How much money would you be willing to spend from your own savings to start a business?
Are you the kind of person who believes in your dream enough to burn through most of your savings on it?
For millionaires, this might not be a big deal, but what about people with a typical 9–5 job? I see how much a solid marketing campaign costs on just one platform (often the monthly expense is equal to at least a full year’s salary).
The day before yesterday, a friend told me he and his wife are closing their restaurant, which they opened just six months ago. They had taken a loan for it, which makes it even worse.
How much of your own financial reserve would you be willing to spend before giving up?
[I think that I would go with $40,000.] 😅🙈
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I’ve been building, a product which is now a bootstrapped business that’s grown to 1 million+ monthly users (organically). I didn’t burn through everything, just invested gradually and made sure every rupee had a purpose. I guess, you don’t need to go broke to build something meaningful but just stay consistent and spend smart.
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@vu3ozm Cool! Is it a company now from that? I mean company that hires people.
@busmark_w_nika Yes, but eventually hired 2-3 people to maintain the product and the revenue is sustaining their salaries. I would not call it a company yet, but if I wish to take it to next level, some investment is required.
Now to take this next leap, either I can raise money or invest more from my pockets. However, I feel I have invested enough to build the product and reach PMF stage. Now if I raise from investors, they can also help me explore larger markets than I can with my current potential.
So for R&D a founder ideally has to put in their own money (not really in favour of raising money from investors and allocating a large chunk of it in just R&D). To do business seeking investment is wiser.
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@vu3ozm Funding? Are you about to try? Antler? Or YCombinator?
@busmark_w_nika Nupe, for this particular product it has started making a basic revenue so I am now fine with the current burn and managing some profits. I don't wanna scale up this product.
Triforce Todos
There’s a fine line between being committed and being consumed.
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@abod_rehman and even finer line between being sane and crazy. 🙈
IXORD
If I know that a product has a higher chance of success compared to others, I would definitely invest in it. The key is not to miss those opportunities and to do everything correctly, because that creates a lot of pressure.
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@ixord I think that many would do the same if they knew that the product would be successful... the trick is that you do not know and many founders blindly believe :D
IXORD
@busmark_w_nika I don’t think we can ever say for sure that a product will be successful. There are always risks. Even when the chances of success seem high, things can still turn out very differently. However, I’m confident that striving to increase the product’s chances of success is definitely worthwhile
Triforce Todos
I think the real answer depends on how replaceable the money is versus how rare the opportunity feels. For some dreams, it’s worth the stretch.
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@abod_rehman I think that when something is pretty big, it is worth investing, but I am too rational to burn much money.
Depends on a couple things. Being on the younger side, with no dependents, and a super supportive family safety-net, I'd go all in.
I wouldn't take out a loan. But that's a personal risk-tolerance stance. Also, you can't put a price on the amount of learning you get with founding a company.
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@ernesto42 yup, when I was younger, I didn't have that money, so I would risk less (because I had nothing). Now it is better but I am more reasonable too :D
no half-acts; all in and then some or there's no point.
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@ty_lerche Hazard player :D
I started my own IT platform (ai-imageeditor.com) with an investment of around $2,000 for equipment. I saved money by doing as much as possible on my own to reduce costs.
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@tonthatnam do you have any users?
To be honest, I’ve launched 8 products solo and kept spending very low — only a few dollars for domains, no paid marketing yet. I planned for marketing later, once I’m ready to scale. 💪🚀
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@1001binary and were such marketing-less launches successful?
In most cases I'm trying to keep budget in between $10-20k. It should be enough to create MVP and prove the idea.
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@denys_kuzin1 Cool, I think this one is bearable :)
for a physical/retail business, yes. not that much with digital one yet. if i've control over supply chain, product procurement, local market dynamics, i can choose a product i know where to sell, whether wholesale or retail. i can put a substantial amount of savings in this, i know i can make it work with more hard work, travelling, and networking.
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@basepurpose Ufff, I reminded myself why I do not want to run a physical business. 🙈