In this video Argona Partners CEO, Jeremy Imlach, answers the question on when to outsource tasks while on a bootstrapping budget. This question was submitted by Frances, from Citymatch Inc. (https://www.citymatch.org).
Have a question you want answered? Submit it here: https://bit.ly/3Fc5nnf
Jeremy:
“When you're talking about DIY versus hiring out on a bootstrapped budget, what you need to understand is the financial model, the financial health of the company. If you've already completed a five-year projections, then fantastic. You've already added in those assumptions at an early stage that you'll need to get to those different growth stages. If not, there's definitely gap analysis that you can complete in order to understand what it's going to take to get to these growth stages. That's where the financial health really comes in. The other portion that you need to understand is what's going to be driving the early stage bottom line, the revenue. This is most likely a stage where it's at some sort of market validation. And so there are definitely early stage expenditures that are necessary, especially depending on what the product or industry is. For example, if you need a prototype built, there's really no way around having to spend money on a prototype prior to being able to sell it, right? Or some sort of technology. That's completely understandable. When we're talking about go-to market strategies and we're talking about the different ways to present your product to the market, you can limit your expenditures here and you really have to understand what your overhead is versus what your pricing strategy is. There's just so many factors that go in, that building out this financial health and building out this financial model is going to help you understand that. The thing that can help out at a really early stage, is that if you have some sort of budgets set already with your advisors or with your team, it makes those decisions a little bit easier. So you can come together and have that discussion of, "Hey, do we have this much, this much money to spend per month without it really raising any red flags?" For example, if a subscription costs less than $50 per month, then go ahead and do it. If you think it's necessary, right. That sort of a C suite executive decision-making, it makes it very simple to go forward with that. Then you can start to raise that budget as you go up. But these purchases are the ones that aren't necessarily going to be specific towards a go-to market or market validation, or any of that stuff. That's where you start to build out the business machine. Then finally, you should be looking at corporate structure, and understanding the different corporate structure that it's going to take the, different internal and external requirements that it's going to take, to get to those different growth stages. This is again where that gap analysis really comes into play to understand what are the resources required here.”
Investor Prep Resources
Growth Strategy Resources
How to Get Your First Customer As A Startup
How to Find The Ideal CoFounder For Your Startup
Market Strategy for a SaaS Startup
The Most Overlooked Steps By Pre-Seed Startups
Digital Marketing Tips For Emerging Businesses in 2022
Top 3 Biggest Struggles Business Face Starting Out
When To Outsource Tasks On A Bootstrap Budget
Mistakes To Avoid When Starting Or Maintaining A Small Business
How To Find Your Marketing Niche
Resources For Entrepreneurs
Comments