Bootstrapping tip: Call your competitor

Filed in archive Bootstrapper Tips on August 31, 2008

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Image# 6219339

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Not just a bootstrapping tool, LeadVine is a bootstrapped venture itself.

At last check, the site boasted 169 users, 74 listings and about $116,000 in finders' fees, though co-founder Allen Margate admits he's still struggling with possible revenue models to make the site pay for itself.

"Like every social network, we're trying to build the community first," Margate said during an interview last week.

Except for the cost of domain names for the site that hosts the new application, the greatest expense for LeadVine would have been the programming.

However, after several failed attempts to offshore the project, Margate came up with a novel money saving approach worthy of the most inventive bootstrapping startups.

"I called a competitor," he said.

Some time before, Margate had launched another website called Wage Exchange allowing people in the same field to compare what they made on line.

Though Margate considers the effort less than a success, he did have a rival, a Louisville, KY, entrepreneur with programming experience named Ben Thomas whose site Salary Scout had some features Margate realized his lacked.

So when it came time to recruit programming talent, Margate knew just where to go, saving himself significant startup costs and gaining a partner to handle the technical side of the business in the bargain.

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