Avoid These Cash Draining Start-up Mistakes
I'm a firm believer that even a tough economy provides rich opportunities for start-ups to innovate and thrive. In fact, more than a few ventures that wer... Read more
Recent Bootstrapper's Bible Articles
How to Break Into the Fashion Industry
Emerging designers, beware: Even if you are able to create a beautiful product, the fashion world is fraught with tricky choices on incorporation, competitiv... Read more
14 Bootstrapping Tips
Even the most self-sufficient start-ups need a hand. Here are some pointers to make the most of free and cheap resources around you. Read more
10 Tips for Bootstrapping Your Marketing
When money's tight, your brand's image doesn't have to suffer. Read more
10 Tips for Bootstrapping Your Technology
When you're starting a business on your own dime, the rule for tech is keep it simple. Read more
How to Finance a Business With Your 401(k)
A bad lending environment and provisions in the tax code make tapping retirement funds a tempting start-up financing option. Here's what you need to know. Read more
Trading Equity for Services
Why more companies are trying out a new kind of barter system. Read more
Inc. 5000 Applicant of the Week: Nerds On Call
How a small computer repair company stole market share from Best Buy and embarked on a national expansion. Read more
Bring It Back from the Brink
What happens when you build a company, show growth and clients, get investment, and then the market drops out? Read more
Inc. 5000 Applicant of the Week: Smashing Ideas
How three cartoon animators built an interactive branding company from their basements that's growing over 50 percent annually. Read more
Is a Barter Exchange Right for Your Company?
Careful: Some barter trades can be costly Read more
The Bootstrapper's Guide to Launching New Products
Discovering the value of lean product development and minimum viable product Read more
Great No-Cost Software
Paying is passé. Use these 10 free software programs instead Read more
How to Manage Volunteer Software Developers
Companies like Etsy use developer tools such as APIs to entice developers to build mobile applications for free Read more
How to Start a Beauty Company
If you have smarts, style, and nerve, then Maureen Kelly of Tarte Cosmetics says that you could hit it big Read more
How to Start an Adventure Travel Company
Check every hotel personally, says Brian Morgan of Adventure Life. Same goes for the zip lines. Read more
The Start-up Guru
Paul Graham's business school and investment fund, Y Combinator, has launched 145 companies -- for a lot less money than you would think Read more
How to Get Customers to Pay Upfront 
Wouldn't it be great if your customers actually paid in advance? Unfortunately, for many small-business owners, that's easier said than done. But with the... Watch video
Start-Up Advice from the Inc. 500
Six entrepreneurs' advice on the best practices when starting your business. Hear from Warren Brown of CakeLove on pacing yourself, Michael Alter of SureP... Watch video
Jim Koch on the Secret to Effective (and Cheap) Marketing
Educating consumers is crucial if you want to keep marketing expenses in check. Read more
Bootstrapping 101: Use Cheap Web Tools
Using open-source tools that are free on the Internet, Jason Fried and his partners began to devise applications for internal use--and soon sold them on thei... Read more
The Billionaire Bootstrapper
A $550 sink nearly prevented Fred DeLuca from amassing a billion-dollar fortune. Read more
Bootstrapping 101: Brand It Creatively
In launching Madsoul, an urban streetwear label, in 2000, Marc D'Amelio raised guerrilla marketing to an art form. Read more
Bootstrapping 101: Switch Business Models On a Dime
Napoleon Barragan of 1-800-Mattress has been consistently inconsistent when it comes to building his $100 million company. Read more
Bootstrapping 101: Get Your Suppliers to Finance You
Why not offer your key suppliers some upside? Read more
The Coolest Little Start-Up in America
For TerraCycle's Tom Szaky, nothing could be cooler--or sweeter--than selling garbage packaged in garbage. Read more
Bootstrapping 101: Work From Home
Yvonne Shortt launched a marketing firm from the cramped, toy-strewn basement of her home--now she has five full-time employees, who also work from home. Read more
Bootstrapping 101: Get Paid Up Front
David Segura started his company with the initial payment for his first job, and continued his business through early payments and barters. Read more
Bootstrapping 101: Get to Know Your Customers Really Well
Pete Kight couldn't afford a sales staff when he started CheckFree. So he sold door-to-door himself and found an experience both excruciating and useful. Read more
Patent No. 5,524,641: An Inventor's Story
That's Arthur Battaglia's patent number. He applied for it eight years ago, got it six years ago, and has been pushing his idea ever since. So far, no takers. Read more
Trading Places: Inside the Barter Economy
Once a dusty corner of the economy, barter is emerging as a hot entrepreneurial niche and a valuable tool for cash-crunched companies. Read more
Great Companies Started for $1,000 or Less
Profiles of seven entrepreneurs who transformed start-up capital of $1,000 or less into companies with revenues of $1 million or more. Read more
Great Bootstrapping Secrets: 45 Ideas that Can Save Your Business Money
Here are 45 money-saving ideas that can help your company do more with less. Read more
Everyone's a Cost Cutter
Two entrepreneurs give advice on cutting costs through open-book management. Read more
Boot Me Up: 11 Great Companies Launched for Less
A look at eleven companies and how they were started with very little capital investment. Read more