leslyn

Startup community: I am wondering how much of a budget is considered 'bootstrapped'? And, I am curious to know how much personal capital (or debt) it took to generate something profitable. Of course I understand that the product/service can make all the difference in the world but your experience and numbers will still offer a valuable perspective.

I know there are no guarantees and that past performance is not indicative of future results! I also realize that everyone's risk tolerance starting financial situation is different. Just laying that out so that the comments can focus on individual experiences.

Thanks!

I love hearing from people that want to 'offer' their talent to the HN community because they have free time in an effort to just give back or build 'real life' karma yet I've seen posts that discourage that on this board.

I am wondering if there is a place where like-minded people can or do barter their professional expertise with one another? Even something as simple as tweet for tweet...

I'm really curious to know if any of you use SU for marketing and have these questions:

1. What conversion rate would be considered average?

2. Did you experiment with budget/target audience, etc. and was did you find a meaningful difference?

I would appreciate if you could share your experience.

Which marketing strategy provide you with the best results? If you have launched a couple of different types of products (blog vs. app; mobile vs. web) what was the difference in your strategy and what was most cost-effective? How will you change it up this year?