Rob Kohr

Building a profitable startup in one week on $500 (Download Squad)

Jun 27th 2006 11:52AM Over winter vacation I took an old laptop, turned it into a server, and created software to work with wikimedia to create a wiki hosting site. At one point the machine got so hot I directed an air conditioner through its open top to keep it cool. Fortunately the site made enough money to be moved to a real server.

Another site (a web based flashcard system) never really took off, and took about the same time and resources to develop.

One profitable another not, what was the difference? Mainly one had a higher demand than the other. $1M investment wouldn't change that, and the only thing the money does is buy better service when the demand comes in.

So the moral is, if you have an idea, make it, and make it fast and cheap. You can improve it (put more money and time in it) if it is successful. After that make something else fast and cheap, rinse, repeat...

Who knows one of your attempts may work.