{"id":420365,"date":"2025-05-01T09:47:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T08:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/?p=420365"},"modified":"2025-05-01T09:47:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T10:47:52","slug":"save-money-starting-your-startup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/","title":{"rendered":"How to save money when launching your startup"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Starting a business is expensive \u2014 no way around it. From website builds to design and development, the bills pile up fast. The good news? There are plenty of smart ways to keep costs low while you get your company off the ground. Here are five proven tips to help you save money and stay focused on what matters: building your business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":420426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[141,146,147],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-420365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-us","category-funding-guides-us","category-startup-guides-us"],"acf":{"has_custom_post_authors":false,"is_expert_reviewed":true,"expert_reviewed":{"heading":"Expert reviewed","tooltip_message":"This article has been fact-checked by a SeedLegals subject matter expert.

Meet our experts<\/a> and learn more about our review process and quality assurance in our editorial policy<\/a>."},"blog_layout":"v2","v2":{"hero":{"image_background_color":"#E7F1FF","image_fit":"img--cover"},"adverts":[{"type":"selector","selected_advert":{"ID":412070,"post_author":"77","post_date":"2024-11-11 09:48:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-11-11 09:48:00","post_content":"","post_title":"US - Talk to the team","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"us-newsletter","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-11-13 16:19:20","post_modified_gmt":"2024-11-13 16:19:20","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/?post_type=blog_advert&p=412070","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog_advert","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},"custom_advert":{"advert_tracking_id":"","layout":"default","image":{"image":false,"link":""},"text":{"heading":"","content":"","button":null,"background_color":"#EEF4FF","text_color":"#000646"},"form":{"form":{"type":"none","hubspot_form":{"layout":"newsletter","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":false,"gtm_form_location":false}},"cta_and_testimonials":{"heading":"","button":null,"bullet_points":false,"testimonials":false}}}],"related_sidebar_posts":false},"show_author_card":true,"revision_date":"","hero_image":420426,"has_sources":false,"related_posts":false,"post_content_width":"default","post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"

Starting a business is expensive. There are a ton of things that you have to pay for \u2014 legal documents, website development, coding, design, and so on.<\/p>\n

The question is, what things can you do to save money? Here are five top tips that might seem obvious but worth keeping in mind when you’re starting your company:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Save on legal fees when starting up<\/li>\n
  2. Use free or low-cost tools<\/li>\n
  3. Keep your team small and outsource non-core functions<\/li>\n
  4. Find funding for your business<\/li>\n
  5. Be frugal with marketing<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Tip #1: Save on legal fees when starting up<\/h2>\n

    Avoid paying for lawyers when you don\u2019t have to. There are plenty of free or low-cost platforms online that can help to do things like generate non-disclosure agreements, incorporate your company and build a financial model.<\/p>\n

    Before you spend thousands on a lawyer, check out platforms like SeedLegals for your legal documents or LegalZoom for incorporation in the US. These services give you easy access to legal documents, cap tables<\/a>, and more \u2014 often for just $20-$40 a month instead of paying thousands upfront.<\/p>\n

    Of course, you may still need a lawyer for some things later on, but for most tasks at incorporation, you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_highlight","highlight_type":"tip","background_colour":"blue","show_icon":true,"content":"Should I incorporate my startup as an LLC, an S-corp or a C-corp?<\/b>
    \r\nRead our guide to     startup incorporation structures<\/a>","link":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"

    Tip #2: Use free or low-cost tools<\/h2>\n

    Before you hire expensive web developers or pitch deck designers, try one of the many AI-powered sites that can help you create a website or deck without needing to code. These tools let you build professional-looking assets yourself \u2013 saving you the cost of paying someone else to do it.<\/p>\n

    Tip #3: Keep your team small and outsource non-core functions<\/h2>\n

    If you’re building an app or website, see if you can prototype it yourself before hiring developers. Developers are expensive \u2013 and much of the early work often gets thrown away once you start testing with real users. Instead, you can use no-code tools like Figma, Canva, or other prototyping platforms to build early versions yourself and create clickable versions of your app. You can also use newer platforms like Lovable (one of the fastest-growing startups globally) to create simple prototypes or even basic working apps without hiring a developer.<\/p>\n

    When you’re ready to build your real app, you\u2019ll probably need to bring in developers. Today\u2019s AI tools are great for creating simple prototypes but not full-scale apps. The key is to use these tools early: every time a user struggles with your design, you can tweak the wording or move buttons yourself \u2013 without paying for expensive re-coding. Once users clearly understand and navigate your prototype, that’s the right time to invest in building the real thing.<\/p>\n

    Tip #4: Find funding for your business<\/h2>\n

    If your business needs money to build a product and grow, either you’ll be paying for it yourself, or you’ll need other people to fund it. So your choices are:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Put your own money into it<\/li>\n
    2. Get money from grants and so on<\/li>\n
    3. Borrow money from the bank<\/li>\n
    4. Raise money from VCs<\/li>\n
    5. Raise money from angel investors<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Let’s go through these quickly and see what’s likely to work and what’s not.<\/p>\n

      Self-funding: Start with your own money if you can<\/h3>\n

      It’s easier to not have to raise money, so if you can<\/em> fund it yourself, try to do it yourself. Our SeedLegals data shows that founders put a median of about $35,000 of their own money into a company before they raise external investment.<\/p>\n

      At some point, you may run out of personal funds or hit a ceiling on how much progress you can make without external support. That\u2019s when you’ll need to look for other sources of funding to keep growing.<\/p>\n

      Grants: Nice if you can get them<\/h3>\n

      You can try applying for grants, but they are often slow, highly competitive and usually limited to specific industries or university spinouts. Grants are worth trying for if you qualify, but they shouldn\u2019t be your main plan.<\/p>\n

      Venture Capital: Often only interested at a later stage<\/h3>\n

      If you go to a VC too early, before you’ve got revenue, inevitably they’ll say “Love what you’re doing, come back later.” So VCs are probably a waste of time until you’ve got paying users.<\/p>\n

      Bank loans: Rare for early-stage startups<\/h3>\n

      You can only get a loan from a bank if your company is already making revenue and profits, so you can afford to repay it. Otherwise, you risk going bankrupt. That\u2019s why startups rarely borrow money from banks \u2013 first, because banks won\u2019t lend to companies without revenue, and second, because without income, you\u2019re unlikely to be able to repay the debt when it\u2019s due.<\/p>\n

      Angel investors: The most realistic option<\/h3>\n

      This is why most early-stage startups raise money from angel investors. Angel investors are individuals who typically invest anywhere from $10,000 or $20,000 or $5,000 or $500. What you want to do is find multiple angel investors to raise $50,000 through to a few hundred thousand dollars to help fund your business.<\/p>\n

      Strictly speaking, this isn\u2019t a money-saving tip – but it\u2019s a way to conserve your own money by having other people invest their money in your startup.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_highlight","highlight_type":"tip","background_colour":"blue","show_icon":true,"content":"Use QSBS to make your startup more attractive to investors<\/b>
      \r\nSurprisingly few founders know about it, but qualified small business stock (QSBS) allows founders and early investors to potentially receive a 100% exemption on federal capital gains taxes, up to $15 million or 10 times their original investment amount.
      \r\n
      \r\nRead our       guide to QSBS<\/a> to find out if your company qualifies, how it can make your company more attractive to investors and potential employees, and how to benefit from the tax break yourself.","link":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"

      Tip #5: Be frugal with marketing<\/h2>\n

      Do everything you can to avoid paying Google or Facebook for ads. They already have way more money than you – don’t give them even more until you\u2019ve proven you\u2019ve got a proper business model, where you’re making more from a customer (known as the lifetime value, or LTV) than you spend on acquiring them (known as the customer acquisition cost, or CAC).<\/p>\n

      The problem is, you\u2019ve built your app, your website is live… and nobody\u2019s coming. So how do you fix that?<\/p>\n

      The obvious answer is to buy pay-per-click ads on Google or social networks (PPC). But unless you’ve already proven that people will buy your product, you\u2019ll just be spending a lot of money acquiring users who bail shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n

      You want to do everything you can to avoid that. Only start buying paid ads once you\u2019ve raised seed or Series A funding, have plenty of cash in the bank and have proven product-market fit. That\u2019s when you\u2019re ready to scale.<\/p>\n

      In the meantime, focus on things like content marketing (writing articles and getting them published online), posting regularly on LinkedIn and using SEO (writing articles on your own website that rank well in search). If your customers form communities, lean into community-led growth \u2013 join those communities and build relationships. Partnerships with other companies are also a great way to get inbound links and referral traffic.<\/p>\n

      Whatever you do, avoid paying for ads until you\u2019ve proven your business and revenue model.<\/p>\n

      Stay connected and build smarter<\/h2>\n

      Building a company is tough \u2014 and knowing where to spend (and where to save) can be the difference between stalling and scaling. Hopefully, these tips gave you a head start on keeping your costs low and your business moving.<\/p>\n

      Want more real-world advice from founders and investors who\u2019ve been there? Sign up for our events newsletter<\/a> to stay in the know \u2014 and don\u2019t miss your next opportunity to learn, network and grow.<\/p>\n

      Need hands-on help?<\/h3>\n

      If you need a hand with your cap table<\/a>, fundraising<\/a> or legal documents like employment agreements and NDAs, our team is here to help.<\/p>\n

      Get in touch \u2013 we\u2019ve helped thousands of founders do it faster, cheaper, and with a lot less stress.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"form","layout":"custom","heading":"Get answers fast, for free","content":"Bring all your questions - we\u2019ve got the answers!\r\nWe\u2019ll match you with the right specialist.","custom":{"image":false,"button_text":"Get Started","form":{"type":"hubspot","hubspot_form":{"layout":"default","hide_founderinvestor_toggle":false,"default_community":"founder","custom_form_id":"21723609-6f1b-45c0-9691-77d462dc3bed","gdpr_disclaimer":"By subscribing, you agree to receive information from SeedLegals. You can unsubscribe anytime. View our privacy policy<\/a>"},"custom":{"embed":""},"gtm_form_type":"default","gtm_form_location":"default"}},"add_shadow":true}]},"yoast_head":"\nHow to save money when launching your startup | SeedLegals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Launching a startup? Learn five smart ways to cut costs and stretch your budget from serial entrepreneur and SeedLegals co-founder Anthony Rose.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to save money when launching your startup | SeedLegals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Launching a startup? Learn five smart ways to cut costs and stretch your budget from serial entrepreneur and SeedLegals co-founder Anthony Rose.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SeedLegals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/seedlegals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-01T08:47:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-01T10:47:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/hero_save-money-starting-business-US.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2816\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1584\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anthony Rose\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@seedlegals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@seedlegals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anthony Rose\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to save money when launching your startup | SeedLegals","description":"Launching a startup? Learn five smart ways to cut costs and stretch your budget from serial entrepreneur and SeedLegals co-founder Anthony Rose.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to save money when launching your startup | SeedLegals","og_description":"Launching a startup? Learn five smart ways to cut costs and stretch your budget from serial entrepreneur and SeedLegals co-founder Anthony Rose.","og_url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/","og_site_name":"SeedLegals","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/seedlegals\/","article_published_time":"2025-05-01T08:47:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-01T10:47:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2816,"height":1584,"url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/hero_save-money-starting-business-US.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Anthony Rose","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@seedlegals","twitter_site":"@seedlegals","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anthony Rose","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/"},"author":{"name":"Anthony Rose","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/15bbdc0a078123acba594b0e98dc4b34"},"headline":"How to save money when launching your startup","datePublished":"2025-05-01T08:47:52+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-01T10:47:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/"},"wordCount":8,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/hero_save-money-starting-business-US.png","articleSection":["Uncategorized @us","Funding Guides","Startup Guides"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/","name":"How to save money when launching your startup | SeedLegals","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/hero_save-money-starting-business-US.png","datePublished":"2025-05-01T08:47:52+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-01T10:47:52+00:00","description":"Launching a startup? Learn five smart ways to cut costs and stretch your budget from serial entrepreneur and SeedLegals co-founder Anthony Rose.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/hero_save-money-starting-business-US.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/hero_save-money-starting-business-US.png","width":2816,"height":1584,"caption":"Hero Save Money Starting Business Us"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/save-money-starting-your-startup\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to save money when launching your startup"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/","name":"SeedLegals","description":"Startups made easy","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/#organization","name":"SeedLegals","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/seedlegals-logo-1.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/seedlegals-logo-1.svg","width":205,"height":23,"caption":"SeedLegals"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/seedlegals\/","https:\/\/x.com\/seedlegals","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/seedlegals\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/seedlegals","https:\/\/www.eventbrite.co.uk\/o\/seedlegals-15096667075","https:\/\/uk.trustpilot.com\/review\/www.seedlegals.com"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/15bbdc0a078123acba594b0e98dc4b34","name":"Anthony Rose","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eec24f24334b9a815c127811f69deccd9cf669083b239a62f3a4c38997362003?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eec24f24334b9a815c127811f69deccd9cf669083b239a62f3a4c38997362003?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eec24f24334b9a815c127811f69deccd9cf669083b239a62f3a4c38997362003?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Anthony Rose"},"sameAs":["Anthony Rose","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/anrose\/"],"url":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/resources\/author\/anthony\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420365"},{"taxonomy":"event_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_tags?post=420365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}