How to survive ?

[dkberktas]

I have a small problem ahead. Here is the very brief problem explanation. I am living in Turkey and just finished CS and accepted for the grad study and also I am accepted from one international company which offers a good salary and international team experience. But I am not sure any of these paths since I want to try my own way with a start-up. But things are harder then US or Europa I guess. For the last 12 months a friend and I have been developing a Web 2.0 (with Rife and GWT) application for a field in Turkey which is big in terms of vast number of possible users(and possible income for us :). We are about to make a relatively healthy release.. anyway the thing is (which is also the problem) we have absolutely no money! To get some investment from organizations like Tekmer(semi-official seeding organization in Turkey) or investors, there is always the problem of either the bureaucracy or the very clever investors who asked for %50 percent share of everything. To start our company we need some income, but to have some income, we need to sell sth. any comment or suggestion will be appreciated..thanks

[gscott]

http://paulgraham.com/fundraising.html

Control-F and find Consulting in this essay

On the other hand, it might be worth giving away 50% to get the money you need. Once this venture is successful you won't have to give away 50% in future ventures. Make sure for that 50% you get enough money to go all the way with your project, which will mean taking money in stages.

[haasted]

... And be thorough when selecting the people you sell to. You may be able to leverage them for more than money, eg. use them as board members and have them use their network to help you get needed contacts to develop your business.

This was an incredibly successful strategy at my previous company. The investors had contacts at some very interesting clients, which allowed the salesmen to get in at a different level than if they had to start from scratch.

[gunderson]

I suggest you use kiva.org, zopa.com, or lendingclub.com

Also, where is the cost coming from? Is it the kind of thing you could handle for a few months if you borrowed a few thousand dollars? If so, you'll be in a much better position to bargain with investors once you have more traction.

[curiousgeorge]

Find a way to do it yourself.

If you don't need that much extra cash get a job on the evenings or weekends. If you require a lot of money at least get a prototype out the door.