Lots of great bootstrapping info from Ryan Carson
Published March 2nd, 2006 edit replace rm!
Over the past few days I have been listening to the podcast version of The Future of Web Apps conference, which was held in February. All the talks so far have been very interesting, but the most interesting by far for a bootstrapper like me was Ryan Carson’s talk about how he built DropSend .
It is a very practical hands on talk about all the costs (with his own real figures) of founding a web based startup. He covers everything from dealing with designers, lawyers, accountants, programmers, hosting etc.
One thing he mentioned was the $1000 he spent on the user agreement. I have saved that for all of my apps including WideWord and WideBlog, by writing my own and writing one that I personally would like to see.
His comment on why the hell did they fork out money on printing letterheads made me laugh as that is one of those silly old school ideas that you most likely wont need as a web startup. It’s a really easy trap to fall into though (as I myself know from personal experience). It’s one of those things that I covered in Bootstrapping a business vs. Playing a business .
Brillant work Ryan and thank you very much for being open about all of this.
Update Ryan has released the slides to the presentation.
