How much money would you be willing to spend from your own savings to start a business?
Are you the kind of person who believes in your dream enough to burn through most of your savings on it?
For millionaires, this might not be a big deal, but what about people with a typical 9–5 job? I see how much a solid marketing campaign costs on just one platform (often the monthly expense is equal to at least a full year’s salary).
The day before yesterday, a friend told me he and his wife are closing their restaurant, which they opened just six months ago. They had taken a loan for it, which makes it even worse.
How much of your own financial reserve would you be willing to spend before giving up?
[I think that I would go with $40,000.] 😅🙈
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Product Hunt Wrapped 2025
I’ve bootstrapped everything so far, and I’d say I’m willing to risk as much as I can emotionally handle losing, not just financially.
For me that’s probably around $5k-10k enough to give something real momentum, but not enough to ruin sleep or savings completely.
Once it crosses into “can’t recover if this fails,” it stops being an experiment and becomes a gamble.
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@alexcloudstar Now I understand why so many people want to raise money. It is financially safer. But not mentally, because you need to chase yourself to satisfy investors.
Product Hunt Wrapped 2025
@busmark_w_nika Yea, never would be a win-win situation
@alexcloudstar Totally agree — but I think the limit also depends on the type of product. If you’re doing deep-tech or infrastructure work, the timeline to see any income is way longer, so it almost requires some capital investment. With a simple SaaS or B2C app, you usually need to make money fast or you’re out.
i would go with 25%
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@oussamahm77 I would risk less tbh :D
Cal ID
I’ve always been willing to risk enough to prove the concept, but not enough to stab my future.
For me, that’s typically 30–40% of my savings, I guess. If I see real traction and the idea’s worth scaling, I might double down. I think its better to spend on something you believe in instead of just regretting later with those "what if?" thoughts.
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@sanskarix Some risks are worth it :)
Theysaid
Haha, great question, Nika! Honestly, I’d probably start confident, saying “I’ll invest everything I’ve got!” then open my banking app, see the balance, and quietly settle on… maybe $200 and a strong Wi-Fi connection
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@chrishicken Sometimes wi-fi is the only thing people have :D
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@hanesz So would you rather use only your work and time instead of money?
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@hanesz time = money
I can't burn through my entire savings but no risk = no reward. We're completely bootstrapping and we've spent over 7k and we haven't launched yet. This will definetly go up with advertising cost. I think my max would be 20k.
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@bettinagrillo Are you aiming for external funding (VC?)
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@bettinagrillo Sometimes it is better not to owe anything to anybody. :)
Depends how young you are. In your 20s you can loose it all without it mattering too much big picture. High risk ideas often pay off so long as you aren't playing lottery ticket odds.
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@vsteppp When you are a student living at your parents' house – yes. But it is more about the situation. When you are a student already living on your own, having a part-time job, the risk is higher. A lot of energy is drained as well.
@busmark_w_nika Most people aren't students for their entire 20s. Some aren't students at all! As you said, it all depends on your situation.
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@vsteppp TBH, studying gave me some time to make my dreams happen. :D so it was useful.
Well, it's alway better to go as lean as possible.
Initially most of your costs should be around product and very less on marketing
You would spending your money at all the wrong places if you have a budget for marketing before PMF.
P.S: We have launched and are live today, hoping to get closer to PMF
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@tej_sai It depends on how complex the product (and its development) is, but agree, the product must be great, and then marketing is more worth doing.
I recently asked myself the same question.
The answer for we: I need to stay afloat for roughly 1 to 2 years and have savings to cover that.
So yeah, somewhere along 30-50k I would say.
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@jannik_jung I like how strategically you look at it. I am the same mentality :D
I’ve been building, a product which is now a bootstrapped business that’s grown to 1 million+ monthly users (organically). I didn’t burn through everything, just invested gradually and made sure every rupee had a purpose. I guess, you don’t need to go broke to build something meaningful but just stay consistent and spend smart.
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@vu3ozm Cool! Is it a company now from that? I mean company that hires people.
@busmark_w_nika Yes, but eventually hired 2-3 people to maintain the product and the revenue is sustaining their salaries. I would not call it a company yet, but if I wish to take it to next level, some investment is required.
Now to take this next leap, either I can raise money or invest more from my pockets. However, I feel I have invested enough to build the product and reach PMF stage. Now if I raise from investors, they can also help me explore larger markets than I can with my current potential.
So for R&D a founder ideally has to put in their own money (not really in favour of raising money from investors and allocating a large chunk of it in just R&D). To do business seeking investment is wiser.
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@vu3ozm Funding? Are you about to try? Antler? Or YCombinator?
@busmark_w_nika Nupe, for this particular product it has started making a basic revenue so I am now fine with the current burn and managing some profits. I don't wanna scale up this product.