The thing about 3-d modelling is that is requires a lot of storage information to make up a 3-d model of something. And if you’re in this industry, or any tech industry, you know that the #1 expense for a startup company is server expenses. This can make or break your company, especially at the beginning, so we want to give some tips to you entrepreneurs to implement before you start scaling.
#1 Use Hosting Coupons Whenever You Can.
Whether you use Hostgator or GoDaddy, use whatever promo codes for Hostgator you can at the very beginning to lock in as much bandwidth and storage as possible for as long as possible. Renewal discounts are rare and not as good as initial signups, so you should lock in your price for multiple years (if possible). There are some great go daddy domain coupons.
#2 Have an Emergency Fund
This saved our company, even though I wanted to spend it earlier. A project we were testing wasn’t working, and we ended up canceling a meeting with a VC investor out of it. We scheduled a follow-up appointment once we got the project working properly…but then the investor cancelled the appointment. We couldn’t get anyone else to take our calls, so we ended up having to wait for 4 more months. If one of our partners hadn’t protected that emergency fund in the early days (when we thought the money would last forever), we wouldn’t have made it.
#3 Beware of Scope-Creep
This is the natural inclination for a project to expand. You want your product to do more things: if we add this thing, then it can do this as well! . It can be procrastination manifesting itself, or it could be a way of distracting you. Either way, it keeps your focus off the main goal: build a product that will sell. Make the minimum viable product work, and then these additions can be things that you release later, under the guise of a ‘model 2.0’ release, or an expanded feature. But for now, focusing on one thing for a very long time is the best way to build a company that has a chance at success.
#4 Bootstrap It
If you can, do it. Companies get caught up in the VC rounds of funding and the pre-revenue stage of development. But if you can get your customers to fund your growth, do it. Why? For one, you’ll get immediate feedback on what is working and what isn’t. You’ll know if you’re working on something that people will actually want.
Secondly, it means you can keep more equity for yourself and your founders. VC Funding isn’t free, after all, and you’ll end up giving up lots of control and revenue to these investors.
It’ll also give you the kick in the butt you need! If money isn’t coming in unless you do something, then you’ll do it! There’s no safety net here to fall back on when you bootstrap your company. If you’re someone that needs a kick in the butt sometimes, then bootstrapping is by far the best way to go.
