Tips To Save Money In Your Entrepreneurial Venture

An entrepreneurs' journey is about using the resources and multiplying them to get the great results. It is important to save and deploy cash in the best ways possible. I am giving below some tips to save hard cash for a startup:

Avoid office expenses

Once you have decided to start your venture, the first temptation is to take a posh office! First ask yourself the question – is my office really going to help my customers? Do I need an office to attract employees – if no, then no need to spend for an office. Also, in case you have to do it, keep the office deposit as low as possible - cash gone is cash gone, conserve it.

Do not pay employees fixed salary

Startup experience is all about experience, fun and learning. Try to attract performers who are suitable for your venture, and not star salesmen who cost a bomb to the company. Also, keep as much of the salary as variable based on results, and throw in enough ESOPs to motivate people.

Do not register a private limited company

To start a company, what is important is to get your customer and serve her well, not a beautiful name and fancy designations of director, CEO etc.! In fact a website can be started without registering a private limited company, proprietorship or partnership is enough to attract customers and give them information about your product or services. By opening a current account and getting a rubber stamp, you can be in business on Day 1!

Do not buy too many fixed assets

Sometimes, good enough is good enough. Second hand or rental laptop, coffee outlets as meeting points, shared office, working from home are good ideas to do low cost early stage experiments. Some of the best companies were started in a garage or a college room!

Do not spend on advertising

Customer loyalty cannot be bought. Some of the best marketing tools are free, including social media like google, facebook, linkedin etc. Learn basic internet skills and use them to effect. Blogging is also a good tool and there are plenty of websites to do free PR! TV, newspaper etc. come at a later stage of a company. Company brand name, logo design, corporate brochures etc. are also few things, which you can do yourself instead of paying the advertising agency.

Use free IT tools

For project management- there is a Zoho, for corporate email – there is google apps, for office work – there is openoffice.org – these are few of the basic tools required for any startup, whether technology or otherwise. Do your googling well and you will realize there is lots more you can save on. There are tools which can help you design your website as well.

All the best for your startup venture!

About Nurture Talent Academy

Nurture Talent Academy (#-Link-Snipped-#), India's 1st training institute for entrepreneurs, has done over 20 workshops across 7 cities, attended by 275 startups, with over 90% satisfaction rate. Topics covered include finance, marketing and business plan. Amit Grover, Founder, is an IIT Delhi and IIM Indore alumnus, and is a member of Mumbai Angels, having led over 20 early stage investments over last 3.5 years.