Corporate & Securities Law

How Will You Bootstrap in 2009?

By Ryan Roberts

RIP Good Times. Get rid of your cars. This recent wave of “learn to live with less” advice is nothing new to those in startups. In fact, startups just hope for the day they can have the option to live with a little more.

But there are a lot of companies that forgot (or never learned) how to operate like a bootstrapped startup. Some of the current suffering is self-inflicted and blaming it on the “economy” is a cop out. These companies got bloated in the good times. And now they have to run sprints instead of wading in the lazy river. (Some of the biggest offenders are law firms, so don’t think I believe lawyers are above criticism on this one.)

I’m always looking for new ways to tweak and fine tune my practice. I’m considering adding Skype, as I currently use my iPhone and a conference calling service for when 4+ people need to be on the call. I also plan to do more video conferencing via iChat, so that I might be actually able to recognize some of my clients if I happen to pass them in an airport.

So how are you planning to bootstrap in 2009 to extend the runway? You guys are the experts. I’m just a lawyer that’s 2-3 years behind the curve.

Full post as published by The Startup Lawyer on December 23, 2008 (boomark / email).