Investment is very much needed at early stages of a startup, here we are going to explore the ways to build a startup or product without investment. You have an idea and passions to create a startup based on your idea of products or services and convert it into a business, but you don’t know where to start from as you have assumed that you need money to start.
This is most common problem for the young entrepreneurs, startups and individuals or teams with great workable and innovative ideas. We are trying to provide a list of ways, which might be helpful for you to get things done at early stages of your product creation.
Work on Paper:
It is very wise to work on paper before starting actual development of your product, it will provide you a better vision and enable you to plan a successful and optimized execution. Working on paper is also important as it can lead you to a funding, if you prepare a good documentation of your idea and present it in different events, meetups and competitions, it will definitely catch up some attention and you will get some friction about your idea/product or project even before starting it.
Make a Business Plan:
Business Plan is always important, and it can grab attention of your customers, buyers and investors without starting any developmental activities. There are many places and events globally where you can present your business plan but success can be guaranteed only in one case, your plan should be well prepared with relevant research and supporting numbers. If you have a well written business plan with all the necessary ingredients, you will definitely get attention off interested people or investors.
Get Incubated
We have plenty of incubators around, offering services and stipend to people with ideas, innovative mind set and prototypes. Get to your nearest incubator or find one in your University (as many universities are housing incubation facilities inside the campuses). You will get space to work, stipend to manage your activities, free mentorship and access to prospective market for your idea/product or services business.
Make Partners/co-founders
One of the successful strategy to get your project done or product developed in case of no investment is to make partners or co-founders. In case you need support to market your product or services, its wise to involve someone with marketing background and offer them some share from your income. Similarly if you need technical help or development support, you might find a person or people who have a relevant background, it will give you advantage of no or less cost of development and ease of mind to move further into other steps of your business.
Bootstrap:
One of the best and proven methods is to start from. Bootstrapping usually refers to the starting of a self-sustaining process that is supposed to proceed without external input. That means you have to plan the work in a way you can do it with your own available resources and finances, i.e. your own laptop or pc for development, your pocket money or savings as initial finance and your room or garage as your 1st office. It will give you freedom of working without any limitations or binding. Even you will remain free from the pressure of external bodies or people, which can destruct your attention from your product development or project in case you have been using their resources.
