Last week Kosta and I attended an unconference related to business, startups and also some things unrelated to the above. We’ve been to several interesting lectures and activities and in general had a lot of fun. The last one was about starting business without much money.

The lecturer, who also teaches at the university where the event took place, told how not every business should be built in the “start up” way, i.e. venture money, immediate multinational presence etc. He proposed several alternatives on “starting down” and then growing up as needed:

  1. Start to work on the business while on the day job.
  2. Make the office in your home instead of in an expensive “start-up” location
  3. Use Skype instead of phone/cell
  4. Team with your friend or family instead of hiring an external CEO on a high salary
  5. Use (cheap, if possible) freelancer instead of hiring employees

While he was listing it we were folding our fingers for each “check”. I checked all five:

  1. I worked on Apparent Software (on ImageFramer) for three years while on my day job before I decided to switch to full-time. Kosta is still part-time in Apparent Software.
  2. My home is my office and no changes are planned. Well, about once a week Kosta’s home is our office.
  3. We use Skype In and Skype Out to connect to customers all over the world.
  4. Kosta is my friend of about 15 years and this adds a lot to the fun and to the trust.
  5. We’ve successfully used freelancers for graphics, web development, video production, and even programming.

Of course, these advices are not rocket science and the fact that I followed them is just because the financials of the business required finding affordable solutions. Still, it was both amusing and reassuring. I feel we’re on the right track.

Stay tuned to some exciting news in May.

All the best,
Jacob.

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