6 Steps to Launch Your Startup Without Investors

Launching a startup isn’t easy. Bootstrapping to launch a startup is even more difficult. But the moment you launch it and you start seeing the money come in, it’ll be worth it. After all, what’s more, fulfilling than having a successful business that came from your sweat and tears. 

That said, here are the steps to bootstrap your startup.

Get into the right mindset

Bootstrapping your startup sounds great. But once reality sets in and the challenges start coming, it can quickly turn into a tough—even overwhelming—ordeal. 

Sell services first

Your savings will only get you so far. You need to have a steady cash flow to fund your startup and your household expenses at the same time. For many startup founders, that’ll often mean dividing their time between building their startup and offering their expertise as a freelancer. You can also chronicle your journey as you build your startup. Not only would this give you a way to help you collect your thoughts, but you can also find others who’ll be happy to give you the advice to stay on track.

Practice growth hacking

Growth hacking is one of the reasons why many of the “Unicorn” startups were able to launch and scale quickly.  Unlike many marketing strategies that require lots of research and planning, growth hacking uses the scientific method to propel rapid growth by testing one hypothesis at a time, no matter how far-fetched it may be. One growth hacking technique that you can use is adding a postscript in your email signature with a link to your startup’s website. 

Get a co-founder only when you have to 

Having two startup founders can help you raise up to 30% more capital, grow customers faster by three times, and improve your business scale rapidly. However, choosing a partner for your business also means giving up a sizable portion of your business. If you do decide a co-founder would still be the best route to take, you need to clearly define each of your roles. This will help you make sure that you leverage your co-founder’s strengths and capabilities. It’ll also help prevent nasty power struggle fights in the future.

Find an advisor

Advisors steer you in the right direction as you bootstrap your startup. Through their experience and expertise, advisors can also identify specific areas of your startup’s operations that you can optimize to get better results while keeping your expenses down.

Find a solution to an existing problem

Startups need to get recognized by their target market, and the best way to do this is to tell the company’s story and make it relatable to those who need it.  Since you are on a tight budget, use resources that won’t cut a huge portion of your money.