Blog posts tagged business funding

Guerilla tactics

I’ve always felt that there were two types of startup – those with too much money and those with too little. I’ll leave the topic of too much money for another day, and instead think about the more common problem of having too little money.

When you’ve got too little money, the key is not to spend a penny you don’t need to, and to make sure that every penny you do spend is effective. That’s pretty much common sense, but I think that it’s worth drilling into much more deeply.

One of the pitfalls when starting a business is mixing up the keys to business success with the stuff that has to be done as you become successful. In start up mode, all your effort needs to go into the former and virtually nothing into the latter.

A business bank account, business cards, business premises and the services of an accountant can all be vital ingredients – but not if your business isn’t yet making any sales.

Your efforts and resources should go into working out your business proposition, finding customers and delivering that proposition to them. Make sure that you keep 100% accurate records, and probably set up a limited liability company to protect you from personal bankruptcy, but otherwise focus on starting to make sales and money.

When I set up Actinic, providing ecommerce services for SMEs, we had two vital objectives. We were trying to sell critical technology to small companies and ISPs, and we also needed to raise funds. I renamed my house “Actinic House” which was perfectly legal and cost nothing. I also joined the Institute of Directors and met all prospective investors in the IoD offices in Pall Mall.

These are the sorts of techniques that I would describe as “guerilla” – getting to your objectives by low cost and unconventional means. You can find all sorts of ideas both online and from other successful entrepreneurs. You won’t get them from the bank manager or the accountant, these techniques tend to be anathema to them. But it’s these that will help you to succeed, not having leather bound accounts.

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