20 Bootstrapping Ideas – The Full List

I gave a talk recently at EntreTech (http://goo.gl/uMJqX; @Entretech) and at the talk I promised I would tweet 20 bootstrapping ideas over the following few days.  True to word I did so under the hash #20BootStraps, but I figured I would collect them all in one place, with two additional bonus ideas.  So here they are:

—Idea 1 of 20: Start an Exec In Residence prog to host experienced pros between gigs (thanks @julespieri)

—Idea 2 of 20: Consulting on the side (bonus if its in an area that relates to your biz) (thx Mike Rowsey @marlinmobile).

—Idea 3 of 20: Barter.

—Idea 4 of 20: Reduce cap ex using free lancers who supply their own machines (thx Bettina @pixability & Josh @jgmiller3).

—Idea 5 of 20: Use cloud apps, free scheduling and conferencing and Wiggio for everything.

—Idea 6 of 20: Buy used office furniture from liquidators or on Craigslist (thx Josh @jgmiller3).

—Idea 7 of 20: Learn & do it yourself on certain skills; could B handy – u might be cash starved longer than u expect.

—Idea 8 of 20: Pay with equity – w/ dev shops buy $100K chunk of deliverables at a time (thx James Alexander @GetVizibility).

—Idea 9 of 20: Interns & student labor.

—Idea 10 of 20: Get free advice from professionals while they are hosting open office hours.

—Idea 11 of 20: Work out of a founder’s or an investor’s dining room for an obscenely long time (thx Dana @wiggio).

—Idea 12 of 20: Interest free credit cards – roll the balance over every 12 months (thx James Alexander @GetVizibility).

—Idea 13 of 20: Get free hard/software from developer incentive programs of the big guys (e.g. MS bzsprk – thx @puneesh).

—Idea 14 of 20: Don’t waste $ on “market research” – speak directly to customers.

—Idea 15 of 20: Hire hungry sales people on 100% commission.

—Idea 16 of 20: Get law firm to defer fees until funded and/or work for equity. (thx James Alexander @GetVizibility)

—Idea 17 of 20: Ask your customers for advice.

—Idea 18 of 20: Form buying pools or shared server pools.

—Idea 19 of 20: Borrow an extra desk from another start-up.

—Idea 20 of 20: Ignore the gimmicks & distractions and just figure out how 2 get 2 revenue faster.   (thx James Alexander @GetVizibility)

—Morally ambiguous bonus idea one: only if desperate: buy and return the occasional piece of test equipment within 30 day return period (thx @raj_aggarwal)

—Blatantly obvious, but worth repeating, bonus idea two: Find people who have done a particular thing before and get their advice before jumping in (in other words, use your networking skills).

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