It's alive! It's alive!

Filed in archive Bootstrapper Tips on November 1, 2006

Sometimes the bootstrapping process can seem a little like the equivalent of reanimating a corpse built out of spare parts ripped off from a graveyard.

Sounds like fun, huh?

Still, the seven golden rules of bootstrapping from Scottish Enterprise, Scotland's primary economic development agency, remind us that the flash of lightening that transforms our creation into a living breathing creature is the ultimate goal.

The website recommends:

1. Get big by starting small:

This probably means starting a business that is different from the one you really want to create, in order to build up the capital you need to get your real business going.

2. Plan to grow big:

If your big idea requires a large investment, start out small but concentrate on generating cash fast, to grow big enough to do what you really want to do.

3. It's all about getting cash:

Offer services and products that will generate cash from customers who are likely to pay quickly...

4. Growth is everything:

The bootstrapper's priority is to retain cash in the business and generate growth by building up sales.

5. Take as little as you can out of the business:

This means working with little or no salary if you can, running a cheap car and making do without a decent holiday for a while.

6. It's appearances that matter:

You might be working out of your garage but customers don't need to know that!

(At first blush, this one might appear to conflict with some observations we posted not so long ago by senior ventures advisor James L. Chen, but where Chen was talking about needless extravagance meant to impress here we're talking about not advertising your inexperience)

7. Don't bootstrap forever:

You're bootstrapping for a reason, so ultimately it has to pay off and enable you to develop your real business idea...Remember why you're doing this. At some point all the hard work will pay off.

At some point your corpse has got to wiggle those fingers, sit up on the operation table and grunt. Otherwise, all you've got is a big mess to clean up in the lab!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

(The above photo from the 1931 Universal film Frankenstein is being used for satirical purposes only under the "fair use" clause of U.S. Copyright law.)