Bootstrapping

Bootstrapping is a term derived from the analogy of “pulling oneself up using his/her own bootstraps”. I have always found this term ironic because bootstrapping, in the original analogy, is a physically impossible task: the force vectors cancel out. Work it out with a few equations if you don’t believe me.

But in the startup world, bootstrapping is quite common and we’re trying to do exactly that at Spheer.com. Jeff and I dug deep into our meager savings, not because we’re against taking investments, but because we want to prove to ourselves that we have something really worthwhile. This total commitment of our time, energy, and money is very cathartic, much like jumping out of an airplane. A side benefit is that it gives us a hard deadline. We absolutely must have something to show when our money runs out. A little pressure is always a good thing.

We do try to keep our expenditures low. All three of us work out of our apartment in San Francisco. Our fixed cost are pretty reasonable, just rent and food mostly. We don’t cook because we have no time. Even though our apartment is pretty big, it gets a bit crowded when we’re all there. Conway, when he’s over, sleeps in the “red room”, our dining room turned guest bedroom/lounge and works in the entry way where he has his desk by one of the bathrooms. We don’t have enough room for him, so when we need printouts, he is forced to hold the printer in his lap (see photo).

 

I hope this gives you some ideas of how we bootstrap our startup. We are quite glad that bootstrapping a startup is much easier than bootstrapping in real life.