Introduction to Bootstrapping and No Code MVPs
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The document discusses bootstrapping as a business strategy, highlighting its advantages such as maintaining control, financial freedom, and the absence of outside funding. It evaluates various bootstrapped business models including content businesses, online courses, and subscription services, along with their pros and cons. The author encourages participation in the Berlin Bootstrappers community for those interested in this topic.
Introduction to Bootstrapping and No Code MVPs
- 1. Introduction to Bootstrapping Beuth Hochschule April 19, 2018 David McNeill
- 2. About Me Day Job Current Side Projects
- 4. Usual Startup Route 50% of your ownership stake
- 7. Usual Startup Route OR Likely Unlikely
- 8. Bootstrapping Definition Any business that 1. primarily sells online and 2. does not initially raise outside funding
- 11. Why Bootstrapping is Better 1. Maintain full control 2. No need to be a unicorn 3. Financial and location freedom
- 12. I will show you... ● Potential bootstrapped business models ● How to start your business without code
- 14. Podcasts
- 15. Podcast Evaluation ● Very low initial investment ● Talk about what you love ● Audio is more immersive than images ● Difficult without a brand name or distribution company ● Advertising is growing but still in the early stages Pros Cons
- 16. Newsletters
- 17. Newsletter Tools
- 18. Newsletter Evaluation ● Easy to set up ● Curate content OR create your own ● Requires significant number of dedicated readers to make money Pros Cons
- 19. eBooks
- 20. eBook Evaluation ● Easy to do by yourself, on your own time, with free tools ● Put the work in once and get sales for years ● Easy to get lost in thousands of self-published titles ● Overly reliant on distribution platforms Pros Cons
- 21. Online Courses
- 22. Online Course Evaluation ● Easy to become considered an “expert” these days ● Put the work in once and get sales for years ● Requires significant time investment ● Crowded and competitive marketplace Pros Cons
- 24. Sell Your Items Online
- 25. Build Your Online Store
- 26. Online Store Evaluation ● Easy to list your products and get started ● Product discovery benefits by being on a larger marketplace ● Options are to be on competitive marketplaces or to build your own audience ● Dealing with physical goods Pros Cons
- 27. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) 1 2 3 4 5 6
- 28. FBA Evaluation ● Turn-key solution with global distribution ● Do not have to hold the physical inventory yourself ● Tied to Amazon ● High working capital requirements ● Might be challenging to find products on Amazon with an attractive profit margin Pros Cons
- 29. Selling Services
- 30. Selling Services Evaluation ● Freelance among various clients ● Location-independent ● Freelance marketplaces apply downward price pressure ● Difficult to turn this into a business that makes money while you sleep Pros Cons
- 31. Selling Recurring Goods and Services IV
- 33. Start Your Own Subscription Box
- 34. Subscription Box Evaluation ● High customer retention ● Once logistics, systems and processes are in place, relatively easy to scale ● High upfront capital costs ● High degree of product curation Pros Cons
- 36. Online Membership Evaluation ● Evergreen content and connections ● Built-in network effects ● Must provide significant value to convince users to pay ● Hard to kickstart Pros Cons
- 37. Productized Services Providing a specific service in a way that can be automated through scalable, repeatable processes
- 39. Steps to Building a Productized Service 1. Focus on a service that you already know well 2. Simplify offerings to a single service package deal 3. Find clients for the packaged service 4. Hire people to implement service package 5. Automate the work through building processes
- 40. Productized Service Evaluation ● Can be built around your area of expertise ● Can eventually scale it to the point that you do not need to be involved in it day-to-day ● Essentially requires running an agency focused on a single key business process Pros Cons
- 42. Examples of Software License Businesses
- 43. Software License Evaluation ● As simple as bundling products together and selling them at a discount ● Don’t have to hold onto inventory of digital goods ● Requires an audience ● Negotiating deals becomes your business model Pros Cons
- 45. SaaS Evaluation Pros Cons ● Value-added products promote customer lock-in and retention ● Target market tends to be businesses, which tend to have higher budgets than consumers ● Time and money-intensive ● Challenging to acquire initial customers ● Requires long-term commitment to high quality support
- 46. Building Sites and Software Websites Connecting Services Visual Programming
- 49. CMS / Databases
- 51. Closer Look at Zapier Example Workflow How it Works
- 52. No Code Product Tutorials go.codefree.co
- 54. Closer Look at Bubble Drag and Drop UI Workflow Editor Plugins
- 55. Summary VI
- 58. Bootstrapped Business Ideas Content (Recurring) Goods / Services Software
- 59. Code Less, Talk More
- 60. Join the Berlin Bootstrappers If this topic is interesting to you, come out to one of the Berlin Bootstrappers events! Next event is on May 15! Find out more W: berlinbootstrappers.com F: facebook.com/groups/berlinbootstrappers/ M: meetup.com/Berlin-Bootstrappers/
- 61. Questions? Thanks for listening! Where you can find me E: me@davidemcneill.com W: davidemcneill.com L: linkedin.com/in/davidemcneill/