From Zero to a Million: Why A Shortage of Time and Money is a Fucking Competitive Advantage
When I returned from my trip to Europe this past June, I knew that I didn’t have much time or money to start my business. Each passing minute brought me closer to that dreaded moment when ALL of my resources would be exhausted, to that moment when I wouldn’t really have any other choice but to find a “real” job and put my dream on a shelf.
It is with this sense of urgency that I began my entrepreneurial adventure on the ground running, despite the fact that I had no access to my meagre savings as I had lost my wallet in Europe. Because of this, I had cancelled my debit and credit cards, which resulted in deactivating my subway pass, my cellphone service and my gym membership.
If I had had a little more time, it would have been easy to rationalize the decision to wait another week before beginning to work so intensely on Hardbacon. I could have just stayed home and started to send emails.
Instead, I conducted 30 interviews with consumers from all over Montreal, often in cafés when I had no money to even order a coffee. Social conventions would dictate that I buy a coffee for those people who agreed to give me their time, but I held all these interviews with a coffee budget of less than $10, which was all the change I had left.
When I needed an internet connection I went to the café at the Maison Notman between meetings or stopped near the front window of whichever company had set up their Wi-Fi without a password. During this baptism of fire I also learned that I could go pretty much anywhere in Montreal on my bike often faster than by public transit.
I’m not saying all of this just to brag about myself. In fact, I feel pretty cheap for not buying a coffee for those who generously gave of their time. I’m telling you this story to illustrate how the sense of urgency within me compels me to do more with less, to do things that are uncomfortable, and even be more creative to achieve my goals.
Since that long week in June I got new payment cards and was able to reactivate my cellphone, but I’m no longer paying for my subway pass or my gym membership. It’s costing me less and, ironically, I don’t think I’ve had this much exercise in a long time.
Every dollar and every minute counts when the hourglass threatens to run out at any time. This forces me to work with a rare energy. I’m not just motivated; I am determined like someone who has their back against the wall.
In particular, this shortage of time and resources forces me to say no to anything that costs money, and to barter for everything I really need.
Hardbacon’s mission, which is to make investing more accessible, is very broad. As such, given the enormity of the task, I could have worked with my team for months before launching anything. Except that it wasn’t an option. Anyway, such an approach wouldn’t enable us to learn as much as we could about our market as does quickly launching something less-than-perfect and tweaking it later.
In fact, I had set a goal to launch the beta version of Hardbacon much more quickly, but I had greatly underestimated the time needed to create a minimum viable product (MVP) while building an organization. Not to mention the distractions.
So, since last Monday I’ve been trying to stop putting time into anything that doesn’t move me closer to my goal of launching the beta version of Hardbacon this Wednesday at midnight. I also got word to the team to plan out the other projects, like the encyclopaedia of financial terms, which is not related to what we will launch this week.
At the time of writing this, I’m not 100% sure that our beta version can be launched Wednesday as planned, but I’m going to do everything I can to make it happen, even if I have to launch a website with a few bugs. What I do know, however, is that our beta version will be improved every day from the time it launches. And that it will improve quickly and at a low cost, because I have no other choice.
In my opinion, it’s a huge advantage, especially in a sector where others have plenty of time and money. I would imagine that they see this abundance as an advantage, but I personally consider it as very weak compared to having your back up against the wall without having a Plan B…or at least compared to being accustomed to working with a shortage.
Main Accomplishments:
- Met with a law firm to look into incorporating
- Edited the first texts to appear on the Hardbacon website
- Completed research about discount brokers and robot-advisors
- Meetings with potential co-founders
Growth Metrics:
- Revenues: $0
- New Newsletter subscribers: 99 (total: 1296, weekly growth: 8%)
- New Snapchat subscribers: 18 (total 80, weekly growth: 29%)
- New Instagram subscribers: 37 (total: 252, weekly growth: 17%)
- New Facebook Likes: 66 (total: 1156, weekly growth: 6%)
My previous “From Zero to a Million” posts, in which I reveal every week how I’m building and growing Hardbacon with no money :
From Zero to a Million: The Danger of Getting Lost in the Crazy Parallel Universe of Startups
From Zero to a Million: When we tell the fucking truth, something magical happens
From Zero to a Million: Why I Launched My Startup At the Worst Possible Time
From Zero to a Million: Building an Organization Rather than an App
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