FM Feature:
How To Bootstrap Your Startup
From Read/Write Web
The first in a series of posts about how to run a startup and develop a product, written by guest author Matt Rogers of Aroxo - a person-to-person trading exchange for consumer electronics, computer gear, whitegoods, and more.
The aim of many entrepreneurs is to take a business idea and convert it into a professional and functioning business on a low budget. This is typically called “bootstrapping” and it is fraught with potential pitfalls and dangers. But when done well it can really help get a company going fast, professionally and without the founders having to give up much (if any) equity - or bankrupting themselves.
Over the next 5-6 posts I’ll outline the process which I’ve now followed at several corporates and which I’ve honed to work with my own startup, Aroxo. I’ll discuss what skills you’ll need, how to write your requirements, how to source developers and designers, how much to budget, how to agree a development contract, how to manage your vendors, how to plan your release, all the documentation you'll need, and much more.
What is bootstrapping?
So, what does it mean to bootstrap a company? Bootstrapping involves launching a business on a low budget...Find Federated/Tech on this date:
Sep 10
Yesterday's News
-
on Ubergizmo:
LaCie Offers 5TB of Storage Space
LaCie has just unveiled the 5TB Biggest S2S 5-disk RAID system which
-
on VentureBeat:
SolarCity, the Arms Dealer of Solar Installation, Raises $21M More
SolarCity, the company we’ve dubbed the “Swiss arms dealer” of the
-
EarthLink CEO Bullish on the Right Kind of Municipal Wi-Fi
EarthLink CEO Rolla Huff said in an interview earlier this week that
-
on TechCrunch:
400 Million Downloads For Firefox
Firefox has been downloaded 400 million times in the three years
-
on Read/Write Web:
Social Network Quechup Accused of Spamming
Lately I've been getting invites to a new social network called Quechup.
-
on Infectious Greed:
Okay, this whole Apple iPhone price-cut issue continues to spiral. The stock
-
on OhGizmo!:
Haven’t you always dreamed of having your own private plane? You know,
-
on MobileCrunch:
Berg Insight Sees Future of Mobile Maps
Berg Insight, a company that provides analytical services and business intelligence to
-
on Lost Remote:
MTV Networks to Launch Separate Sites for Shows
Over two dozen new websites are coming from MTV Networks, inlcuding
-
on GigaOM:
Weekend Feature: The How of Habbo Hotel
How did a small Finnish company create an online world which now
-
on Gear Live:
Games With Online Multiplayer Sell More
A research paper from Electronic Entertainment Design and Research has been released
-
on CrunchGear:
Rumor: 3G, 16GB iPhone Set To Launch In November
It looks like I won’t be eating my hat anytime soon if
-
on BoingBoing:
RFID Implants Linked to Animal Tumors
VeriChip -- and other vendors -- have been busily implanting radio-frequency ID
-
on Ars Technica:
Evidence for Possible iTunes Store Movie Rentals Found
Critics and would-be customers of the iTunes Store have been clamoring
-
on Alarm: Clock:
World Vital Records Continues Genealogy Lineage
There seems to be no stopping the genealogy on the Net movement.
-
on Mashable:
DigFoot: A Directory Just For Social Networks
DigFoot is an upcoming site that is a directory for other social
Sponsored by:
Record Labels Set To Debut “Ringles”
From CrunchGear
It appears that the record industry is finally realizing the CD won’t last another 10 years. In a desperate move to drive sales up and profit from new Top 40 singles, major labels will release “ringles” upon the world...
Published on CrunchGear at 2:06 AM PermaLink
AllPeers BitTorrent Plugin Preview For TechCrunch Readers
From TechCrunch
UK/Prague based peer to peer file sharing startup AllPeers has launched a sneak peek of their latest release candidate (0.7) just for TechCrunch readers (available here), which includes a fully functional BitTorrent client. AllPeers is a Firefox plugin that lets you easily share files amongst your contacts...
Published on TechCrunch at 3:10 AM PermaLink
Laptop Locker Keeps Laptops Safe
From Ubergizmo
Since laptops are portable, it makes sense that they tend to get lost a whole lot more often compared to desktops. The Laptop Locker helps minimize that risk, featuring a laptop-specific safe that is easy to tote around in a portable bag. This theft deterrent locking safe can be mounted under your desk or...
Kajeet’s Phone for Kids, Will it Avoid Pitfalls of Predecessors?
From VentureBeat
In a highly risky strategy of piggy-backing on other carriers’ networks, Kajeet has raised $36.8 million in a second round of financing to offer cellphone services to tweens and teens.
It offers a dashboard for parents to control when the phone can and can not be used, along with wallpaper, games, ringtones, applications and more...
Published on VentureBeat at 3:01 AM PermaLink
Metro Round-Up: The Hangover Is Starting to Life, Muni-Fi?
From Wi-Fi Networking News
A number of articles today indicate that the last few weeks' haze may be starting to lift slightly: More reasonable, targeted, smaller (at least initially) Wi-Fi networks will be built in cities, and we're starting to see some of that news percolate out. If you haven't seen it already, read my interview from last week with EarthLink's CEO, Rolla Huff...
Published on Wi-Fi Networking News at 2:49 AM PermaLink
Yahoo's Overhaul-less Overhaul
From Infectious Greed
According to a Kevin Delaney story in Monday's WSJ, the 100-day overhaul at Yahoo is going to result in ... more of the same. He says people are telling him a "major overhaul" is unlikely, and Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang is playing down the significance of the 100-day deadline next month...
Published on Infectious Greed at 2:43 AM PermaLink
Space Efficient Furniture From Tetris
From OhGizmo!
If you live in a teeny little apartment, or even if you don’t, this combination furniture might come in handy. Depending on how you fit the pieces together, you can create chairs and a low table, a sofa, or even a bed. My only real question is what materials would be used...
Wales Bags Biggest Mobile Phone Recycling Facility in Europe
From MobileCrunch
Excel Fortune Holdings announced that Europe’s largest mobile phone recycling facility will be built in Wales, UK. Excel has committed GBP (Pounds) 6million for the venture with an estimated total start-up investment, including capital turnover, of GBP15million. A 120,000 sq ft facility will become Excel’s European hub and headquarters...
Published on MobileCrunch at 2:24 AM PermaLink
TMZ Gets a Real TV Show. Debuts Tonight.
From Mashable
TMZ, the snarky epicenter for online entertainment and celebrity news, is getting its own TV show.
Yahoo: Thanks for the Idea, but Nope
From Searchblog
Yahoo apparently considered outsourcing search monetization (WSJ), but decided against it:
....over the summer, Mr. Yang did actively assess one major sacred cow: the Web-search-advertising business it built up at great expense in recent years. Under the scenario discussed by top executives, Yahoo would have outsourced that search-advertising activity...
Published on Searchblog at 2:16 AM PermaLink
Coby Monitor Doubles as TV
From Gear Live
Coby has come up with a “two-fer.” Use the TF-DVD 1591 flatscreen as a monitor with its 1024 x 768 resolution and 15-inch TFT LCD or utilize it as a TV with its built-in tuner. Even more creative is its slot-loading DVD player neatly packaged on the side...
You’re Invited to a Free Virtual Seminar on Windows Vista
From Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise and Media Central
The good folks at Books24×7 are putting on a series of online seminars under the Windows Vista Essentials label. Later this week, I’ll be sitting down with my Windows Vista Inside Out sidekick, Carl Siechert, to host a 45-minute presentation on how to make the transition from XP to Vista without going insane...
Published on Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise and Media Central at 2:08 AM PermaLink
1966 Prediction of Home Computer in 1999 (Video Link Updated)
From BoingBoing
It's amazing how accurate these predictions from 1966 were about home computers in 1999, and not just what they can do (or having them at all) but what many people would inevitably use them for most of the time...
Published on BoingBoing at 1:57 AM PermaLink
Intel And AMD Gearing up for Battle Over The OLPC's CPU Slot
From Ars Technica
It may have once dismissed the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) Project as a "cheap gadget," but Intel appears to have changed its mind. The company is now involved in talks to provide CPUs for the $100 (actually ~$175) systems.
According to the EETimes, Intel's newfound interest in the project is just fine...
Published on Ars Technica at 1:52 AM PermaLink
VC Bigs Invest $40M In Solar Thermal Power Plant Startup
From Alarm: Clock
$40M is an adventurous amount for a startup to raise in its first round. But Palo Alto-baed Ausra has major expenses as it plans utility scale solar plants. Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins put up the money. The company appears to have been funded late last year...
Published on Alarm: Clock at 1:48 AM PermaLink
Danah Boyd Is Confused By Facebook Success
From /Message
Cousin danah is puzzled:
[from apophenia: confused by Facebook] I am utterly confused by the ways in which the tech industry fetishizes Facebook. There's no doubt that Facebook's F8 launch was *brilliant*. Offering APIs and the possibility of monetization is a Web 2.0 developer's wet dream, but...Greatest Hits
-
on Infectious Greed:
Declining Follow-Ons in Venture Capital
There is a steep decline in the percentage of existing venture ...
-
on Searchblog:
Admitting Mistakes: Google's Schmidt
“So, yes we are IDIOTS — and please WRITE THAT DOWN," ...
-
on Read/Write Web:
Digg.com is not only a thriving community and great source for ...
-
The World's Best, According to Google
I’m using a Google wildcard phrase search (like “the best search ...
-
on Read/Write Web:
News Corp: Portals Are out, Mini-Portals in
The latest issue of Wired magazine has a useful profile of ...
-
on TechCrunch:
Yesterday Newsgator founder and CTO Greg Reinacker posted something that everyone ...
-
on BoingBoing:
Pentagon Funding Research on Data Harvesting From Myspace
Xeni Jardin: Snip from New Scientist article: New Scientist has discovered ...
-
on A VC:
Seth Godin (sethgodin.typepad.com) wrote a post yesterday linking to this blog ...
-
on Smart Mobs:
Senate Deals Blow to Net Neutrality
A U.S. Senate panel narrowly rejected strict Net neutrality rules on ...
-
Google released the long-rumored Google Checkout (Codename “Sierra”), a PayPal-like system ...
-
on OhGizmo!:
Mapion Local Search: Just Point and Learn
What happens when you combine a cellphone, a GPS module, a ...
-
on BoingBoing:
Students Fan out to Cover Massive Story
Cory Doctorow: Check out this amazing student-journalism project: students from five ...
-
on Read/Write Web:
YouTube Nearly Doubles Traffic in May
The latest comScore stats for May 2006 show how fast social ...
-
on Techdirt:
Thinking Digitally Is Not a Separate Job Function
During the original internet boom, there were lots of old school ...
-
on Gadgetopia:
Here’s an interesting tidbit I read tonight in John Batelle’s “The ...


