Advice for the bootstrap start-up

Filed in archive How-to on June 20, 2006

Bootstrap entrepreneur and writer David Worrell offers some start-up advice for like-minded souls in this article reaching back to October 2002 in Entrepreneur.com.

Understandably, Worrell takes it for granted that many successful start-ups will rely on self-financing not outside investors.

Some businesses are built by venture capitalists. Dearly departed Pets.com comes to mind. Other businesses are built by entrepreneurs--Dell Computers and Microsoft are a couple of good examples.

Worrell adds:

Despite the dream of some entrepreneurs to meet a VC with deep pockets, the fact is that 99.9 percent of business owners will struggle alone, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

A couple of pieces of advice Worrell gives those embarking down this riskier, but, he says, ultimately more rewarding road are:

• Know how much financial risk you personally are able to withstand (every entrepreneur will have a different threshold based on circumstances)

• Do a lot of advanced planning before launching your venture or spending any money on it

• Focus on developing that first sale or customer since every sale will build your confidence and give you better understanding of your market

• Have a strategy, especially for how to maintain cash flow in the beginning when money will be tight

• Don't spend any money on anything your business does not absolutely need