Startup Savings: Five Things
October 3, 2006
Ben Yoskovitz has five things startups shouldn’t buy. His list:
- Fancy shmancy marketing materials.
- Software.
- Advertising.
- Office Space.
- Staff.
There is a limit to any such advice. As Merlin Mann often says, “Look I don’t make my own ketchup”, but it is always a good exercise to do without before doing with. My Dad thinks I am crazy, but I still approve all purchases for each of our businesses. With just a little push back I find out what we really need and what we really want. What not to skimp on?
- Comfortable chairs.
- Creature comforts such as ergonomic keyboards (if they are requested).
- Bigger monitors.
- Free soft drinks.
- White boards.
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Alex - thanks for linking over and extending the conversation.
Yes, there’s a limit to such advice. First, because I set this up as “Blog About 5 Things Week” I could only list 5 things. And, they may not apply to every business.
Advice is just that - not law (which some on digg seem to think.)
I like your list of 5 things NOT to skimp on. I’m going to consider that an entry into the “Blog About 5 Things Week” and add you to the list!
Thanks…
[…] Startup Savings: Five Things […]
I agree. Get cheap office space, and use production rooms with people sitting right next to each other instead of offices or cubes for everyone. A quiet room (for private telephone calls) and a conference room are the only rooms a startup needs.
we started (and still use) simple desks with nice Aeron chairs. The desks are solid core wood doors with plumbing pipe from Home Depot for legs. They cost $80 to make and are huge. The money we saved on furniture goes into a dual monitor development machine.
My place of work here in the metroplex (not going to name names; posting anon) splurges on super-nice chairs, super-nice desks/cubes, conference spaces with floor to ceiling whiteboard “wallpaper”, super-nice ergonomic this and ergonomic that… and standardizes on 17″ CRTs (not even flat screens, these are the cheapest, curviest, glare-iest compaqs they could buy by the pallet load) for all non-manager positions. That 110K/yr senior technical architect? Same monitor as the 30K/yr receptionist. And this is a company that lives and dies by technology; we don’t have much of an “IT” vs. “Business” culture because IT *is* the business. How they could have such a large blindspot in the monitor area, I just don’t understand.
Hey NoName - I have seen that situation a thousand times. So called “technology companies” spending all their money on overpriced furniture and fixtures and have wimpy computers to work on. It is like driving an Indy race car with Hyundai tires - pointless.
We run dual 20 inch LCD’s for each of our developers. :-)
I keep waiting to pull the trigger on new LCDs for our guys, waiting for some rational pricing… For a while there we got great prices and then something happened with LCD mfg capacity. Now I think prices are beginning to fall.
We buy the Dell 2007FP’s. The are a great monitor for only $450. Same LCD as the Apple, just a different case and cheaper price.
http://elfurl.com/hehzl
Buy what’s really important for productivity. Nice chairs are helpful. Big LCD screens make a difference. Good computers. I think that’s where you get bang for your buck…
Fancy desks? Pointless. People will work on a slab of wood with milk crates underneath if it keeps the monitors up. (Maybe that’s extreme…)