How to Save Money as a Startup

As an early stage company founder, you can take advantage of many ways to save money. While there is a lot of advice on the internet, I thought I’d share the relatively low-effort strategies that really worked for me when running ClassHook.

The key is to balance savings with time commitment. Speed is critical in a startup, and you don't want to delay projects just to save a few dollars.

Note: I cover these and other ways to save money in The Founder Manual.

Table of Contents

• Use startup discounts

• Events

• Ask for fee waivers

• Apply for cloud credits

• Get a credit card

• Write your own blog and social posts

• Set up experiments rather than full commitments

• Use success fee structures

• Find coupon codes at checkout

Use startup discounts

Lots of products offer discounts for early stage companies. Make sure to apply and take advantage of them. A few examples are:

• Mixpanel

• Intercom

• Auth0

• GitLab

• HubSpot

Don’t see a startup program listed for a company? Contact support and ask. Sometimes they can offer discounts or special programs to early stage companies.

Events

Walk the trade floor

Attending an event to meet prospects? Get an attendee ticket instead of an exhibitor one. It’s usually quite a bit cheaper.

This approach enables you to assess the vendor experience at the event. Talk to the vendors to learn how the event is working for them. You can later determine whether this event is worth exhibiting in the future.

Depending on the conference, you may not even need to purchase a ticket to connect with other attendees. Find out where the hot spots are for meetings, set up meetings well ahead of the event, and just meet potential prospects.

Attend smaller, local events

Depending on industry and your target buyer, this can save you a lot of money since these conferences tend to be cheaper. In my experience, they’ve had a much higher ROI than larger events since attendees aren’t overwhelmed with countless vendor booths vying for their attention, and attendees are more approachable as a result.

Share a booth

Find a non-competing company attending the same event, and ask if you can split the cost for a booth. You won't have as much space, but if your presence is important, it could give you some valuable savings and brand awareness.

Purchase group tickets

Attending an event that offers group discounts? Find other companies attending the event, and see if you can purchase the tickets all together instead of separately. That could make the event much more affordable for everyone.

Ask for fee waivers

As a startup, you may be applying to a variety of different programs and competitions. Some of these will have a fee. If there’s no clear process for applying for a waiver, contact the program to ask if they can waive the fee since you’re an early stage company. Many programs will give you a discount code or waive the fee entirely.

Just make sure to start your application early since they can take time to respond.

Apply for cloud credits

You can save a lot of money by applying for free credits with cloud providers, especially if you’ve joined an accelerator program. Here are some examples:

• Microsoft for Startups

• Google Cloud Early Stage Program

• AWS Activate

• Digital Ocean Hatch

• Vercel for Startups

Get a credit card

Applying for and getting a company credit card not only builds your company’s credit score but also accumulates points you can redeem for travel and other perks. If you have a flight-specific credit card, you can also save on luggage costs, especially if packing swag for an event.

Many financial platforms for startups, including Brex, Mercury, and Ramp, typically include a credit card.

_{Write your own blog and social posts}

Negotiating price with a blogger or social media influencer? Ask to write the post yourself and ask if they can post on your behalf. You've done all the work for them, and they will usually be amenable to lowering the price.

Set up experiments rather than full commitments

You want to make sure your money gets you an acceptable ROI. If you’re working with a consultant or purchasing marketing services, could you limit the working arrangement to a certain period of time, then reassess after that time to see if it's worth the continued investment? This will lower your initial costs, keep cash in the bank, and ensure your money is used on delivering the highest impact.

For example, I once sponsored an industry newsletter that wanted a 12 month commitment. I negotiated a 3-month sponsorship to learn if it would yield any significant results. It didn’t end up being worth it, but at least I didn’t lock myself into a longer, much more expensive contract.

Use success fee structures

Working with a reseller or distributor who wants an upfront cost? Set up a higher commission rate until you reach a certain threshold, then lower the commission to the agreed upon rate.

For example, a distributor wanted a $250 annual fee and a 5% commission on any sales. I haven’t worked with them before and wanted to prove them out, so I negotiated a 10% commission until the distributor nets $250 (the annual fee). Then, the commission rate would drop down to 5%.

This helped me conserve cash I could spend elsewhere while assessing if this distributor is worth the continued investment.

Find coupon codes at checkout

This tactic is more applicable for consumer products: use browser extensions such as Honey, or scout out coupon codes for the vendor online. Depending on the size of your purchase, you can save quite a bit of money.

Have any other tactics for saving money at your startup? I’d love to hear them! Please share in the comments below.

For more guidance on running your early stage startup, consider subscribing to The Founder Manual.