Republished by Request -- Startups: How to keep your costs down in the early days
Here's another post that some folks have asked me to republish.
Not everyone starts a company this way -- it is non-traditional for sure. But if you're up for being super scrappy and embrace the challenge of partnering with folks on different continents, this way of doing it sure can be fun and rewarding.
Not everyone starts a company this way -- it is non-traditional for sure. But if you're up for being super scrappy and embrace the challenge of partnering with folks on different continents, this way of doing it sure can be fun and rewarding.
- Work from home. You don't need an office until you have 3 people in the same city.
- Don't hire anyone in the United States until you have to.
- Partner with a great offshore team for development and invest all your time collaborating with them. Visit them and work alongside them.
- IT: mac, skype, webex, blackberry, hosted exchange provider, server beach, trac for bug and feature tracking.
- Get your friends and colleagues to be your first product testers.
- Don't buy anything that doesn't contribute directly to proving out the initial product.
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Posted by Inaki Berenguer | March 8, 2008 1:43 PM | Score: 0
I agree with everything except "Don't hire anyone in the United States until you have to.". It depends on the product you want to develop. Sometimes it is better to spend more money and to have full control of the idea/product. At the beginning, you need to iterate a lot and interacting with people from other countries only on the phone (including time differences) could be very painful and delay the whole process. You spend a lot of time doing specifications that could easily be communicated face to face if you had the people working with you in the same city.
inaki
Posted by stone | March 9, 2008 4:24 PM | Score: 1
It's easier to take advice from someone *after* they've been very successful, not before.
Posted by Zak Kinion | March 10, 2008 2:16 AM | Score: 0
Server Beach? It was a few years ago, but I don't remember my Server Beach experience being that great. Maybe they've changed in the past 3 years, but I don't remember a whole lot
Posted by Jason Goldberg | March 10, 2008 6:45 AM | Score: 0
So far server beach seems to be a fine solution. Was well recommended by some trusted friends.
On the actual "advice" provided here, I wouldn't go so far as to call it advice. It's more like some notes on a different model than the norm. We'll see in time how well it works.
One thing do believe strongly in is that the value of your early stage company is directly related to your capital efficiency.
Posted by Beth C. | April 23, 2008 9:16 PM | Score: 0
>>Don't hire anyone in the United States until you have to.
You are kidding, right?
Posted by Michael O'Shaughnessy | May 2, 2008 9:40 PM | Score: 0
As a volunteer "ambassador" I can honestly say I'm out after catching up on your blogging.
You sound super for your shareholders, but alas I'm not one of them. I'm just a software development and Oracle database administrator that has his bottom line dramatically undercut by CEOs like you.
Frankly, I'm turned off by the whole service now.
Posted by Jason Goldberg
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May 5, 2008 11:28 PM | Score: 0
"Don't hire anyone in the United States until you have to."
This was purposely an extreme position meant to provoke discussion. It's not for everyone but this is a new way to start a company which emphasizes and forces a more global approach from the beginning while keeping startup costs to a minimum.
I am a big believer (through experience) that it is best to spend as little as possible while you are trying to prove out the product.