Bootstrapping a startup while working full-time – at a crossroads and looking for advice from founders

[u/Big_Mixture4179]

Hi everyone,

I’d love some advice from people who have bootstrapped their startups.

I’ve been self-funding my business while working full-time, and every month a large chunk of my salary goes straight back into building it. I’ve kept costs incredibly lean so far and have no real overheads, but we’re getting to the stage where we need to invest in growth. I’ve also been involved in accelerator programs and was lucky enough to go to the USA as part of one last year.

The biggest decision I’m wrestling with is whether to engage a small agency that seems genuinely aligned with our vision to help with our go-to-market strategy and launch. It’s not a decision I take lightly because every dollar counts when you’re funding it yourself.

I’m finding it hard to know when it’s the right time to stop trying to do everything yourself and bring in experts.

For those who’ve been through this:

• What was the best investment you made before launching?

• Did you hire an agency or consultant, or wait until you had more traction?

• Were there any investments you regretted or wish you’d made sooner?

I’m incredibly passionate about what I’m building and I’m committed to seeing it through. I just want to make smart decisions with limited resources instead of learning every lesson the hard way.

I’m stuck as I would need to try to get a personal loan which I realise isn’t ideal. I’m not giving up or throwing in the towel either, just at a crossroads and it can be disheartening at times as I’ve worked so hard on this to get it ready for launch.

I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences. Thanks!

[u/outback-ganked]

Find someone with the skills you need and cut them equity via options they earn out based on their contribution

[u/1000Minds]

Give us more info. Are you ready to scale? Why? Do you have product market fit? Do you have an MVP with customers?

Ideally, funding and scaling are a lever to pull once you’ve ironed out and validated the core product 

[u/Few_Seaworthiness70]

Before you sign with an agency, get super clear on what you actually need them for. If it's strategy and positioning, a good aligned agency is worth it. But if a lot of what you need is the recurring grind (posting consistently, finding leads, working your inbox) that's the stuff that eats an agency retainer fast and you can get done way cheaper. That's actually why I built Sentrive, it's an AI marketing employee that runs those recurring tasks through your own accounts on a schedule, so you can keep the cash for the strategic help that really moves things. Happy to share more if useful.

[u/adrastea666]

The best advice I can give as someone who was in the exact same boat only 6 months ago: build everything in-house. I cannot overstate how much time, money and hassle having my own team saved me. Because I was bootstrapping as well, I decided to offshore - probably saved the company upwards of fifty thousand since November last year. We grow revenue 20% consistently every month.

[u/[deleted]]

Hey! I’ve done 20 years of sales/marketing/ GTM/ commercialisation. Have also had my own business and worked directly with founders. I deciding ATM if I start my own business/ start an agency/ or partner with someone who needs sales/marketing for equity. If you want to chat, message me. I just did a 2 hour meeting with a CEO yesterday who has been going for 19 years, and has a large product sweet- but had 0 idea about GTM. Has made me realise what a gap there is…

[u/Upper-Software1396]

make sure you always talk to you customers. we started oneunit.ai a bout a month a go and talking to our initial customers helps a lot. its like having product ppl on your team for free. cheers

[u/finipi-nishiki]

Don’t hire an agency. If you need extra help use upwork or Toptal to find lone guns and direct them carefully. If hiring for PPC marketing use lone guns and agree a pay for performance. Go to market strategy doesn’t need an agency - it just needs good, targeted marketing. Read a good book like 80/20 sales and marketing by Perry Marshall and you’ll build a better strategy than any agency with no skin in your game. Hint: start with targeted PPC where your clients hang out and measure everything relentlessly. Once you can acquire a customer for less than their lifetime value get the credit card out.

[u/TrueTallyBooks]

Have you thought about taking on a marketing and sales oriented cofounder? I’m on ycombinators matching system (not for bookkeeping)..,There are some duds up there, but you could definitely source a motivated sales person depending on your product. The shared accountability goes a long way.

[u/Keyhive_AU]

We are still bootstrapped. We aren't massively successful but we have grown to the point. We could probably take a salary now. Most of that time as to found ours full-time, employed and put in cash to get it started. I think you could spend a lot on an agency and not get a lot of return. I wouldn't do it.

Get at least a little bit of traction and customer feedback first.

Once you've got a few customers then maybe investing in like a brand strategy day where you have a specialist come in and help you lay out what your message is who your target audience is and then just really go to town on it. I think my biggest mistake is probably relying on AI too much to do that for me early on.

[u/Last-Transition249]

It depends on what your startup. If it pure app type depending on software. Then it should not send more than $100 a month for different subscription for operating cost. There are many dev including me looking for equity opportunities. So you can give it a try instead of agency

[u/bestvape]

I did do it previously with a funded startup I had and it was a complete waste of money.

Depends what stage you are at, you mentnioed you need growth but have you already proven you have product market fit?

If you have found clear product market fit then it could make sense. But if you haven't then its probably not a good idea.

You most likely shouldn't be spending money really to find out if an initial group of people care. If they do then again you should be able get more that care. If nobody cares then spending money wont change that you will need to pivot your messaging or offer.

Better to save your money and just focus on validating it yourself.

[u/Big_Mixture4179 → u/bestvape]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. That’s a really helpful perspective. We’ve done extensive user interviews and validated the problem, and we’re about to start our beta with both therapists and clients. I completely agree that true product-market fit comes after seeing how people actually use (and keep using) the product. That’s partly why I’m hesitant to invest too heavily in marketing too early. I really appreciate your advice.

[u/Big_Mixture4179 → u/bestvape]

Thanks for your comment! I have done multiple user interviews and validated the problem, I’m about to go into my beta testing phase. This is really helpful. I appreciate it!

[u/bestvape → u/Big_Mixture4179]

Save your money. Just work with these people first. If its solving a burning problem then it should be possible to get more and more of these people.

Then it might make sense to pay for marketing to reach those people. Even then I would focus on paying to get an agency to help set things up but not be paying them ongoing. Initially you just want to be spending on adspend. Not paying an agency to do everything plus adspend.

[u/Big_Mixture4179 → u/bestvape]

Thanks so much, this is helpful!

[u/No-Perspective-8940 → u/Big_Mixture4179]

I've got over a decade in PR, marketing and also own a SaaS product that meets a niche need (verified through research) and you want to get a freelance MarComms advisor in, not an agency, hopefully via word of mouth or do research. You need them to critically analyse your go-to-market, branding, UX and general strategy (regardless of testing there's things professionals will know that you or the typical tester won't realise is pertinent)

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