How Much Money Does It Take To Start a Successful Company?
Whether you’re bootstrapping or raising capital, these are the numbers you need to hit
You can’t start a business without a lot of money. The question no one ever answers is: How much? So let’s talk about that.
I’ve founded, run, and exited a couple startups on my own with nothing but credit cards and moxie. I’ve also been a part of startups that raised tens of millions of dollars in outside investment before much larger exits. The startups that raised venture capital dollars were, in the long run, easier to navigate through the early stages, quicker to get to growth and scale, and ultimately had more prosperous outcomes for everyone involved. But I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone.
Despite conventional wisdom, outside investment isn’t a panacea for the entrepreneur. It’s fraught with risk, pressure, and often impossible expectations. But here’s the thing. Bootstrapping is also a proposition that comes with risk, pressure, and often impossible expectations, it just comes from a different source.
If you don’t have a cash hoard as fuel for growth, you’re going to wind up spending the cash equivalent in time, resources, and other forms of capital to get to the same place.
