Can I start software company without money?

[Actionpreneur]

I am 19 years old. I have fresh business idea that solves big problem in my country and its very scalable. The problem is I don't have money, team and knowledge. What should I do?

 

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[srodrigo]

I don't have money, team and knowledge. What should I do?

Money: Get a job, or a better paying job, and save.
Team: Network with people with the skills you need. Eventually, you'll find people worth teaming up with.
Knowledge: Google is your friend.

 

[commited]

Figure out whats technically required for you to build what you want and list every step, then either learn the techical requirements by yourself work hard and build it, or find people who are interested in whatever you're building or just pay people to do the work.
It's not going to build itself from nothing so someone has to do the hard work(ideally you)

 

[Actionpreneur]

Figure out whats technically required for you to build what you want and list every step, then either learn the techical requirements by yourself work hard and build it, or find people who are interested in whatever you're building or just pay people to do the work.
It's not going to build itself from nothing so someone has to do the hard work(ideally you)

Ok once I build it by working hard, can I market it without money? I think marketing is the hardest part. What do you think?

 

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[Actionpreneur]

Money: Get a job, or a better paying job, and save.
Team: Network with people with the skills you need. Eventually, you'll find people worth teaming up with.
Knowledge: Google is your friend.

Thanks appreciate that!

 

[theazizmoh_]

I am 19 years old. I have fresh business idea that solves big problem in my country and its very scalable. The problem is I don't have money, team and knowledge. What should I do?

No Money, get a Job or just freelance.

First things first roll out a simple MVP just 1or2 core features that solves the problem.

Hire a developer or build it with bubble.io for the 1st version.

No need for a team in the beginning.

Close your knowledge gap with books and courses.

 

[Actionpreneur]

No Money, get a Job or just freelance.

First things first roll out a simple MVP just 1or2 core features that solves the problem.

Hire a developer or build it with bubble.io for the 1st version.

No need for a team in the beginning.

Close your knowledge gap with books and courses.

What about the marketing?

 

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[Snowball]

What about the marketing?

Social media is free marketing, but can take awhile. TikTok might be fastest for immediate growth.

I'd try finding where your ideal customers hang out (forums, subreddits, facebook groups, meetup groups, physical locations). Become an active contributor and then share what you've built.

Also post on "launch" sites like Hacker News, Product Hunt, BetaList, AlternativeTo

As far as development, I'd personally lean towards learning how to build it yourself, rather than relying on a developer. That way, you can iterate faster based on customer feedback and outsource dev work only for the trickiest parts.

ChatGPT can be your personal coding tutor.

Sounds interesting, good luck!

 

[Jon L]

Marketing really depends on the market. What we're doing is going directly to actual customers and pitching them on our system. This works for us, but may not for you, depending on what you're doing. Even still, getting a few clients with the following method would be invaluable. There is nothing like actual customer feedback to point you in the right direction.

"Hi George, I have a system that will save the average ___ company $350,000 a year compared to what you're doing now. How many X do you do per month?"

"about a hundred"

"Wow. Then I'd be able to save you closer to $500,000 a year. The system is easy to use, but needs to be demoed for you to really understand how it works. Do you have 15 minutes in the next couple days where I could show you more about how we save you this money?"

"How does it do that?"

"Well it does X by cutting out Y (or whatever quick explanation you can come up with that doesn't go into technical detail)."

"Huh. Interesting. Can you show me now?"

"I need to set up a Google Meeting so I can share my screen. I can get that ready for you in about 15 minutes."

etc...

and then demo your system, and ask for a trial run. "Let us prove ourselves to you. If you don't like it, you don't pay."

Once you have a number of clients on the system, paying for marketing and sales becomes much easier.

 

[theazizmoh_]

What about the marketing?

Your marketing should be simple at first, I recommend you to go into SEO, and know target market damn well!

 

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[Dome]

I am 19 years old. I have fresh business idea that solves big problem in my country and its very scalable. The problem is I don't have money, team and knowledge. What should I do?

It's called "Indie Hacker" or "Bootstrapping" you will find many people who run a for example a SaaS as Solo or in a Small Team.
Indie Hackers: Work Together to Build Profitable Online Businesses is a good start ressource. But you have to learn coding and marketing. I you have a prototyp you could also go the Venture Capital Route.

Would you do b2b or b2c?

 

[ZackerySprague]

Look at Rob Wallings "The SAAS Playbook."

 

[Actionpreneur]

It's called "Indie Hacker" or "Bootstrapping" you will find many people who run a for example a SaaS as Solo or in a Small Team.
Indie Hackers: Work Together to Build Profitable Online Businesses is a good start ressource. But you have to learn coding and marketing. I you have a prototyp you could also go the Venture Capital Route.

Would you do b2b or b2c?

B2C

 

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[Dome]

B2C

Look at the reply from @Snowball (where to launch). Build some knowledge over indiehackers website or other indie hacker ressources. Learn basic coding or find a no code app to get a prototype done and launch.

Old but gold:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6reLWfFNer0

 

[theazizmoh_]

Look at Rob Wallings "The SAAS Playbook."

Great book, I've read it already!

 

[Bence Ur]

I am 19 years old. I have fresh business idea that solves big problem in my country and its very scalable. The problem is I don't have money, team and knowledge. What should I do?

SaaS is very complex from scratch, you need a team and capital.

Consider developing a plugin or extension of another software. For example:
- WordPress plugin or theme
- Shopify plugin
- Webflow theme
- Saas on top of the ChatGPT API
etc.

But then you give up "Control" (think of the CENTS framework).

However for example WordPress is open-source, Free Software, you can list your freemium plugin in the WP plugin directory, this is free marketing. Then release a paid version. There are some successful plugins using this method developed by only a single developer. The free marketing is listing the plugin on WordPress.org. And a single developer can do it, since it is not a full software, just a plugin for an existing software.

 

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