So you have a great idea for a business. Brilliant, but how do you get your new app on to the market, or revolutionary new product off the drawing board and into the stores? Before you run out the door to talk to every person with deep pockets to get funding, you must prove your business model, and with no cash to do this, you need to learn how to bootstrap your business.
Bootstrapping is the process of starting your business without going to external sources for funding. Generally speaking, loan providers won’t look at entrepreneurs, so by funding we are probably solely talking about investment capital. These days you need a good proof of concept to achieve investment without giving away great chunks of your business.
It’s never been easier to bootstrap your business, the internet has reams of free resources to get you going. You’ll find all the information you need to research your market and numerous SME hubs or accelerators to support you.
Bootstrapping is not just the best way to get your business off the ground on the cheap, it’s also about honing a good survival instinct. Businesses with this strong instinct have a cutting edge when they hit the inevitable tougher periods. Entrepreneurs know how to get things for free; they are hungry for advice and have an instinct for extracting meaningful information from people who give it freely. They lap it up and use it to benefit their business.
Bootstrapping is most important when it comes to marketing. My father ran his own advertising agency until his early retirement and he always said the best advertising is free advertising. I’ve inherited that mantra and don’t pay for any publicity. If you have taken the option to pay to get exposure, then you probably haven’t thought hard enough. If you get creative in getting your message across, you’ll often find there are more effective ways of reaching people who don’t need money but provide huge exposure.
This is where you need to invest your mental dollars – not your cash. Just think about some of the brilliant viral campaigns you have seen in the past few years. All of these cost the originators nothing except their mental dollars.
You may have a marketing budget. But you will really notice your mistakes when you are spending your dollars? When it’s free you can learn the same lessons but it’s going to be a much less costly mistake to take that creative chance.
The best businesses are always prime examples of fruitful partnerships. We all need the boost delivered by other people’s skills and motivations, especially at start-up stage. But when you find someone with a complementary skill set and (more importantly) someone you can get along with, how do you encourage them to stay up for another 17-hour day? One way is to let them share equity. You could be looking at one partner or maybe you build a whole team of partners; Ted Turner set up CNN by paying the team in equity in the early years and created a team of highly motivated people.
If the thought of equity doesn’t work for you then you can bring the skills in by outsourcing infrequent jobs to freelancers. My personal trainer has helped me to shed 15 kilograms but no money has changed hands. I give her advice on business and she gives me advice on nutrition and exercise.
How do you do this for your business? You swap core services. A good friend of mine posed a great example of this. Swede Erica Werneman and her partner Yasmine Akermark, both based in the UAE, have been working on a phone app concept called Tibba that allows people to exchange services rather than money. In her own words she achieved this by being a “little bit cheeky” and asking larger companies if they would be interested in an exchange of skills. So rather than giving up a hefty chunk of equity for a relatively modest investment they have built meaningful relationships with a company that has provided a dedicated team of software developers in exchange for a long-term vested interest in the app they are building.
When you are a minnow floating in a big sea of corporate sharks, you need to use your advantages to stay competitive. Bootstrapping your business and keeping your costs low allows you to pass some of this on to your customers and compete among the sharks.
Paris Norriss is an entrepreneur and currently partner in Coba Education, which provides educators to schools and institutes
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Where to buy
Limited-edition art prints of The Sofa Series: Sultani can be acquired from Reem El Mutwalli at www.reemelmutwalli.com
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SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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'Gehraiyaan'
Director:Shakun Batra
Stars:Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa
Rating: 4/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
How to vote
Canadians living in the UAE can register to vote online and be added to the International Register of Electors.
They'll then be sent a special ballot voting kit by mail either to their address, the Consulate General of Canada to the UAE in Dubai or The Embassy of Canada in Abu Dhabi
Registered voters mark the ballot with their choice and must send it back by 6pm Eastern time on October 21 (2am next Friday)
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UAE rugby in numbers
5 - Year sponsorship deal between Hesco and Jebel Ali Dragons
700 - Dubai Hurricanes had more than 700 playing members last season between their mini and youth, men's and women's teams
Dh600,000 - Dubai Exiles' budget for pitch and court hire next season, for their rugby, netball and cricket teams
Dh1.8m - Dubai Hurricanes' overall budget for next season
Dh2.8m - Dubai Exiles’ overall budget for next season
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The biog
Alwyn Stephen says much of his success is a result of taking an educated chance on business decisions.
His advice to anyone starting out in business is to have no fear as life is about taking on challenges.
“If you have the ambition and dream of something, follow that dream, be positive, determined and set goals.
"Nothing and no-one can stop you from succeeding with the right work application, and a little bit of luck along the way.”
Mr Stephen sells his luxury fragrances at selected perfumeries around the UAE, including the House of Niche Boutique in Al Seef.
He relaxes by spending time with his family at home, and enjoying his wife’s India cooking.
'Skin'
Dir: Guy Nattiv
Starring: Jamie Bell, Danielle McDonald, Bill Camp, Vera Farmiga
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
TWISTERS
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos
Rating: 2.5/5