How much money do you think is enough to start and launch a startup?
A lot of people try to raise funding before they even begin.
And then sometimes I read those “zero to hero” stories. (Maybe they’re a bit "polished" by the media to have publicity.)
In any case, building products has become much easier from a technical perspective, which also makes it cheaper – especially for software startups.
In many cases, all you really need is ChatGPT or another AI model ($20), a domain (starting around $10), some DNS or hosting services (sometimes from $50), and your own time.
The basic costs can realistically stay around $100.
But the fact that the building is more accessible also creates overcrowding, which means you then have to invest much more time and money into marketing.
What would you estimate is the minimum budget needed to start a startup?
(Of course, it varies. In some cases, you also need to deal with bureaucracy from day one – company registration fees, social and health insurance contributions, and other administrative costs. This is valid especially for EU countries.)
Replies
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@prafull_sharma2 ofc, the category of the product is important too.
Outcome
@busmark_w_nika for POC - very little but once you get some beta users (depending on product complexity) I think you need at least 5-20k USD available in funds. In the off chance you hit scale - AI credits aren't regulated properly - you get some early traction and need to pay for ads etc.
In the AI world where we live - with rev > product quality (in many instances) - I think SOME funds are better than Zero - at least once you have that PMF / Product proof of concept.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@dzaitzow For sure, I also would rather have some pillow, but when I am short of time and money, I wanna make it as cost-effective as possible. But agree that AI-based solutions are not so cheap when they burn tokens :)
That's really a big question. We have an app ready, functioning but very few users. I really don't know how self funded startups managed marketing and sales.
Any guidance!!!
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@wasay_siddiqui in the initial phase, you need to be seen, so you need to try every possible option. Social media and organic valuable content (needs to be creative) is the cheapest one option.
@busmark_w_nika agreed and thanks for the advice! Trying every channel for myMD AI, we are focused on preventive healthcare.
Will be launching soon on PH, hope to see your support!
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@wasay_siddiqui When is the launch day?
You hit the nail on the head, Nika. The media definitely polishes those stories, but a true $0 production stack is completely realistic today if you are clever with free tiers.
I launched my product RoastMyLanding on exactly that: Vercel for the frontend, Render for the backend, Supabase for the DB, OpenRouter for AI, and UptimeRobot to prevent free-tier cold starts. Total infrastructure cost: literally $0.
But your point about overcrowding is the absolute truth. Because building is cheap, distribution is where the real tax is paid. When anyone can deploy a tech stack in an afternoon, the market gets flooded. The real "budget" you need isn't financial; it's the mental stamina to fight for attention. If your landing page messaging isn't razor-sharp, the traffic you fight so hard to get just bounces anyway.
If you have the time, a $0 cash budget is entirely possible to start. Just be prepared to spend 90% of your budget in sweat equity on marketing rather than the code.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@ayeshabuilds Marketing nowadays is 80% of the success.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@olivier_jury how many listeners does it have right now, and is it profitable? Did it help you to have returns from investment?
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@olivier_jury Wow, that is quite good result, promising! :)
I think the real minimum depends less on the first build and more on how fast you can learn from users. AI makes building cheaper, but distribution, support, positioning, and iteration still cost either money or a lot of focused time.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@alpertayfurr When the product starts to be seen and gets attention, you need to invest more, that's for sure :)
@busmark_w_nika Yeah, exactly. The first version can be lean, but once there’s real attention, the cost shifts to keeping the momentum alive — support, distribution, product quality, and faster iteration.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@alpertayfurr That's actually a good sign that something good is happenign :)
I think the minimum cost to build a startup is lower than ever, but the cost to get attention is what’s rising. Technically, someone can validate an idea today with a small budget using AI tools, no-code platforms, and a lot of personal effort. But distribution, trust, and consistent execution are where most of the real cost shifts now.
Around workflows at Turgo, one thing I’ve noticed is that speed of execution matters more than having a huge initial budget. A small team with strong automation and clear distribution can move surprisingly fast today.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@jahnavi_thota The thing is when everyone is laid off, who will be purchasing the things without income.
Well to be honest, i am a solo founder and i use ChatGPT, codex and Claude to compound complete my tasks and at a pace i could never before. Went from idea to app in 2 months (The most important thing is iterating and iterating fast), and my total costs were only of domain, ChatGPT and Claude only and some misc. 10-15$ costs
The only issue that happens is marketing and advertising your product that can easily add up around thousands of dollars onto your bills
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@qasimkhan Have you already started with marketing? Can you compare amounts for production (tech) vs promotion?
@busmark_w_nika Yeah, I’ve started a bit. Honestly the actual product build was insanely cheap compared to promotion.
Tech/product side: 1) Domain 2) ChatGPT / Claude subscriptions 3) A few small service costs 4) Developer Account Costs
Probably under $100 total to get the first version live.
Compared to that Marketing can very quickly become 10x–100x more expensive than building, especially if I'd run ads or sponsor placements which i only got an idea from the costs of advertising.
Right now, I’m focused more on organic growth, content, iteration speed and improving retention before spending heavily on paid acquisition.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@qasimkhan It would be worth having some excel sheet to track those expenses :D
@busmark_w_nika I really wanted to, guess i will be sitting down after the launch day to write em down properly. Preparing for the big day coming up in 5 days. Its my first ever Product :)
Unabyss
There's also a cost to not going all-in on a startup, and sometimes your situation doesn't allow you to do it.
For one person, it might be literally $0; for another, it might be $3k/mo till break-even. Break-even on another hand depends on the nature of business + market (whether you need to scale adoption vs start charging right away)
So it depends on geo + situation + (most importantly) the nature of the startup.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@marcin_uchacz1 The last paragraph summarises it pretty well. :)
I think today it’s possible to technically start a software startup with very little money.
A laptop, AI tools, domain, hosting, and a lot of time can genuinely get an MVP live.
But the difficult part now isn’t only building anymore.
It’s:
distribution
trust
retention
standing out in an overcrowded market
So I feel the “minimum budget” depends less on coding costs and more on:
“How long can you survive while trying to get traction?”
For many solo founders, time becomes the biggest investment.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@harithavijayakumar the question you gave is on spot, the thing is that if you do not see results, it is demotivating and probably abandone the project.
@busmark_w_nika Exactly. I think that’s one of the hardest psychological parts of building.
When you spend months building and hear almost silence after launch, it can feel like failure even when you’re actually just at the beginning of distribution and iteration.
A lot of products probably die not because the idea was bad, but because the founder ran out of energy before traction started compounding.