haven't used though) Privacy Policy / Terms Of Service Generators all over the web. For example: http://www.bennadel.com/coldfusion/privacy-policy-generator.htm http://www.bennadel.com/coldfusion/privacy-policy-generator.... I don't know how good these really are, but I assume they suffice for starters if you don't want to pay a lawyer.
- anotherjesse 18y ago
  Automattic (Wordpress) put their documents under a creative commons license: TOS: http://en.wordpress.com/tos/ Privacy Policy: http://automattic.com/privacy/ And everyone seems to use the same DMCA document, but I'm not sure who created it: http://secondlife.com/corporate/dmca.php IANAL either, but I've used these on userscripts.org

iamcalledrob 18y ago

I think it's very possible – if you have another source of income to pay for rent, computers, food etc.. My development has going strong with no extra investment on my part, other than time.

rs 17y ago
True, the post does say that $5k went directly to "design, hosting & legal" which didn't include the development costs (time, etc) of the 4 founders. Yeah, it's $5k that was spent, but surely the development of the product itself has to be accounted for.

abyssknight 17y ago

You know, I think you can do it for far less. The key is human assets and time. Legal copy you can acquire for free, or if a founder is a lawyer everyone wins. Marketing is free, provided you're willing to do it. Hosting is really all you have to pay for, and that starts at a paltry $20/month at SliceHost or lower on shared hosting. What is it that costs so much? Sure, rent, food and everything isn't free but my day job covers that. I guess a good designer might cost you some cash, but even that doesn't amount to $5k if you do some leg work yourself (i.e. sketches, html breakdown).