A bootstrapped startup is a “come as you are” party. The Founders rely on passion and their savings to build product and find customers.
What Happens When The “Come As You Are Party” is Over
“Nobody makes a video game about the quartermaster division, but armies win and lose on logistics and supply, and politics and diplomacy, and the work people do on the homefront. […] History lends depth and complexity and grandeur to the present: it “haunts” the present. History contains revelations of very different worlds and very different ways of living, and includes mysterious events that have to be puzzled out. The “historyness” of video games represents an impulse towards history, and the meaning of history in the present, that’s worth taking seriously.”
Mike O’Malley in “History-ness and Video Games”
The first stage of a bootstrapped startup is a “come as you are” party. The founders are living off their savings and are driven by passion. They are developing a product or service offering, and if they are prudent, they are working simultaneously to understand who their customer will be. The founders’ history and their ability to understand a prospect’s history, current situation, and plans are critical to their success.
But at some point you have to see revenue and start to map a path to profitability. You have to stop relying on spouses, significant others, or relatives to pay the electric bill and put food on the table and offer them a plan to meet the opportunity cost of your involvement.
You have to put a price on your services or your product and start selling.
The party ends when you are “open for business.”
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