Comments on: Funding Your Web Work Dream

By: Wayne

Wayne — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:48:14 +0000

I also agree with Lasse’s posting. If you start of working with your own savings you learn to make wise investments and to stretch your dollars in order to maximize your investment.

You may be lucky enough to find an individual to invest in your company, but if you (as a the CEO or president) don’t know or understand the value you bring to the marketplace then it doesn’t do anyone any good.

By: Lasse Rintakumpu

Lasse Rintakumpu — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:22:30 +0000

There’s surprisingly little red tape here in Finland (and other Nordic / Central-European countries as well, at least according to The Economist).

Don’t know the details about Anglo-American world, but my suggestion is to go limited right from the start (legislation permitting), with absolute minimum capital (use cheap loans and/or savings).

Then, after running the business for a while (you had those clients ready, didn’t you?) if you need any extra capital go for VCs and loans that you can take against your company.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:09:50 +0000

I started my business 3 years ago by using my existing contact network to do web consulting jobs to bring in money to pay the bills while I worked over and above that to build new products that were intended to be the core of my new business.

What actually happened though is that the consulting work became so successful that the original product ideas have fallen by the wayside and I’m currently in the process of remodelling my compay to be clearer that we are a web consultancy first and foremost.

My advice for people starting up in consultancy is to make sure you secure yourself at least one paying client before you dive in, preferably more! And bear in mind that as soon as you secure one job to start paying the bills you need to start looking for the next.

Good luck!

By: doncampbell

doncampbell — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:14:11 +0000

Nice article. I agree self-funded is the best if you can do it. There is another type of investor called the “micro cap” investor. They are somewhere in between the VC and Angel. They look for self-funded startups that are getting significant traction and must decide to grow quickly to keep up. They like to “pour fuel on the fire” rather than validate ideas. Also Y-Combinator is an interesting model.

By: Troy Duncan

Troy Duncan — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:14:35 +0000

My goal is to build my business with cash only. I understand the concept of leveraging other peoples money. But I’m patient and want to build my business for the long haul.

Debt can be good. But in a recession, cash rules!