Susan Schreter, a blogger, startup and small business writer for the Seattle Post-Intellegencer with experience as a small business coach and corporate consultant, has these suggestions about bootstrapping a business with...

No money, no credit, no equipment, no experience, no staff and no connections...

Susan's recommendations include:

• Check out community colleges, universities, even prestigious graduate schools in your area for interns that might work for experience instead of a big paycheck.
• There may also be retired or laid-off professionals you can tap who may be living off a severance and is willing and able to wait until the business is financed for adequate compensation.
• "Sweat equity" means basically that you give people interest in your business as compensation for the salary you are not paying. This could be fine for a future Microsoft where high profits will guarantee enough for everyone.

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